The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-01-20
[Continued from LIST page.l

ferent tribes with which treaties have
been negotiated, and II the promises
of protection against their enemies
The Indians are the wards of the ma.
ton. Though in past years they may
have been cheated by agents, yet the
Government made ample provision
for their protection. and maintenance,
as an equivalent for the land taken
from them.
The suggestion has been made that
the Indians be deprived Of their arms,
and thus rendered incapable of injur-
ing the whites. Such a suggestion
savors more of sentimentalism than
of wisdom. For which mouse would
tie the bell to the cats tail? What
agent, unless protected by strong
military force, would dare to make
such proposition to them? The
merits of William Penn would not
save him from being burnt offering.
The hint of such a measure would be
instantly followed by the most fero-
cious Indian war that ever disgraced
our history. Nor is this all. Disarm
them, and they are placed at the mer-
cy of those desperate white men who
disgrace every community, and are
particularly active on the frontier.
A wholesome fear of the armed In
dian restraints them. Disarm the In
dams, and avarice, repacity, cruelty
and lust would have carnival in ev-
cry Indian camp. They must have
power to defend themselves. Better
disband the police Of our Eastern
cities. Indeed, to disarm them would
render them helpless, and their help
lessness would render them more abb
iect than they are now. Savage re-
lance is more hopeful than slavish
dependence.
The American people have often
been reproachfully reminded of the
peaceable relations which exist be-
tween the white inhabitants of Brit
ish America and the Indians. But
the cases are too dissimilar to afford
Just grounds for reproach. Emigra-
ton is not flowing into that region, as
it is into the United States, and con-
sequently the demand for land is
very limited. The whites are too
few to excite alarm. The friendship
of the Indian is sought from merce-
nary motives. But once let white
men seek homes in that Northern re-
gion, as they do in the United States,
and the irrepressible conflict between
the two races would be the inevitable
result.
We know the Indian has been
wronged. We have no excuse to Of
fer for that long catalogue of crimes
which the white man has committed
against the Indians. We believe
they are exaggerated in the popular
mind, but still they are appalling.
But the guilt is not all on one side.
The white man is a sinner, and the
Indian is not saint. His treachery
and cruelty are proverbial. William
Peen found one tribe docile and faith
full, but at the time he made his ia
nous treaty, the Delawares were only
seeking protection against the terri
BILE Mohawks. His improvidence and
filth excite our contempt. His brutal
scorn of anything like decency rem
ders him disagreeable companion
even in his most amiable moods. The
outrages he perpetrates on female
captiyes, not merely to crafty his
lust, but from revengeful motives, al
most placed him beyond the pale of
law. The greed with which he ac-
cepts presents, and which the wealth
of an empire would not satisfy, makes
us suspicious Of his most solemn
avowals. In one word, he seems a
lower being than the ''roughs" of our
large cities, and as such must be as
guilty as the whites. Like Jesse
Pomeroy, he delights in torturing his
victims, and, like Jesse Pomeroy,
shows consciousness of crime.
But why discuss the question of
moral obliquity or deprayity? The
difficulty in the way of saving the APP
parently doomed race from destruc-
ton Is not the greater or lesser degree
of criminality of either party. These
are, In q great measure outside issues
They come from the unavoidable an
fagonism of races which have so little
in common that they cannot ANAL
gsmate and seemingly will not assim-
late. Therefore the ever-recurring
question, what shall we do with them