Our Indian Brother

OUR INDIAN BROTHER.

It might be supposed from the present aspect of affairs in the United States, that the Indian was about to absorb the attention of the nation in the place of slavery, and be adopted as a kind of brother to the surviving twin relic, polygamy.

Although the growing difficulty (the Indian) is not so black skinned as the subject of the nation’s last great trouble, yet it is of a very dark complexion, and being a much stronger willed child, exhibiting a more ungovernable disposition, bids fair to give its guardian, Uncle Sam, a great deal of trouble and vexation.

There is a marked difference in the condition and circumstances of these two cases that the Federal power has undertaken the care of, and in their relative claims upon the government. The one sought protection as an attendant, or a guest; the other claiming it as his undoubted right. The one a stranger, and an introduction; the other a legal heir, and rightful occupant. The negro in the first place was brought to the country as a help, a servant, and a slave, his condition upon the whole being materially improved under these circumstances; but the climax of his earthly career was crowned when placed upon a level with his master, and he realized more than he of himself dared to hope for, when granted the right to vote, and he became free and independent. The Indian, on the other hand, was the owner of the soil, its undisputed claimant, over which he held entire control; and when he beholds his brother of the darker skin thus favored and prefered, he who came naked and in chains having all to gain, made the object of such tender solicitude, while he himself is losing all, deprived of his privileges, driven back from his own, can we wonder at the sullen gloom that overspreads his countenance, the taciturnity of his disposition, and the occasional sudden outbursts of his passion. Thus the slave gains freedom, and the child of liberty is curtailed of his rights.

The course pursued towards the negro has been one of thoughtful consideration. The best ability of the nation has poured forth its eloquence in depicting his wrongs and sufferings; statesmen have taxed their energies to frame laws for his welfare and protection; the heart’s blood of thousands have flowed in defence of this stranger’s liberty; poets have made him the subject of their verse, praising his humility, while those endowed with oratory have extolled his nobility of soul. Thus he has been the subject of the nation’s tenderest care.

Had the same thoughtful policy been taken towards the Indian; had he been dealt with honestly, not to say generously; had those who bargained with him for his possessions, paid him for his solid wealth in useful articles that would have benefited him, as their better judgment should suggest, instead of cheating him with gewgaws, a different feeling might exist to-day. As it is, the white man owns and occupies the land—the Indian still wanders an outcast, naught benefited by the exchange, but rather demoralized by the contact; he sees his hunting grounds wrested from him; no small encroachments are made upon his possessions; whole territories at a stroke are parcelled off, and he finds himself hemmed in upon all sides by his more powerful white faced brother; and thus, as his means of subsistence are being so mercilessly curtailed, who can wonder that he his driven at times to deeds of madness and desperation?

Who is there to tell his wrongs and sufferings? And yet his situation is so hard, that even those who despoil him of his property are bound at times to speak in his defence. Should an Indian outbreak occur at any time, the white man can pour out his lamentations through the press, and make known in horrible detail the perpetration of the crime committed, but to all these statements the Indian is mute. Had he but the ability and privilege to herald forth a statement of his wrongs, to tell the anguish of his heart as he sees the members of his tribe diminish, and then beholds the means of providing for those reduced numbers cut off; should he make counter statements, and pour forth one-half the keenness of his grief as he beholds the broad lands be once had a claim to occupied by strangers, and those strangers still crying keep back, keep back, methinks those who are now pursuing him with such tierce malevolence, would pause before they sought to carry out the orders for his extermination. Treachery and murder should be met and punished, and the perpetrators of the murder of General Canby and others should expiate their crime; but indiscriminate slaughter does not seem to be the proper course for an enlightened nation to pursue, especially when, after candidly examining the case of the Indian in all particulars, we may find him more sinned against than sinning.

There is a God that watches over the destinies of races and of nations, and it would be well for the United States to pause and consider before issuing orders for the annihilation of any part or portion of His creation. The Indian is not free from viciousness, neither are freed negroes entirely free from vices, the frequent reports of outrage and brutality are proof of that, while those who watch the interest of the nation itself tell of its increasing wickedness, and warn it of impending dangers to be brought about by its own folly, thus intimating that all may need mercy shown them in a day to come. And above all it should be remembered that the Lamanites are of a chosen race, and the predictions of the servants of God concerning them cannot fall to the ground unfulfilled. He is yet to go through “to tear in pieces and none shall deliver,” and yet to “become a light and delightsome people.” May the Lord hasten the time of his coming, when wickedness shall be swept from off the face of the earth, peace be established, the rights of all men in all places be universally respected—when none need say, know ye the Lord, but all shall know him, from the least unto the greatest. S.S.J.