xlii INTRODUCTION. 



Second. Frauds by the Indian agents, and 



Third. Encroachments by the whites. 



With reference to the first cause of war, namely, 

 breach of treaty obligations by the Government, it is 

 only necessary to observe that it would be extremely 

 difficult to find any treaty entered into by the Govern- 

 ment with the Indians during the last twenty years, 

 which has been strictly and honourably fulfilled. At the 

 same time, however, that the United States Government 

 have not fulfilled their engagements, they have not in- 

 sisted, as they might and should have done, on a strict 

 compliance with treaty obligations by the Indians. 



The philanthropic Bishop H. B. Whipple, of Minnesota, 

 who is the champion of the peace policy with the Indians, 

 in an important letter which he has recently addressed to 

 the President with reference to the cause of the existing 

 Indian war, in condemning the breach of the treaty 

 obligations with some of the hostile tribes by which the 

 nation's faith was pledged that no white man should 

 enter the Indians' territory, pertinently remarks : 

 ' The nation has left 300,000 men living within its 

 borders, without a vestige of government or personal 

 rights of property, or the slightest protection to person, 

 property, or life. We told these heathen tribes they were 

 independent nations, and sent out the bravest and best 

 officers whose slightest word was as good as their bond, be- 

 cause the Indian would not doubt a soldier's honour, and 

 they made a treaty pledging the nation's faith that no 

 white man should enter that territory. I do not discuss 

 the wisdom of this treaty, that being for others to decide, 

 but it is the supreme law of the land, and a violation of 

 its plain provisions is deliberate perjury. General Sher- 

 man reports that " civilisation makes its own compact 

 with the weaker party ; it is violated, but not by the savage" 

 It is done by a civilised nation. The treaty has been 



