| 827 degrading and reprehensible to humanity, go unwhipt of justice.
To prove this assertion, we give the minutes of two meetings as reported by the agents of government, viz:
Minutes of a council held by the Sac and Fox nation of Missouri river, with W. P. Richardson, Indian sub-agent at the Great Nemaha sub-agency, on the 4th day of October, 1844.
Nesomquot, chief of the Sacs and Foxes, said: "My father: We have met you, to talk about and transact much business. We are willing, and do hereby, appropriate all of our school-fund to the building up and support of the manual-labor boarding-school about to be established on the land of the Iowas, so long as we live on the land now occupied by us. We understand from you that there is on hand at this time the sum of $1,540 05, which has been sent to you; also, the sum of $1,540 in the hands of our great father, which he is anxious we should give to this school. We give it altogether, with what may be due us from year to year, for education purposes-with the condition, that if our nation desire it, they shall have the right to send their children to the school. You know many of us are opposed to having our children educated;-some of us think differently, and will, no doubt, send their children to the school. As we cannot get the money, we freely surrender it for the benefit of the manual-labor boarding school.
"I want now to talk about the money which has been withheld from our nation to pay for cattle which we are charged with killing, of Mr. Wallis. Tell our great father that we did not kill Mr. Wallis's cattle.
"We do not swear on a book, like our white brothers. Tell our great father that he has listened to the talk of bad white men, and taken our money from us, without hearing what we had to say in our defence [defense]. We did not kill these cattle; but they were lost by the carelessness of their owners, and the men who had the care of them. White men, and not Indians, ought to pay for them. Father, we have given our money to the school, and we hope it will please our great father and our white brothers. Father, we have a request to make of our great father: we owe our friend F. W. Risque for services rendered our tribe in making the treaty of 1837, in the sum of $4,000. He has our obligation for $3,500, and he claims interest of us on said contract. We are very poor, and do not feel able to pay him more than $4,000-five hundred dollars for waiting on us, and his expenses. We have given him our note for $4,000, and we have signed receipts for that amount, under your instructions. We want our great father to make the payment to Risque out of the money which we ought to have got in 1838. We understand that our great father says that the money was sent to us in 1838. We did not get $4,700 in 1838-no such sum was received by us; and if our receipts were made, they were not made by us, but were forged. We also understand that there is due to us $1,171 50 for blacksmithing in 1839 and 1840; and for our farming operations, $2,325 of the same year. Out of these funds, which are certainly due us, we want our friend Mr. Risque paid. We feel sure our great father will not hesitate to do this, as we have done as he wanted us with our school-funds. After paying Mr. Risque, we want the balance of this money sent to us, for we are very poor, in consequence of our money being kept to pay for killing cattle. We also ask our great father to send us $2,000 out of our next year's annuity, to relieve us through the winter. Our corn was destroyed by the waters, and we must suffer if we get no money. We hope our great father will hear this request of his red children, and do as we request him.'
Sho-ko-pe, (Sac chief.) "My father, we have heard the words of our chief Nesomquot. What he says is very good. It is the will of our nation that it should be as he has said.-My father, we do not want any goods sent next year. We sent last year for such goods as suited us, but we were not heard. No attention was paid to our wants, and we will not take anything but the money. Our goods were much inferior to what we got before, and we do not want any more. My father, I am done.'
"Minutes of a council held at the Great Nemaha sub-agency on the 24th September, 1844, by W. P. Richardson with the chiefs and braves of the Iowa tribe of Indians.
Major Richardson said to the chiefs: 'My children, some evil white men have reported that I have kept $2,500 of your money for the cattle some of your men killed last spring belonging to the Oregon company. I want you to say if it is so." Nauchemingo (a head chief) said: "It is all lies; it is like lying and stealing both, to say that." Major Richardson said: "You bring me and yourselves into much trouble by having to do with vicious white men; I hope you will have nothing more to do with them." Nauchemingo: "My father, I want to talk about the money our great father has kept, which our white brothers say is for killing cattle many years ago; we want him to look at it again, and see if he has done right. We want him here, and our father at St. Louis, and our great father at Washington, to look at the matter again. By keeping our money,
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