Year: 1867




KiOwas.


The correspondent of the st. Louis Re
publican furnishes. the following report Of y
speech delivered hy aSa-tan-ka, or Sitting
Bear" the head chief and warrior Of the
Kiowas, to the peace commission which
lataly went among them, Il viii challenge
comparison with the most famous efforts Of
the Indian race in this line. He is about
) forty years old, snd is distinguished as the
fercest war-ehief now flying


SPEECH OF sA-TAE-KA.


It hasmade meglad to oneet you, the com
missioners of the Great Father. You, no
doubt, are tired Of the much talk of our
people. Many of them have put them
selves forward and filled you with their
sayings. have kept back and saidnot
ing; not that / did not consider myself still
the principal chief Of the Kiowa nation,
but others Younger desired 10 talk, and /
left Il 10 them. Before leaving, however,
as now intend to go, come to say that
the Kiowas and Camanches have made With
You a peace, and they intend 10 kespit. If
it bring prosperity ion M, We Of course VIII
like il The better. II It bring povertylahd
adversely, We will not abandon il. Il is
or roetFaet, and ii shalt stand


Onr people once carried on war against
Texas. We thought the Great Father
would not be offended, for the Texans had
gone out from among his people and be-
come his enemies. You now tell us that
they have made peace and retnrned to the
-.,oat eo.,;I., TI1a K;ouoo and 10 n,opobas
will now make no bloody trail on their
land. They have pledged their word, and
that word shall last unless the whites shall
break their contract and invite the horrors
Of war. We do not break treaties. We
make hut few contracts and those we re.
member we'll. The whites make so many
that they are liable TO forget them. The
white chief seems not TO he able 10 govern
his braves. The Great Father seems pow
erless in the face of his children. He
sometimes becomes angry when he sees the
wrongs of his people committed on the red
men, and his voice is loud as the roaring
winds; bat, like the wind, it soon dies away
and leaves the sullen calm of unheeded OPP
preston.


We hopenow that better time has come
If all would talk and then do as You have
done, the sun of peace would shine forever.
We have warred against the white man,
but never because il gave us pleasure. Be-
fore the day of apprehension came, no
white man came to our village and went
away hungry. Itgave us more JOY to share
with him thar il gave him TO partake of
our hospitality. In the far distant pastthere
was no suspicion among us. The world
seemed large enough for both the red and
the white man. Its broad plains seem now
TO contract, and the white man grows jeas-
ous of his red brother. He once came to
trade; he now comes to fight. He once
came As a citizen; he now comea as a
soldier. He once put his trust in our
friendship and wanted no shield bat our
fidelity; hut now he builds forts and plants
big guns on their walls. He once gave ns
arms and powder, and babe us hunt the
game. We then loved him for his conf
dence. He now suspects our plighted faith
and drives us to his enemies; he now
covers his face with the cloud of jealousy
and anger, and tells rs to begone, as the
offended master speaks to his dog.
We thank of the Great Spirit that
all these wrongs are now to cease, and the
old days of peace and friendship TO come
again. You came as friends; you have
patiently heard our many complaints. To
you they may have seemed trifiing; to US
they are everything. You have not tried,
as many do, to get our lands for nothing.
You have not tried to make new bargain,
merely to get the advantage you have not
asked to make our annuities smaller, but,
unasked, YOU have made them larger, You
have not Withdrawn a single gift, but, vol
unfairly, you have provided new guaran-
tees for our advantage and comfors. When
We saw those things We then said, these are
Tic men Of the past. We at once gave you
our hearts. You now have them. Ion
know what is best do for us what is best ;
teach MS the road to travel, and we viii not
depart from it forever. For your sakes the
green grass shall not be stained with the
blood of the whites; your people shall
again be our people, and peace shall be
our mutual heritage If wrong comes We
shall look to You for right; We know you
will not forsake ns And tell your people
to be rs you have been | am old and will
soon Join my fathers, but those who come
after me will remember this day. 1t il
treasured up by the old and will be car
ried with them to the grave, and then be
handed down to be kept as a sacred tradi-
ton by their children and their children
children.


And now the time has come when
must go. Goodbye; you may not see ms
again; but remember Sa-tan,ka. the white
mana friend