34TH CONG....3D SESS.

from the declarations of its members, contended earnestly for the equality of the States, and of all the citizens of the States, and for the maintenance of all their constitutional rights. They proclaimed everywhere, during the canvass, as they declare now, that the State of South Carolina has, in all respects, the same rights as the State of Massachusetts; that the rights of the citizens of Virginia and of New York are identical; that the former, as well as the latter, may remove into any Territory of the United States, and when there should be governed by the same laws. It is apparent that this interpretation of the rights of the States, and of the citizens, does not include the idea or principle which the President intended to enunciate; for with what propriety could he say that that had been asserted or settled which was not an issue in the election, and which had never been controverted since the foundation of the Government? But, Mr. Speaker, we all know-no one has listened to the debates in this House during the last three years who is not aware-that these terms, "equality of the States," and "equal rights of each and all the citizens of the United States," are invariably used by southern gentlemen as implying the constitutional existence of slavery in the Territories, or as periphrases of that doctrine. That these, or equivalent words, were used in this sense in the Cincinnati platform, I will not be denied, nor will it be asserted that they were employed in a different sense in the extract which I have read from the message. I appeal to the House, and particularly to southern members, for confirmation of what I now state. Will any gentleman deny that these terms are understood to contain the dogma, that slaves may be held under the authority of the Constitution in all the Territories of the United States? If so, I shall be glad to hear him.

The argument for this new Democratic dogma is as follows: "The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land. It guaranties equality of rights to all the States, and to all the citizens of the United States. The Territories are the common property of the General Government or of the States, and belong as much to the citizens of one State as to those of another.

of

Now, inasmuch as the citizens of sixteen of the States, when they remove to a Territory, can hold and use therein as property whatever they owned and held as such in the States from which they emigrated, it follows that if the citizens of the other fifteen States cannot hold and use as property in the Territory whatever they owned, or might have owned and used as property in those States by virtue of their laws, they have not equal rights with the citizens of the sixteen States. "But," it is said, "the Constitution the United States is the paramount law, before which all inconsistent and conflicting laws must give way. A territorial law or law of Congress prohibiting the existence of slavery in a Territory, excludes therefrom the property of citizens of nearly half of the States of the Union, and is therefore inconsistent with the higher law of the Constitution, which secures equal rights to all the citizens of all the States " I think I have stated fairly the southern-and since the Cincinnati Convention I may say the Democratic position upon this question of slavery in the Territories. It is the misfortune of these slavery extensionists, South and North, that their theory has no foundation to rest upon. The constitutional underpinning does not fit the superstructure; it is a world too wide" to serve that pur

pose.

The argument from the equal rights of the States and of the people of the States is singularly fallacious and inconsequential-indeed, its sophistry is too transparent to be respectable. The States and their citizens do possess equal rights in and to the Territories; and the laws of the Territories must be such as will respect the rights of all alike. They are thus respected when the citizens thereof, whether born in the Territories or emigrants from free or slave States, are placed upon a footing of absolute equality, both in respect to personal rights and rights to property, and when the same law governs all. A Territory is a political organization, and there must be power somewhere to make laws, rules, and regulations for its government, and defining the rights

of persons and property within its jurisdiction. This power is in Congress, or in the people of the Territory. It must be in one or the other. It is primarily in Congress, but may be delegated to the people of the Territory. Under the popularsovereignty theory of General CASS it is inherent in the people at any rate, it is, and from necessity must be, in the law-making power of the Territory, whether that be Congress or the local Legislature. It is simply absurd to say that this power exists in the Legislatures of the thirty-one States, and that the law of each, in respect to property, shall be the law of the Territory; at least so far as regards those of its citizens who have removed thereto. The laws of the States differ in reference to what is property. In Georgia a black man may be property; in Maine he cannot be. In Virginia there can be no property in bank notes of a certain denomination, while in Massachusetts there may be. Which of these laws are to be in effect in the Territory? Clearly none of them; and the emigrants from Maine, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Virginia, must take the laws of the Territory as they find them; and if they provide that there shall be no property in slaves; or bank bills, the slaveholder from Virginia and the billholder from Massachusetts must alike submit; no injustice is done to either, and there is no inequality.

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ritory where banking is prohibited by the local law. So, ardent spirits, whisky, brandy, all the intoxicating drinks, are recognized and protected as property in most of the States, if not all of them; but no citizen, whether from the North or South, can take this species of property with him, and hold, sell, or use it at his pleasure in all the Territories, because it is prohibited by the local law-in Oregon by the statutes of the Territory, and in the Indian country by the acts of Congress. Nor can a man go there and take and hold his slave, for the same reason. These laws, and many others involving similar principles, are directed against no section, and impair the rights of no State in the Union. They are laws against the introduction, sale, and use of specific kinds of property, whether brought from the North or the South, or from foreign countries."

By Mr. Cass in 1854:

"The second objection which I propose to consider, connected with this alleged seizure of the public domain, is, that a southern man cannot go there because he cannot take his property with him, and is thus excluded by peculiar considerations from his share of the common property. "So far as this branch of the subject connects itself with slaves, regarded merely as property, it is certainly true that the necessity of leaving and of disposing of them may put the owners to inconvenience-to loss, indeed-a state of things incident to all emigration to distant regions; for there are many species of that property, which constitutes the common stock of society, cannot be taken there. Some because they are prohibed by the laws of nature, as houses and farms; others because they are prohibited by the laws of man, as slaves, incorporated companies, monopolies, and many interdicted articles; and others again, because they are prohibited by statistical laws, which regulate the transportation of property, and virtually confine much of it within certain limits which it cannot overcome, in consequence of the expense attending distant removal; and among these latter articles are cattle, and much of the property which is everywhere to be found. The remedy in all these cases is the same, and is equally applicable to all classes of proprietors, whether living in Massachusetts, or New York, or South Carolina, and that is to convert all these various kinds of property into universal representative of value, money, and to take that to these new regions, where it will command whatever may be necessary to comfort or to prosperous enterprise. In all these instances the practical result is the same, and the same is the condition of equality."

Since this doctrine, that slaves may be held in the Territories under the Constitution without local law, and even against it, has come to be the central, distinguishing doctrine of the modern Democratic party, it o cerns us all in the free States to examine it carefully, and see if it be indeed well founded-for in it are stupendous issues. Concede it to be the true doctrine, and henceforth freedom is sectional and slavery national; and the Government from being a Government of equal rights, for the security of liberty and the propagation of Democratic principles, becomes the possession and instrument of an overshadowing oligarchy for the extension and perpetuation of the system of chattel slavery upon the American continent. False and unsubstantial as this doctrine is, it is no part of wisdom for that reason to ignore its existence or importance. I fear that we are not aware of the strength it has gained in the country-it is maintained by nearly every southern man in Congress, and there are but few Democrats from the North who venture to dispute it. It was promulgated in the Cincinnati platform as one of the tests of political that in all controversies relative to these prohibited articles, orthodoxy, and now we are congratulated by the President that it has been affirmed by the people in the recent election. It must be met, exposed, and denounced.

I rejoice that something of that work has already been accomplished, and that the Republicans of this day have the benefit of the arguments and authority of some of the most influential and distinguished men who have figured in the recent history of the country. Two of them are now members of the American Senate; and, though they may have modified the opinions which I shall cause to be read, I am sure they never have and never will answer the arguments by which they were supported; and two are no longer numbered with the living; but, though dead, their works survive and their words speak; and I entertain no fear that, in the world of light and liberty to which they have been translated, they have seen any cause to change the opinions which they presented so faithfully and so clearly when they were upon the earth.

I will ask the Clerk to read the following extracts from speeches made in the Senate of the United States by Messrs. Douglas, Cass, Clay, and Webster.

The Clerk read, as follows:
By Mr. Douglas in 1850:

"But you say that we propose to prohibit by law your emigrating to the Territories with your property. We propose no such thing. We recognize your right, in common with our own, to emigrate to the Territories with your property, and there hold and enjoy it in subordination to the laws you may find in force in the country. Those laws, in some respects, differ from our own, as the laws of the various States in this Union vary, on some points, from the laws of each other. Some species of property are excluded by law in most of the States, as well as Territories, as being unwise, immoral, or contrary to the principles of

sound public policy. For instance, the banker is prohibited from emigrating to Minnesota, Oregon, or California, with his bank. The bank may be property by the laws of New York, but ceases to be so when taken into a State or Ter

"Such a principle would strike at independent and necessary legislation, at many police laws, at sanitary laws, and at laws for the protection of public and private morals. Ardent spirits, deadly poisons, implements of gaming, as well as various articles, doubtful foreign bank bills, among others, injurious to a prosperous condition of a new society, would be placed beyond the reach of legislative interdiction, whatever might be the wants or the wishes of the country upon the subject. For the constitutional right by which it is claimed that these species of property may be taken by the owners to the territory' of the United States, cannot be controlled, if it exist by the local Legislatures; for that might lead, and in many cases would lead, to the restriction of its value."

"And we are thus brought to this strange practical result:

it is not the statute-book of the country where they are to be held which must be consulted to ascertain the rights of the parties, but the statute-books of other Governments, whose citizens thus, in effect, bring their laws with them, and hold on to them."

By Mr. Clay in 1850:

"I take it for granted that what I have said will satisfy the Senate of that first truth, that slavery does not exist there by law, unless slavery was carried there the moment the treaty was ratified by the two parties to the treaty, under the operation of the Constitution of the United States.

"Now, really, I must say that the idea that, eo instanti, upon the consummation of the treaty, the Constitution of the United States spread itself over the acquired country, and carried along with it the institution of slavery, is so irreconcilable with any comprehension, or any reason which I possess, that I hardly know how to meet it."

By Mr. Webster, upon the Oregon bill, in 1848:

"I am not going into metaphysics, for therein I should encounter the honorable member from South Carolina, and we should wander in endless mazes lost,' until after the time for the adjournment of Congress. The southerp States have peculiar laws, and by those laws there, is property in slaves. This is purely local. The real meaning, then, of southern gentlemen, in making this complaint, is that they cannot go into the Territories of the United States carrying with them their own peculiar local law-a law which creates property in persons. This, according to their own statement, is all the ground of complaint they have. Now, here I think gentlemen are unjust towards us. How unjust they are, others will judge-generations that will come after us will judge. It will not be contended that this sort of personal slavery exists by general law. It exists only by local law. I do not mean to deny the validity of that local law where it is established; but I say it is, after all, nothing but local law. It is nothing more. And wherever that local law does not extend, property in persons does not exist. Well, sir, what is now the demand on the part of our southern friends? They say, We will carry our local laws with us wherever we go. We insist that Congress does us injustice unless it establishes in the Territory in which we wish to go, our own local law.' This demand I for one resist, and shall resist. It goes upon the idea that there is an inequality unless persons under this local law, and holding property by authority of that law, can go into new territory, and there establish that local law, to the exclusion of other law. Mr. President, it was a maxim of the civil law, that between slavery and freedom, freedom

34TH CONG....3D SESS.

Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE INDIAN AFFAIRS, November 22, 1856.

SIR: I have the honor to submit for your consideration the usual annual report from this office, and for minute details of the operations of the service and the condition of the Indian tribes, refer you to the various accompanying reports and other papers.

The improvement in the condition of the New York Indians, though gradual, is very perceptible. The farms, buildings, crops, and stocks, and the substantial comforts surrounding the homes of many of the Oneidas, Onondagas, Tuscaroras, and the Tonawandas, Cattaraugus, and Alleghany Senecas, evidence in them a uniform advancement. The reliance of the Alleghany Senecas upon their timber and lumber has not made it necessary for them to turn their attention wholly to agriculture; and while this resource has furnished them temporary aid, the timber and lumber trade in which they are engaged may be regarded as a hinderance to their permanent improvement.

Churches and religious influences and schools are well sustained among these Indians, and all scem to be impressed with a desire to educate their children. The State of New York and the American Board of Missions continue to make liberal appropriations for education among them. The Thomas Asylum, on the Cattaraugus reservation, is completed, and is now rapidly filling with orphan and destitute children. The Indians on this last reservation have had the kind offices and aid of the Society of Friends, and the patronage of the Department has also been extended to them.

The Ottowas and Chippewas, and the Chippewas of Saginaw, and Swan creek, and Black river, all within the State of Michigan, continue gradually to increase in numbers, as well as to advance in the arts of peace; and under the liberal provisions of the treaties of 1855, by which every family is to receive a homestead from the public domain, and the friendly feelings manifested toward them by the people of the State, present indications which would seem to justify the hope that they will attain a much higher state of civilization, and possess more of the comforts of life than they have heretofore done. They are beginning to locate on the lands assigned them, and apparently highly appreciate the separate homes to which they are entitled.

The jurisdiction of the northern superintendency has been extended over the Indians of Minnesota, the Oneida, Stockbridge, and Menomonee tribes in Wisconsin, still remaining within its limits.

The condition of the Oneidas of Wisconsin has changed but little since last year; and no event of importance has occurred among them, except the murder of one of the chiefs by a member of the tribe. This event has produced much excitement, and has caused apprehensions of serious disturbances. The murder was committed under the influence of intoxicating liquor.

Under the operations of the treaty of February 15, 1856, between the Stockbridge and Munsee Indians and the Government, it is to be expected that the Stockbridge difficulties, which for a number of years past have been a source of trouble and vexation, will soon be terminated. An arrangement has been made by which a tract

of land on the west end of the Menomonee reservation has been selected for a permanent home for the Stockbridges and Munsees. Some of these Indians have already commenced to build themselves houses at their new location, and measures have been taken to insure the final removal of all of them as soon as this can be prudently and properly effected. It is to be hoped that any factious opposition which may manifest itself among a few of these Indians may meet with no encouragement, either in Wisconsin or elsewhere. The necessity of the case and the interests of the Indians require that they should remove from their present location at Stockbridge without delay."

The advancement of the Menomonees is constant and steady. Although obstacles have been thrown in the way of these Indians, and the vicious and unscrupulous have endeavored to thwart all the efforts made for their improvement, and the grasping avarice of unprincipled white men in seeking to obtain their property, in defiance of justice and right, has rendered them somewhat restless and uneasy, yet, notwithstanding all this, their progress is very gratifying, and the results already attained leave no doubt but the Menomonee Indians, in a very few years, will completely and perfectly adopt habits of industry and civilization. Indian laborers have been exclusively employed to do the work of the tribe. The agent, farmer, miller, teacher, and one blacksmith, are the only white persons located at the agency and employed on the reservation. All the work in the fields, as well as in the shops, is done by Indian hands. A number of the young Menomonees have become expert carpenters, providing not only the general carpenter shop with hands, but the different bands have carpenters among them, who are erecting houses for the various families; to facilitate which the council has requested that a set of carpenters' tools be furnished to each band.

In addition to those among the Indians of Michigan proper, schools are now maintained at L'Anse, Red river, Lapointe, and Grand Portage, all among the Chippewas of Lake Superior.

The extended area of country embraced within the Michigan agency renders it impossible for the agent to devote as much time to the Indians under his charge as is absolutely necessary. There is ample business for two agents; and with two faithful men to aid them in making most available the liberal provisions of the recent treaties, much for their good may be accomplished. They are prepared to take advice and receive instruction.

a code of laws was adopted for the protection of their persons and property, and for the punish

ment of crimes.

Various causes have combined to prevent the Medawakantoan, Wahpahkoota, Sissitoan, and Wahpatoan Sioux, from deriving, heretofore, much substantial benefit from the very liberal provisions of the treaties of July and August, 1851. Until after the reservations were permanently assured to the Indians in 1854, it would have been highly improper to have made expenditures for permanent improvements; and since then, the affairs of the agency have not been free from confusion in all its operations. Under the direction of their new agent, efficient steps will,

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it is expected, be taken without delay to advance the interests of these Indians, and to make the various improvements for which the treaties provide. Heretofore large sums of money have been paid to and expended for these Sioux; but they have been indolent, extravagant, and intemperate, and have wasted their means without improving, or seeming to desire to improve, their condition. It is to be feared that bad counsels have controlled them; and their constant war with the Chippewas has also had a sad effect upon them. All the power of the Department will be exerted to require these Sioux to cease their roving, wandering habits, and to settle down upon their reservations.

With regard to the Chippewas of the Mississippi and the Pillager and Lake Winnibigoshish bands, it may be remarked that their wars with the Sioux and the use of ardent spirits have done much to retard their progress. The agricultural and other labor connected with the reservations at Winnibigoshish, Cass, and Leech lakes, has been confided to the direction and management of Messrs. Breck and Bardwell, the missionaries in charge, who are making as good progress as could be expected. They are inducing many to labor and permanently settle themselves; and from the good results already obtained, and the better influences and more favorable circumstances with which they are surrounded, a rapid improvement may be expected. For the first time, several of the Mississippi bands planted and worked their own fields, and would no doubt have been amply compensated in the yield of their crops, but for a very destructive visitation of the grasshopper, which appeared in that region in July, and destroyed all their prospects.

It is hoped that some arrangement may be made by which the deadly strife between the Sioux and Chippewa Indians may cease. The conviction and execution, under our criminal laws, of all Indians guilty of the murder of Indians, would, it is believed, put a stop to the war parties of the Sioux and Chippewa, as well as other Indian tribes; but there has been no fund provided by which such prosecutions can be commenced and carried on. It would, in my opinion, be an act of humanity, if such a fund was placed at the disposal of the Department, as the prosecution, conviction, and execution of a few Indians would, no doubt, have a most salutary influence.

With the Red Lake, and a few other scattered bands of Indians next to the British possessions, and in the valley of the Red river of the North, we have no treaty arrangements. They are said to be very poor; and if it be not thought advisable to extinguish their claims to lands occupied by them, it is believed that it would be a humane act to give them some aid in the way of a gratuity. A few seeds and agricultural implements would be of great service to them, and would serve to instill in them a grateful sense of the liberality of the Government.

The matter of disposing, according to the law of Congress of July 17, 1854, of the interests of the half-breed Sioux in the Lake Pepin reserve, set apart for them by the treaty of July 15, 1830, it is confidently expected will now soon be brought to a final decision and determination. The subject has been one of some difficulty and intricacy; but the final report of the commissioners has just been received, and steps will be taken at once to cause the scrip to issue to the parties entitled thereto. It is proper to observe that the law provides that no transfer or conveyance of any of the scrip shall be valid; and all assignments thereof will, therefore, be disregarded.

The central superintendency embraces within its limits all that vast country bounded on the north by the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, on the west by the Rocky Mountains, on the south by the Arkansas river and the country of the Osages, and on the east by the Missouri State line and the Missouri river to near the mouth of the Big Sioux river, and thence in a northerly direction to the British line. Of the Indian tribes and the operations of the service for the past year, within this superintendency, it may be remarked that

The Blackfeet, Flat Heads, Nez Perces, and the other tribes, parties to the treaty of the

34TH CONG....3D SESS.

Judith, residing on or near the headwaters of the Missouri river, have, since the negotiation of that treaty, in October, 1855, remained at peace, and refused all participation in the hostilities of the tribes of Oregon and Washington Territories. The common hunting-ground provided by the treaty has produced beneficial results, and the conflicts of war and rapine have given place, among them, to the exchange of horses, péltry, and other articles of barbarous commerce. The Blackfeet, although absolutely barbarous, are said to be intelligent and tractable, and ample provision is made by the treaty for their instruction in the arts of civilized life.

Hitherto difficulties have attended the delivery of the annuity goods to the Crows, who inhabit the country bordering on the Powder, Big Horn, and Yellow Stone rivers. They are warlike, possess large bands of horses, and depend upon the chase for the means of subsistence. Under instructions from the superintendent, the agent will meet them at their hunting-grounds, and consult with them.as to the future place at which their annuities shall be delivered.

The Assinaboines speak a Sioux dialect, and inhabit a country on the north side of the Missouri river, opposite the mouth of the Yellow Stone. They are expert hunters, subsist by the chase, possess few horses, and use the Esquimaux dogs as beasts of burden.

The Gros Ventres of the Missouri reside on

the north side of that river, below the mouth of the Yellow Stone. They speak the Crow dialect. On the south side of the Missouri, and a few miles below the Gros Ventres, the villages of the Mandans and Arickarees are situate. These three small tribes cultivate more corn, beans, and other vegetables, than are requisite for their subsistence. In the warm season they inhabit dirt lodges, but as soon as their crops are gathered and "cached," they betake themselves to the skin lodges in the timber, preparatory to hunting and preparing their buffalo robes and meats. The Mandans speak a language dissimilar to their neighbors, and are represented as intelligent and quite dignified. The Arickarees speak the Pawnee language. These three tribes construct their own boats, which consist of buffalo skins drawn over a circular frame-work of willow. They expose or bury their dead on scaffolds. The superintendent is of opinion, in which I concur, that a separate agency should be established for the Crows, Assinaboines, Gros Ventres, Mandans, and Arickarees.

The country on the north side of the Missouri river from the region of the Gros Ventres to the mouth of the Big Sioux river, is claimed by the Yanctonees and the Yancton bands of Sioux. In consequence of the hostilities that exist between the Yanctonees and the half-breeds of Pembina, it is suggested that a well-defined line should be established between them. Both the Yanctonees and Yanctons cultivate the soil to some extent, but the former rely chiefly on the hunt for support.

On the south side of the Missouri the Unc Papas, Sans Arcs, Two Kettles, and Blackfeet Sioux reside; and the Brule, Minnecongue, and Ogelallah bands of Sioux occasionally penetrate that region from the country adjacent to the Platte. All these bands are insolent and audacious, and depend upon the chase for subsistence. Agent Twiss has resumed the duties of his agency, and the annuity goods for the Sioux, Arraphaoes, and Cheyennes, had arrived at Fort Laramie. You are referred to his reports for information in relation to several horrible massacres that have occurred in that region, and the causes of them, with the action of the agent in the premises. With reference to depredations, I have only to repeat the remarks made in a former report, and to suggest that it would be much better and safer if the law was regarded as the rule of action in all such cases.

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66

In speaking of the face of the country, streams, &c., in the upper portion of the central superintendency, the superintendent remarks that the Missouri river is navigable for boats drawing thirty-four inches, from a point twenty-five miles below its falls to its mouth-a distance of more than twenty-nine hundred miles. Thirty-five miles below the Judith begins the first of three inconsiderable rapids, none of which present any important obstacle to navigation. When the character of the navigation of this river becomes more generally known, it will be the thoroughfare to Utah, Oregon, and Washington Territories. In ascending this river, beyond Fort Benton, the first fall is eighty-nine feet in perpendicular height. The upper fall, seven miles beyond this, is thirty-five feet in height; the intermediate space presents minor falls and a succession of rapids. Above the falls, there is uninterrupted navigation for small boats, for three hundred miles in a southerly direction." He also states that the Yellow Stone is navigable for small boats a distance of six hundred miles from its mouth.

The Omahas are represented as improving in their condition. They are contented, and have ample provisions for the approaching winter. Their reservation is highly spoken of by their agent, and when the necessary government and mission buildings now in course of construction are finished, and all the other improvements con-templated are made upon it, the home of the Omahas at the Black Bird Hills will be a very desirable one. A good crop of corn, potatoes, and pumpkins, was produced on their reserve; and in addition thereto, the Indians have had a very successful hunt.

Some prairie land has been broken and planted for the Ottoes and Missourias, at their new reserve on the Big Blue, but their interests have suffered for the want of an agent to attend to them. It is to be hoped that they will soon have the advice and assistance of the agent who has been appointed to reside among them, and that their condition and prospects may be improved thereby. Their educational interests have been confided to the Presbyterian board, who are now erecting the necessary school and other buildings.

Measures have been adopted to take a census of the half-breeds who are entitled to participate in the beneficial provisions of the tenth article of the treaty of Prairie du Chien, of the 15th July, 1830, to the end that the President may assign to each of them his or her portion of the reserve, situate between the Big and Little Nemahaw rivers, in Nebraska Territory.

The Sacs and Foxes of Missouri have made but little progress in improvement. Those who have continued on the home reserve have cultivated fields of corn, potatoes, and other vegetables, of all of which they will have an abundant supply; and they have assured their agent that they will endeavor to improve in their habits and conduct. One of their chiefs (Ne-sour-quoit) has exercised a very bad influence over a portion of the tribe; but from the decline of his power, or from conviction of his errors, he has recently sought a conference with the agent, confessed his faults, and promised reformation and obedience, and he, with his band, have settled down upon the reservation.

and have promised their aid to promote and advance, the cause of civilization. The law of the tribe for the suppression of intoxicating drinks has been observed, and its good effects are quite visible. The Iowa mission school has been well managed, and is in a properous condition. In addition to the ordinary education, the boys are taught to labor on the farm and in the garden; to plow and drive team, and to handle and use mechanics' tools. The girls learn sewing, makhouse-keeping. Notwithstanding the care bestowed upon them, and the comfortable condition in which they are kept, there is quite an aversion on the part of many of their parents to the children remaining at school.

Success has attended the efforts of the Kickapoos, who have at length all quietly settled down upon their reserve and commenced the cultivation of the soil. The necessary steps have been taken to establish among them ample accommodations for the education of all their youth, and with the means and facilities within their reach, and the present advanced state of many of the tribe, it is confidently expected that they will in a very short time be surrounded with all the necessaries and comforts of life.

Provision has been made for educational aid to the Christian Indians: and their reserve being well adapted to agricultural uses, it is hoped they will avail themselves of all the legitimate means within their reach to improve their condition and to qualify themselves to discharge properly all their obligations and duties.

Notwithstanding the warlike character of the Delaware Indians, and the wrong and injury they have suffered at the hands of the whites, they maintained a steady neutrality in all the difficulties in Kansas. Their means have been applied to repairing and improving their buildings and extending their farms. A commodious Methodist church has been erected by them. A large school building is in the course of construction, and they express great anxiety about the education of their children. They have enjoyed good health the past season, and slightly increased in numbers. Unfortunately, their crops have been damaged very much by the backwardness of the season, and the drought which has prevailed in that region. The first public sale of the lands ceded by them in trust to the United States was to commence on the 17th of this month. Such regulations and precautionary measures were adopted as would, it is hoped, secure a fair sale of them. They are regarded as very valuable.

The Wyandotts and Shawnees will shortly experience a very radical change. As soon as the lands of the former are assigned to them severally, which is now being done, their tribal state will be dissolved, and gradually, as provided for in the treaty of 1855, they will become citizens of the United States. Some of them are distinguished for their intelligence and probity, and are fully competent for all the duties and responsibility of their new relation. Others are unfit, and will necessarily have to pass through a state of pupilage; and with reference to such and their interests, a great responsibility will rest upon their more intelligent brethren.

The Shawnees are perceptibly advancing. In consequence of the backwardness of the surveys, they have not yet been able to select and have assigned to them their homes, as provided by the treaty of 1854; but this will soon be done, and then new trials will await them by reason of the introduction of white society into their midst. Should these people be equal to the occasion and the circumstances with which they will then be surrounded, resist all improper influences, and judiciously apply the large money annuities to which, for several years to come, they will be entitled, they may attain a higher state, possess more extended improvements, and place them

selves in more comfortable circumstances than any other Indian tribe on the continent. Indeed, they have the means, if judiciously applied, to become the most wealthy population-white or red-within the Territory of Kansas.

Those of the Pottowatomies who have turned their attention to agriculture have made good crops. Many of them are averse to abandoning their ancient habits and customs, and the disorder

34TH CONG....3D SESS.

ly conduct of portions of the white inhabitants of Kansas Territory has served to confirm in their views such of them as are opposed to civilized pursuits. One of the chiefs, with his band, one hundred strong, has left for the Cherokee or Creek country, having expressed the opinion that perhaps he would never return. The Baptist Manual Labor School has improved slightly since last year, and the St. Mary's mission is in a very flourishing condition. The agent states that he is unable to make a full report, because of the loss of his papers. He represents that a band of lawless men drove him from his home, took everything he possessed, scattered his official papers, broke open the boxes containing the agricultural implements sent by the Department to the Indians, and carried off large numbers of them.

Good health has generally prevailed among the Miamies and the confederate bands of the Weas, &c., of the Osage river agency. The season has been unusually dry in that region, and has operated seriously against their agricultural efforts. The corn crop has suffered much, and their potato crop is almost a failure. The mission schools in this agency are represented as not in a prosperous condition The delay in the public surveys, and the troubles in Kansas, have prevented the Indians from making the selections of lands for their homes as soon as they desired, and otherwise would have done. Hence, they have suffered in their pecuniary interests, and are not now in as comfortable a condition as under different circumstances they would have been. Competent persons have been employed by them to aid in their selections; and when this is done, and each head of a family, or other person entitled, shall have his or her home set off, it is to be hoped that it will be the beginning of a better time for these Indians.

The Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi are now, as heretofore, distinguished for their great energy and their courage in war. In every contest with the Camanches, though greatly outnumbered by the latter, they have invariably defeated them on the open prairies. They continue to reside in bark huts, and persistently refuse the services of the missionary, and reject the farmer and the teacher. Their agent gives a very gloomy picture of these Indians, and one much to be regretted. They have made no advancement, are decreasing in numbers, and are indolent and intemperate. The Ottowas, of the same agency, who reside near the Sacs and Foxes, have good land, are industrious farmers, and are advancing in improvement. The Chippewas of that agency are excellent Indians. They possess a small tract of very good land, and all labor for a support.

But little improvement has been made in the habits or condition of the Kansas tribe of Indians. They manifest great aversion to labor, and continue to infest the Santa Fe and other roads in the Territory. Possessing now but a small reservation out of the large, fertile, and valuable country they once owned, trespassed upon by the whites, and driven from their hunting-grounds by their hereditary enemies, they are the victims of intemperance, disease, and poverty. The larger portion of the half-breed (Kansas) tract is now in the possession of trespassers, who have actually driven from their homes some of the halfbreed Indian owners. Such lawless conduct is very disreputable, and can result in no permanent advantage to those engaged in it, as the Government must protect the half-breed Kansas Indians in their rights.

Those bands of Camanches who spend the winter below the Arkansas, and commit depredations on the Texas frontier, proceed northwardly in the spring in pursuit of buffalo. They are well supplied with horses, and enrich themselves by plunder. They receive their annuities on the Arkansas, and regard them as compensation paid them by the United States for the use of the Santa Fé road by emigrants. Like the Kioways, they are insolent, and treat their agent with contempt.

The Cheyennes, who reside higher up the Arkansas, have generally been regarded as quiet and peaceable Indians. They are good hunters, and furnish large quantities of robes and peltries.

SENATE & HO. OF REPS.

that, although some of them are nominally citizens, they are all in a very hopeless and degraded condition. He represents them as enveloped in ignorance and superstition, and thinks it would be an act of humanity to send native Choctaw missionaries from the West among them.

On the 7th of August last an important treaty was entered into with the Creek and Seminole Indians west of the Mississippi river, one of the leading objects of which was to enable the Department to overcome the chief obstacle to the removal of the Indians of the latter tribe yet remaining in Florida.. The Seminoles west have been denationalized, and in a manner degraded, by being placed among the Creeks, and made subject to their laws. They felt the humiliation of their position, which not only discouraged them from all efforts at improvement, but engendered a recklessness of disposition and conduct which was constantly complained of by the Creeks, and which would in the end have produced serious difficulties between the two tribes. In this situation, which was well known to their brethren in Florida, the latter were totally averse to removing and joining them. Hence the necessity of endeavoring to give them a separate country, with the right of self-government, and the necessary means for the comfortable support and improvement of themselves and those in Florida,

Within the bounds of the southern superintendency, the past year has been remarkable for peace among the different tribes. Homicides have decreased, and but few aggravated crimes have been committed. Except the Osages, who have experienced unusual mortality, and some sickness among the Cherokees, good health has prevailed. The tribes bordering on Kansas have been somewhat excited by the troubles existing within that Territory, but their fears and appre-should they be induced to emigrate. They were hensions are rapidly subsiding.

The Osages practice polygamy, detest labor, and are decreasing in numbers. Some favorable changes are, nevertheless, seen among these Indians, attributable to the influence of the Osage Manual Labor School, which is said to be very well conducted. Early in the summer their corn crop was much injured by an overflow of the lands under cultivation. The crops of the Senecas, Senecas and Shawnees, and Quapaws, although not much above a half yield, will produce sufficient to support them through the winter.

The Cherokees continue to improve, especially in agricultural, which are greatly in advance of mechanical, pursuits among them. They also still manifest a commendable interest in education; but a fund on which they have heretofore relied to aid in supporting their schools is now exhausted, and nothing remains but the interest on an invested fund, which will not be sufficient to support their common schools and seminaries. It is to be hoped that the council may be able to adopt some mode by which all their educational interests, so creditable to the Cherokees, may be fully and vigorously maintained. The sale of their "neutral land" to the United States, and the appropriation of the whole or a large portion of the proceeds for a school fund, the interest from which to be annually appropriated for school purposes, would give to them ample means not only to sustain their present schools and seminaries, but to enlarge them as the wants of the people require.

Under the operation of the treaty of June 22, 1855, between the United States and the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indians, important changes in the political condition of these tribes have taken place during the year. The Chickasaws have adopted a constitution, by which they have provided for the election of a governor and other officers; and in other respects the instrument is not dissimilar to the constitutions of the neighboring States. Upon some points of grave moment it is represented that these tribes differ as to the meaning of the treaty; and, by a provision in their new constitution, the Choctaws who reside in the Chickasaw country are excluded from the elective franchise, and from holding office. Both tribes are making steady advancement in their educational and religious interests, and deserve commendation for their increased industry and sobriety. Their schools and places of worship have been well attended. Unfortunately, another drought has cut short their corn crops..

unwilling to go beyond the confines of the Creek country, nor could a suitable location have well been found for them elsewhere. The Creeks were much averse to giving up any of their country for the separate accommodation of the Seminoles; but, in consideration of the advantageous terms offered them, finally consented thereto.

The chief objection on the part of the Seminoles in Florida to joining their brethren in the West having thus been removed, and the most liberal and tempting provision having been made in the treaty for their advantageous settlement and comfortable support there, it is confidently anticipated that their removal may now be effected in a peaceful manner, thus rendering unnecessary the very heavy expenditures attendant upon the military operations which have been for many years fruitlessly carried on for the purpose of trying to coerce them to emigrate. The failure by Congress to make the necessary appropriations to carry out the provisions and purposes of the treaty is much to be regretted, as, had they been made, the necessary measures might have been promptly adopted, and the removal of the Indians probably effected during the present fall and ensuing winter. As these appropriations passed the Senate, and only require the concur rence of the House of Representatives, which, it is presumed, may be had early the next session, it is hoped that they may yet be placed within the power of the Department before the present season for operations shall expire.

This treaty with the Creeks and Seminoles is not confined to the sundering of a connection humiliating to one, and disadvantageous to both, and the opening of a better prospect for the early and peaceful removal of the Seminoles in Florida. Like the similar one of last year with the Choctaws and Chickasaws, it contains provisions which the Department is assured will have a material bearing and effect upon the welfare and destiny of those tribes. The relations between them and the United States, as well as each other, are entirely revised, simplified, and placed upon a more elevated footing. The vague and confused mass of old treaty provisions in regard to them are annulled and superseded by a succinct and explicit specification of the rights and privileges of the Indians and the obligations of the United States towards them. All questions of controversy between them and the Government are settled and put at rest, and all their claims and demands adjusted, or put in a train of an early and equitable adjustment. There is no ground left for uncertainty in the future as to their positions, rights, or resources. Such is During the past summer Agent Cooper visited the character of these two treaties. They are the States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louis-probably the last that will ever have to be made iana, to ascertain the number of Choctaws east, and to pay them the balance of awards due them. He reports that there are about two thousand of them scattered over a large extent of country, and

with either of these four tribes until they shall have become sufficiently advanced and desire to be admitted to citizenship. This many of the Choctaws and Chickasaws are already looking