“It is, in my opinion, a last attempt, and a last chance of existence for the sad remnants of the poor Indians of America. It is, I will say, if I may here repeat what I wrote in my second letter in 1853, their only remaining source of happiness; humanity and justice seem to demand it. If they are again repulsed, and driven inland, they will infallibly perish. Such as refuse to submit, and accept the definite arrangement,—the only favorable one left,—must resume the nomad life of the prairies, and close their career with the vanishing buffaloes and other animals.”
We have known this Father De Smet for many years, and have known of his connection as chaplain in the United States army, and of his extensive travels among the various Indian tribes of our country. We were well aware of his zeal and bigotry as a Jesuit; but we did not suppose he would take the first opportunity to combine all his associates, and the Indians under his influence, against the government that had favored him and his Indian missionary operations so readily. Yet perhaps we ought not to be surprised at this even, as the Roman hierarchy expressed more open sympathy and favor to the Southern rebellion than any other European power, by acknowledging the Southern Confederacy, and furnishing a man to assassinate President Lincoln.
We have introduced these quotations in our sketches of early history, in order to show to the reader the far-reaching policy, as also the determination of foreign powers, through the Jesuit missionaries, to accomplish the overthrow of our American institutions, and prevent the spread of them upon this coast. The following is copied from the Christian Intelligencer:—
“Rome in the Field.
“There are those who believe that Rome has an evil eye on this country, and that our next great battle will be with her hosts, rapidly mustering on these shores. We would not be alarmists, but we would not have our countrymen ignorant of matters which most nearly and vitally concern our country’s welfare. If the policy of Rome is to rule or ruin, let us know it. If it be first to ruin, and then to rule, let us know that.
“We purpose to go no further back than the beginning of the war, and to let the facts which we shall name speak for themselves. If they have no other lesson, they will, at least, show that Rome, during our terrible struggle for national existence, was true to her ancient history and traditions, as the enemy of civil liberty and the friend of the oppressor the world over.
“It will not be forgotten how generally and enthusiastically our adopted citizens, the Irish, enlisted in the army when the call first came for men to put down rebellion. In the early part of the war, there were Irish battalions, and regiments, and brigades, but there were few, if any, at its close. The truth is, after the second year of the war, the Irish changed front, and suddenly became sympathizers with treason and rebellion. It was noticed that the girls in the kitchen began to roll their fierce gutturals against Mr. Lincoln; their brothers in the army began to curse the cause for which they fought; desertions were frequent; enlistments stopped; and the attitude of the Irish mind before Mr. Lincoln’s second election was one of disloyalty and hostility to the government of the United States.
“And these facts can not be changed by the habit which these people have of boasting about fighting our battles, and saving our country. By actual examination of our muster-rolls, the simple truth appears to be, that only eight per cent. of our grand army were of foreign birth; the balance—ninety-two per cent.—were native Americans, who returned at length, worn and battle-scarred, to find their places on the farms, in the factories, and elsewhere, filled by Irish who had sought safety and profit at home, while our boys were courting danger and death in battle.
“It may be interesting to know when this change came over the Irish mind. What dampened their ardor, what quenched the glow of their patriotic impulse? The coincidence is so complete, that the cause is doubtless the same.
“It will be remembered that Bishop Hughes went abroad during the second year of the war, as was supposed, by authority of our government to interest the Catholic sovereigns of Europe in our favor. Instead of this, however, the archbishop went direct to Rome, and straightway the pope acknowledged the independence of the Confederate States. His insignificance gave him impunity, and purchased our silence. But the act had its influence; Biddy in the kitchen, Mike in the army, Patrick on the farm, and Mac in the factory, fell to cursing Mr. Lincoln as a tyrant and butcher. Enlistments among the Irish stopped from that time, unless it was bounty-jumpers and deserters. They banded together to resist the draft, as in New York, where they rioted in blood for three long days, and only yielded to the overwhelming power of United States troops. The spirit that actuated these human fiends came from Rome, and to Rome must be awarded the sole honor of welcoming to the family of nations a Confederacy whose first act was treason, and whose last was assassination. Indeed, it was Rome that furnished the assassin and his conspirators against the greatest life of modern times. And that assassin struck not against the life of a man, but against the life of the Republic; and if guilt lies in the intent, then is Rome guilty of the nation’s life.
“With such a record, Rome vainly puts herself among the friends of our free institutions. She misjudged, we think, but she no doubt thought the time had arrived to destroy what had come of Puritanism. And for this, she was willing to be the ally of a government whose corner-stone was negro slavery. Are we still dreaming that Rome is changed, or that she has surrendered the hope of supplanting Protestant freedom on these shores? Would not every Fenian lodge in the country rally to the help of the South, if there was a chance to restore the old negro-hating oligarchy to power.
“It can hardly have escaped every observing man that the Irish mind is expectant and exultant in regard to this country. They do not conceal their belief that the Catholic Church is to rise to the ascendant here, and that Protestantism is to do it reverence.
“But a few weeks since, Father Hecker, one of the lights of the Catholic Church in this country, said in a public lecture, in New York, that his church had numbered eleven millions of our people, or one-third of our population; and that if the members of his church increased for the next thirty years as it had for the thirty years past, in 1900 Rome would have the majority, and would be bound to take the country and rule it in the interest of the church. ‘And,’ continued the reverend father, ‘I consider it my highest mission to educate our people up to this idea, that America is ours, and belongs to the church.’
“It is all of a pattern. Rome during the war sought to ruin us in order to rule us. She failed in the first, but is no less tenaciously striving to accomplish the last. In a future number we will hope to show how she means to do this through the freedmen.”
It appears that, when our government became apprised of the value of Oregon as a part of its domain, and was informed officially by the provisional government of the situation of affairs generally at the time of the Whitman massacre, at the same time the information was so arranged, and the circumstances so stated, that the government and people were generally deceived as to the cause and ultimate object of that transaction. It is clear that the Hudson’s Bay Company designed to hold the country. It is also evident that the British government expected that the arrangements of the company were such that their title to the Oregon Territory was secured beyond a question.
The far-seeing shrewdness of P. J. De Smet, S. J., in relation to his efforts and church influence, was in a measure superior to both; for he made use of both to secure his object and add to the numerical strength of his church, and by that means gain political consideration in the United States and in other countries. For instance, all the Indian children and adults they have ever baptized (as may be seen by their letters to their society in Brussels) are counted, numbering two hundred and ninety-four thousand,—nearly one-half of their American converts. This, with all their foreign population, as claimed by them, and improperly allowed in the United States census, gives to that sect a political influence they are not entitled to; and were the question agitated openly, as it was undertaken once secretly, the result would show their weakness. While that church professes the open Catholic faith, it still holds to its secret Society of Jesus, and through it has carried its missions and influence into every department of our American government, more especially into that of the Indians. General Grant seems to understand our Indian relations, and has advised the best plan for disposing of the Indian question, i. e., place it under the exclusive control of the military department; and if an Indian becomes a settler, let him be protected as such.
After the greater portion of our provisional troops had been disbanded, Revs. Eells and Walker and their families were ordered out of the upper country, it not being deemed safe for them to remain, on account of hostile Indians who were notoriously friendly with every one claiming to belong to the Hudson’s Bay Company or to the priests’ party; as asserted by Father Hoikin, who says: “The country is as safe for us as ever; we can go freely wherever we desire. No one is ignorant that the black-gowns are not enemies; those at least who are among the Indians.”
Notwithstanding the order had been given, by Indian Agent Major Lee, that all the missionaries among those Indians should leave the country till troops could be stationed to protect all alike, still not one of the Jesuit missionaries obeyed it. On the 21st of August, Lieutenant A. T. Rogers writes to Governor Abernethy, as follows:—
“Fort Lee, Wascopum, Aug. 21, 1848.
“Believing it to be my duty to let you know any thing of moment that transpires at this station, for this purpose I now address you.
“At about 2 o’clock, P. M., at this place, a boat arrived, consigned to the French priests who have taken up their residence here, loaded with eight casks of powder; six of them 150 pounds each, and two of them 90 pounds each, making 1,080 pounds. I also took fifteen sacks of balls, 100 pounds in each cask; three sacks of buck or goose shot, 100 pounds each, making 1,800 pounds of ball and buck-shot; counted one sack of the balls and found about 3,000 balls. I also took three boxes of guns; opened one box, and found twelve guns.
“The general conviction at the fort was, that not more than 500 pounds of powder in all had been forwarded for the army by the government, probably not even that amount. I was told by the priest from an interior station, as also by one at the Dalles, that the powder was for four stations, viz.: Cœur d’Alênes, Flatheads, Ponderays, and Okanagons; and this had been purchased at Vancouver the year before. I judged that at least one-third of their outfit was ammunition.
“Three days previous to the arrival of the ammunition, four Indians, embracing their chief from the Waiama village, near the mouth of Des Chutes, came into the fort, much alarmed, saying there had been Cayuses to them, declaring that the priests were going to furnish them plenty of ammunition, and that they were going to kill off all the Americans and all the Indians about that place, and the Cayuses wanted them to join them; said also that out of fear of the Cayuses they had sent away all their women and children. We had the best of evidence that they were frightened. Out of some four or five hundred souls along the river, between the fort and the Chutes of the Columbia, not a soul was to be seen on either side,—all, they said, were hid in the mountains. It was some ten days before the Indians came from their hiding-places.
“When the munitions came, Quartermaster Johnson swore he believed the priests designed them for the Cayuses; said also, a man in this country did not know when he was in a tight place.
“I must say I also believed it.
“A. T. Rogers, Lieutenant Commanding Post.”[20]