Year: 1874




they will become as firm defenders of the new
order of things as they are now sturdy and
persistent enemies Of the Republic.


General Sheridan ON the Indian
Question.


What General Sheridan does not know of
the Indians it is likely they do not know them
selves and practical opinion from him upon
the great problem of their proper manage
ment is worth thousand theories of those who
reason about the Comanches and Cheyennes
upon the abstract principles of government
How to act with justice to the Indian and
safety to ourselves is certainly q national
question, but one which has never been fully
answered. The course of our government
from the first has oscillated between bribery
and butchery till the condition of affairs on
the Plains has become so bad that many per-
sons believe it incurable. Yet there must be
some remedy for the evils which threaten 10
blot out of existence the aboriginal American
race, and which perceptbly check the ad-
vance Of American civilization west of the
Mississippi. The opinions Of General Sheri-
dan, as expressed in the interview reported
to-day by Chicago correspondent Of the
HERALD, are therefore Of unusual Importance
and they are given with clearness and force
which show the gallant soldier to be as quick
and bold in thought as he is in action.


The reservation system General Sheridan
holds to be the only one by which the Indi-
ans can be ruled, but he considers it imper-
feet. He has little confidence in the present
Indian Department and in the peace policy Of
the Quaker commissioners and in this he is
fully justified by the facts. vast reservations
are provided for the tribes, and agents are ap-
pointed to distribute among them food and
clothing, yet it is impossible to keep them in
bounds. Every summer bands of young war
riors go off on plundering expeditions, and
although a general Indian war is impossible
these annual incursions prevent the settle
ment Of the country. A few hundred
mounted Indians can ravage whole frontier,
and immense regions on both sides of the
Rocky Mountains are without white popula-
ton because of this perpetual danger. Cen
eral Sheridan thinks the reservations are too
large, and that within smaller limits the In
dams would have greater inducements to
labor; and in this he is no doubt right. Ten
thousand acres for one Pawnee is o waste of
land. But deeper reason than this for the
annual disturbance he believes to be the in
competency of civil rule


The army is General Sheridan's remedy
He is firmly convinced that not till the Indians
~, TO ,fl<
manent peace be secured. and he justifes this
by strong arguments. The Indians, he AYERS,
respect the army and submit to it more readily
than they do to civilians and he denies that
the military government treats them with
cruelty. Had the Indians been under army
control there would never have been q war:
but, on the contrary, he insists that the soldier
should always, in dealing with these savage
tribes, precede the missionary. minister of
the Gospel is always more useful when he
breaches in the neighborhood Of bayonet
These views may startle some people, but
they are advanced by man who has studied
the Indians as carefully as Agassiz studied
geology, and who knows more about their
merits and faults than Proctor does of
astronomy.


We do not agree with General Sheridan that
it is absolutely necessary to have exclusive
military rule of the Indians but believe that
it Is yet possible for statesman to devise q
method more in consonance with the spirit Of
our institutions. In tree country, as far as
possible, the army should execute, not govern,
and this is the objection to o surrender Of the
wards of the nation to its soldiers. If our
Congressman, instead OF giving most of their
time to partisan politics and ambitious schemes,
would seriously examine the Indian question,
a thorough and permanent plan of government
might be devised; and if any public man
could solve the problem which has been neg
lected by all our national administrations he
would earn no minor place in American his
tory. In the meanwhile divided authority
should cease. Some more rigid responsibility
tor Indian affairs should be enforced, TOR the
country is weary of seeing the Western tribes
first demoralized by Quaker weakness and then
whipped by Sheridan's cavalry William
Penn did very well with his beads two hun
dred years ago on the Delaware, but the old
gentleman would have hard time now if he
could try the same experiment with the Sioux
among the Black Hills Of Wyoming