Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1898-08-18
CONSCIENCE SET ASIDE.
The Shortest Way and Not the Better
One Chosen.

communication l spoke of '-bet-
ter way" and promised then to
speak of it more fully in my next.
BY the "better way" / simply
mean that fair and humane policy
which the government might have
pursued in dealing with the Cher
KEGS instead of that one of harsh
ness and severity SO signally Illus
trated in the letter and spirit OF
the Curtis law. This "better way"
of course implies that the govern
ment should have observed and
enforced, instead of overriding
our Indian treaties.
There is class of minds, we
know, that habitlally make a
great deal of what they call "prac-
tical common sense;;" they disdain
to be known as being possessed OF
any other kind, and usually smile
at any allusion to the rules OF
morality and religion in the dis
cussion of legal and political pro-
positions. They hold that good
ness is not business; that sentiment
in this Indian controversy is cot
only useless but quite out of place.
"No use to grieve over split milk, "
they say; "better accept the situa-
ton, and say nothing more about
it" "The thing has been gone
and did, and that's an end ont"
Not so, however, exactly; when
bad thing has been done, and an
evil end, like the Curtis law, ior
instance, has been attained, these
geniuses of practical common
sense" may. it is true, allow the
transaction TO slip soon, and very
quietly. out of mind. But Qet il
not be forgotten) history has a
most lively conscience; it can never
forgive nor forget; it has claims ii
such cases which it will always
heroically insist upon in the inter
est of posterity.
In pointing out the "better way
il will, OF course. be necessary t.
contemplate the matter from
moral stand point; to turn upon /
the arclight of a natural con
science; that is to say We mus
look at it through the eyes of tn
Indian himself, through eye
whose esthetical vision has no
been perverted by the dogmas o
civilization. We concede, how
ever, that before proceeding, j
may be mete, we should tende
some acknowledgement TO TIL
vogue for SO abrupt an attempt
$50 unique and unprecedented Il
claim for an Indian tribe the bene
e OF an argument founded solel.
upon the doctrine ofabstract right
instead of expedieney and publ
policy.
When the government Of tn
United States, but a few decade
ago, deigned to meet the Cherokee
around their rural council fire, ani
smoke with them the historic pip
of peace and friendship and in th'
soft twilight of those successive
evenings (those fatal hours speci
ally set apart by nature for tn
breeding of confidence and tn
conquests of love- wooed ther
into these solemn treaty agree
ments. they, the Cherokees, hac
or at least thought they had, th
very best reasons in the worl
for believing that the promise
| and pledges which they were rt
ceiving we're not only reliable, br
absolutely incapable of failure.
The ground of this fond delusio
was various and very peculiar. l
the first place, the men who ha
been selected to do this malignsr
courting were instruments exceed
ingly well adapted to the wor
which they had to accomplish
well clothed upon with an outfit {
all those affected graces which 8
often lead confiding innocenc
astray. They bad been largel
advertised as men of great yisdon
magnanimity and moral integrity
and the Indians were entreated
from all sources, to trustfully n
gard them in that light. Th
chairman of the negotiating con