| 141 In July, 1876, the Saints in Keokuk dedicated their church, Elder M. H. Forscutt officiating in their behalf.
In Herald for August 15 and September 1 President Joseph Smith presented the Indian question. We here insert it both as containing valuable historical matter, and the opinion of church authorities on this much vexed question:
THE INDIAN QUESTION.
The cause of the red man finds some defenders, who, while they admit his present general character of cruelty and love of revenge, yet speak earnest words in condemnation of that which has caused his evil deeds namely, the wrongs he has endured through the rapacity and wickedness of white men, and through the frequent violation of the treaties entered into and the stipulations guaranteed by the officers and agents of the Government, as well as by Congress itself.
General Vandevere, Indian inspector, shows that the great body of the Indians have no connection with the war now in progress, neither do the large majority feel any hatred against the Government or the whites. He says that those who have gone out are only the unruly ones, and that there are among them, as a whole, no more of this element than there are bad ones among the same number of whites; and thinks that if in all transactions the whites treated them with the same degree of justice that we do civilized beings, instead of as a defenseless prey, they would all be our friends; but, as it is, that provocation after provocation compels them to fight.
The celebrated Wendell Phillips has written to General Sherman concerning the report of the Indian commission of 1867, composed of General Sherman and others, wherein he says, was presented "one of the most terrific pictures ever drawn, of the wrongs the Indian has suffered from this nation." He says:
"You know that we have surrounded him with every demoralizing influence, steeped him in intemperance, incited him to licentiousness, and tempted him to every vice. You have yourself given evidence that the Government has robbed him of his lands, cheated him of his dues, and uniformly broken faith with him. If any of the tribes are liars, thieves and butchers, they may rightly claim to have only copied the example we have set them. You know that they have been outraged, plundered, and butchered with brutal and detestable cruelty; and that the Indian has not lifted his hand against us until provoked to do so."
He then gives General Harrison's views of their peaceableness, but for their wrongs; and quotes General Harney, who said, after fifty years experience among them, "that he had never known an Indian tribe to break its word with the Government, and he had never known the Government to keep its faith with an Indian tribe." He quotes General Pope, who has stated that it is their wrongs which "drive the Indians to war;"
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