The advocate., 1890-05-28
Speech In the United States senate In the Lat.
ter Part Of June, 1870

Speech In the United States senate In the Lat.
ter Part Of june 1879.
IN ll02 the great mass Of aboriginal population
% this country was on Che Mexican plateau.
There were some twelve or iiiern million In.
dAns then lnhabltlng this plateau around the
clty Of MeXcO, but up the valley Ol the Misss.
slppl, along the OHIO, upon the HANKS Ol the Al.
lcRhenles, nndin New York and New England
there were few scattered, nCOherent bands Of
Indians, Incapable OF being either powerful or
wealthy from the inCt thnl they moved from
pnco To place without settled agricultural or
definite hnblmilOn, and there never have been nt
any time ~ exceed 5000 hghtlng Indians on the
soil Ot this country since white men iirHt reached
orr shores, They are Just aaCgpabe Ol mischief,
Just ns capable Oi lnillctlng lndlscrlhablO wrongs
and nnmcleN Outrngcs upon the inhabitants 0t
The west to-day ls they were one hundred years
ago upon The citizens NJ the then west, Oi Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee,
The government the people, have always man
lfcstcd good faith toward The Indians When
you describe them as the owners Of the soil y0u
might nS well aver that the mttlcannke the coy
Oto and the buffalo are the prOprlctOrs Ol the
land where they dwell
THEY NEVER wEitE TuE OWNERS or rnE
SOIL.
The law Of nations the law of civilization, the
law OF humanity repels the INSERTION ~ bhseless
and unfOunded that they ever we're the owners
of the soil, They had the mere right Of OcCt.
pancy They had the right 10 exist.
Senator Dawes, Ji Massachusetts,, in
quired Of Ingalls,:
VIII the senator be- kind enough IN tell me on
what principle Of law the title tO the land man
occupies Is graded by his degree Of clylllNtlon2
Ingalls,, in his response, thus relteratcs
his own statement;
The senator himself knows that the Indians
never had anything that should be called title
~ the soil Oi this country; they mover had the
slightest right In it 10 never has been rcCOg
niIcd, And even I'M the reservations that they now
have given them by congress or by executive or
der, they simply nave the pOsaesSory right the
right Oi occupancy, subject 10 the right " emil.
nent domain I'm the American people. The Ru-
prcme court Of the United states has repeatedly
held that the only right Of the Indian In the soil
IL that OF mere possession. This principle ls too
well established tO admit VI doubt,
N the senator from Massachusetts, can believe
for AN instant that the great Supreme Ruler Of
this universe, designed this continent for the or
elusive use OF halia million seminaked, bTecch:
Divine Providence Is different from mine.
SENATORS THE PRESIDENT AND THE QUA
KERs BURLEsQUED ny INGALLS,.
This gaudy statosman(O thus continues
TO eXpound
The land that we are occupylng to-day WAS
bought and paid for. Whatever the Indians dc.
sired they have obtained for II, aud when Mr.. Al
lsOn, the senator from Iowa, speaks about the
soil Of his state and Of Illinois, and Of Wisconsin
having been purchased for five cents an acre,
that was more than II WAS worth. II was dear az
five cents an acre; there WAS nothing produced
upon II chat could es0d there WAS nothing that
was worth the attention NJ civilized men until II
1. t.sfN b
advances and lncrCments 0f civilization had been
made the abode Of communities Of happy ana
prosperous men,
let me say % the senator from Indiana (Mr
MOrtOn) and tO the senator from New Jersey (Mr,
FTelinghuysen) that the war chat lS now Waged
In the Black Hills IL the absolute and direct re-.
suit NJ the peace policy, But for II therO would
have been no Indian war In the Black Hlls. ~ !
was left tO the brOad.brlmmCd hat, the drnb sklrt
and the "thecn and "thOu" OF the Quaker. II was
left tO the potential influence Of the sChOOlmas
ter, the preacher and the Sunday school super.
and the result In that to-day the bones
Of hundreds " misguided men lle strewn along
those melancholy wastes from Laramie % the
Yellowstone, which might have been ayerted by
the proper proclamation from the president "
the United States. Il
venture the assertion that there never has
been n native Indian civilized or Chrlstianlzed,
Some races are plastic and some can be mold
ed some are elastic and can be- bent but the In.
dian Is neither; he is formed ont Oi rock, and
when you change his form you annlhllate his
substance. All efforts made to ClvlllZe the In
dian will be ~ expensive rs they are negatOry
and futile and the sooner the country under
stands that MI these efforts are valueess unless
they are based upon force supplemented by force
and continued by force, the less money we shall
waste and the less difficulty we shall have II ls
force that the Indian respects and not the Bible
or the primer II Is the armed hand Of the sol
dier and not the gown and the book Of the mis-
sOnary or the apostle.