unscrupulous whites would be taken away, and he would thus be shielded from all the corrupt and debasing influences which have surrounded him in time past.

He would be placed under the most favorable circumstances to apply to him the influences of civilization, education, and Christianity with hope of successful results, and without the surroundings which have hitherto made such instruction impracticable. In the second, if not in the first, generation such humanizing influences would have their full effect and the Indian, if he could not be made a good citizen, could at least be made a harmless member of any community in which his lot might be cast. So long as annuity Indians retain their tribal organization and are treated in their corporate and not their individual capacity, the change of habits and of ideas necessary to effect this result cannot be accomplished, nor can these results ever be attained under any circumstances until the Indian is no lange an object of cupidity to the white man. By this mean also the great barrier to emigration and travel now contrantly accumulating along our Western frontier would be removed, and Indian hostilities such as have marked our history of late years would come to an end.

This system would be very much less expensive to the Government than the present, attended as the latter is at short intervals with expensive Indian wars. Certainly, in a humane view, such a system as is here sketched has every advantage over that hitherto pursued. Whilst in October, 1862, I did not consider it my province (as indeed I do not now) to recommend the application of this system to any annuity Indians, except such as are within the limits of my own command, I yet believed then, as I do now, that such a system possessed every advantage over that hitherto pursued, and was much more worthy of a humane and wise Government. In proposing it I have hot undertaken to discuss the question of the right of a few nomadic Indians to claim possession of the vast district of country which they roam over, to check the advance of civilization, or to retain in wildness and unproductiveness, for the scanty subsistence of a few thousand savages, regions which would support many millions of civilized men. However such questions may be decided by abstract reasoning, all history shows that the result will certainly be in some way the dispossession of the savage and the occupation of his lands by civilized man. The only practical question, therefore, for the Government to consider is the means by which this result may be attained with the greatest humanity, the least injustice, and the largest benefit to the Indian morally and physically.

No Government except our own has ever recognized Indian title to lands on this continent. It is with just pride that we point to our record on this subject, but such pride cannot but be mush abated when we come to contemplate the practical working of the system which is based on this principle. Whilst our Indian system is based upon the principle of remunerating the Indian for lands taken from him, the practical result of its application has been to leave him in contact and intercourse with a class of unscrupulous whites, who are attracted to him only in the hope of securing the money which he receives. No measures are omitted to plunder him, and as the most effective method of doing this if first to degrade him by drink and gambling, that process is of course the one generally pursued.

No sufficient protection from these influences is afforded to the Indian, and the very principle of recognizing his title to lands and