Show DISCOURSE by elder george A smith tabernacle april 6 2 rm PM it is a matter of great pleasure to me brethren breth ren and sisters to again rise to speak in it your presence at a general genera conference I 1 am somewhat oppressed with a cold which renders an attempt to speak on my part a matter of some difficulty I 1 have been very much delighted at the remarks of presidents young kimball and hyde who I 1 have already addressed you today to day I 1 felt disposed however to make a few remarks in relation to the oppression br hyde spoke of of some individuals who in in consequence of stringent measures during the indian war had left and gone to california who complained of the measures being so strict and even oppressive and felt themselves so pin pinched elied they had to leave I 1 am not extensively acquainted with indian history but from tile the knowledge I 1 have had of the indian character and the nature of the wars war which have been carried on oil with them by the whites since tile first settlement of america and the difficulties that have had to be encountered wherever the indians have been opposed to the settlement of the country and attempted to destroy its inhabitants I 1 say from this knowledge I 1 am not ashamed or afraid to say that such a thing as oppression or stringent measures have never been adopted in eliis territory and we challenge any history or any man acquainted with the place to show one measure that has been adopted that was in any way oppressive or stringent i it is true the indians commenced and without any reason whatever to destroy the inhabitants and plunder their property were they mean degraded helpless hei pless indians indiana no they were lv brenot not but they were the men that had kept the p provinces ces of california chihuahua and new M mexico ca in I 1 continual alarm for the last 20 years evor for the last generation they have been led by chiefs whose heads have been sought for in 1 exchange for a thousand horses in vain armed with nith the best I 1 arms the united states co coald u ld furnish procured from hundreds and thousand thou bands band s of emigrants passing the country who poured out their ar arms and ammunition to the indians and supplied them them in abundance to destroy the whites were the indians few no the mountains mountain were alive with them and for hundreds of miles mile I 1 their number was unknown look back if you please to the early settlements of america when the most destructive w weapon th the I 1 indians deans had was the bow and arro arrow w and white men amply supplied with firearms fire arms in the colony of massachusetts that contained forty thousand people notwithstanding all the policy and skill of the whites six hundred 0 of f them were killed by the indians in one single season has it been so here it has not not a I 1 single i white person save kiel has fallen during t this his entire indian trouble only when they were going directly contrary to in ill direct opposition to and in open defiance of the instructions instructions counsels and directions given for their preservation were these regulations instructions and counsels stringent no but fiey were protective in ili their charter and rendered all safe who adhered to them on the other hand by violating them men have been cut to pieces their heads peeled and their hearts torn out but says one I 1 would like to hear of more recent disturbances would it not have been better policy instead of causing farmers to move into forts and herd their cattle with armed guards to raise armies and follow the indians into the mountains and exterminate them As a specimen of that kind of policy remember the florida war to say nothing of numerous others where a few hundred indians were all a there were to contend against and instead of a mountain aco a country antry where hundreds of indians can hide themselves and be perfectly secure on oil a square mile it was a lovel level count country rj which offered greater advantages to the whites against their red foes the stringent measures adopted in that war in attempting to exterminate the In indians dialls protracted tile war for several years cost twenty millions of dollars also the lives of thousands of troops beside ruh ruining I 1 gitig forever the health of thousands more after having had hundreds of families murdered and property almost without end plundered and destroyed and after hiring large tribes of indians from the missouri river to go and assist them in the war they finally resorted to the very honorable expedient of buying a pack of blood hounds to hunt them out of the country they were kept for years in ili this desperate situation with rumors of families being murdered hero here and there constantly saluting their ears were those measures oppressive think for yourselves how did the affair at lust last close congress gre sa voted money and treaties were made with the indians and a great many were bought out thit they could not seek out with b bloodhounds blood I 1 hounds were the indians conquered were they all killed off look at tile the indian called general bowlegs lie he went to new york and in passing peels museum of portraits he came to the portraits of military characters of the uni united ted states slates says he there is general scott and there is isgen eral era taylor I 1 licked both of those generals gene rals in the florida war that is the way the indians felt after all and there seemed to be more of them at the close of the war than at the beym beginning ning of it now come home liere here what has las been done n tile the settlements have been requested to save all their property and all their cattle to gather in their grain and move into enclosures and render themselves safe by temporary fortifications to keep their cattle and their grain out of tile the hand hands s of the indias In diaLS so that they could not steal it that is all the oppression there has been and what has been the result of this policy not a single person lias has been injured that did not v violate those instructions not a man since the first one was killed has all this been oppressive no how has this policy affected the die indians they have come in perfectly hungry saying for gods sake give us something to eat had an 0 opposite policy been adopted they would no doubt have can continued ti aued their depredations but our measures have so been carried out that the utah indians are humbled in their feelings and feel themselves worse whipped than any that I 1 have ever read of had we followed the bloody schemes of some to butcher them by wholesale and the orders of our worthy president to gather into forts had been unnoticed hundreds bund reds of men women and children would have fallen victims to the red mans rage and after we had slashed away for ten years there might have been more indian warriors to contend against than when we first commenced the men that have left for california and complain of stringent measures etc went because their hearts were corrupt and they did not love the gospel of jesus christ they went because they were not willing to listen to good goed and wholesome advice and to tile the principles of exaltation and salvation in ila no history that I 1 have ever read have I 1 found measures adopted in ili any indian country to preserve the inhabitants and property and reduce tile the red men more mild and less stringent a gent in consequence of the state of my lungs lu excuse me if I 1 make no further remarks at this time tho this is a subject that is worthy of DISCOURSE by president brigham young TAzz tabernacle mAcLE april 6 PM As the subject lias has been broached concerning the indians I 1 will take the liberty to make a few remarks and with all due deference renie and respect to my brethren and especially to br george A who has last spoken to you I 1 am under the necessity to satisfy my own feelings to deviate from his remarks I 1 a little I 1 will not say however that I 1 I 1 I 1 C rl S 9 I 1 shall deviate from his real feelings tho the I 1 may from what is conveyed in ills his remarks I 1 I 1 wish to say to this congregation and to tho the inhabitants of the territory of utah in connection with the travelers that are passing if the whites in their character and position with the I 1 intelligence and knowledge of the world and of mankind which they have had been as kind to the indians as they have been to the whites from the beginning there never would have been a single difficulty to this day I 1 wanted to make that assertion for it is verily true if the inhabitants of this Teni territory tory my brethren had never descended condescended con to reduce themselves to the practices es of the indians as a few of them have to their low degraded condition and in some cases even lower there never would have been any trouble between us and our red neighbors this is the key to the whole of it young men middle aged and boys have been in the habit of mingling with the indians of going to their camp and trading with theta them a little and they have tried to cheat them they have sat down iu in their wick cups and talked with them bliem in ili the most ludicrous manner mai iner they have gambled with them and run horses with them and then have taken a game of fisticuff with them if they had treated them as indians and as their degraded condition demanded it would have manifested their superiority and a foundation for difficulties would not have been laid br george says he knows what I 1 have said is ia true he did not explain his real feelings on oil this matter allow me to say a word in behalf of IN alker I 1 tell this congregation and the world that indian walker as lie he is called has not been at the foundation of the difficulties we have had he has had nothing to do with them I 1 told you so last summer and I 1 tell it to you now I 1 know it from that which e is within me has he done no wrong ong I 1 did not say he has done no wrong rw he has been angry and felt at times that he would like to destroy this people but I 1 do know that he has been held by a superior power at the very commencement of the fuss he ha was not in favor of killing the whites when kiel was was killed the indians were still in the kanyon and when the whites followed them they could have killed every man but walker said no they shall not be killed agrapine took liis his san pete squaw and his favorite horse and killed them and said if god is satisfied I 1 am who are the guilty indians A few bad men who thirst for blood who do not have the spirit or of the lord but love to steal indian children and kill one another who love to steal from each other and kill anybody or everybody in order to satisfy their thirst for blood A few of them we know but I 1 tell you walker has not been the cause of the indian war but the lord will work out the salvation of this people if they do is as they are told I 1 tell the brethren who live out oat from this city that the indians are friendly and wish to M make ake treaties now is the time to build forts and pastures for cattle by ditching and walls let the community un unite ite and build large pastures I 1 am far more mora afraid of white men stealing our cattle than I 1 am that the indians will go to now and do not scatter but gather when mon men are oppressed it W is in their own hearts and feelings it is ignot not because oppression comes upon them from any other quarter that they are dissatisfied they are not satisfied with themselves that is the trouble they may go to the states to california or ar anywhere else and they will not be satisfied but they will always be ba dissatisfied until they can leave themselves behind but as long as they must take themselves with them they will never be without the cause causa of their dissatisfaction they ought to have left self behind them when they started to come here and have come with a view to build up the kingdom of god all ali those who have come to these valleys with such feelings are sat satisfied fled they have always been satisfied and always alway swill will remain satisfied so long as they retain that good intention and do not again bring back self I 1 want to say a few words on indian character when one tribe of indians are at war with another e r if a few sally out and kill of the opposite party that tribe will watch their opportunity and perhaps go and kill men women and children of the other tribe they do not care who they kill if they can kill any of the tribe this has been taught them from age to age the inhabitants of the united states have treated the indians in like manner if but one person or only a few were guilty of committing a depredation upon a white settlement they have chastised the whole tribe triba for the crime and would perhaps kill elioso who w would fight and die for them but no mercy can be shown the poor indians no we will kill the whole of you if we can instead 8 of hunting out those who have committed the depredation and chus chastising Lising them according to their deserts we must shall this practice and teach them that the man mail who has committed the depredation is the man mail that must pay the penalty and not lot the who whole I 1 e tribe it is our duty to teach them good morals and the principles of the gospel of christ we are their saviors As I 1 have done all the time I 1 tell you again today I 1 will vall not consent to your killing one indian for the sin of another if any of them commit a depredation tell the tribe to which they belong that they may deliver up that man or men to be tried according to law and you will make friends of the whole tribe they have men among them they would be glad to have dispatched for instance there is a man at utah called squash head it is said ho he has made liis boast of taking father I 1 lemons child and killing it we know the other indians wish he was dead they aliey do not like to kill him for fear of losing their own lives would like to have bave that man mail tried and hung up for tha murder of that child we must pursue a different course with the indians deans than we have heretofore and when we do the best we can and all we can the lord will do the rest of it if the people will do as they are told you have not been counseled to follow them into the mountains for there are not soldiers enough liere here to contend with them there and kill one hundred of them tho the we thousand men and should send them into the mountains ams and let them undertake to follow the indians indiana on foot where their horses could not find footing the indians would escape from them in spite of their efforts and steal all a their horses hofsas into the bargain aai and laugh them to scorn if we wished to etroy destroy them the only way would be to set dead falls and traps they came pretty nigh starving to death last winter and they now see if they are driven from these valleys in winter they must perish therefore they now want to make good peace treat them kindly and treat them as indians and not us as your equals I 1 have fed fifty indians almost day by day for months together I 1 always give them something but I 1 never forget to treat them like indians and they are always mannell mannerly and kind and look upon wever me as their superior never let them come into your houses bouses as the whites did in utah there they would let them lounge upon their beds until finally they would quarrel and become angry if the tha women would not let them lounge on their beds great big athletic fellows would want to go into the ups of the mormons cormons Mor mons and lounge upon their beds and sit on their tables and on their chairs and make as free as tho the they belonged to the family when their familiarities became oppressive to the whites and they desired them to leave their houses it made them angry and I 1 knew it would this is the true cause oi of the indian difficulties in utah I 1 say to the hie brethren who |