The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1880-02-12

COulU Il lll.Ltl. o. LIZ IloIIldIl I-IlllIIt
who lived two thousand years ago visit
this world and view AL the features of
the civilization of the present age, he
would undoubtedly be filled with aston
ishment. But nothing would more
surprise him thar recital of the history
of the various wars in which Rome was
engaged withsavage nations.
The inhabitants of the immense for
ests and frozen marshes of the north,
who clad themselves in the skins of
wild beasts, and offered human sacrifice
in their worship; who roamed from
place to place without. a settled habita-
ton or a home, he would hear described
as a race of warriors, self sacrificing men
who willingly devoted all to the well
fare of their country. The proud citi-
zen of the Eternal City would in all
probability not only be astonished but
somewhat indignant to hear a tribe Of
wretch ed savages, as be considered
them, lauded at the expense of his
countrymen, to whom the world is
greatly indebted for what it now pos
sesses of arts, science, literature and
philosophy.
Ten centuries hence could an Ameri-
can citizen of the present day visit the
scenes of earth and read the history of
his time he would probably peruse in
the ommon school history something
like the following: about the middle
of the 10Th century the Utes, a power
full nation of the American aborignes,
took up arms and endeavored to expel
the white usurper from the lands of
their forefathers. Although at first
successful, their able and warlike chiefs
defeating the whites in several pitched
battles, they were finally overcome
and reduced to the condition of servi-
tude in which they continued until
their extinction.
The heroic effort of these noble bar
barians has not received the mott ce it
merits in history, the few scanty rec
ords that exist regarding them were
written by the partial historians of the
dominant race. There is but little
doubt, however, that they excelled in
the more useful arts and were not UNI
acquainted with science and philosophy.
Abundant evidence exists to show that
they possessed a copious literature.
Had the ruthless hand Of the conqueror
spared the works of their great oracles
and poets they might have equaled or
eclipsed the productions Of Demos
themes or SHAKESPEARE.
When we speculate upon the charac-
ter Of this superior people from the few
remaining vestiges of their past power,
wefeel justified in p~ronouncing them a
representative nation of the great abo-
riginal race which once occupied this
continent, a race perhaps superior to
any other that ever existed. A cruel,
treacherous malignant band of adven-
turers from Europe, superior only in
weapons of war, by fraud, force, treach-
cry and deceit deposed them of their
stately cities, their fertile fields, their
happy homes, and not satisfied with
this, even destroyed the memorials of
their intellectual superiority and en-
deavored by gross misrepresentation
and falsehood to convince future gene
rations that this mighty people consist
ed simply of rowing tribes of wretched
savages.
Great credit is due the historians Of
the present day who, by their indefat-
igable researches have thrown a flood
of light upon the hitherto doubtful his
tory of the American continent during
the 18th and 10Th centuries, II period
especially interesting to every lover of
freedom, as the time in which the ma
tive race was battling against the over
whelming force of the foreign intruder.
They have long since passed away;
they have long endured odium and dis
grace, but impartial justice has at last
been melted out to them, and the names
of Ouray, Persune, Capt. Jack, Sitting
Bull, Crazy Horse, and Spotted Tail,
1.-THE names were undoubtedly given by
the whites and transmitted in lieu of
the heroic designations properly belong
ing to them) will appear beside those
heroes who endeavored to stem the tide
of Roman conquests in the forests of
Germany and the swamps of Gaul three
thousand years before"
SAMUEL JOHNSON.