Year: 1871

men. who Arc melted into chiidiiKe connucnco
h.. H. .,norso;ai interest and kindness which
moe, them in the East we acknowledge the
literal truth of what they say, we feel that IL
>. :. ain and shame to continue in the Old
L.d hoaten track of spOliation and murder,
md vet wo do not know that it
can over bo reformed. We see with what
cc, and anxious veracity these wild orators
Law open all their hearts TO us. pleading to be
treated "a human beings, and yet we cannot
but expect TO lear before long of scenes of
horror on the border, where these same men
will bo murdered by our troops, or will be
found twining their red fingers in the hair OF
our slaughtered people Buffalo Goad, in
his fervid and touching speech last
night, referred unconsciously to the very
root of the matter. al believe you will make
"your people stop killing us. The Indian
"likos TO live, as well as the white man. We
care there, and we can't help it," That Is
their crime. They take up space on tho sur
face of the earth which is waited by mower
and stronger civilization, ptiless in its
strength and feroCiOus in its exactions. The
Indian sees the hopelessness of any contest
with us. as plainly as wo see it. He recog-





which he attributes to the direct favor OF
Heaven. "They promised my father said
Buffalo Goad, "that they would show him the
"road that the white men walked ID, that no
"might lead his people in it. But he died an
cold man, in a blanket and you soc me
"stll looking for that road and never finding
"it.r Not without certain clear and sensible
ideas of the right way were these
chiefs. They asked for school-houses, for
farming implements, and seemed to know
what they were for But the one thing that
lay closest TO their hearts was what Is most
reasonable and just, and what tho Saxon
land-lust makes most difficult to insure to
them-the peaceful and permanent possession
Of their territories. 1t will be promised now
| as before, and the promises will bc broken
10y violence or evaded 10y chicane in the future
az in tho past.


If we could hope that any rcsiduum Of
earnest resolve to assist in doing Justice TO
this wronged and plundered people would re-
main from tho cheers and the emotion OF
these meetings, wo would regard them with
moro satisfaction than is now possible. The
| Administration of President Grant is the first
that has made q serious effort to conduct the
| dealings of the nation with its wards upon
principles of common humanity. Already the
results of this system have JUSTIFIED It,
There has been some slight improve
mont in our Indian relations. If the
work thus begun is prosecuted with pcrseyer-
ance and steadiness, there is reason to hope
that the standing scandal to Christianity and
civilization may finally be removed. AT least,
we may reform our treatment of this doomed
and vanishing race raI.dly enough to be at
peace with them by the timo they disappear
This is as much as we can at present hope
for, unless in some unforeseen moral cataclysm
the natures of the Indians and the bOrderers
could be instantaneOusIy changed. In the
meanwhile the eloquent and earnest speeches
with which from time to time they startle and
disturb their destroyers are litCle moro than
the despairing protcstations of men convicted
by destiny, giving reasons why sentence should
not be pronounced.