Thursday, December 7, 2023

"The American Indian. The Lord’s Battle-Axe" in the August 1890 Issue of "The Return" (Whitmerite Periodial)

  

What is best to do with the Indians? and what will be their final destiny? are questions which have agitated the minds of our statemen, and thinking men for years.

 

One thing is certain, they are here in our midst. They were found on this land when Columbus discovered America. They were the rightful owners of the soil so far as man can acquire a right to the soil. This right has been recognized by our general government, in the fact that the government have purchased from the Indians large scopes of the country, from time to time, until the white man has obtained, what he pretends to claim a legal ownership and possession of, almost the entire area of the United States. But one remarkable peculiarity in this whole affair is, that the Indians have retained small reservations here and there, in almost every state and territory in the Union. This had to be in order to fulfill prophecy, of which will be spoken further on.

 

The means employed and the policy pursued by the whites, which induced the Indian to finally consent to sell his land, may be worthy of a passing notice.

 

Generally the purchases have been made after the whites have made encroachments upon the Indians’ land, and made up their mind to have it at all hazzard. These professed purchases have one feature about them differing from purchases made from other nations, in this, that the whites usually set their own price, and dictate the terms of sale, and influences are brought to bear that the Indian feels compelled to yield, but in several instances would not give possession until compelled to do so by force of arms.

 

In a word, they have been driven back, and from place to place, until they are reduced to a very small number, having but small reservations, altogether insufficient to furnish game for their support, and some of them are in an actual state of starvation. The whole country is filled with villages and cities from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and the entire land traversed by railroads form the north to the south, and from the east to the west, and the poor Indian, it is thought by some, will become exterminated

 

Those who anticipate such a fate to befall the red mall will be sadly disappointed; for a wonderful destiny yet awaits the Indian. He will become an important factor in the overthrow of this great and mighty nation.

 

There are many elements at work to bring about the destruction of our beloved country; among which are the many secret combinations and trusts which are forming all over our land. The intense feeling, and it may be said hatred, that is being engendered and cultivated, between the laboring classes and the capitalists of our country, are assuming dangerous proportions, although at the present, there seems to be a lull in the storm. Possibly this apparent calm may be partially owing to the advice which appeared in the public prints some time since, advising the Brotherhood to keep quiet, and carefully refrain from any overt act for at least two years yet, but to continue their organizations, and increase their numbers as such as possible, so that when they do strike, it will be effectual. (“The American Indian. The Lord’s Battle-Axe,” The Return 2, no. 8 [August 1890]: [318])

 

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