Year: 1873

that General Crook Is carrying strictly

 out the peace policy ill accordance with the instructions of the President,

 through General Sherman, lSSded two years ago. In tneS. Instructions It Is

 especially stated that all psacea ole

 In liaus on the reservations are to Oe

 protected by the military from out

 side interference, while those who

 refuse to go on reservations are not

 only to be prevented, as far as pos

 sibie, from committing depredatIons,

 but are to be sumIEarily punished for

 miSdeetls. The instructions arc the

 same to all commanders ill Indian

 localities, and these are given as an

 exposition of the peace policy as

 practiced under the orders of the Pres

 ident." Statements often repeated

 similar to the above are very lia ole to

 mislea0 the public and are often

 doub btless made for that purpose.

 They are made with an ingenuity and

 with sufficient truth to cover over their

 falSity so that those at a distance

 aud unfamiliar with the workings of

 the peace policy are very liable to De

 deceived. What we propose now to

 deal with are facts and the practical

 execution and result of this policy.

 In the first place, for the first time i'll

 the history of our government the

 Church has been intrrsted with the

 almost exclusive cnntrel-of- an im-

 portant branch of it. Plainly as thls

 Is at war with the chief cornerstone

 of our liberties, and one of the most

 cherished and loved principles of the

 republic 1t Is nevertheless true. For

 the first time the government has said

 that for one of our most sacred and

 trusted duties, we abandon the old

 idea that the children of free America

 shall be received and trusted accord

 ing as their intelligence and conduct

 make them deserving, and practically

 says though you may have piled up

 your charities mountain high, no

 matter what your capacity may be,

 or the sacrifices you have made for

 your country, if outside of the Church

 you must stand aside, for we put none

 but Churchmen on guard in this

 branch of our service. Now, if any

 great practical good resulted from

 this departure from the we'll settled

 policy of our fathers, it might be

 pardonable, though we could not

 forget nor shut our eyes to the fact that it was dangerous Aggression.

 The historian would search the pages

 of history in vain to find other results

 from the interference of Church with

 State than those of oppression and

 wrong. Nor would it be necessary to

 go far back to prove this truth. At

 our very doors we see in consequence

 of this system poor Mexico bleeding at every pore, her country in ruin and

 her people in poverty and ignorance.

 Spain in the throes of revolution, writhing in misery from the effects ot persecution and wrong, with all the improved implements of tor rture of the dark ages still unburned. Italy strug- gling manfully to throw off the yoke, with her people impoverished and in l ignorance, from the effects of centuries of Church rule. England with her bishops and priests rolling in wealth while tens of thousands of her peo- pie daily hunger for bread. But we need not further discuss this branch of our subject. What we have to deal with is the practical working of . the peace policy. A Board of peace 7 commissioners is selected ill the east who know nothing of the subject with which they have to deal, but are chosen } mainly perhaps for an interest they : have taken in the question from in- : formation impracticable and to a 7 great extent false. By these, agents superintendents and inspectors are sent to the far west, to engage in the arducus work of civilizing and Chris 5 tianizing the much abused Indians t These are mainly selected because they pray long and loud Tn public places, and because they possess the 9 fiuency of language at class meetings l and in prayer meetings to descan 9 upon the wrongs of the red men anC 8 the brutal barbarous abuses of tn. , frontier-men toward him until tht ] faithful congregation weep in sorrow l and the women discover ill thelr meel = countenances and their ardent love e something saintlike. Our martyrs ar d rive on their field of duty and admit C ting them to be honest fanatics, Gas i e sometimes the case, the Indian