, 1880-02-29
The Congressional Printer Vic.
j, timized. by the:Advance
in Paper.
Startling Accusations Brought
... Against =Fitz John
-: Porter.
A Bitter Opposition to Be Made to
- Pinchback's Conhrma-
tion.
INDIANS.
TIE 11TE PRISONERS,

TAoblN41oSt -. VI, T tO- ~o.-4 AAS IL va Ao4
Department officials appear to think that
there viii be- no war with the Utes next
spring, and that the success Of Secretary
Schurz in securing d part Of the captlves
makes peace certain. The delivery of these
-Utes, it is claimed, has prevented war. The
only punishment that can be inflicted upon
them is Imprisonment, as there is no law to
deal with them more severely. The crime
was not committed within the jurisdiction Of
the United States or of the Colorado courts,
according to the anttQuated conviction
that an Indian reservation Is entitled
to the -. benefits Of the international
doctrine of ex-TerrItoriality, and that an In
dian tribe is foreign nation. The Interior
Department, Of course, does not want an
Indian war, as such an event would be
signal Illustration Of
: THE FAILURE OF IT'S POLICY.
Some of the Ute prisoners who have been
brought here will p1obably be sent to Fort
ress Monroe. Douglass will remain at Fort
Leavenwortfl, and will be comfortably housed
and fed at the, Government expense while
poor Rose Mceker is obliged to work hard for
her bread in the Interior Department.
a NEW. POLICY 10 BE NAUGtRATED.
-. To the Festera Associated P1sss-
WASHINGTON, D. C., Feb. 2s.-The Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs, at long
special meeting to-day, agreed to report for
passage the Original bill DIES gned to cover
the entire range Of the Ind:un question by
the enactment Of iarious new provisions,
based upon the general principle that the
United States should, in r great measure,
abandon the policy 0: treating the Indians as
children, and place item rs speedily as posi-
bic upon the footingof citizens. The main
features of the plan outlined by the Commit
tee are, first, the permanent 1ocalization Of
the Indians by allotting homestcads to them
in seyeralty, with the provision that the lands
so allotted shall be absolutely inalienable
during period OF. twenty-five years;
second, the extension over the Indians
of the general civil and criminal laws of
the United States or Of the respective States
and Territories within whose border they are
located; and, third, the continuation of a Ger
tain degree Of assistance to them by the Gov
ern1nent in the line Of progress towards
civilization until they
>. BECOME sELF-sUsTANEG
by means OF agricultural and pastoral occu-
pations.
It is not proposed by the Committee to
transfer the control of the Indians to the;War
Department, but the bill will largely divest
the Interior Department Of discretionary
power in regard to the Indians by placing
them individually under the control Of the
country's general laws. The. provisions
Of the bill are not to apply. to the
five civilized tribes: Of tile Indian Ter
ritory. Its details will be subjects
for consideration at future meetings. Col:
Brooks, Acting Commissioner Of Indian AT,
fairs, said all the tribes except the Utes and
Lemhis are on reservations capable of
supporting them by means of agriculture or
stock-raising.
THE PoNCAs. u.
The Special Committee inquir1ng into the
matter Of the removal of the Poncas to the
Indian Territory. and into the declarationso OF
the Poncas that they never signed the paper
asking to be removed into the indian Terri
tory, were Informed BY Brigl1t-Eyes that the
POncas, knowing nothing Of the white mems
geography, were at the time Of signing the
document utterly ignorant Of the location or
even e. the existence Of the Indian Territory;
that Morgan, the interpreter, was an Omaha
Indian, equally ignorant upon that subject;
that neither he nor the Poncas had any
word in their language corresponding to the
word territory, and could only speak of It in
their language as the Indians country or
reservation; that when Morgan asked them
as to their willingness to 1emoysee to the In
stood him to mean the reservation OF Indians
with whom for years they had been talking
Of uniting their fortunes, the Onahas: They
therefore signed document which they
supposed to be q petition for removal to the
petition for removal to the Indian Territory,
Afterwards they made treaty OF peace with
the Sioux, and reconsidered that action, de-
Gliding to remain on their own reserve. and
did SO until they were forcibly removed. :.