Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/606

586 at what risks they are now held, in consequence, not of the alleged perfidious conduct of our Government, but through the working of irresistible forces in the development of circumstances. Therefore it may as well be frankly confessed that our Government cannot, if it would, secure to any tribe now under treaty a perpetual communal hold upon the far-stretching acres of its reservation. A right in severalty, followed by possession and improvement, is inviolable. That is a right which comes of civilization in its triumph over barbarism. To enjoy and secure that right not only implies civilization, but helps also to civilize. This prepares us to turn to the last and most attractive of the themes comprehended in our subject.