THE IMPENDING FATE OF THE AMERICAN RED INDIANS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 178, 7 December 1868, Page 2

THE IMPENDING FATE OF THE AMERICAN RED INDIANS.

(From. tJie Times.)The frontispiece ;of a well-known American work represents a group of Red Indians gazing wistfully from the top of a hill on the scenes of civilization and progress below, and obviously discerning in the railroad, the steamboat, and the factory the signs of their own approaching extermination. That is probably the inevitable end of all such conflicta,'and it has certainly been' reached with extreme rapidity in the United States. There must be persons noyr living who can remember something of the state of things described in Cooper's novels, when a settler's life was unsafe in Kentucky, and roving Indians, beyond a comparatively narrow slip of territory, were still lords of American soil. It is little more than a century since the last grand conspiracy of the red men against their white invaders exploded in fire and blood. Yet this numerous and powerful race — a race endowed with some characteristics of 'genuine heroism — is already near its extinction. It is probable— although of cburse the estimate is conjectural — that the whole number of Indians now living , within the territories of the United States is little above 300,000. Twenty years ago they were supposed, according to the best information procurable by Government, to be about 400,000,. and it is known that their numbers rapidly decline. So much the more wonderful, then, will the intelligence be thought which we have published at short intervals within the last few days. Massacres of white men h^ve been reported from Colorado ; Kansas was actually invaded by Indian bands,. and in New Mexico the waggon train or caravan was attacked on the ; road by Indians, who killed and scalped sixteen of the escort and burnt their bodies. "Worse could hardly have been done in 1678, and we are told in fact that the alarm has been taken at Washington, that Federal troops have been despatched to the frontier, and that -"an Indian war is impending." A " war " between a few thousand vagabonds and a" nation of thirty millions!' ": . -- .i i ! If, however, such at contest should seem to involve any absurdity, we need only remind the British public of its own obligations in New Zealand, where a very few hundred savages used to succeed in finding costly occupation for a powerful colony of Englishmen and an Imperial army 10,000 .strong. The fact is that while the prpvinces now threatened are outlying parts of American territory, they are the chief abodes of the Indian race, and in a thinly inhabited country it is possible for a small band of wild marauders to commitgreat havoc and occasion serious alarm. In the end it may betaken for granted that the white race would win, even without, tlie aid of regular troops, but in the United States it has always been the practice of,, the Government to take this work into its own hands. Before the civil war, indeed the small regular army majntained by the States, ' was ' engaged exclusively upon this service, the troops being , quartered along the, exposed frontiers and charged with, the duty of protecting the settlements , fr^m incursions. . .The Indiana werejoffceri giving trouble and were often chastised — the

routine being disturbed occasionally by^ some outbreak more violent than usual, producing; as in the present instance, " an Indian war." It may be presumed that the backwoodsmen or settlers regard these "frontier" tribes " very much as such communities are regarded by our countrymen in their several colonies. They make very light of the rights or claims of the savages, are very impatient under disturbance, and very well disposed . to push retaliation to extremes. In, short, they would exterminate the .marauders without reluctance; but the American Government, like our' own, has always done its best to mitigate the lot of the doomed races. = A special department of the Federal Administration stands specially charged with their interests, and special reports are periodically' made and comprised in the. messages of the President. But all that has been done in this way — and it is not a little— ; pnly shews how utterly impossible it is to do anything with effect. The Red Men must go. As civilization advances savage life retires, and in a short time there will be as little place for an Indian in New Mexico as there is now in Maryland. The territories, however, of the United States are so vast, and the tracts yet unsettled are so large, that for some years to come it would be possible for both races to exist together were it not for the irresponsible antagonism between them. Whether, on the present occasion, the settlers gave the first offence, or whether, as is more likely, the resentment of the Indians at their incessant losses has culminated in one more vain insurrection, we cannot say, but the end will be as it has always been. At more or less cost the tribes in arms will be driven off, and the extinction of the red, race will be accelerated by one more blow. It has not been found possible by any expedient — though the devices were many— to avert these periodical collisions and let the Indian population decay tin peace. Large areas of territory have been set apart for communities of the Red Men, while at other times smaller settlements have been tried, but always with indifferent success. In fact, the problem can have but one solution. Mr Roebuck once expressed, according to his wont, with uncompromising bluntness, but still with truth, when he said that aavages must be civilized off the face of the earth* to make room for their betters. We can do no more than break the violence of their fall, and even that process is often impeded by their own natural ferocity. This has been the history of the world since its creation. One race has given place to another, and left scarcely a vestige behind. The existence of these Indians,'as .a. people,, is incompatible with the growth of the Union, and no reasoning man can desire that the growth of the Union should be stopped or thwarted for the sake of these savage tribes. .