50 Sketches of an Excursion to Southern Alaska. 



which sooner or later must work a radical change in the condition of the natives 

 of Alaska and the solution of the ever-vexed Indian question, as far as these 

 coast tribes are concerned." 



IN CLOSING THIS REPORT, 



I appeal to the sense of justice which belongs to the American people. If the 

 primitive races of Alaska are doomed to extinction, being incapable of surviv- 

 ing in the straggle for life, why not allow'the course of nature to extinguish 

 them, and forbear to anticipate the catastrophe by injustice or cruelty ? 



It ill becomes a brave and magnanimous people to seize lands and confiscate 

 the scant resources of a depressed and vanishing race. Let us preserve as 

 relics of a prehistoric past our predecessors on this continent. We invite natives 

 of other countries to a full participation in the privileges of our own beloved 

 land; here are natives of our soil, children of the first famihes, loyal to the 

 flag, brave, experts on land and sea, both producers and consumers. They 

 ask not for chairity, nor for exemption from the obligations of American citizensr. 

 In peace or war, we pledge them to do and bear their part without dissent or 

 dallying. 



They plead not for Indian Agents, but for magistrates ; not for eleemosynary 

 institutions, but for schools and churches. They are decayed families, but they 

 remember their ancient respectability, which, though they know it not, we 

 know is coeval with that of the Teutonic and Gallic nations, the Scottish 

 clans and Saxon hordes. They plead for what our ancestors got from abroad — 

 the means of enlightenment ; and bid fair to outstrip our ancestors in their 

 degree of progress, as modern civilization surpasses all that preceded it. 



Every maxim of pacific statesmanship ; every sentiment of philanthropy ; 

 all respect for national honor; every principle of political economy, concur in 

 the positions assumed in this Report, and urge the immediate adoption of its 

 recommendations. 



All which is respectfully submitted, 



A. L. LINDSLEY, 

 Chairman of Executive Committee of the Synod of the Columbia, and 

 Commissioner of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church. 



