The removal of the Poncas from their reservation, and the failure of Congress to pass the bill for their relief, illustrate the facility with which crimes, and blunders which have all the fateful results of crime, have been committed by us against the Indians; also, the criminal tardiness with which we correct such blunders.
The Government in 1868 made a new treaty with the Sioux, and settled them upon reservations in Dakota, which included 96,000 acres of land belonging to the Poncas, one of the most peaceable of all the Indian tribes, who had held and had been dwelling upon this land ever since they were known as a tribe—held it, too, as an absolute grant from the United States, under a guaranty of peaceable possession during good behavior. Without their knowledge or consent, as also without a shadow of complaint against them as a tribe, their reservation was set apart and given into possession of the Sioux. Failing to gain their consent to a removal, the Government forced them, without compensation, for their homes and fields, or other losses, to abandon their own and settle upon a reservation in the Indian Territory, where the climate was to them inhospitable. As a result of this, their numbers have been greatly diminished, they have become discouraged and disheartened, and are making no progress toward self-support. This alienation of their lands was an acknowledged blunder, due to ignorance of boundaries on the part of Congress; but their arbitrary and cruel ejectment from their homes, without charge of crime, and in violation of most solemn pledges, is more than a blunder; it is an act of high-handed injustice and robbery.
The bill reported by Senator Dawes, of the Senate Select Committee, to investigate their removal, requires the Secretary of the Interior to return the Poncas without delay to their Dakota reservation, and provides that their title to the same shall be deemed valid, anything in the Sioux treaty to the contrary notwithstanding. It also requires the Secretary of the Interior to restore to the Poncas “use and enjoyment in the same condition, as nearly as may be, when left by them, all houses and other improvements and personal property belonging to the tribe when removed from Dakota, and for all the foregoing purposes provides an appropriation of $50,000.” The minority report proposed simply to compensate them for losses sustained by removal, but hints at no remedy for the wrongs they have suffered in this removal.
And now Congress has adjourned without action of any kind for their relief, and they are left to brood over their wrongs, and mature such plans of revenge as suggest themselves to savage minds.
The appointment of a commission to China to investigate, report upon, and adjust the difficulties growing out of Chinese immigration, suggests the propriety of a commission of like character, as regards its members, to take into consideration the agitating questions relating to the Indians. There is nothing which more nearly touches our honor, or more intimately affects our peace and prosperity, than does the condition of these people. We believe that a commission of statesmen would devise some solution of our difficulties, and suggest a remedy for the wrongs and injustice which have characterized our treatment of them, and thus bring to an end their wild and lawless mode of life.
THE NEGRO ON THE INDIAN.
The negro teacher of the Indian boys at Hampton pithily says some things which go right to the heart of his subject, and are well worth repeating and remembering. The following extracts are from Prof. Robbins’ Report to the Trustees of Hampton Institute. The much-abused negro, forgetful of his own wrongs, stands before the Anglo-American to plead for the Indian and urge a more excellent treatment of him. We commend the whole report to the thoughtful consideration of those who yet doubt the capacity of either the negro or Indian for Christian civilization:
“The Indian problem which the people of the United States have so long been trying to solve may be briefly stated thus: Shall we be able to teach the Indians to surrender their lands and their houses to us, when we want them, without fighting? It is a singular fact that the American people require more Christian charity from the Indians than they themselves are ready to give.”
“The question is not, can the Indian learn, but will he put his knowledge to practical use? The answer to this question depends upon the future policy of the Government. The white man, to put his knowledge to the most practical and profitable use, has a choice of location. He goes where his services are most demanded, and where he can get the best returns for his labor. Are these Indians to be bound to get their living on one reservation, or will they be left free to choose homes for themselves?”