Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-09-21

of my Canadian fisheries" The United
States said: 81 will not pay anything"
Well, the two nations say: ~ guess
we had better leave the whole matter
to q commission" The commission is
appointed, and the commission examines
the affair, and the commission reports,
and pay we ought, pay VIC must, pay we
do. Not a pound Of powder burned, not
a cartridge bitten off, no one hurt so
much as by a scratch of a pin. Arbitra-
ton instead of battle.
So h Samoan controversy in any
other age would have brought Germany
and the United States into bloody COLI
sion. Blu. all Is settled. Arbitration
instead of battle.
France will never again, 1 think,
through peccadillo OF ambassador, bring
on a battle with other nations. She
sees that God, in punishment Of Sedan,
blotted out the French empire, and the
only aspirant for that throne who had
any right of expectation dies in a war
that has not even the dignity of being
respectable. What is that blush on the
cheek of England today? What is the
leaf that England would like to tear
out of her history? The Zulu war.
Down with the sword and up with the
treaty.
We in this country might better have
settled our sectional difficulties by arbi.
t%ration than by the thrust of the sword,
Philanthropy said TO the north: "Pay
down a certain amount of money for the
purchase of the slaves. and let all those
born after a certain time be born free"
Philanthropy at the same time said TO
the south: 'You sell the slaves, and get
rid Of this great national contest and
trouble" The north replied: ~ won't
pay a cent" The south replied: II
won't sell" War! War! A million
dead men, and a national debt which
might have ground this nation to pow
der.
Why did we not let William II.
Seward of New York, and Alexander II.
Stephens, of Georgia, go out and spend
q few days under the trees on the banks
Of the Potomac and talk the matter
over, and settle it. as settle it they
could, rather than the north pay in cost
Of war, 81. 200, 600, 600, and the south pay
81, $50, 600, 900, the destroying angel leay-
ing the first born dead in SO many
houses all the way from the Penobscot
to the Alabama, Ye aged men, whose
sons fell in the strife, do you not think
that would have been better7 Oh yes!
we have come TO think, in this country,
that arbitration is better than battle.
/ may be mistaken, but / hope that
! the last war between Christian nations
is ended. Barbarians may mix their
war paint, and Afghan and Zulu hurl
the poisoned arrows, but ! think
Christian nations have gradually learned
that war is disaster 10 victor as we'll as
~vanquished, and that almost anything
bought by blood is bought at too dear a
price. ! wish TO God this nation might
be a model Of willingness for arbitra-
ton. No need of killing another Indian.
No need Of sacrificing any more brave
Genera Clusters. Stop exasperating the
red man. and there will be no more
arrows shot out from the reservation.
a general OF the United States army, in
high repute throughout this lard, and
who, perhaps, has been in more Indian
wars han any other officer, and who has
been wounded again and again in be-
half Of our government in battle against
the Indians, told me that all the wars
that had ever occurred between Indians
and white men had been provoked by
white men, and that there was no ex-
ceptiUn to the rule. While we are arbi-
trating with Christian nations, let us
toward barbarians carry ourselves in a
manner unprovocative of contest.
/ inherit a large estate, and che waters
| are rich with fish, and the woods are
sonatul with. birds, and my cornfields
| are silRen and golden. uvfV-
! ter's grave. Out yonder, under that
large tree, my father died. An invader
comes and proposes to drive me of and
take possession of my property. He
crowds me back, he crowds me on, and
crowds me into a closer corner, and still
closer corner, until after a while / say:
stand back, don't crowd me any more
| or III strike. What right have you TO
come here and drive me off of my prem
Uses? / got this farm from my father,
aWd he got 1T from his father. What
right have you 70 come here n modest
me?" You blandly say: 'Oh, ! know
more than you do. i belong TO a higher
civilization. / cut my hair shorter than
| you do. could put this land TO a great
deal better use than you do" And you
| keep crowding me back and crowding
me on into a closer corner and closer
corner, until one day / look around upon
my suffering family, and fred by their
hardships / hew you in twain. Forth
Win dllRlt WIN SohNo w NouA
| TO pronounce eulogium, comes 10 my
execution to anathematize me. You
are the hero, L am the culprit. Behold
the United States government and the
North American Indian. The red man
| has stood more wrongs than l would, or
you. We would have struck sooner,
deeper. That which is right in de-
| tense ot a Brooklyn home. or a New
York home is right in defense Of a home
on top of the Rocky mountains. Before
| this dwindling red race dies completely
| out, / wish that this generation might
by common justice atone for the inhu-
mainly Of its predecessors. In the day
| of Gods Judgment, ] would rather there
be a blood smeared Modoc than a swind-
ling United States officer on an Indian
| reservation! One man was q barbarian
| and a savage, and never pretended to be
anything but a barbarian and a savage.
The other man pretended to be a repre-
sensitive Of q Christian nation. Not
withstanding all this, the general dis
gust with war and the substitution OF
] diplomatic skill for the glittering edge
| OF keen steel is a sign unmistakable
Chat 'the day is at hand"