Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1877.djvu/6

IV after consultation with General Crook, who in a high degree possesses the confidence and affection of these Indians, and it is to be hoped the difficulties of so long a march in an unfavorable season will be successfully overcome.

The presence of the Sioux chief, Sitting Bull, with a large number of followers, on British soil in the immediate vicinity of our northern frontier, threatened to become a constant source of disquietude on the border, and was, therefore, a matter of grave concern both to this government and that of the Dominion of Canada. Early in August last a member of the Canadian Government visited Washington, and at his suggestion, and upon consultation with him, two commissioners, General A. H. Terry, U. S. A., and A. G. Lawrence, esq., were sent to the encampment of Sitting Bull, with the following instructions, dated September 6, 1877:

The President desires you to proceed at your earliest convenience to Fort Benton, and thence to a point on our northern frontier from which the present encampment of the Sioux chief, Sitting Bull, on British territory, is most easily accessible. At the frontier you will be met by a detachment of mounted Canadian police, detailed by the Government of the Dominion of Canada for your protection.

It is the object of your mission, undertaken at the suggestion of the Government of the Dominion, to ascertain what danger there may be of hostile incursions on the part of Sitting Bull and the bands under his command upon the territory of the United States, and, if possible, to effect such arrangements, not unacceptable to the Government of the Dominion, as may be best calculated to avert that danger. To this end you will put yourself in communication with Sitting Bull in such manner as under existing circumstances may seem to you most judicious. In doing so, you will keep the following facts in view: In the month of February last Sitting Bull and his bands engaged in armed hostilities against the United States, and, pursued by our military forces, crossed the boundary-line of the British Possessions for the purpose of escaping from that pursuit. At that time the fugitive Indians appeared to be well armed, but their ammunition was so nearly exhausted that they were no longer able to continue the struggle. Under such circumstances they took refuge on British soil, where the troops of the United States could not follow them without violating the territory of a friendly power. It is reported, and there is good reason for believing, that these hostile Indians have availed themselves of the protection and security thus enjoyed to replenish their stock of ammunition, and thus to enable themselves to resume their hostilities against the United States as soon as they may find it convenient to do so.

According to all recognized principles of international law, every government is bound to protect the territory of a neighboring friendly state against acts of armed hostility on the part of refugees who, for their protection from pursuit, have crossed the frontier. While the Government of Great Britain will be most mindful of this obligation, the President recognizes the difficulties which, in dealing with a savage population, may attend its fulfillment, and he is therefore willing to do all in his power to prevent any interruptions of the relations of good neighborhood and to avert a disturbance of the peace of the border, even to the extent of entering into communication with an Indian chief who occupies the position of a fugitive enemy and criminal.

You are therefore instructed, in the name of the President, to inform Sitting Bull and the other chiefs of the bands of Indians recently escaped into the British Possessions, that they will be permitted peaceably to return to the United States and occupy such reservations as may be assigned to them, and that they will be treated in as friendly a spirit as were other hostile Indians who, after having been engaged with