Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/588

568 still an irresistible — freedom to assume towards the Indians the place and prerogatives of absolute superiority and authority. We have, then, to set before us an aim or object, which, in view of all known facts, we can adopt as possible and practicable, and follow up steadily and consistently till we realize it. And what shall it be? As answered by living and plain-spoken men of our own generation, as by those of previous generations all the way back to the settlement of the country, — though with more emphasis to-day, — this question is met by an alternative. One answer is, The Indians must be exterminated, root and branch; the country must be rid of them. The other answer is, The Indians must be reclaimed, civilized, educated, brought to the full status of white men as self-supporting, industrious, independent citizens.

Of course, most persons start with a shock of horror at the bare suggestion of the alternative, that our Government, directly or by any covert purpose and action, should contemplate the extermination of the Indians. They would say that the very mention of it is abominable, as of a barbarous and inhuman outrage, diabolical even in its enormity. Humanity, the law of Nature, if not of nations, protests against it. In this last sentence, as worded, I have allowed the if, — as to whether the law of nations, so called, would positively bar the alternative of the extermination of the Indians. And I have recognized that dubiousness in view of the known fact that there are some among us who insist that, by the laws or principles which regulate national life, — the interests of government for a great homogeneous people, — the extermination of an alien race is an alternative that may be admitted into a perfectly comprehensive view. In fact, this way of disposing of the Indian question has found among us some outspoken advocates, and it has doubtless many on its side who entertain it with misgivings as more than probable. The outspoken sympathizers with this plan of extinguishing the Indians are found to express