New-York tribune., 1879-03-27
OrFJcJAL RELIGION ONCE MORE.

commissioners anu lilt htpolb VI 'Ho Co"
missioner of Indian Affairs for 1873 give
some further illustrations of the method OF
evangelzatIon adopted by the Department OF
the Interior in its dealings with the aboriglnes
under the so-caled peace policy. We have
quoted from the official account submitted to
the Department in 1877 by the Agent at
Green Bay, WIS, of his troubles with
the Catholic priest at that reservation.
The Christian Indians (MenOmonee) at Green
Bay were all Catholics, and formed con-
siderable community, with two or three
churches. According to the system OF parcel
ling out the missionary field by orders from
Washington, this agency was assigned to
the CongregatOnalists, under whose auspices
mission boarding-schOOl was opened.
The priest told his people not to let their
children go to it. The Government agent
thcreupon told thc priest to hold his tongue
or else he would be marched off the reserva-
ton. In communicating these facts to the
Department, the agent added: we have
"enrolled " the past term 102 names, mostly
Roman Catholics" 1t does not appear from
the documents submitted in 1878 that the
process of converting the Roman Catholic
MenOmOnees to the creed by law established
has been entirely successful. The official re-
port of the American Missionary Association
rrmarks: "Tbe schools of this tribe, we re-
"gret to say, have taken step backward"
Commissioners BarStOw and WhIttlesey visited
the Wisconsin agencies in 1873 and reported
to the Board that the MenOmonees who
olive around the agency tGreen Bay] and
OCCUPY large part of the reservation
care Roman Catholics and Pagans-about
"Lalf each. -. The agents and all the
"employ6s arc Protestants and Christians. 80
"It is unfortunate that the active piety in
"these families cannot have full play iu the
" elevation of all the Indians without excit-
"ing opposition from the priest" At the
Red Cliff Agency, on Lake Superior, the same
gentlemen reported Officially: "What or
"ganized influence there is here is exerted by
st the Roman Catholic Church There is no
"church nor chapel on the reservation, so
that the Indians who attend church at all
ego to Bayfield,, three miles from the south
:" line of the reservation and an average of
" five miles from the people. At best The in
fience rould not be. tre fear, rery pOsitirety
"religious but, as it is, it must be very
weak Whether Messrs. BarstOw and
WhIttlesey are right or wrong in their esti-
mate of the religious influence of Roman
Catholic missions, submit that these ex
pressions of dOctrinal disagreement should
have no place in Government reports.
At the Wichita Agency, among the Creeks
of the Indian Territory, the missionary labor
has been undertaken by the Baptists, but the
Government agent is Quaker, and the Gov
ernment school is taught by Quakers. The
report of the Baptist Missionary Board states
that the Rev. A. j. Holt had been sent by
them to the Creeks, and favOrably received
by the Indians. "The most serious obstacle
"bcfore him now apparent is the hostility,of
"some of the whites connected with the Agency,
"who are unwilling to have Baptist mission
Established there, and who recently sue
"ceeded, by false representations to the
"GoyerEment at Washington, in effecting his
"expulsion from the Agency 1t appears
further that the charge upon which MIR. Holt
was expelled was that he meddled with the
"affairs of the Agency" He was subse-
ouently reinstated, but he seems to be still
troubled with "the hostility of those who OPP
"pose him. Probably the denomination to
which these Indians were officially intrnsted
concurs in the policy of the Department, rs
defined by Commissioner Barst0w. that the
privilege of preaching ought to be mOnOp-
olv. since 1.-TWO, or three, or four denOmina-
.tions pushing into an Agency tend to OBJ
"struct.n But Americans who do not believe
in the union OF Church and State even among
the Indians, will be of the opinion that the
department has no business to have any such
policy, or any such rule.
The Pueblo Indians Of New Mexico, who
that they are honest Industrious and self
supporting, had been Roman Catholics for
300 years when the Government assigned
them to the Presbyterian denomination. We
have never heard of any attempt to restrict
the ministratiOns of the nineteen Catholic
priests who are settled among them. Agent
Thomas. however, reports that he expects
soon TO secure funds from the Government
for the erection of Presbyterian training
and boarding-school where children can be
gathered in from all the pueblOs. " None
"but first-class NJ. d. Teachers he adds,
",riM families, are now engaged for the
"Pneblo schools" That rules out priests and
sisters OF course, from the Presbyterian point
of view, it is a praiseworthy enterprise to
undertake the conversion of Roman Catho-
lie Indian children but the United States
Government has no right to pay the cost
of the process. At every step, in short, while
this parcelling out policy continues, We are
brought face to face with difficulties that can
not be overcome except by the violation of
political and religious principles which Amer
leans have considered almost automatic.
General Sherman's rule is the only fair and