The Poor Indian, An Earnest Movement for the Amelioration of His Condition.
The Poor Indian.
An Earnest Movement for the
Amelioration of His Condition.

THE POOR INDIAN.

An Earnest Movement for the Amelioration of His Condition.

A MORE LIBERAL POLICY DEMANDED.

Convention of the United States Indian Commission at Cooper Institute--Letters, Resolutions, Addresses--A Speech by a Cherokee Chief.

    In accordance with a resolution adopted at a public meeting of the citizens of New-York, held on the 26th of April, a convention of the United States Indian Commission was held yesterday, at the Cooper Institute, to consider the subject of a peaceable settlement of all our Indian difficulties. Delegates were present from various parts of the country, including representatives of the Indian Commission, of the Cherokee and Creek tribes, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Land Reform Society and the Universal Peace Society. The entire Convention numbered sixty or seventy persons.
    The meeting was called to order at 10 o'clock A. M., in room No. 24, by Mr. PETER COOPER, who made some remarks on the wrongs and abuses which had attended the policy of the nation thus far in its treatment of the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. Mr. BENJAMIN TATHAM was then chosen Chairman of the Convention, and EDWARD CROMWELL, Secretary. A large number of letters were read, coming from prominent public men, including Gen. Sherman, Secretary Cox, Senators Morrill and Buckingham, Representatives Sargent, Hill and Logan, Col. Eli S. Parker, Wendell Phillips, Wm. Lloyd Garrison, Horace Greeley, Edward Lounsberry, Rev. Henry W. Bellows, Samuel M. Janney, L. S. Richards, President of the Peace Society.
    The following are the letters of Secretary COX and Gen. SHERMAN.

SECRETARY COX'S LETTER.

                                           WASHINGTON, 14th May, 1870.
    MY DEAR SIR: Up to a late hour I have hoped that I might be able to attend the Convention of the United States Indian Commission on Wednesday next; but I now find that important business connected with the Indian Bureau will compel me to be here on that day, and that I must forego the pleasure of being with you.
    I regret this more because I have found my experience constantly leading me to attach greater importance to the co-operation with the Government of the voluntary associations of benevolent citizens in the work of Indian civilization.
    The President's purpose in appointing the Commission of which Mr. BRUNOT is Chairman, was to establish a cordial connection between the officers of the Indian service and those citizens who are in earnest in their wish to make our Indian policy one of which a civilized nation need not be ashamed. We desired that the public should know what we are doing and our purposes in doing it, and that we should have the advantage of the counsels of a disinterested body of well-known men, while our agents and subordinate officers should be under an inspection which they could know to be both searching and honest.
    The appointment of Friends to the several agencies was another step in the same direction. It was designed to proclaim to those who are interested in the welfare of the Indians that we wished our agents to be co-workers with the missionaries, and to assist their work instead of thwarting it. The Government has thus held out its hand to the moral and religious people of the country, and invited closer co-operation and a more intimate mutual understanding in the efforts to save from destruction, both physical and moral, the remnants of the original inhabitants of the land. Pardon me for saying that the response has neither been as prompt nor as hearty as we thought we had a right to expect. We hoped for a concentration of benevolent effort, and a revival of missionary enterprise in this direction which would at least equal what we are willing to do for foreign heathen. The Friends have shown praiseworthy interest in the agencies under the charge of members of their society, and have had committees of their own to visit them, and to give them both moral and material aid, but what have others done? With the bright exception of the Santee Sioux mission we have heard of but little here.
    My own theory is that every agency, with its agent, its missionary teacher, its farmer, its interpreter, its smith, should be one mission family, with unity of purpose, of sentiment and of character. We want the co-operation of the whole Christian community to bring this about. The official part the Government may do is small, if it stands alone; but with the assistance of the voluntary benevolence of a great people, such as it was willing to show in the Sanitary Commission, we can do much. Without us you will be the Sanitary Commission without the army: without you we shall run back into the old r�gime when agencies were given as political prizes to partisans. Will you permit that to happen? I think that question must be answered very soon; we are now in the second year of this Administration.
    But I had no intention of reading you a lecture. The one practical thing I have to say is that in the administration of Indian affairs, as an officer of the Government and in behalf of the President, I ask the organized help of the good people of the land, and I tell you that unless we have it, on a scale entirely beyond anything hitherto attempted in this direction, the doom of the Indian is sealed, and a quick extermination with the sword would be a mercy compared with the influence of our civilization.
    We have now some hope of avoiding war this season. RED CLOUD and other Sioux Chiefs, who have been the terror of the frontier, have promised to come to Washington, and if while they are here they can receive practical evidence of the nation's determination to keep faith instead of repudiating solemn treaties, we may reasonably expect good results from the impression made on them by the power and greatness of the nation.
    Assuring you again of my real regret that I am unable to be at your Convention. I remain
    Very truly yours,    J. D. COX.
EDW. CROMWELL, Esq., Secretary United States Indian Commission.

GEN. SHERMAN'S LETTER.

                             HEAD-QUARTERS ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES,}
                                     WASHINGTON, D. C., May 16, 1870.}
Edward Cromwell, Secretary, No. 123 Broad-street, New-York:
    DEAR SIR: I have your note of May 13, and regret that I cannot attend the meeting of the Indian Peace Commission at New-York. I doubt not the generous feelings of the good people interested in this meeting, but it does seem to me that they accomplish little or no good. The Indian question is a practical one, and not one of mere feeling; and, so far as my observation extends, the wild Indians are rather damaged than benefited by the conflict of extreme opinions which these public meetings engender. The real question can only be discussed fairly where the Indians are, and if you will adjourn your meeting to Fort Sully, Fort Rice, or Fetterman, where you can see the Indians themselves, I will feel strongly inclined to attend the adjourned meeting. With sentiments of the utmost respect,
                                             I am, yours truly.
                                        W. T. SHERMAN, General.

    Col. PARKER regretted that important public duties detained him at Washington, and expressed the hope that the meeting would serve "to enlighten the public mind upon the subject of our Indian relations, and thereby permanently assure the establishment of the peace policy of Gen. GRANT." Senator MORRILL expressed his full sympathy with the objects of the Convention, and said that he expected to have an opportunity to express his views on the subject of our Indian relations before many days in the Senate.
    The letter of Mr. GARRISON condemned, in the most emphatic terms, the Piegan massacre, and officers who were responsible for it, characterizing the spirit of Gen. SHERIDAN as "terrible vindictiveness." "Let the remonstrance;" he said, "be loud, the language explicit, the action uncompromising, and these will not be in vain."
    WENDELL PHILLIPS' letter was characteristic of the writer. It was as follows:

LETTER OF WENDELL PHILLIPS.

                                         BOSTON, May 17, 1870.
    DEAR SIR: I deeply regret that I cannot be with you on Wednesday, regarding the meeting as I do as one of paramount importance.
    Every American ought to blush at this nation's treatment of the Indians. Reckless, treacherous and bloodthirsty, we descend to all the cruel methods of warfare which we charge the Indians with using--often an unjust charge--only to find ourselves foiled, after all, at our own game.
    The hands of SHERIDAN are foul with Indian blood, shed by assassins who acted under his orders and received his approval. If he filched success by such baseness, ruffians might fancy we had gained something. But after dragging the flag through this infamy, he is whipped by his numerically contemptible foe. Still he is no worse than others. Many of our frontier commanders have shown themselves miscreants--and worsted, out-generaled miscreants at that. We have been obliged, after all the shame they load us with, to buy that peace which their clumsy swords, rusted with innocent blood, failed to secure. Of course brave men are always just, fair and merciful.
    I am for an immediate, entire and permanent change of our Indian policy. Make them citizens, hold them responsible to our civil law, and secure to them its protection. Call home the cheats and cutthroats, who only exasperate and abuse them.
    Treat them like men. Do justice, it you expect to receive it. Show them civilization before you expect them to copy it. Were they today the brutes some men fancy them, they could fairly say, "We have only imitated the examples you have set us for a hundred years." Let us reform this altogether.
        Yours,       WENDELL PHILLIPS.
    Col. S. F. TAPPAN.

    Mr. JANNEY is Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Northern Territories. His letter was dated at Omaha, and gave his views at some length as to the proper mode of treating the Indians. He thinks that philanthropic families, who feel all interest in this matter, should settle among them, carrying with them the virtuous practices and the useful arts of civilized life. He would have schools and churches built and supported, and different departments of industry established on their reservations, and not change them from one place to another for the accommodation of white settlers.
    After the reading of the letters, Mr. TATHAM made some remarks, in which he reflected very severely on the tone and tenor of Gen. SHERMAN's letter, which also received fierce condemnation at the hands of Mrs. MARY F. DAVIS and others.

COMMITTEES.

    After some general remarks by several persons, on the mistakes of our Indian policy in the past, and the great injury which had resulted from it not only to the Indians themselves, but to the nation, it was proposed that a committee of five be appointed to draw up an address to the people of the United States, setting forth in a strong light the facts as they are with regard to the wrongs and abuses existing in this department of the Government, and calling for an expression of public sentiment which will require it to be reformed altogether. Considerable discussion ensued as to the constitution of the Committee and the character of their work. Mr. VINCENT COLYER thought it should be confined to a statement of facts, enlightenment on the subject being what the people needed. Col. VANN, of the Cherokee delegation, himself partly Indian in blood, wished all theorizing to be avoided. He was afraid of the adoption or inauguration of a policy which would not be based on a thorough knowledge of what the Indian needed. He believed that measures should be set on foot for the elevation and civilization of the race before the elective franchise was given to them. Any other course would be ruinous. To make the enfranchisement of the race a political issue at present would be to urge on the policy of extermination. Col. VANN being reminded that his dis [sic] discussion of the general subject was out of order, remarked that he feared they were going to issue their addresses, settle upon their policy, and then hear the wants and requirements of the Indians afterward. He and his people had an interest in this matter beyond those of general philanthropy, and it was all-important to them that the work be done intelligently and wisely. The Committee, as finally appointed, consisted of Col. S. F. Tappan, Col. Vann, Rev. E. A. Washburn, Benjamin Tappan, and Mr. Burnap. Mrs. Davis and Rev. Dr. Holdich were added by a special vote. A Committee on Resolutions was also appointed after some debate. It consisted of Wm. Dorsay, Prof. Benjamin N. Martin, Col. Wynkoop, Alex. McLane, Sidney Smith and Mr. Perryman. The last name, that of an Indian, belonging to the Creek Nation, was added by special vote, as was that of Mrs. Tappan.
    On motion of Mr. WOLF it was resolved to appoint a committee to draw up a specific plan for recommendation to Congress, whereby this whole subject of Indian relations may be finally settled. The Committee was composed of the following gentlemen: Peter Cooper, Greenville Weeks, Cornelius Dubois, Louis Masquerier, Col. Vann and Col. Tappan. The Committee took the afternoon for their deliberations, and the meeting adjourned until 8 o'clock in the evening.

THE EVENING SESSION.

    On the reassembling of the Convention at 8 P. M., two additional letters were read, one from WM. WELSH, of Philadelphia, and the other from F. N. BLAKE, of Hamilton, Canada. The latter spoke of the mild and just policy pursued by the British Government in dealing with the Indians of Canada, and deemed that the result had been "peace and civilization among them and support and loyalty to the Government which has fostered and protected them."
    The Committees appointed to prepare an address to the people, and to determine upon a specific plan for the settlement of the whole Indian question, had found that the labors put upon them were too great for the time allowed, and were not prepared to report.
    The Committee on Resolutions submitted the following, which were adopted after considerable debate:

RESOLUTIONS.

    Whereas, The sublime and solemn truths of our holy religion, and the experience of men in all ages of the world, prove that no wrong can be practiced with impunity by one nation, race or individual upon another; and,
    Whereas, The continuance of the wrongs to which the Indian race has so long been subjected, tending to their direct extermination, cannot fail to bring upon the nation the severest retribution; therefore
    Resolved, That we ask of Congress, as representing a professed Christian people, to regulate their conduct toward the Indians by the command of the Son of God, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
    Resolved, That this Convention earnestly commends and cordially supports the humane and just policy of the President of the United States, in sending agents from among the avowed advocates of peace to certain Indian tribes, and his noble sentiments uttered in their behalf.
    Resolved, That the recent message of President GRANT and the report of the Secretary of the Interior, urging the obligations of Congress to carry out the treaties made with the Indians by what is known as the "Peace Commission of 1867," indicate a just sense of what is due to our national honor, and that the refusal of Congress to comply with the suggestions therein offered, would involve a violation of the plighted faith of the nation.
    Resolved, That we learn with deep regret that very important provisions of the treaties made in 1866 with the tribes of the Indian Territory remain to this day unfulfilled, and we sincerely trust that no legislation inconsistent with those treaties will take place without the previous concurrence of those tribes.
    Resolved, That the frequent non-fulfillment of treaty stipulations by our Government with the Indians is the fruitful source of our difficulties with them.
    Resolved, That the publicly-avowed purpose of a large body of adventurers at the West to carry out an armed exploration upon the hunting-grounds of the Sioux, involving, as it must, the destruction of the game and subsistence of the Indians, cannot fail to result in war, and that the expressed purpose of the President to prevent the departure of the expedition meets the hearty approval of this Convention.
    Resolved, That, the occupation of the Osage Reservation, in Kansas, by lawless men, without virtue of law or right, is disgraceful, and that simple justice requires their removal and the reinstatement of the Osages in full possession of their property, and that no action of Congress should in any way recognize the right of those intruders to remain.
    Resolved, That prompt appropriation of money by Congress to fulfill treaty stipulations with the Indians, and to supply the peace agents with means to enable them to accomplish their policy, is the truest economy, and a sure method of largely reducing the financial expenses of our Government.
    Resolved, That the policy of any Government culminating in the massacre of women and children and men enfeebled with disease as in the recent "massacre of the Piegans" and other similar horrors, fills us with humiliation and sorrow and openly invites the fearful consequences of retaliation on the part of a race driven to cruelty and merciless revenge, because they see in the fate of the Piegans a prophecy of their own.

    It was voted to send a copy of these resolutions to President GRANT, Secretary COX, and the presiding officers of both houses of Congress.
    Prof. MORTON then offered a resolution commending to the attention of Christian denominations throughout the country the suggestions in the letter of Secretary COX with regard to the co-operation of benevolent citizens with the authorities of the Government, which was unanimously adopted.
    After these proceedings had been completed, the Indian representatives present were invited to speak on the subject so vitally interesting to their people.

THE SPEECH OF THE CHEROKEE CHIEF.

    Col. DOWNING, the principal Chief of the Cherokee nation, stepped upon the stand. He was tall and dignified, with a dark but intellectual visage, and coal-black hair. He spoke with considerable difficulty in the English tongue, but exhibited a natural inclination to a picturesque and glowing eloquence for which he is famous in his own language. He said: We Cherokees are for peace. Peace prevails among our people. Treaties were made with our forefathers, and we have kept them. WASHINGTON said to our forefathers to lay aside their hunting pursuits and their bow and arrow, and to take up the tool, the plow and everything, and our women to take up the spinning-wheel and the loom. He said to us to improve our condition, to have schools, and we did so, and we are doing well and improving daily. We have forty-one schools, and thousands of children with dark hair and dark eyes, flashing in the forests of the West and going to our schools. We are trying all our might to improve our condition as WASHINGTON told our forefathers. We have churches throughout the nation. We have our own money, and don't want the Government to give us a cent in benevolence. We have a wholesome Government for our people and a Constitution in English and in Indian language, and laws well executed. And yet we are not right, we are not prepared for the power of Government to be thrown over us. It would crush us like children not able to walk. We not hate the white people, we are friendly and intermarriage is greatly in our nation, but white man's government would be like a flood, it would overwhelm us. We are growing. By and by we shall be strong enough and then we will say come. Now I say right here how all these Indian wars are brought about. The whole race is brand, but a few individuals are unruly. It is as if two or three men should go from the great City of New-York to the great City of Philadelphia and kill two or three men, and the great State of Pennsylvania should rise up with cannons against this City, and the whole people suffer. It is as if a great power should come over the seas to the great City of New-York, and say you must leave your homes and your beautiful gardens; your fathers are buried here, but you must go. O, how near the sad feeling would come to every heart. I remember in 1838 my people were living in a beautiful country in Georgia and Tennessee, where the streams delight the valleys, and the sweet birds sing; but they were seized in a day, and pushed with the bayonet west of the Mississippi. O, as the great God has mercy for you, have mercy for us, and leave us our last home in which we have been protected so long.
    After the speech of the dusky chieftain, Col. VANN made some remarks, in which he said the secret of the advancement made by the Cherokees was that they had self-government, and now they were afraid it would be taken from them. They had a government suited to their wants, and they prospered with it. The whites might think they could give them a better one, but it would ruin them. The turtle grew in his shell and lived very comfortably. It helped his development and was suited to his wants. A skillful artist might make a finer and more elaborate shell for him, according to his theories and rules, but it might not fit so comfortably and would probably not serve its purpose half so well.
    After the remarks of Col. VANN and some discussion regarding the payment of the expenses of the meeting, the Convention adjourned, subject to the call of the President.


Source:

Unknown, "The Poor Indian, An Earnest Movement for the Amelioration of His Condition," The New York Times, New York, Thursday, 19 May 1870, p. 8.

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