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The following brief historical sketch of the worliinj^ of Ihe In- diAn Peace Policy, in so far as it affects Catholic Indians and Cath'- oHc missionary labor among the tribes, is a Report presented to the Catholic Yoling Men's National Union, at its recent convi^ntion, lield at Boston, Miiss., by the special committee appointed to 'con- sider the matter. The Convention ordered it« pnblication, in l>amphlet form, for circulation among the members of the associa- tions comprising the Union, and the Catholic people generally. Copies may be obtained from the Secretary of the Union, Mr. JUAX A. PlZ7,lNr, No. 8 Twelfth street, Richmond. Va. -.:.■ .U.,S*-i «.;>,, >i.A*»^iV,!..'^;L ^'^wWI^X'-U ^^l.:X■Jrw.!^l^.r.i^':>'^i:JJA^■>. ■.},:/.frn'jm~:. 1 ^|Mppili«BVf)^iu'^;-|&L fvtTr^^:i^- - -^ ^, 6 cart erni Cat] ordi and The sent sun <:hai ishc ingl tbcj veni «nlj the I 'dian offic Ifrier iaien RIGHTII ANNUAL CONVKNTIOX OK Tui; CATHOLLC YOUXa MKN'S NATIONAL IN [ON, r.osTov, Mash., Mav 11, 18H2. Report of Iho Commt'tfee appointfd to Inquire intn Catholfa Grievan''.o.ii !n Rclatiitn tn tlw Aibninistration of Jmiiiiu Affairs. Your committee woulil respectfully report tliat they have carefully examined into the present Indian poli<^y of the Gov- ernment, in 80 far as that policy affects Catholic Indians and Catholic missionary labors among the tribes, and find so extra- ordinary a condition of affairs that they deem it both necessary and a duty to place a detailed statement before the Convention. The committee, in the outset, felt that it was desirable to pre- sent a very brief report ; but the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the question under consideration, and the unusual character of the testimony bearing upon this subject, admon- ished them that if they would do more than repeat the mean- ingless generalities usually recited in speaking of this subject, tbcy must appeal to tlie intelligence and patience of the Con- vention, and present a report of sufRcient length to show, not •only the fact of well grounded causes for complaint, but also the reason of the existence of Catholic grievances. THK OLD RKOIMK IX INDIAN AKFAIIJS. At the beginning of President Grant's administration the In- I'dians were governed by Indian agents, appointed, like othercivi I officers, upon the recommendation of influential political and social friends. In tlieory always, and in practice generally, fair-minded l«ien were selected, sioce the powers conferred upon them by the ivernment were almost unlimited over persons and tluny;s .,sjfaii.iw;jv,^ii«iu.; iiW«*iai,i « t'A THO h TC (JRIK VA NCKS wiiLin tlu' iinrnciiso territorial boundaries of their agencries, anavo made no distinction ; tiie sic!: and needy have hcow my first care ; and whiie geeliing them out complaints of un- r»ort of the fJoniniisaioner of IiidiRU Affairs for Uici year '870, Lj>i». 38, 33. 10 ('A TUOUC GRJEVASCKS most direct and far-reaching assault upon the principle of liber- ty of conscience made by the Government since the establish- iiient of the Republic. BY WHOM AND HOW THK AUKNCIES WEKE ALLOTTKD. The Board of Indian Commissioners, in their otlicial report for the year 1870, have themselves given a hi story of the per- sons who formnlated the plans of allotting the agencies, and the manner in which it was done. So important is that portion of their report treating of this subject that it is here given entire : • INDIAN KKSERVATIONS PLACED UNDEK CARE OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES. ■* The clause which had been inserted in the Army bill, preventing offlcers from holding Indian agencies or other civil positions, induced the secretary of the board early to recommend to the Secretary of the InteriOi.' the policy of placing the Indian reservations under the care of the Christian denominations of the countr}'. Thi^• recommendation was an extension of the oolicy already adopted by the Pr^esident, in placing the superintendency of Nebraska, and that ^or Kansai and the Indian Territory, uncier the care of the Society of Friends. The Secretary of the Interior approving of this plan , «.'alled the attention of the President to the suggestion, who took it into consideration. Meanwhile, the secretary of the board went to New York, whore the headquarters of most of the missionary societies are located, to consult with the officers of these bodices, and to ascertain whether thev would accent the resnonsibilities of re- commending suitable men for Indian agents. He found these officers at first reluctant to undertake the responsibility. Upon further consideration, the Rev. Ov. Lowrie, secretary of the Pres- teyteriau board: llev. Dr. Harris, secretary of the Methodist board ; Rev. Dr. Backus, secretary of the Baptist board ; llev. Dr, Ferris, secretary of the Reformed Church board ; Rev. Dr. Twing, secre- tary of the Episcopal Church mission ; Rev. Mr. Anthon, secretary of the American Episcopal Church missionary society ; Rev. Dr. Whipple, secretary of the Congregational board,who, with Dr. S. B. Treat, secretary of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign MisFious, was communicated with by letter, all agreed to present the subject to the favorable consideration of their respective boards. Dr. Cady, chief clerk of the Indian Department, communicated ON THE IKDIAK QrKSTIOX. 11 [RISTIAN with tint Roman Ciithortcs, of which church he was u zealous mem- ber, and coramuntcatlous were also sent toother denominations. "• On his return to Wasiiington, the secretary of the board was efflcially informed by Secretary Cox that tlie President approved of the plan of enlistin*; the co-operation of the Christian missionary societies in behalf of the Indians, and tlie secretary of the board was directed to open an oflicial correspondence with these societies, M'hich was immediately done. Before final action was taken on these •'-ommunications, Commissioner Bishop invited the secretaries of the various missionary societies to hold an informal conference on the subject, in the office of tlie ll.jv. Dr. I^owrie, who cordially co-oper- ated in this movement. After a free interchange of views, the officers of all the societies agreed to report to their respecti\'e boards ta favor of recommending well-tried (JUristian men for Indian ttgents. They accepted the responsibilitj^ and letters announcing their action were addressed to the conunisslon. (Si!e correspon- dence in Appendix 2-1.) On the receipt of tliis information, the ?>ecretary of the Interior applied to the Indian Office for the loca- tion of the various mission schools in the Indian country, and llnding but little information on the subject in that office, applied to the secretary of the board, requesting him to furnish information, and to draw up an outline sketch of how the agencies should be alloteil to the several missionary societies. (See Appendix 23.) The brief report which the secretary of the board made in reply to this request was accompanied with a map, on which was marked out, in diffeveni hues with water color, the various Indian agencies and the Chris- tian denominations to which they could be assigned in harmony Avith the miasion work already begun at the agencies. This lctl<.r :i,ad map formed the initial guide to the present allotments. Son^e portions of the Indian country, such as California, Oregon, and Washington Territory, were left un.issigned. They have since been assigned to the 3I'!thodist and Catholic churches. The Nez Perces reservation in Idaho and the Umatilla in Oregon were, by mistake, assigned, the former to the Roman Catholics and the latter to the Methodists. On the visit of the secretary of the board to that country in the fall he discovered the error, and on his report- ing the facts to the Interior Department, by direction of the Presi- «)ent, the errors were corrected." (*) > A few extracts from the correspondence, appendix 24, re- ferred to above, will further illustrate the subject under con- ♦ Becoud Anmial R^iKi't of the Board of Iiulian Commissioners for the year 1870, pp. 4, 5. 'if»'?TTr^ - . '.-'^'''^^■y-"*-- -■ 7-7f'^^Jf^^.''^'riTjr ^"1^7^. 12 CA TIWLW GRIE VAXCES ! ; i sideratio 1. Tri the following letter from Mr. Colyer to Kev. Stephen H. Tyng, chairman of the executive committee, American Church Missionary Society, will be seen how procligil the Hoard of Indian Commissioners was with the interests of the Indians : '• Washinotox, I). C, Juiu! 24, 1870. "Dkar I>()i'TOK : For lu^arly a year past I liavc bt'cn earnestly striviri«if to iiave the can; of thi; Indians of onr country taken out of tlie hands of the politicians and the Army, and placed under the care of Christian churches, and at last the President, under God, , has conscntod to the chan<;v. Congress liaving forbidden oftlcers of the Arn)y to hold civil positions, lifty and more vi'.cate tht^ oiliccs of Indian agents, and their places in the early part of next M exico and ic Ameri- looking ada, Ore - once the Secretary 1,500 for alifornia , have to men ar<; this letter and will indorse all I say, and cordially co-operiitc with your society in every practicable way. "1 write in haste per mall. "Yours, truly, "VINCENT OOLYER, "Rev. Stephen H. Tyi.g, D. D., "^VeiP York, Chairman Ex. Com. Am. Ch. Miss. Society. ^^ (*) In another communication, addressed to Rev. 'Sir. Anthon of the same society, Mr. Colyer says : " I trust tliat 3'ou will bring this subject to the prayerful consi* tleration of your society, remembering that here is not a body of jKKjr paupers, who are to be thrown on your charity unprovided for, and who will only be a heavy burden, but that here are poor people who come to you with means and power placed at your conunnnd to provide for and protect them with." (t) The partiality of the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Cox, for the Presbyterians is further shown by the following brief extract from a letter of Mr. Colyer to Rev. Dr. Lowrie, secretary of the Presbyterian Board Home Mission ; Mr. Colyer is speaking of Secretary Cox : "He said that he deeply regretted the circumstances, as there was nothing he so much desired as the hearty co-operation of societies like your own ; that he would do everything in liis power to- both foster and encourage t jur effortsJ, meeting you more than half way in anything you would be willing to undertake, and he wished me to say this to you. "(J) The Methodists heartily approved of the new policy, as ap- pears from the following communication froai Rev. Dr. Durbln r " Mission Rooms of the Methodist Episcopal Church, " 805 Broadway, Neto Turk, June 25, 1870. "Dear Sir: We, the secretaries of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, took an early opportunity to report to our proper committee the substance and many of the particulars of the conversation we had with you in our office a day or two ago, toucliing the President's Indiaa policy. Th«j committee was so impressed by Its wisdom and utility that tliey communicated informally to our board of managers yesterday » Second Annual Reiiort of tho Boaril of Indian Commissioners, fov the year 1870, p. 96. t Ibid., p. 96. t Ibid, p. 94. 14 CA THOL IC GRIE VAKCES their convlctiousi. A free and full conversation ensued araou"; the members of the board, which rei^ulted in the unanimou.s adoption of the following resolutions, viz : "1. Resolved, That we, the board of managers of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, do heartily approvt^ of the Indian policy of the President of the United States as indi- id p.M.KW. ■■^^■.'^^.\r,i^:.,^'^,' 10 r.M THOLW GRIKVANCES I way of Kansas Fucittc Railroad, yoti have lirst the Utes near Max- well's at the base of the ]{attoon Mountains. These you can assign to the American Missionary Society, Rev. Mr. Whipple, secretary ; and you can continue their mission field down into Southern New Mexico and Arizona, giving them a portion of the Pueblo villages, on t}ie Rio Grande, and the Apaches uf New Mexico and Southeast- ern Arizona. Other Pueblo villages on the Rio Grande are claimcdl by the Roman Catholics, and as they have missions there these can be assigned to them. Passing westward you come to the Navajoes, Moquis, Pimas, and these, together with the Utes on the San Juan River, ought to be assigned to the Presbyterian Board, which al- ready has missions there, and they are alone in that field. The >>ecretarv is Rev. Mr. Lowrio, 20 Centre street. New York. " At present the basis of supplies in that direction ceases with the Moquis, and the tribes and people in western Arizona are supplied via San Francisco. The tribes in Western Arizona are assigned to the Reformed Church, of which Rev. Mr. Ferris is secretary, office cor- ner of Vesey and Church street, New York ; this society formerly known as the 'Dutch' Reformed Church. ** As these tribes will hereafter b« supplied via Union Pacific Rail- road and Salt Lake, I have continued (on the map) their mission work up among the tribes in Salt Lake Valley to the railroad. •' As the Roman. Catholics already have missions among the In- dians on and near Puget Sound, and General Parker says also among the Nez Percee and at the head of the Missouri River, and the Pow- der River Sioux, I have marked these reservations down to that Church. "Coming down the Missouri, the great reservation of the Black- feet, Assinaboines, Plegans, &c., has been placed at the disposal of the Methodists, of which Rev. Dr. .J. S. Durbin and Dr. Harris are secretaries, 805 Broadway. "Continuing down the Missouri, you next come to the Episcopal and American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions Socie- ties' missions in Dakota, and these reservations, I think, might with- out jarri.ig be placed in the care of these two societies. The Epis- copal Society is w hat is known as the Evangelical branch of that Church, and differs only in church discipline from the Presbyterian. ITie Rev. Mr. Anthon is seoretarj-, 13 Bible House, New York, 'American Church Missionary Society,' and Dr. Treat, of Boston, secretary of the other. ON THE INDIAN QUESTION. IT 'acllic RaiJ- " Along the line ol the Utiioii Piicillc R^llroail the Biptidts h&Yi <>.stublUhed, or are commissioned to establish, mission stations, and as there are numbers of stray bands of Indians along that railroad I have marked these, together with the tribes in Southern Idaho, to the Baptists. Hc.^. Nathan Bishop, 11 East Twenty-fourth street, New York, will respond to lettters addressed to that society. *' Tills brings ns back to Omaha and Nebraska, and here the Hicks- Ite Society of Friends are already successfully operating. '^ In Minnesota the Yankton Sioux are under the hospitable care df the Episcopalians, of which the Hon. William Welsh, of Phlla- delplila, is the efAcienc patron. " In Northern Minnesota, the Chippewas, if not already provided for, might be recommended to the able supervision of the Unita- rians, of which society Dr. Henry W. Bellows, of New York, Is President. "These are slnjply suj^gestions made in response to your khul re- quest. "Faithfully, your obedient servant, "VINCENT COLYEK, ^'■Secretary of Board. " Hon. J. D. Cox, Secretary of Interior.'' (♦) Thus it appears that the project of allotting the agencies to the ditferent denominatioas was inaugurated by the Board of Indian Commissioners, composed of Protestant gentlemen ex- clusively ; that the particular methods of putting that plan'into operation were traced by its secretary ; and that the allotment -was made by executive officers in full sympathy with the churches represented by the gentlemen composing the Board, without regard to the wishes or rights of the Christian Indians. RESULT or THE ALLOTMENT OF THE AGENCIES TO THE SEV- ERAL RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. The number of agencies assigned to the several denomina- tions was sixty -nine, according to the official report of the .Board of Indian Commissioners for 1871, as follows : , To the Friends, 16 ; Baptists, 5 ; Methodists, 14 ; Congrega- . tionalists, 3 ; Presbyterians, 10 ; Christians, 2 ; Episcopalians, 8,; •Second Annual Report' of the Board of Indian Commissioners for the year 1870, p, M. 'li-J-^i-J :''-'-■ 'Jlt^ 1»f,^r^ 11ilW)HiHPH««P^ii»mi|pni|iHPi*. 18 CATUOLIC GRIEVANCES in ! 1 1 i Dutch U3formed, 2; Catholics, 7; Unitarians, 1; A. B. C. F. M's., Boston, 1. The agencies allotted to the Catliolics were the Tulalip, in Washington Territory ; Umatilla, in Oregon ; Flathead, in Mon- tana ; Fort Hall, in Idaho ; Grand River (or Standing Rock), and Devil's Lake, in Dakota, and Papigo, in Arizona. Later the Grande Ronde, in Oregon, was substituted for the Fort Hall agency. By this allotment the Mission Indians, of California, all Catholics, were assigned to the Methodists ; the Pueblos of New Mexico, all Catholics, to the Christians or Campbellites, and later to the Presbyterians, and twenty or thirty other tribes, in which a considerable numbar of Catholics were to be found grouped around their Catholic churches, were placed under the charge of Protestant agents charged to aid in converting them to the denomination to which they (the agents) belonged. This astounding condition of affairs seems impossible in this free Re- public and in this much vaunted age of enlightenment. Yet it is a fact fully attested by the published official reports of the Indian service. To show that Catholics are not alone in seeing the great in- justice offered to the Christian Indians by the operation of the present policy, your committee here reproduce an editoriM arti- cle, clipped from the New York 2'ribune, commenting on a let, ter from General Sherman to Rev. Henry Ward Beecher on the Indian Question : [From New York Daily Tribune, March 13, 18T9.J "GHURCH AND STATE AMONG THE INDIANS. " The letter from General Sherman to Mr. Beecher which we pub- lished yesterday has probably been read by many people with con- siderable surprise. The General declares that if the army had the legal custody of the Indians 'every religious denomination profes- sing "peace on earth and goodwill" should have a fah: chance to establtah schools, churches and charitable societies among each and all the tribes,' and that the present system of 'letting out* each tribe or sub-division of a tribe 'to some special denomination, .ifeHL., ON THE INDIAN QUESTION. 10 . B. C. F. Tulalip. in d, in Mon- ing Rock), na. Later Fort Hali rornia, all los of Neiir Uites, and tribes, in be found under the :ting them red. This s free Re- tt. Yet it ts of the great in- on of the >ri>^I arti- : on a let. jecher on i we pub- with con- y had the >a profes- chance to each and ut* each liaatioh, whicli has a monopoly of the bu.sine!<>},' shoiiUl be brouirlit to an cikI. It Is so obviously Just that every church should liavo 'a fair chauce ' to convert Indians as well as other heathen, It Is so ludl* crously Inconsistent with the spirit of our Institutions to grant to any religious body a 'monopoly' of auythiug, that Americans who H.e not familiar with Indian aftairs will perhaps wonder what the General is talking about. As usual, however, General Sherman is talkln;^ sense, lie is not amusing himself with rhetoric. The In- dian agencies have been divided up by the United States Govern- ment, and assigned, for religious purposes, to fourteen denomina- tions, each of which is, within the limits allotted to it, the estab - lished church. Although clergymen of other denominations are sometimes found at these assigned agencies, they rema'u there only on suflTcrance ; Instances have occurred of their forcible expulsion at the demand of the Government missionary, and even of the confis- cation by one church of the missionary buildings erected at the cost of an earlier and rival denomination. "It does not appear that In the distribution of the agencies the pre- ferences of the Indians were at all consulted. General Sherman says that Protestant Indians are In the custody of Catholic priests, and, vice versa. Catholic Indians have been transferred to Protest- ants. The scheme seems to have been to give every denomination, so far as possible, an equal, or at least proportionate, extent of territory, without much reference to what had already been done In the cultivation of the same fields. The result is that the churches which have maintained extensive Indian missions for a great many years find their spheres of usefulness suddenly contracted by an ar- bitrary edict from Washington, and churches which have done ilttle are set up among Indians already converted to some other variety of Christianity. By a grotesque blunder all the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico were committed to the Presbyterians, although four- fifths of them are Catholics. If similar transfers have been made from Protestants to Catholics, this mode of striking a balance does not lessen the wrong, but doubles It. The wrong Is not upon the missionary but upon the savage. "Last May, Mr. Fenn, the delegate from Idaho, made a strong speech on this system in the House of Representatives. He charged that the 'grasping church authorities of dlflterent religious denom- inations 'were actuated by ' greed and love of power ' In attempt- ing to get control of the agencies. That was nonsense, for the life of an Indian missionary offers no temptation except to those who are actuated by true Christian zeal. But Mr. Fenn exposed several iM-.t/V.^.S 9<) CA mo Lie a lilt: va svks Ml ii I cuses in which, if \w. statml tlic facts correctly, tiic Uiiit(!il Stutes Goveriunciit uiuh'rtook tlic extraordinary responsibility of convert- jug tribes wholosale from one church to another, with tlie natural consequence of irritating the Indians and interposing a serious ob- stacle to the advancement of Christianity and civilization. The re- port of the Comuiissioncr of Indian AfTairs for 1877 contains at least one illustration of the danger of letting the Government meddle with the religion of the Indians. The Green Bay Agency, in WIs- (.'onsin, is one of those assigned to the Congregationalists. It in- cludes the Menomonee Indians, the greater part of whom arc said to be Catholics ; there arc three Catholic churches on the reserva- tion. The ofticial report of the agent, Mr. Joseph C. Bridgman, 4ontains the following passage : 'The four day-schools held in dif- ferent parts of the reservation were abolished, and a boarding-school established at Keshcna. . . At llrst it met tho determined opposi- tion of the Komish priest located here, and only two boarders re- mained through the term. The priest was assured that so long as he confined his labors to his legitimate church duties and did not in- terfere with the Government school ho might remain upon the re- serve, but if he continued to persecute and to excommunicate from liis church parents who sent their children to the school he would not be allowed to labor among the people. . . We have enrolled the Ijast term 102 names, mostly Roman Catholics.' ''Whether the priest was right or wrongin forbidding his people to attend this mission boarding-school is not tlie question. The scan- hal is in the spectacle of the United States regulating the religious dcliefs, or religious practices, or religious policy of Indians or of anybody else, in any form. We need no clearer demonstration of the mischief of the whole system of allotting missions than this instance of a Government functionary reporting officially to his immediate su- perior the fruit of his year's labor in enrolling the converts made by another denomination. General Sherman's rule is the only one which an American Government can rightly recognize. It is the rule of ' Hands off, and fair play for all.' We want neither a State church in New-York, nor fourteen State churches among the In- dians." I PRESENT CONDITION OF THE INDIAN QUESTION. Notwithstanding the protests of the Catholic Indians them- selves, notably the Chippewas, Osaores, and Pueblos ; the Cath- olic clergy and laity, notably of the Archbishop and clergy of the ecclesiarstical province of Oregon, and of. the societies com- '^^ii^if&^^-2^-i. 0^ THE INDIAN Q LEST ION. SI posing the Catholic Young Men's National Union, and tho ap* peals for redress filed in the Indian Department bv the Bureau of Catholic Missions, the so-called peace policy is still in full force, and the religious rights of the Catholic Indians are still Ignored. Indeed it appears that progressive steps are being taken further to encroach upon the liberty of conscience of the Catholic Indians through a system of consolidation of agencies. Thus the Papago agency, which was originally assigned to the Catholics, has already been taken away by being consolidated with the Pima and M.-Micopa agency, allotted to the Dutch Re- formed Church ; and bills are now pending in Congress for the consolidation of the Tulalip agency with the Misqually and S'Kokomish agencies, and the removal of the tribes of the Umatilla agency to the Yakima agency, under the charge of the Methodists. Another danger to the Catholic Indians is the placing of their most intelligent and promising children in In- dian industrial schools at Forest Grove, Carlisle, and Hampton, all of which are practically Protestant schools, where they are trained to become the future leaders of their people. COKCLUSION. From the above facts it appears that the Indian policy of the Government,during the past thirteen years.has been administered by and in the interest of the Protestant churches. Not a sin- gle Catholic representative is to be found in either (1) the com- mittees on Indian Affairs of the two Houses of Congress, which frame the laws ; (2) the Board of Indian Commissioner'?, which shapes the administrative policy in accordance with the supposed sentiments of the philanthropic people of the country ; (3) the Indian Bureau, which determines and directly adminis- ters the policy of the Government, or (4) the corps of Indian inspectors, which investigates charges of maladministration or grievances, furnishing data upon which to base the action of the department in certain cases. Catholics, evidently, are studiously ■excluded from the service, which is proverbially denominational IB its organization, and in the administration of which they ii-sk^:tv-:..:;.: 5^wp|ai?^;TS«^[>T^r[?n^ - i'^^^TT^ ^.'V/^I'''>• '.'/t^>^'~vV'^r7*ST-"f*! ' ''" fil?;'" 22 CATHOLIC GRIEVANCES, ETC. have important interests constantly at stake. Catholics cannot have objections to liberal-minded Protestant gentlemen, as citizens, controlling the Indian policy of the Government, but they have just cause for complaint, when Protestant gentlemen, noted for their ultra-sectarian views, are, as religionists, entrasted with the religious interests of those whose rights they can neither understand nor appreciate, by reason of their sectarian educatloa or blind prejudices. .,',M'i!\ai,i. /^ '^= f7^^ V>"7'^T*''^-.K.~':'/' •> It- APPENDIX. [Prom The Catholic, Washington, D, C, July 15, 1882.] OUR CATHOLIC INDIANS. "7>0/ THE POOR INDIAN r We called atlenlion some vvefcka since, to the fact that a bill was pending in Congress which contemplated consolidating the Tulalip Indian Agency heretofore assigned to the Catholic Church under the " Peace Policy," witi\ the Puyallup and S'Ko- koniish Agencies, assigned to Protestant denominations. We predicted that the new con-iolklated agency y;ould not be ploced under Cptholio supervision, but that the change — like all changes made in the administration of Indian Affairs since the inauguration of the presont policy — would redound to the advan- tage of some denomination wliicb, without Government favor^ could never h:\ve exerted a.iy perceptible influence over the Indians. To-day we grieve to have to chronicle the fact that Congress has passed the Mil refci red to, and Lhat our prediction has passed into the re.ilm of rcaliiy. The consolidated agency is hereafter to be officially known as the Nisqually, S'KoJcomish and Tululij} Agency, and Mr. Edwin Eells, the old agent of the late S'Kokomish Agency, nominated by the Congregational Church, is to be the future governor of all the tribes of the Puget Sound district, the President. having sent in his name to th>? Senale fcr confirmation. A brief historical sketch of the Indians comprised within the present Nisqually, S'Kokomish and Tulalip Agency may be of interest to the sympathetic reader, and we proceed to give an accoimt of them. ■e^!5 OT'?"}''^''^^ • ^•f''?:"^","- '^■"'^i'Wj^^'W^^^'W::^ S4 APPENDIX. When the Hudson's Bay Company established its trading-posts west of the Rocky Mountains, in 1824, it found numerous small tribes of aborigines on the lands bordering Puget Sound, and on the islands which dot thac Important inland sea. They had never cume in contact with the whites except the early explor- ing expeditions of the Spaniards and Snglish. They were all real flat-heads— except those held in bondage from infancy — and a hospitable and docile people, but steeped in pagan ignor- ance and barbarism. The first missionary of any denomination wJio visited them was Very Rev. Francis Norbtrt Blanchet, then vicar.general to the Bishop of Quebec, but since Archbishop of Oregon. This was in the year 1840. He preached missions amongst them at Nisqually, Whidby's Island, Tulalip Bay and other important points. The Skagets were then a numerous tribe and the appointed their principal chief, Snetlam, a catechist, he having be m pre- viously instructed at Cowlitz Prairie, near Fort Vancouver. He was followed by Father Demers, afterwards Bishop of Vancou- ver's Island, and later, Father Bolduc, now a professor at Laval University, became their missionary. ' In 1853 Washington Territory was separated from Oregon, and Governor Isaac I. Stevens made treaties with all the tribes. During the next few years they were gathered upon reserva- tions in the vicinity of their old homes, namely : Snohomish or Tulalip, Swinamish, Lummi, Kitsap or Port Madison, Muck- leshoot, Nisqually, Puyallup, Shoalwater, Chehalis, Squaxi' , 8'Kokomish, and others. During the terrible Indian wars of 1856 in the Oregon coun- try, the missionaries of the Order of Oblates found themselves obliged to leave their missions among the Walla- Wallas, Yaki- raas and Cay uses, on account of the hostility of the volunteers, and they retired to Olympia, the capital of Washington Terri tory, which is situated on the lower end of Puget Sound. From this point the missionaries made frequent visits to all the tribes of the surrounding country. Having met with considerable success, and affairs in the Umatilla and Yakima countries re- >-j, .i^'ir'i(ipM».7^7rTi;»™p?»f "p^s APPENDIX. 23 ii- mcining ansettled, they determined to establish a permanent mission at some central point on Puget Sound. The Beverend Fathers (jhirouse and Durieu accordingly fixed the mission at the month of the Snohomish river, at a locality now known as Priest's Point, on the Tulalip reservation, about the year 1858. In a letter dated Snohomish mission, February 15, 1860, ad- dressed to a Father of his order, Father Chirouse gives the fol- lowing interesting account of his mission : *' What a change, my very dear Father, has been operated in two years among these poor savages, who up to that time had, perhaps, been the most corrupt of all the Indians of America. * * * There are now but few polygamists here and there, and these are ashamed to appear among people of good principles. The greater portion of the gamblers have renounced their impositions and have brought to us their games, which we preserve with the instruments of magic and sorcery, as permanent witnesses of their promises to God. MorD than nine hundred young men have enrolled themselves in our Temperance Society, and all of them have promised to pay two dollars for the poor and to submit to twenty stripes of the whip if Aey should again taste Intoxicating liquors. Formerly the whisky- sellers made fortunes, but now they are obliged to leave the country for want of occupation. In the two yea-'s that have just elapsed, there have been fewer murders committed by reason of drunken- ness in the whole of the Puget Sound country, than there were for- merly in two months at a single point on the Bay. Formerly near- ly all the Indians prostituted their wives and daughters to the whites ; to-day all of the two thousand Christians have, generally, a horror of this abominable commerce. Formerly the name of Jesus Christ was hardly known among these poor tribes : since eigh- teen years a great number had been baptized in their cradles by the first missionaries who visited the country — now each village is sur- mounted and protected by a long mission cross, which reminds the ft habitants of what they are and what they owe to their Saviour. Upon the sea-sliore, in the forest, and even up to the gates of the newly-born cities of the Americans, we see assemblies of poor In- dians who say their prayers aloud and sing without fear of the world the praises of the Great Chief on high, of the Blessed Virgin, and of the Angels and the Saints. Formerly the children trembled with fear at the mere mention of the sorcerers ; now they make them the objects of their jest. Formerly war decimated tliese ;ii{j*||»«*.™|j,ifP'i^!^|iP!8j^»^ 2G APPENDIX. poor tribes, who sought only to make slaves of each other, and now them seem to Diake but one people of friends and allies."* Such was the result of a few years' Catholic missionary labor among the tribes of Paget Sound. Father Chirouse and his companions labored in the same mission twenty-one year,; — from 1858 to 1878— "Consider now how ki"''** must lie that whole Which unto such a i nit ci nfornis Itsolf." f We might fill many colun.ns wilh the testimony of disinter- ested witnesses, showing tie practical work accomplished by the Tulalip mission, but we luive space to present only the testi- mony of Mr. Edmund '\\ Coh man, an English traveller and explorer, who visiied Pui^tt Sound nearly ten years after the date of Father Chirousi's letter, whose statements he fully cor- roborates. Speaking ol the Lummis. he says: "The Indian town is in the form of a triangle, built aromul a large wooden crucifix and flag-statt', with an ensign bearing temper- ance mottoes, and contains forty-eight good, substantial board dwell- ings, as well as a church, and a number of the old Indian 'ranche- ries' for smoluiiir and curing salmon. The Indians here are very orderly, and have hnprovod in mechanical skill. * * * Indeed, the Indian^) conduct niojr.ingaiid evening service in a commendable manner. Old David CrockcLt being their leader. " They have already abandoned their ancient barbarous habits, and have adopted iliore of civUizalion, temperance and religion. They have ako given up the practice of polygamj', flaU en ing heads, holding slaves, and gambling, as well ar> ihcir belief in 'Tomanuso?,' or medicine men. * * * Two years ago, on leaving Mr. Eldtidge's for Victoria, I could not got Indians )o lake mc, as Bishop Elanchet, the Koman Catliolic Bishop of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington Ter- ritories, with Father Bandre, of the Tulalip reservation, was making a visitation, and the Indians woidd not do any work until the bishop kad left. Indeed, Father Baudre had scarcely time to eat his meals" so anxions were the poor creatures to confess to him. The follow, ing exemplifies the religious teaching of the priests: Mr. Stratton was one day walking along the shore of Lummi Island, and met an * Rapports ties Missions du diocese do Quebec, No. 14, p, 116, etfeq. t Dante, Inferno, xxxiv. APPENDIX. rt ladian woman quite alone. There were steep banks, so that she could not turn back or get away into the woods. She showed some signs of alarm, and as Stratton drew near pulled out a cruciflx, and held it up as he pasncd. It was evident she had been taught that this was a symbol the ^vhilo man would re.rpcct, and that the possessor of it should come to no harm. I ob::erved that the Indians detached for our expeditions regularly retired every night, and kneeling in a row, said their prayers. I could not but contract their condition fa- _ vorably with the poor of my owa and other densely populated coun- tries. The lovellneGS of the scenery around, the comfort and ease with which they gain ^ sub^ialence, the gentleness and dignity of their manner, nurtured amldct the freedom of their native haunts, all combine to remind cue of that pastoral life of the olden time which painters have delighted to illustrate and poets to sins."* In 1870, when the Department of the Interior allotted the agencies to the seve. ' ^'giom denominations the tribes be- longing to the Nisqually, Poyallup,,Squaxin, Shoalwatei, and Chehalis reservations, which formed the Puyallap Agency, and those of the S'Kokomisli reservation, which formed the agency^ of that name, were allotted to the Protestant denominations ; while those of the Snohomish, J.unimi, Swinamisb, Kitsap, and Muckleshoot rescrvyuon.?, which composed the Tulalip Agency, were asnigned to the Catholics. Father Chirouse having been appointed ajcnt at Tulalip, he of course continued to exert a beneficial influence over the tribes of his jurisdiction. But his influence waned at the otl.er agencies since the new agents, who * represented Protestant churches, held thut a Catholic priest had no right to visii: a reservation assigned to Protestants, even to ad- minister the consolations of religion to his neophytes.t Both ♦ Harper's Monthly Mngazhie, November, 1869, article : Mountaineering oa the Pacific ; p. 797. tThe Bishop of Ncsqnalljr, in 187n, havinir obtained formal permission to bolld a church and re-establish the C atholic mission among the Yakimaa, many of Mrhom remained steadfast to their Catholic faith in the face of terri- ble persecution, lhe Methodist ngcnl, Rev. J. H. Wilbur, in a protest ad- dressed to the Indian Buieau used the following language: •'The two reaorvations referred io liave been assl.Tued by the President under the new Christian policy, to two Proteatant denominations— that of the Nea Perces to the Presby (erian Church, and that of the Yakima Nation to the Methodist, with the expectation on the part of «11 Protestant Christians that, BO far as the religious instruction of these tribes are concerned, those respec- ,J^li^f/^l«IWP».fM#/ff.f^Vi m 28 APPENDIX. of the Protestant agencies being without ordained nninisters for several years, the blacksmith at Pujallup, and the agent at S'Ko- komish, performed the duties '>f missionaries, preaching, marry- ing and the like. Father Cliiroase's associate continued to make periodical visits to the Catholic Indians of the Protestant agencies — assemoling tliem within or on the outskirts of their reservations, but the adverse influence of the officials necessar- ily interfered with his labors. Notwithstanding this fact there is to this day — after thirteen years of Protestant regime at those agencies, a large Catholic element at all the reservations of Pa- get Sound, but especially at Puyallup, where one of the chiefs, named Spott, has manifested heroic steadfastness to his religi- ous convictions. No Protestant missionary has ever labored among the tribes of the Tulalip Agency. The population of the three agencies just consolidated is as follows: S'Kokomish, 724; Puyallup, 1,089; and Tulalip, 2,817 — total, 4,630.^ From tf '^se statistics it appears that the popu- lation of the Tnlalip Agency is 1,000 more than that of the other two sgencies combined. All the Tulalips are Catholics and a large number of ^he others are also of the same faith. The last official statement showing " church membership" that tivrf churches were to have entire juris4iction withoat the interference of other denominations, moat of all without the interference of the Catholic priesthood. * * * >!<.-* « "To encourage within the lawful jurisdiction of au Indian agent, an ele- ment of power and influence that is utterly hostile to all endeayors of the con- stituted authority, must necessarily prove disastrous to the success of all at- tempts at true Christian progress not only, but it must prove disastrous to the peace of the reservation, and to the safety of the lives of the resident employes. " It becomes my conscientious duty, therefore, to remonstrate in the most distinct and positive terms against an order that I know to be fatal to every true interest of the Indians of my agency, and a violation of the precedents and the policy of the Christian administration of Indian Affairs." (Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for the year 1873, p. 314). Superintendent R. H. Milroy, in forwarding the above remonstrance, learn- edly (?) and modestly (?) said : * * • 'No authority, not even that of the President of the United States, can legally put 'any white man, excepting those in the employment of the Indian Department,' upon either the Nez Ferces or Yakima reservation with- out the consent of the Indian tribes belonging to those reservations, the su- perintendent and the agent of each, all three first had and obtained. The or- der of the honorable Secretary being in plain violation of this provison of these treaties is of course illegal and void (I !) I therefore most heartily unite with Agent Wilbur in respectfully protesting against the order of which he complains . " (I bid p. its) . ■Annual Report of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs f^r the year 1881. pp. 28«, 288. APPENDIX. 20 bas been printed by the Government, gives the following figures : S*Kokomish (Congregational), 20 ; Fuyallap (Methodist and Pres- byterian), 135 ; Tulallp (Catholic), 2,260 * Under the circum- stances was itfair or just that the Congregationalist agent should have been appointed over the consolidated agency ? We are no partizan uf the so-called peace policy, by which agents are nominated by the religious societies. We believe that it is contrary to the genius of our American institutions and destructive of liberty of conscience, and we have not failed to express our views unequivocally whenever the opportunity presented itself; but under the circumstances would it not have been better for the Government to have appointed a citizen of Catholic antecedents, in whom three-fourths of the Indians would have had confidence, or even a liberal-minded non-Cath- olic, whom the great majority of the Indians would not have mis- trusted ? We have no doubt that Mr. Eells is an honest gentle- man and a good citizen, but being the son of an old missionary of the Oregon coimtry who was a participant in the bitter reli- gious controversies of his time, and being himself an ultra-sec- tarian and the representative of an unsuccessful missionary as- sociation, he must be particularly obnoxious to the people at Tulalip whose sympathy and co-operation are necessary to make him attain the objects^for which tb? Government appoints agents. It must not be supposed that the Indians themselves are ignorant of, or indifferent to, the injustice done them. When the telegraphic news reached them that it was proposed to consolidate ^their agency with two others, they had sagac- ity enough to know that the destruction of their mission including their^Christian schools, was the ultimate object of the X)roposed legislation. They held meetings and memorialized the Government to spare them from such a blow. Being' peaceable, and self-supporting, their wishes were disregarded, for it is only the powerful and war-like tribes that the Government treats with approximate justice. God have mercy on the poor, powerless Indians ! * Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Iffairs for the year 187S, p. til. Cv' f;-i-!iat.. ■\'.^.''.^'"-'-:;'t'!v'^/i»>Jvfi