Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/547

Rh It is but fair to allow and assert that our Government has from the first given at least equal heed and care for humane as for hostile dealings with the Indians. Congress in 1793 provided securities against impositions practised upon the Indians by individuals in bargaining for their lands, and forbade all private contracts of this sort. It also sought to protect the Indians from all outrages by the whites, and to give them the protection of the civil law. Washington was authorized to send among some tribes cattle, farm implements, teachers, and the means of civilization. The whole series of treaties had incidentally or emphatically in view the securing to the Indians the peaceful and inalienable possession of their lands, and the helping them through annuities and the influence of education and practical instruction in agriculture, the inclosing of grounds, and the building of houses, mills, schools, and churches, to adopt civilized habits. Yet the law of 1796 which excluded all the whites from Indian territories was said to be prejudicial and mischievous, as, while it kept out order-loving and well-disposed whites, whose presence among them would have been of great benefit to the Indians, it failed to restrain the intrusion of the worst class of lawless and reckless adventurers. An Act of the same year authorized Washington to establish a system of trade, through stations, goods, and agents among the Indians, the Government furnishing the capital and managing the business through its employés. This proved to be a most losing experiment, year by year more impracticable and costly; but it was continued under trial till 1822, when it was abandoned.

Up to Jefferson's administration, the nation congratulated itself that the peace policy had greatly advanced the Indians, those of them especially who came nearest in proximity to the whites. The President himself expressed that opinion. But, strangely enough, he himself proposed, as a change of plans, the removal of the Indians as a body as