The west shore., July 01, 1878, Page 160, Image 4

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tup: west shore.
Juiy.
THE INDIAN QUESTION.
Glancing back over the political his
tory of the United States, one can
scarcely avoid being struck with sur
prise at the prominent place the ad
ministration of Indian affairs, has as
sumed In the general government of tin's
Country. As with the European "East
en question," every successive cabinet
has come IntQ power (irmly convinced of
Us ability to Solve the important prob
lem ; but, alas, following in the footsteps
There can be no doubt that the
groun I work of all the subsequent
troubles was laid when our forefathers,
in all good faith, admitted the inherent
right of the Indian to the soil. Never
before, hi the history of civilization, do
we find the white man allowing the
title of the savage to the land on ac
count of previous possession. I lad
such been the case, civilization must
long, ere this, have starved itself out in
the small corner of the earth in which
it firt had birth.
from it. Had they done so, the march
of civilization must have stopped, for
the colored and inferior races have
ever, to the utmost extent ot their
power, oi posed the advance of the
Caucasians. Whether the opposition
is to be traced to an instinctive or intu
itive knowledge, that as the superior
race increased in strength and num
bers, all others were fated to gradually
dwindle away until, at length, they
became altogether extinct; or whether
it arose from a natural hatred and an-
Greece, and then Rome swayed the
world, the area of civilization rapidly
increasedi but ever with war and car
nage, conquest and subjection, as its
apparently inevitable precursors. The
conquest and subsequent civilization of
Britain, is a good example of the times
a policy wWrh, cruel and barbarous as
it may appear to the unthinking masses
always has been and ever will be found
necessary in dealing with races which
can never be taught to understand or
appreciate a manner of living so Utterly
of it predecessors, only, lit the end to
l.i it aside in disgust M incapable of so
lution. Could the Indian but be made
aw are of the numb,-, of eminent slates-
men who have devoted their time and
energy to the task of satisfactorily living
hi-, political status, tie might well be
proud. But, not withstanding all the
time that has been spent, all the intel
lect thai ha been called into requisi
tion, nil the argumenti exhaustec and
all the theories mooted, this vexatious
QUMtion still remains $M tfko.
Passing back to the far distant ages,
when Egypt was in the height of its
magnificence and grandeur, and the
Egyptians stood forth as the represen
tatives of that race which was, ulti
mate!), to possess and Inhabit all the
corners of the earth, do we find that
people the tiit to whom we are able
to trace back the germs of OUT present
civilization hesitating to consider the
prior tights of the savage and barba
rian hordei which might infest the
land that they desired to occupy. Far
tlpathy to the manners and customs of
the whites, is a. matter of little conse
quence. Certain it h that the opposi
tion to the advance of civilization that
was made in the early period of the
world's history, by all the colored
races, and which could be overcome
only by force of arms, would be made
to-day with unabated vigor by the
ame races, had they the requisite
strength and courage. When, in the
course of time, Egypt fell from the ut
most pinnacle of her greatness, and first
at variance with their native habits and
traditions, as ours is. Nor has Christi
anity, much as it may have benefited
the civilized world, been successful in
subjugating the savage races of man
kind. Immense sums of money have
been spent, hundreds, nay, thousands
of brave and devoted men have lost
their lives in the attempt to instil Into
the savage mind the beauties of the
Christian doctrine: and with what re
sult? , Painful and humiliating as the con-