A NATION CRYING- ALOUD FOR JUSTICE

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 134, 26 November 1875, Page 14

A NATION CRYING- ALOUD FOR JUSTICE

THE PERSECUTION OF THE UNFORTUNATE OSAGES — WIL.L THEIR PRATER BE HEARD ?? — WHAT CATHOLIC INSTRUCTION DOES FOR THE INDIAN MAGNIFCENT SPEECH OF AN OSAGE — " GIVE US BACK OUR PRIESTS." The speech we (' Catholic Review') print below is the sole production of Governor Joseph Paro-ne-no-pashe, of the Osage Indian tribe — delivered before the Osage Commissioners, August 16, 1875. This Indian was educated at the St. Mary's Industrial School, on their former reservation in Kansas, under the charge of the venerable Father Schoenmaker. It evidences throughout the peculiar terseness of thought and delivery of the Indian, and the directness with which the Governor goes at once to the points involved is only to be equalled by the closeness of his logic and the inevitable conclusions derived thereform. Whilst it may not equal in romantic imagery, a Logan or an Oceola, it has pathos in its serene simplicity which ought not to fail to reach the hearts of all justice-loving men. It may be well to state that we are informed that each specific allegation in this speech was not only supported by the properly sworn affidavits, but the makers thereof were produced before the Commission ready to testify on oath. "In May last, the Osages sent a petition to the great father, asking him to send them a new agent, and asking that no more of their money be placed in the hands of Major Gibson, and that he should be forced to account for all the money that had been given to him for the benefit of this people- After this petition had been sent to out great father, Agent Gibson himself prepared a petition in his own favor, and had a great number of names signed to it — some few are Indians who had a, right to sign it, but the greater part were men, women, and children who have nothing to do with our public affairs, and who did not know what was in the petition they were signing. Some signed through fear, others for rewards that were x>romised. This paper the agent carried with him to Washington. When the Osages heard of this paper, they prepared another petition, in the latter part of June, begging the great father to keep their money out of the hands of Agent Gibson, and asking him not to believe anything he said of them or their affairs, but to have him removed from their country, and to have Ms accounts properly balanced. " The Osages say that they are glad that the great father has at last heard their words, and that he has sent you here to look into the affairs, and to learn and to report to him the truth, so that he can know what our troubles are, and how to do us justice. It would take us many days to tell you all the troubles we have had with this agent ; for nearly every one in this nation has something to say. You do not want to hear these long stories ; but wo will tell you some of the reasons we have for asking that no more of our money be given to this agent, and why we ask that he may be sent away at once, and a new and good agent be sent to us, so that we can properly investigate his 'accounts. " The Osages have always been goverend by a principal chief, other chiefs, councillors, and head-men. These men are selected by the Osages to govern them, and they have always obeyed them; these leading-men hold councils, and decide the business of the nation, and all who belong to the nation looked up to ther councils and obeyed them. ISTo agent has ever interfered with the authority of our chiefs — disturbed their councils, or organised new bands, or tried to appoint chiefs or councillors, until this man came here to act as our agent. But he has troubled us in all these things. Little by little he has been troubling the affairs of our nation more and more. Year after year he gives us trouble, and each time he does some new thing that is intended to divide our councils — make our chiefs and head-men have ill-will against each other, and make the Osage people have contempt for their leading men, and to have respect only for Agent Gibson. He has got the six bands of the nation divided into eleven, and has himself made new chiefs and councillors. He advibed the half-breeds to draw their part of the national money and to separate themselves from the Osage people, and said ho could have it done for them if they would ask it ; but they refused to do this. Then the agent had it reported to the Osages that the half-breeds were trying to draw their money and go away. This created great trouble "between the Osages and the half-breeds. " The Osages have elected me their governor ; but the agent told me, and said publicly, that he would not recognise me as their governor, and that he intended to make another man governor in my place, and told the people that he was the true governor, and that they must not obey me. He has done all this and much more to bring our affairs and leading men into contempt, and to bring about bad feeling and confusion and ill-will among the Osages and with the half-breeds. This is not good for my people. This man is the worst enemy that the Oaages have ever had in their country. He wants himself to have all the power in the nation, and will not allow any one to be free. He has refused to allow us, and has tried to prevent us from sending petitions to our great father. In one case a half-breed was at work at the agency when he signed a petition asking for our old Catholic mission. When the agent found it out, he told the old man that he would discharge him, and that he must go away from the agency at once. He thus turned him out of his house, and the man and his family came near freezing to death before they could travel to a hut thirty miles from the agency. He lias done many other things that show him to be a bad man, who does not want to do business honestly and openly for the Osages, so that -we can all sec and understand, irhat has been done with our

money — so that we can learn to take care of our own affairs, and know what we have to expect each year before it conies. " I will tell you some of his actions. When, he is going to pay any of our money to men he has hired, he makes the men sign vouchers in blank. If they ask for the vouchers to be filled up so that they may see what they are signing, he refuses to have it done, and tells them he will not pay them until the voucher in blank is signed. Some men have waited many days to have their voucher filled up, but it was refused, and at last they had to sign the blank before they could get their pay. " When he pays his hired men with cheques on the bfink, the cheque in almost every case is for more money than is actually due. After the man endorses the cheque, he is paid the exact amouife- ' that is due him, and the balance would be kept by the man who would cash the cheque. '* He has sent a false voucher to Washington for rations furnished to the Little Os&ges. In the winter before last the agent directed Alexander Byett to issue rations to the Little Osages. He gave them about one hundred and fifty dollars worth, and was paid for it, but the agent made him sign a voucher for three hundred and fifty dollars before he would give him his pay. " The agent was authorised to pay each head of a family two dollars a foot who would dig a well. The Indians did not dig any wells, and the agent hired white men to do the work. Touchers and cheques were made out in the name of the Indians for whom the wells were dug, and signed by them, and the white men who did the work were paid one dollar and seventy-five cents per foot. " He posted a notice at Hickory Station, on a Wednesday in the last of March of this year, that he would receive sealed bids until the following Monday for breaking three thousand acres of prairie. There was no time for men to learn about this business, and the contract was let to Mr. Kupers, of Independence, Kansas. The agent was to furnish all the ploughs, fifty yoke of work oxen, and fifty yoke of steers. Mr. Kupers sub-let to other men at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and to some of the men he gave five dollars a yoke for breaking the steers. We believe that Mr. Kupers got over throe dollars an acre for ploughing and ten dollars a yoke for breaking the steers, but our agent won't let us see this account of Kupers. But you can see that at Washington. " I point out these f ew cases that you may know that Gibson is not the man to be the agent for the Osages, and the reason that we dislike him and why we ask that he be sent away at once. I have not told you all that he lias done that is bad, for we cannot find it out until we get a good agent, but then we find it out ; and we want our great father to make this agent pay back to us the money he has unjustly taken from our nation. " We want you to take our petition of the 28th June, 1875, back with you, and hand it to our great father, and tell him. we mean what we say in that petition. Tell him that we have agreed in all our treaties since 1848, that we should have Catholic schools and Catholic missionaries, and that he will not find in any of them that we have asked for Quaker missionaries or Quaker schools. And why should we ? " We never saw Quakers until this agent came here, and I know that I have no cause to love them much after what we have seen of this agent and the people he brought with him. By our treaties he will see that the United States government never gave us money for schools. If the United States gave the Osages money for these schools, they could justly establish the schools that they choose, but it would not be wise to do it, for we will not use them ; but when the Osages give all the money that support these schools, it is unwise and unfair to give tliein schools they do not -want. " Since our last treaty we have sent many petitions to our great father. We want you to ask him to look at them all, and see if our chief men, the men that the Osages have selected to represent them, have ever asked to have this agent or his people kept among us. He will find that they have come without our asking ; that they have never been asked to stay, but have often been asked to o-o away. But there is one thing the great father will find in all of our treaties, petitions, and letters, and has heard from all of our delegations, and that is, that wo want our Catholic missionaries and "Catholic schools. Why don't he send them to us ? He is not like our agent, he is a brave man, and honest and just. It must be because he is deceived, and does not know what we do want. " You tell him what I say, and he will send xxs our old missionaries, and we can have our schools again as we had them in Kansas. Ask him if it is honest for the United States to make the Osages do all they agree to do in the treaty, and then itself refuse to do what it was bound to do by the same treaty. Say that the Governor of the Osages says there is no good in asking the Osages to adopt the habits of the white man, when the Osages see that even the great chiefs of the white man do not keep their word with us."