Daily Republican., 1881-01-19
aDssSHirs sor
A Sermon ON Indians ana she
Wrongs Inflicted Upon Them.

Rev. J. NJ. P. OTIS, q former pastor ol
the West Presby terian Church, Of this
city, preached, on Sunday afternoon,
In the Chambers Presbyterian Church,
Broad and SAMSON streets, Philadel-
phia, on "Must the Indians be destroy
ed as the Canaanites i'
The reverend speaker began by ask
ing, "What Is our duty as ohurch-go-
ing people and citizens Of Christian
nation, TO the tribes OF American In.
dians still lingering among us !" He
said many people say they are tired Of
hearing the Indian question discussed
and want to let it rest, but, like Ban.
quo's ghost, it will appear when least
expected. Some people objected to
bringing the subject into church on the
sabbath day, but he said the time was
at hand when the voice of the church
should be heard, and If the matter
could be discussed in the church at all
it was as proper on the Sabbath as any
other day. He did not wisk 10 discuss
the present Indian policy Of the govern
ment, nor did he propose touching on
politics, but he was anxious to impress
his hearers with the Importance Of ad-
herring rigidly to the treaties the
American government made with tbe
Indians. He held that even when the
Csnaanites were wicked and disobey I'd
all moral law, their treaties were re.
spectsd even to the letter. He said the
American government made treaty af-
ter treaty with the Indians until now
about nine hundred Of these documents
are extant, and yet over eight hundred
Of that number have been broken by
the whites. The speaker referred to
the settlement Of the country by the
whites and their kind reception by the
He described how, as years
went by, the whites multiplied and the
Indians were driven further west, their
lands taken by force and their wrongs
by the government. He
said that he would not refer to the dark
side OF William Penn's relations with
the Indians, but he would devote him
self entirely 10 the actions Of the ma
tional government and the people at
large. He remarked that in all trea,
ties one of the most prominent and no.
ticeable words was "forever," used in
referring to the time the reservations
were to be occupied by the Indians,
but he said in the eyes of government
The word only meant as long as the
whites Msea. In speaking Of the
Georgia reservs alton ana the treaty nm
Ger which the Indians settled there he
,aid : "Their local laws were excellent
aud much better enforced than many OF
,ur numerous good laws now are. The
'ed men of this reservation We're allow |
ID to live In peace until gold was dis
covered there, but then the whites
poured in on the land Of the Indians,
he treaty was disregarded and the
children of the forest forced to move on.
Since that time the Indians have no
Iaith in the treaty promises Of the
He spoke Of the settlement Of the In
liam Territory and described how in
many cases designing white men, by
means Of liquor, got Indians to sign Pc
itions for removal Of a reservation;
out he is convinced from the testimony
}! Rev. DR.. Buckner, for thirty. one
7ears q missionary In the far West,
md many other reliable persons, that
he Indians are strongly opposed to re-
moving from their reservations. He
lid not believe an Indian tribe ever
,roke q treaty first, and said: "As
Christians the people of America
hould insist on the government keep
ng the promises made in the treaties.
some people say that this trouble is all
,aussd BY the march of civilization,
,ut sincerely hope civilization will
lot march 30 far ahead of Christianity.
( the Indians were as powerful as many
oreign nations and could send full
.rmies into the field the whites Of this
ountry would act differently; but as
he Indians are weak and We are strong
hey are made to suffer-" He has his
wn ideas about Indian policy, but said
ack of time prevt nted him from ex-
laining them, bat in his opinion the
rst thing to be done was to train the
indians on the reservations for citizen
dip and respect their treaties as rslig-
'usly az agreements with foreign pow
rs are respected. He read petition
skiing the Government to protect the
Indians on the various reservations
'om the encroachments of whites and .
nd the document was presented to
ongress last winter, with several thou
and sign atures from fifteen different
tates. The pastor was instructed to
gn thu petition for tho congregation
nd 1t will be presented to Congress
gain during the present session.