Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/58

38 the Indian question to-day, the ultimate extinction of the Indian is with misgivings, regrets, or full and acquiescent persuasion, held to be its only solution, while the belief may embarrass and obstruct the wisest and most humane schemes, it can be forced into silence or falsified only when a protective, a benevolent, and a steadily effectual policy for the humane and rightful dealing with the Indians, in prolonged generations on this continent, is demonstrating its success.

We are now prepared to rehearse, in its graphic and signally significant details, the occasion, the scene, the actors, and the consequences marking the first introduction of themselves by men of the Old World to the wondering natives of this unveiled continent.