—Public sentiment has almost effaced the color line in Virginia; given political freedom and safety in North Carolina; and created a powerful party of “Independents” in Georgia; and it will bring South Carolina to her senses in time. Moral forces require more time and patience than physical force.—Christian Union.
—Two colored students of Mr. Spurgeon’s Pastor’s College, Rev. Messrs. Richardson and Johnson, with their wives, have left England as missionaries to Central Africa. They were all freed slaves from this country.
—The Rev. Alfred Saher, English Baptist Missionary at the Cameroons, West Africa, has translated the Bible into the language of the people, and now reports upwards of 2,000 converts.
The Indians.
—Mr. Wheeler writes from Keshena Agency, Wisconsin, of the second successful Agricultural Fair among the Menomonees. About 200 entries of corn and potatoes were made, with other vegetables, grains and grasses in abundance. The displays of woman’s work and of live stock were very fine. A ploughing match was held. About $200 was expended in premiums, voted from the tribal funds for that purpose. Advantage was taken of the opportunity for giving instruction in the arts of agriculture, and for exhorting them to keep their children faithfully in the schools. Such gatherings both prove and promote progress.
—Brig. Gen. Pope reports that the late outbreak of the Cheyennes was caused by starvation. He says of the Indians in general: “If they are left with the means to go to war, as is the custom, we simply sleep on a volcano. Unless, therefore, ample, and above all, regular supplies of food can be guaranteed to the Indians, I am compelled, in justice to the Government and the frontier settlers, to ask that more troops be sent to the agencies in the Indian Territory, and that at least two of the posts in Western Kansas be largely reinforced by cavalry. I have also to ask that any Indians sent from the North into this department be disarmed and dismounted before being sent here, so that they can be placed in the same condition as the Indians with whom they are to live.”
—Major Mizener reports more in detail:—The causes which led to the leaving of the Northern Cheyennes may be summed up as follows: They were disappointed in the country. Their rations were poor and entirely insufficient. They were home-sick, despondent and disappointed, and were anxious to get back to a country better known to them, and where game was to be had, while here they did not have enough to eat.
—General Sheridan attributes our Indian wars to two classes of causes; the first being the constant encroachment upon the lands of the Indians, sacredly guaranteed to them by treaty, and the constant removal of the tribes to distant reservations, in which they are again troubled by the tide of immigration. He says no other nation in the world would have attempted the reduction of these wild tribes, and occupation of their country, with less than 60,000 or 70,000 men.
—Secretary Schurz affirms that the real cause of Indian wars has been the breaking of treaties. He recites an exhaustive history of Indian wars to show that this has been the case, and that very few of the wars have arisen from the maladministration of agents.