Indian diaspora

“ It may be truly said at this moment that the structure and principles of Indian society are but partially known, and that the American Indian himself is still an enigma among us. The question is still before us as a nation whether we will undertake the work of furnishing to the world a scientific exposition of Indian society, or leave it as it now appears, crude, unmeaning, unintelligible, a chaos of contradictions and puerile absurdities. ”

“ Looking at the present condition of things it may be said, without exaggeration, that on the whole the Indian situation is now more hopeful than ever before. The desire of the Indians to maintain friendly relations with their white neighbors, to go to work for their own support, to cultivate the soil, to acquire permanent homes, to have their children educated, and to assimilate themselves to the civilization of the country, is growing stronger and more general every day. ”

“ Already this is true of many Indians, and the day is not far distant—I venture to prophesy that it is within the next twenty years—when, if these influences continue, the Indian will be so thoroughly absorbed among his white brethren that as a separate race he will be lost to sight, and the Indian question will be a question no more. ”

“ The number of Indians within the territory of the United States is estimated to approach to near half a million of souls.
It must be obvious to every one familiar with the Indian character, and with the history of our past relations with this people, that the success of this plan, will depend, in a very great degree, upon the manner in which its details shall be executed by the government. A failure will inevitably ensue, if white men are permitted to come in contact with the Indians. ”

“ That an Indian ceases to be such in the eye of the law, and in all practical relations to society, when he becomes an educated industrious member of the general community, and competes not only for its privileges but for its highest honours, is inevitable. But it is not with the Indian as with the Negro mixed race. The privileges and the disabilities of the Indian ward may both be cast off; but a certain degree of romance attaches to Indian blood, when accompanied with the culture and civilisation of the European. ”

“ The Indian gives to the white man all he needs, and aids him in obtaining from the wide stretch of land over which he roams all the wealth that it can afford. Practically one part of the Dominion is handed over to the Red Man and to the half-breeds, for there is an Indian frontier which as yet has not been much encroached upon by any large migration of whites. ”

“ Among the features that distinguish the character of the North American Indian, there is none more remarkable, none more worthy of the study and the imitation of civilised man, than the patience and impartial candour with which they listen to the advice or opinion of others: although so prone to be swayed by passion and governed by impulse, the Indian seems to have a wonderful power of laying aside these predispositions, when discussing a matter privately with a friend, or openly in council. ”

“ And yet the solution of the Indian problem is not a matter of theory or of speculation, but is an accomplished fact. It has been wrought out before our eyes. Wild, savage Indian tribes, as fierce, as lawless, as intractable as any now existing, have been tamed, have been taught the arts and ways of peace, have subjected themselves to law, and are now living in orderly, peaceable, industrious communities. ”

“ The Indian is still, as he always has been, and will remain for many years to come, entirely incapable of meeting the white man, with safety to himself, in the field of trade and of resisting the arts and inducements which would be brought to bear upon him. ”

“ Verdict on the "poor Indian":—"Wiped out with an India-rubber shoe."
And then, in future generations, the tradition of Indian blood among Canadian families of dark complexion, along these ridges, will be about as vague as that of Spanish descent in the case of certain tribes of fishermen on the western coast of Ireland. From the assimilation already going on, however, it may be argued that the physical character of the Indian will be gradually merged and lost in that of the French colonist. ”

“ We shall ourselves become the leaders of the coolies, and dig out channels in Ceylon, in Africa, in South America, and other countries, building up from entirely new centres new colonies and territories and kingdoms where the Indian colonist would find himself not a stranger in a strange land, unwelcome, neglected, or illtreated, but at home in a new India, more prosperous and happy than the one he had left behind,—a colony peopled and possessed and managed by those of his own race and language. ”

“ It means the rush of a swarm of people, good, bad and indifferent—chiefly bad and indifferent—and these settlers will crowd themselves in as a wedge between the two divisions of the Indian reservation, and we shall have Indians both to the north and to the south. They will be exposed to influences from which they have been kept as yet; influences which will tend to uplift in the outcome, as well as to degrade. I thank God for it. I thank God that he is bringing the white man into the midst of the Indian country. ”

“ The number of Indians is stated to be on the increase, partly from the access of births over the deaths, and partly from a numerous immigration of tribes from the United States. This report must be taken with allowances. It is, at best, but an estimate, and in this respect, the Canadians, like ourselves, are apt to over estimate.
The Indian is a man who has certainly some fine points of character; one would think a man of genius could turn him to account. Why then are Indian tales and poems failures? They fail in exciting deep sympathy. We do not feel that he has a heart. ”

“ In my judgment the time has arrived when we should definitely make up our minds to recognize the Indian as an individual and not as a member of a tribe. The General Allotment Act is a mighty pulverizing engine to break up the tribal mass. It acts directly upon the family and the individual. Under its provisions some sixty thousand Indians have already become citizens of the United States. ”

“ Besides the climate, which is so greatly in your favour, you have another great advantage in the tractability and good conduct of the Indian population. (Applause.) I believe I have seen the Indians of almost every tribe throughout the Dominion, and nowhere can you find any who are so trustworthy in regard to conduct— (hear, hear) —so willing to assist the white settlers by their labour, so independent and anxious to learn the secret of the white man's power. ”

“ The letter press tells the story of a great, intelligent effort to help the Indian enter upon a new career as a citizen of the United States. The author, while passing through Seattle on his last expedition, told the present reviewer that he believed that if the United States had spent half as much time and effort on the citizenship of the Indian as had been spent on the negro half of our National Congress would now be composed of Indians. ”

“ The half-breeds intensify Indian qualities. In the woods and lodges they do not show any sense of being a degraded caste, but they feel it when in the settlements. This mixture of the races, with the blending of some of the least noble and some of the most perverse traits of each, is found to introduce among the Indian tribes of the more remote places, and who have shared the least in amicable relations with the whites, influences unfavorable to civilization. ”

“ The Indians seem now to have become aliens in the land of their nativity. There is one ray of possible hopefulness for them, and with such cheer as it may afford we may close the review of their sad history. What reason or assurance there may be for the hope now to be intimated will depend for each one on his estimate of the quality, the capacity, the destiny of the Indian race. At any rate those who, as philanthropists, grieve most over the wrongs, plead most earnestly for the rights of the Indians, and insist that there is a brighter future before them, ought to emphasize this hope. ”

“ They were smart, well-set-up men, thoroughly identified with the rest of the population, and regarding themselves and being regarded by others as on the same level with their fellow citizens. Yet they were obviously far more Indian in blood than was the unkempt, bearded white man to whom they were talking, and whom they and their fellows spoke of as an Indian, while they spoke of themselves, and were spoken of by others, as "Christians." "Indian" was the term reserved for the Indians who were still pagans and who still kept up a certain tribal relation. ”

“ And while the agency of Indian affairs in this country remains in the hands of the present agent, I have the fullest confidence to believe that the reasonable expectations in reference to the intercourse between whites and Indians will be fully realized by every philanthropist and every Christian. But as the Indian population is sparse, after they are abundantly supplied, there will be remaining country sufficient for an extensive white population. ”

“ When the whites first came to this country, wars and atrocious cruelties existed between the new race of men and the Indians. When this animosity began to abate, a treaty was held, which was attended by the Indians far and wide. They were told by an interpreter, one of the white men who had already learned their language, that the Indian tribes appeared, in the eyes of white men, while in action, like the beasts of the forests and the birds of prey, changing from one form to the other, and that the bullets of the foreigners had no effect on them. ”

“ Indians may go to, but never from that country. Originally intended as an exclusive refuge for the American Indian, where he might learn the ways of civilization and eventually become a part of the national life as an Indian State, the Indian Territory had degenerated into a general dumping-ground for every tribe that in its own home was an obstruction to the grand scheme of national upbuilding. ”

“ Then, too, within all the regions most solemnly covenanted to them as reservations on which the whites were forbidden to intrude, the moment the rumor gets abroad that there are mines upon them the explorers, the miners, and the farmers are found to have raised their shanties and then their so-called cities. These facts settle the point that all our future relations with the Indian tribes, instead of starting from non-intercourse with them, must proceed upon a rapidly advancing intimacy, — of dependence on their part, and of generous help on ours. ”

“ Another charge of great magnitude is brought against our friends in the west of "keeping up a constant communication with the Indian tribes on our frontier, with declaring, even from the pulpit, that the Indians are a part of God's chosen people, and are destined, by heaven, to inherit this land, in common with themselves." ”

“ In addition to the political, industrial, and speculative interests which will thus oppose the restoration of the policy of Indian seclusion from the shattered condition to which the events just recited have reduced it, three classes of persons may be counted on to lend their support to the plan of introducing the Indians, who have thus far been treated as "the wards of the nation," directly into the body of our citizenship. ”

“ In a Report for the protection of the Western Frontier, submitted to Congress by the Secretary of War, we have a very fair exposé of the conduct and intentions of the American Government towards the Indians. Although the Indians continue to style the President of the United States as their Great Father, yet, in this report, the Indian feeling which really exists towards the American people is honestly avowed ”

“ THE WHITE RACE AND ITS TREATMENT OF THE INDIAN Ever since the white race has been in power on the American continent it has regarded the Indian race—and by this I mean all the aboriginal people found here—as its inferiors in every regard. And little by little upon this hypothesis have grown up various sentiments and aphorisms which have so controlled the actions of men who never see below the surface of things, and who have no thought power of their own, that our national literature has become impregnated with the fiendish conception that “the only good Indian is the dead Indian.” ”

“ They recognize, as we do, that the Indian has a possessory right to the soil. They purchase this right, as we do, by treaty; but their treaties are made with the Indian subjects of Her Majesty. They set apart a permanent reservation for them they seldom remove Indians they select agents of high character, who receive their appointments for life they make fewer promises, but they fulfil them; they give the Indians Christian missions, which have the hearty support of Christian people, and all their efforts are toward self-help and civilization. ”

“ Robbed of their homes and hunting-grounds, and driven by the encroachments of the whites to distant regions, which hardly support existence, the Indians, day by day, gradually decrease before the accumulating evils of body and soul, which their civilized persecutors entail upon them. With every man's hand against them, they drag on to their final destiny; and the day is not far distant when the American Indian will exist only in the traditions of his pale-faced conquerors. ”