Seth King Humphrey

“ The story of the labors of these men, of their visits to the agencies and Indian camps throughout the great West, of hardships endured for humanity's sake, securing justice, and denying to no lowly Indian the right to be heard in his own behalf, covers the brightest page in Indian history. ”

“ A commission of three was duly appointed, consisting of the State Superintendent, who had recommended their removal, the resident agent of the Indians, and a farmer, a former Indian trader, whose land adjoined the reservation. The summer of 1871 finds the special commissioners on the reservation, ready for business.
And the Indians! All is excitement and consternation. The crisis is upon them; the men from the Great Father have come to make another bargain! Come forth, chiefs; make the plea of your lives in defence of the Indian country! ”

“ I know that there are many persons within reach of this reservation, and other reservations, who suppose that the Indians will be removed, and they are waiting for places on them. These men will be told by their candidates for Congress that they will get the Indians removed. If they should ever succeed, and I do not believe they ever will, it will be with the certainty that the Indians will get the full value of their lands, and I believe the man who waits here to get a pre-emption claim on this land will die a poor man, still waiting. ”

“ The surrounding whites were out in force, highly interested spectators; a United States senator for Oregon made one speech to the Indians, in which, amid protestations of friendship, he pictured the overwhelming advance of the white man in a way that must have terrified these simple-minded people.
". . . The whites will, perhaps, in the course of time, want to build railroads through your reservations, when the President thinks it necessary. The railroads will bring more white people into the country. ”

“ That is why I don't want any white man to come and live inside the reservation. That is what Governor Palmer and Governor Stevens told us, that no white man shall go and live inside our reservation. Now, my friend, you have heard what I have said about my land, and that is why I want to stay here; I cannot find any other country outside; my friend, the white man, has occupied the whole country. I see the whites travelling through the country on all sides, but I stay here on these lands that they promised me I should keep. ”

“ They may settle about the reservation, and we may not be able to prevent their committing some wrong. If they should commit wrong on the Indians, we fear you would commit some wrong against them in retaliation. Then the white people and the Indians might have a great war. There are great numbers of white people, and we fear they would exterminate the Indian. This we wish to prevent. Our hearts are with the Indians, and, as law-makers, we wish to protect them. ”

“ We want them to understand fully the danger that surrounds them. The President will do all he can to protect them, but there are some bad white men as well as bad Indians. We want you to think of it, and decide whether it would be better to get away from the roads and the railroads that may some time be built through the country. . . ."
The Indians took little part in the speech-making of the first two days. The superintendent presented the question of removal with great elaboration, and Mr. Brunot gave the Indians several talks of an advisory nature. ”

“ The President will see the record, and see what we poor old men have said in this council. What the whites have tried to show me I have tried to learn. It is not much, but I have fenced in a small piece of land and tried to raise grain on it. I am showing you my heart. I like my church, my mills, my farm, the graves of my parents and children, and I do not wish to leave my land. That is all my heart, and I show it to you."
"Pierre. I am going to make a short speech. I have only one heart, only one tongue. Although you say, 'Go to another country,' my heart is not that way. ”

“ There are constant attempts to encroach upon it, constant attempts, under various pretexts, to locate upon it, and occasional attempts to exasperate the Indians into the commission of some overt act which will justify, or at least palliate, retaliation, and thus give an excuse for plunging the country into another Indian war, the end of which, they well know, would be the expulsion of the Indians from the coveted tract. ”

“ And their agent confirms the presence of the cloud that hangs over these children of the forest:
"The only cause of discontent existing in their minds is the constant fear that the reservation will be taken from them and thrown open to settlement by the whites."
Again, in the following year: "The Indians, who are superior to most tribes in intellect and energy, are very much attached to their home, and very reluctant to abandon it. Some thoughtless whites have talked quite freely about driving the Indians off and taking possession by force. ”

“ Public meetings of citizens have been held to devise means to have the tract opened for settlement, and petitions for the same object to Congress and to the State Legislature have been circulated and numerously signed. The Indians are hence very uneasy and very much alarmed. There are here, as on probably every frontier, a few reckless villains who desire to provoke a war. ”