440 GOVERNMENT POLICY 



the Indians. The circle of civilisation and improvement has 

 extended, and various tribes have retired, or are retiring before 

 it. The experience of the four years which have intervened, 

 does not afford one consolatory hope that the insulated bands 

 who have reserved and occupy tracts surrounded by our settle 

 ments can permanently retain these possessions and prosper. 

 There are moral, political, and physical causes all in operation, 

 which cannot be counteracted, and which forbid such an expec 

 tation. And, in fact, the whole history of our intercourse with 

 our primitive people teaches no one lesson more important than 

 this ; and it will be fortunate for their posterity, and for our 

 responsibility, if, in its practical application, both parties should 

 become satisfied that the system provided by the act of May 

 28th, 1830, offers the only rational prospect of a durable and 

 happy residence for the Indians. A few 7 individuals, almost 

 always half-breeds, and their connexions, engrossing the intel 

 ligence and means of these small communities, may become 

 assimilated to our institutions, and eventually planted amongst 

 us with safety. But this should never be permitted at the 

 sacrifice of more important interests, and to the utter disregard 

 of the fate which awaits the unfortunate mass of these tribes, 

 persuaded or almost compelled to remain w ? here they must 

 rapidly decline, and at length disappear. And the causes 

 which enacted this law r are not less obvious in their origin, than 

 they are certain in their operation. Their progress is onward, 

 and regret them as w r e may and must, no human power can 

 arrest their march, or avert their consequences. These efforts 

 have been made for generations, and in every mode which 

 wisdom and philanthropy could suggest ; and yet, in not one 

 solitary instance has it produced any permanent or general 

 beneficial effect. And we may survey our whole cultivated 

 territory in the vain expectation of discovering one aboriginal 

 community, however small, which has withstood the ceaseless 

 pressure of civilisation, and which holds out the slightest pros 

 pect of moral or physical improvement, or even of eventual 

 subsistence, for the great body of the individuals composing 

 it. If such a community exists, it is unknown to me ; and, in 

 fact, if one is believed to exist, it is only by those who are 



