Year: 1875

With the facts in the case they have moth
ing to do. as the purpose is simply aai solely
to find fault with each and every member
Of the Administration, without regard to
justice or the merits of the case. But
while they pursue this policy they fail to
satisfy the natural doubts and curiosity it
provokes by pointing out any other line
that could be pursued for the settlement
OF the difficulty. They do not show how
the section may be opened or safely
guarded from invasion how the greed OF
the gold-seekers may be repressed. or the
dog-in-the-manger policy of the Indians
may be overcome. If they would boldly
argue that the Indians are entitled to re-
main in possession, regardless of the in
terests- of all Christendom, and OF the
growing demands of our rapidly develop
ing or increasing population, they would
perhaps, have the basis of an assumed con-
sistency for their position, but they could
be easily answered. 1t is proposed to take
nothing from the Indians for which they
shall not be amply repaid. The barren
hills for which they profess so much SEN
timental love are incapable of sup
porting them, and so long as they
reside upon them they must remain
paupers upon the charity of the Gcv-
eminent. If they were really the
noble red men some people profess to
believe them to be, this dependence would
be revolving to them, and they would will
ingly make great sacrifices to rid them
selves of it. But they are nothing of the
kind. In place of the generous and ro-
mantle savage depicted by Fennimore
Cooper and revered by American youth for
generations, we find them to be worth
less, shifleSs, lazy set of rascals, willing to
be gorged on free rations until their bodies
become subjected to the diseases of glut
tony, and possessing only one commanding
trait of human nature, the scruel blood
thirsty desire to do battle unto death with
real or imaginary foes. Added to this they
possess the natural arrogance and conceit
of besotted ignorance and the stealthy craft
of wild beasts. With these characteristics
it was to be expected they would refuse the
generous offer to exchange their unpro-
ductive loafng reservations for others
where they might enjoy the luxury Of self
support and opportunities to become civil
Izcd, if not Christianized.


1t is in this one word Christianized that
the Indian policy of the President finds its
most acceptable basis. So long as these
miscreants remain where they now are
they will be subjected to influences which
will serve TO continue the force.of their
respect for savage belief in the Great
Spirit in medicine men, and in the pecu
liar and crude religious theories handed
down to them from their savage ancestry.
1t is true a few adventurous missionar:e :es
like DR.. Hinman may occasionally find
access to them, but the efforts of such men
will not avail to make any lasting impress
sion upon their obdurate hearts. At the
same time it must be remembered that the
Cherokees and other tribes located in the
Indian Territory have exhibited encour
aging tendencies in the direction of moral
and religious reform. They have learned
to till the soil, and cultivate farms with
profit to themselves and benefit to the en-
tire country. The economy of this policy
is at once as strikingly apparent as its
Christianizing tendencies are commend
able


These are the facts as they will be sp-
preciated by the public, and the Opposi-
ton will be held responsible for every i'm
pediment thrown in the way of a realiza-
ton Of tie policy of the Admins
tration. In truth, if an Indian war does
follow from the sullen determination
of the Sioux chiefs to disregard the
generous appeals of the President, the
OPPOSITION will not be entirely blameless.
The. have encouraged the traders, "squaw-
men and others of like kidney, whose
seIfshinterests demand that the Indians
shall not be allowed to enjoy the priVi-


leges oil living in the Indian Territory, to
provoke captious and impudent spirit of
fault-fndng in the minds of their savage


friends, ad if, as we have said, war


should folow it will inevitably be traced


to that spit of intolerance and imprudent


self.reliancS