The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1877-11-16
LiJI.t on the Indian Question.

practical mOralify. IL Is, ana Tor years Las
been. discussed by politicians, by preachers,
and 10y financiers, and yet, at this moment,
it appears to be far from a satisfactory
settlement as it was generation ago. In
the present attitude of the popular mind
towards the unhappy race, whom we some
times ironically speak OF as ''the nations
wards" the most encouraging sign is the
manifest desire which prevails to obtain
light, to know the actual facts upon which
the right settlement of the question de-
pends. Well disposed Americans, those of
the frontier perhaps excepted, are, we be-
lieye, really inclined to listen respectfully
to any competent witness who proposes TO
give them information bearing upon the
great subject. We cannot do better, there
fore, than lay before our readers some de-
tails and judgments contained in long
statement which appeared, few days ago,
! in the New York Herald, taken down
from the lips of the Rev. Father Mesplier.
Father Mespler is one of those brave,
self denying missionaries who have devoted
/ themselves - the cause of Christianity and
/ civilization among onr Northwestern In
dians. He is Frenchman, and entered
! the field of his labors in 1S47. Ia that very
/ year he was a spectator of the war between
( the whites and the Indians of Washington
! Territory, under the direction Of the famous
! chief Kamiakhap. Again, i'll 1855 he wit
messed the second Oregon war, carried on
J Dy tue same Cule1. VI tue N1dhe Wal VI
! 1862 aud of the Modoc war of 1871, so me-
morable for its final episode of the Lava
Beds, Father Mesplier was personally cog
: Dizant, as he was also of the war waged by
aud against the Blackfeet Indians. In re-
! ference to every one of these bloody con-
| flicts the significant fact is the conviction
/ of Father Mesplier, a conviction founded
; upon intimate knowledge of Indian charac-
| ter and all the facts of the aSe, that the
| uo .l,t,6
/ of the violation Of tt Ieates and Of unscrupu-
| lOus robbery on the part of white men,
| chiefly representatives of the Government
! of the United States.
! Father Mesplier, upon personal knowl-
/ edge, states that Joseph, the Nez Perces
! chief had with him during the late war a
! considerable number of the men who had
( fought under Sitting Bull. If Joseph had
] been able to hold ont until next spring, the
missionary feels perfectly sure that all The
/ Indians Of Lower Oregon and Washington
/ Territory would have joined his forces, and
| that the Government would have had on
! hand the greatest Indian war of Its entire
/ history. But this NeZ Perces war might
! have been easily avoided, Father Mespler
says; it would have been avoided if due at
. tention had been paid to the Information
and warnings which the Government re-
! ceived. Three times, he says he warned
/ the proper authorities of impending events );
! urSt. TWO years DeIOle tIle Wal StCOHCISs
six weeks before it, and finally, ten days
before the outbreak of hostilities. 1t seems
| that Chief Joseph had conceived a most
! comprehensive and ingenious scheme of
! wreaking vengeance upon the government
! for the wrongs of which he complained.
! His scheme embraced an alliance of many
! Tribes, and, if consummated, it would Yn-
! doubtedly have provided work FOR at least
. 30, 900 soldiers during an Indefinite period.
! Father Mesplier's narrative is the state
| ment that Chief Joseph never medItated
| war of retributIOu except i'll view or III an
! ticipation of the failure of a plan he had
devised for righting, or rather FOR prevent
( ing, 10y peaceful means, tue injury which
he and his people felt unable to enduIe.
: II g grounds of the Indians Indignation
are easily intelligible. In 1870, when Jo-
/ seph's father, "a respected chief of the Nez
I Perces, was about to die, he exacted from
his son a solemn promise never to abandon
the valley of NaIlawa, which the tribe had
occupied from time ImmemOrIal. For some
time, however. the white people had begun
to settle in the valley, and Joseph had pro-
tested i'll vain against their doing AT
length General Howard received orders to
make arrangements for removing the Nez
Perces from their beloved valley. More
land was needed for white settlements, and
| it must be had Then Chief Joseph, ap.
parently recognizing the necessity, and be-
lieving in the Justice of the Government,
entered into negotiations with the Umatilla
| Indians 30 induce them to surrender their
magnificent reservation for white settle
ment, aud to join the NeZ Perccs in the
! Wallawa. The Umatillas agreed to the
! arrangement, aud if this plau had been car
ried out, the Government would have OBJ
tanned q territory as extensive and as favor
/ able for white occupation as the Land which
fhn Nnz oh h.,I ,,ai, Ill.
son for wishing to retain. All cause us war
| would have bsen thus avoided. The Ore
gon Senator, Mitchell, actually made an
! attempt to pass a bill in accordance with
/ Chief Joseph's desire. But the whites of
/ Oregon, with brutal, if one may not just
/ ly say a savage, contempt for Indian feel
! ing and Indian rights, opposed the arrange
ment, ana the upshot WAS the which
! has cost the United States SO much blood
aud treasure.
! In justice to Father Mesplier, we must
! say that he is no humanitarian enthusiast
| or fanatical dreamer. He is a thorough
! believer III civilization and its rights. and
! does not question that civilized men may
/ in reason and justice claim .Or occupation
and use those tracts of the globe which are
! abandoned to the wilderness by wandering
! savages. tie sees in such subjugatiOn of
/ the earth law of Providence as well as "A
principle of economy, But Father Mesplier
/ believes also that all men, even savages
have gh:s which cannot be disregarded
with impunity, and that the execution of
/ a great provdential and economical law
can be safely and usefully carried out by
the hands of men only when the rules of
justice and compassion are duly respected
! Aud in this view we doubt not that a vast
majority of the American people heartily
concur. r.-IfHSburgA Commercial Gazette.
> - S-
10, a..
| the Sd of the present month"; twelve
year-old girl named Mary Sloser left her
home on Harrowgate lane, near Frankford,
with basket Of apples to sell, the profits
/ of which were TO appease the hunger of
/ her parents, who are both i'll and in desti-