Year: 1876

Waiting for the News.


Unless Sitting Bull and his allies con-
clude that they cannot fight the white men,
and separate into small wandering parties,
it is possible that we shall have news OF
a decisive battle in few days. We have
five thousand men in the Indian country
under the command of two accomplished
and cautious officers There is no force that
can beat this command if it is well
handled. There is no prospect of its being
defeated in detail. Clusters fate will save
us from similar disaster. We have rumor
that Crook has already met the Sioux and
punished them with great loss But the
story lacks confirmation. Our fear is that
Sitting Bull will run away, taking to the
hills or to Canada. Such result would end
the campaign. which, for loss of men and
money, would be one of the most disastrous
in our history.


If Sitting Bull should escape, and the cam
paign should thus end in disaster, we must
not be discouraged. We have entered upon
this Indian question, and we must settle it
now This seems to be the purpose Of the
President as indicated in our Washington
dispatches. The whole work should de-
volve upon the army. That sink of in
iquity, the Indian Department. should
be closed up. We should 60 on and
occupy the whole of this Indian coun-
try, pushing our forts into all the command.
ervations-not many, but enough to allow
the Indians to live in comfort. Then we
should order every Indian within these
limits there to remain. We should disarm
them and that they were not equipped
for new spring campaigns by the agents OF
Commissioner Smith There should be no
pausing in the military work. Peace can
only come with the Indians when every
tribe is under our guns. That done, we can
do all in our power to civilize them, if civili-
zation is at all possible


THE LETTERS FROM FRANK PococK, the
faithful young Englishman and last surviv-
ing white man accompanying Henry NJ.
Stanley, which we print elsewhere,
form on admirable supplement to
the more comprehensive letters of his
master from Central Africa. There
is refreshing naiuete about these letters
which will appeal to the best feelings of our
human nature. He has received the warm
est Communications from Stanley, and from
time to time there crops out o hint OF
the tough mettle of the young fell
low which will, we hope, secure him
the English wife he asks his parents to look
out for in his absence Few labored descrip-
tions of tribe Of friendly savages could
excel that wherein he describes the lake
natives as ''naked but civil" His descrip-
ton of Lulzongeh, King of Ukerewe,
with ''about twenty fathoms Of fine
brass wire round his legs" has fine
touch of the jolly tor about it. His diff
culties with the language are admirably ex.
pressed in the appalling statement that there
is "a fresh lingo every twenty miles"
Touching on the sad subject of his brothers
death, he gives suggestive measure Of the
wild excitement of their life, 'This is an
awful country to forget; I'm suro poor
Ted's death was not in my mind one hour"


THE HOTEL AND BoAnDINa HOUSE THIEVES
nre becoming very active lately. Crime is
protean, and the boarding house thief of to-
day is often the pickpocket of yesterday.
Look up the references of your new gentle
manly boarders, o landladies! No honest
man will object, but the thieves ore week on