| Show th rhe the e indian question Quest ign ibn 1 I TO chehal Sl lerma XERMA i 1 u BOSTON lui luj uly 1 17 gen aen sherman sherm Sh erman ermaD sir an aind american brkih citi elti zebi zhi onel ditled a aua aud u abound bound fo io inquire jv hether the officer office ip of fhle republic are men or something bomel hine hinr humanity respectfully clai cial claim ni the right hight to ask you are the the journals s correct when they ie represent p re i sent kor you you as advising tha the extermination of the thi e indians thia his charge I 1 las has I 1 been m ande W e times duling during the idse las three years tf ift 1 t be faise false 2 pg you y ou for te uge bojo of alin tha nation R arid and of gr the ser service sery bery T ico ice t ta 0 d deny e y it y ag neg neglect ec to td do 69 aft tu the press uses your supposed ax to tha infamous and to 0 oreate t IQ a I 1 pubic orl n 10 I 1 which s bhail cre ere all ail approve hud bud and iud ae it lil ill W i if the charge chargo be t erue true ue I 1 cr 1 10 but th that at taro qu tare ari arl Y rot iet acquainted than most aine Alne wit with hithe tithe the real relations of df 0 our u r government 01 l innie lit jit to thu the r ifield indiana were in 1507 1887 the head of a an in n dlan dian commission and hd its report signed by yourself and printed by the government is one of the most terrific pictures ever drawn of the wrongs the indian has suffered red from this nation this investigation and your general experience showed you how cruel hild and unjust has hag been our treatment of the indian for the last years you know thai that we we have surrounded hi him m with every demoralizing anlu influence steeped him in intemperance incited him to licentiousness by the example of those set over him and tempted him to every vice you have yourself spread on the public the evidence that the government has robbed him of his land cheated him of his dues and uniformly broken faith with him if any of the tribes are today liars and butchers they thoy may rightfully claim to have only copied at humble distance the example am we have set them you are not hot ignorant that the indian dia dla n has been outraged but raged and plu piu plundered n by the frontiersmen without stint or red redress and butchered by our soldiers under the american flag with brutal and detestable cru elty the description im of which in plain terms theoress the press would not admit to its columns no one better that the worst atu btu brutality sallly which prurient maile malic eLever ever even fa falsely e v charged the indians with is but weak imitation of what the white mali matt has often inflicted on indian m men en women and children hildren hll hil dren you kno know e that lon ton the plain swe have violated violate devery every rule of civilized civilised civili fed sed wat at massacring ga cr ili g wa women men and chi ehi children dren with worse than savage ard lity allty your career bas has not shown you pu ail an instance where the indian has as lifted hand against us until provoked to it by misconduct et on our part compared with which any misconduct af pf his IY i but dust in the balance I 1 your experience will full fuli fully indorse what president 11 harrison when habif governor of indiana said gaid to his in 1807 73 that the utmost efforts to induce the indiana dlana diana to take tako up up arm arins I 1 would beun be unavailing a if ir one only tonly of the maby many persons who have bave committed murder upon their people could be 16 6 aj 1 brought pu punishment you will not in ib th slightest degree gree doubt 0 or r deny the he kra kia graye grave ve charges which major ge harney after te r fiat fifty leelon the uhe plains pis dle ins nande to a congre congressional lonal ional committee t t that pit bit he had never neet kno known wn an indian tribe wand ward to our gov ern menti aud and he we had blad never known ane government to keep its alth aith faith with an ati indian tribe too much of a holdi soldier f ei not to confess that had you yop been placed in the indians circumstances you would have been ashamed not to have acted as helias hellas he has done you yoli would accept ept as every lion ilon est ese man does the statement 0 of baj maj oen ien gen jen i pope in 1875 that the thel army officer r can not prevent wrong wrongs s which drive the ind indian ian lan to war on the contrary at tha thede de mand of every agent dealing with the indians ban han ha baroug brought h to on na a difficulty he isoble is obliged to pursue and force back to the saine deplorable state and place indians deans whom hie fhe he fie knows to have been wronged and who have only done substantially what he would have done do ne himself under linder like ilke provocation tio n you must be 1 keenly sensible what a reproach it is js to toi religion and culture that our bur multiplying milli millions gris with all the resources of civilization and christianity in their hands havo have lived for years close to thi steal and capable able ible race and been able toglee to give it only their thlin vices that all of good the indian has is his own owenj most moso of ha his hia 4 vices he can rightfully charge to th the ewhite white man negra no yace lace will lift up atthe althe judgment A ent bea sea beat seat alic gachac we cus cusing in hands hind a this nation as us the indian will ill lii 1 we nave have subjected him to td agents who have systematically cheated him we have made causeless war igini merely as a pretext to steal his lands tz trampling under footit foo tithe lithe hi rules of warfare we lia iia have havo made war uit oil on hla hia women ana and children we huffe hurey cheated him out of one hunt itsu ground by bwy compelling him to accept another and und him of this last b by y driving him to frenzy and then punishing ing resistance by confiscation ai either neither P pulpit 1 nor presa press nor political party w would li his complaint nei therin oon Con congress gress grets nor llor in any city a of i theu union could this ais advocate obtain a hearing statesmanship good tood sense auda aud and justice native even frim the chief magistrate were unavailing ithen ther they pleaded for such longtime long time 0 popular hate and as ou our r indian tribes can it be possible then that with such knowledge and such experience anee you sir the head bead of the army and bound to show at least outward respect to civilization have no counsel to give except extermination the extermination of these plundered victims of a greedy unscrupulous and cruel people can you advise a professedly christian people steeped in guilt not to reform but to consummate its wickedness by such hideous barbarism as only the most inhuman tyrants have ever attempted the worst possible of infidels do you not affirm that a wise and pov poN powerful erful nation is safe only when it sinks below the level of the savage life to clutch a cowards peace by sweeping every man woman and child of this insignificant race in blood from our path wise men laugh at bue sue such buch h timid folly brave men despise it they know fair play is the best teacher and justice always a sufficient shield if indeed that is the counse counsel lyou lyon you yon give fro from m your hig big high lk ethen for the sake bake of that christianity which we profess and the civilization we claim I 1 wish it understood that one at ut least of your fellow citizens believes that you misrepresent the army whose best off meera officers have of ten protested against again stour our heinous injustice to these wards of the nation and that you disgrace the profession of du Gu greselin Gues eselin elin clin of bayard and sir philip sidney sidneyj disgrace the post which washington once filled and the uniform that thomas greene anid and hamilton have won on your fellow citizen 1 WENDELL PHILI irs rs |
