I am asked to occupy the few minutes yet remaining: If the Spirit
gives me liberty I will pursue the train of thought that has passed
through my mind while Brother Richards has been speaking upon the
spirit that has gone abroad upon the remnants of the house of Israel
who occupy this land, the American Indians whom we understand to be
the descendants of the Nephites, the Lamanites, the Lemuelites and the Ishmaelites who formerly possessed this land, whose fathers
we have an account of in the Book of Mormon. Those who are most
familiar with their history, and with the history of our settlements
in these mountains for the last thirty years—the manner in which we
have sent out our colonies to locate upon the land of the Lamanites:
the manner in which we have treated with them to obtain their consent
and approval to occupy and improve the land which they claim; the
manner in which we have moved among them to maintain ourselves and to
build the towns and cities which are now inhabited by our people
throughout this mountain region: the manner in which we have sent out
missionaries in advance of our colonies to open up the way, carrying
with them the spirit of the holy Gospel, the spirit of peace, the
spirit of love and brotherhood, to endeavor to impress them with the
belief that we were not men of blood, but that we were a people who
cherished and cultivated the spirit of peace; the course we have taken
when difficulties would arise between them and our settlements, which
occasionally would occur through the indiscretion of thoughtless and
selfish men, to settle the same in a friendly, peaceful way, thereby
avoiding bloodshed and war; and the spirit in which we have chastised
them when it became necessary to do so, not in malice nor revenge, but
as a father would chastise his wayward child, and then as soon as
possible pour into their wounds the oil and the wine to heal them up
again—those, I say, who are best acquainted with our labors in this
direction will best appreciate the results.
I have had much experience during the last twenty years in this
direction; and have, by means of the spirit of the Gospel, averted
much war and bloodshed.
Wherever our colonies have been sent in advance, their influence has
been felt for good—not alone to them, not only has it tended to
establish confidence and a bond of friendship between the natives and
our colonies, but it has also tended to restrain the uprising in their
hearts to war against the white race, and has thus promoted peace to
our General Government, the misrepresentations and the lying of our
enemies to the contrary notwithstanding.
We know there are today, as there always have been, men who are
suspicious and full of green-eyed jealousy, ever ready to misrepresent
the purest motives of the best people on the earth; and acts of
loyalty and honesty and commendation are construed to be those of
conspiracy and wickedness. And we know too that among this class of
vilifiers and defamers are many of the clergy, some of whom have
come among us as followers of the meek and lowly Jesus, to bring to us
glad tidings: but being wolves in sheep's clothing they do the work of
their master, and, therefore, they scatter broadcast lies and
defamation. And many newspaper scribblers, who are ever ready to
pander to popular sentiment, whether it be right or wrong, who know
not the facts in the case, take up and republish to the world those
truths and misrepresentations of the wicked men who are seeking
notoriety at the expense of truth and justice.
The history of Utah Territory gives the lie to all these
misrepresentations. There is no part of the American continent that
has been peopled and redeemed from its desolated condition with so
little blood shed as Utah. There is no other State or Territory
where the general government has expended so little force, or where so
few lives have been lost in settling a country and maintaining peace
with the Indians as Utah. Today the American nation is indebted for
the spirit of "Mormonism" that has been diffused through this
mountainous country in the maintenance of peace, and the saving to
the nation of millions of treasure as well as thousands of lives.
And the wisdom of the Lord, through His servant Brigham Young, in
sending colonies into Arizona, and on the several branches of the
Colorado, also into the San Juan country, as well as on our eastward
borders, may be witnessed today in the influence that is exerted by
our people to check the spirit of war and bloodshed among the Navajos
and the Utes and the Apaches. The wars that have troubled the country
during the last four or five years in Colorado, New Mexico and
Arizona, have been, to my certain knowledge, greatly mitigated by the
presence of our colonies on their borders, and by the labors of our
missionaries among the Indians. During those two years I have spent
considerable time in visiting those colonies, and have, therefore,
been brought in contact with many of the nations of the different
tribes when they have been visiting colonies and missionary stations.
And so has Elder Woodruff and some others of the Quorum of the Twelve.
And I am a witness to this fact, that in every instance where the
influence of our missionaries and our colonies has been exerted upon
these fallen people, their chiefs have been imbued with the spirit of
peace, and they in turn have exerted their influence on the side of
peace to allay the uprising of their more bloodthirsty brothers. And
when they have been almost on the point of joining distant warlike
bands engaged in hostilities against the Government, and have come to
us to know our views and to seek our counsel, our advice has always
been in the interest of peace, in the spirit of kindness; we have
always taught them to restrain their hostile feelings, and have
portrayed to them the benefits of peace, forbearance and
long-suffering, and advised them to endure what they considered wrong
rather than to attempt to redress their wrongs in their feeble,
helpless condition, by taking up arms against the strong and powerful
government of the United States; and besides, that it was displeasing
to God our heavenly Father, that they should shed the blood of man.
Such is the character of the teachings and counsels of our leading men
of the various settlements to the Indians, and of our missionaries who
are sent among them.
And I have had the testimony, during the last two years, of many of
our presiding Elders and Indian missionaries—and they are men, I know,
whose word may be relied upon, and who are themselves, I know, the
true friends of the Indians, and are laboring for their welfare—they
assured me that had it not been for this influence, the young men of
the Navajos would have been fighting with the Utes in Colorado during
the last war, and that many more of the Apaches would have been on the
war-path with the late Victorio in New Mexico.
And here let me say, the last outbreak of the Apaches last fall, was
forced upon them by the foolish and ruthless procedure of some of the
officers at Camp Apache, greatly to the disgust of every
thinking man acquainted with the affairs of that country. It was no
more nor less than an attempt to make a great national affair out of a
little, harmless, religious enthusiasm that sprang up among that
tribe. Once in a while the Indians become very much excited over some
local prophet; and it was merely an event of this nature that led to
the late Apache war; the interference of the troops to quell their
religious enthusiasm. And I want to say that a general war all through
these eastern mountains and Arizona was imminent last September and
October, and have no doubt would have broken out, had it not been for
the presence and influence of our colonies extended along their
immediate borders, which are presided over by careful, wise men, and
their intercourse and labors among the Indians; and for the
conservative influence of those chiefs and leading Apaches that
Brother Woodruff visited and preached the Gospel to two years ago, and
whom I and some half-dozen of our brethren visited and labored with
three years ago last summer, which had the tendency to restrain the
uprising of their more hotheaded brethren and of quelling it. They
did more than all the troops from California, New Mexico and Eastern
Arizona in bringing about peace.
The influence of those friendly Indians, who had listened to the
counsels of our missionaries and our leading men in that country, and
to Brother Woodruff, who went through the mountains to hunt up the
bands that had hidden, and who were procuring ammunition and otherwise
preparing for war—I say, their influence was felt for good, as was
fully attested by their success in bringing the hostiles in by
hundreds in the vicinity of Cooley's ranch and elsewhere, and in
allaying the warlike spirit among the Indians generally around Camp
Apache; and thus in a quiet way bringing about peace and preventing a
general war.
I know these things are true. I was posted every day, being at the
time on the Little Colorado, and in company with President Jesse N.
Smith, who was in communication with our brethren on the borders of
those hostile Indians, who had messengers going and coming every day
to and from them bearing counsels of peace; and I know that the
prayers of our people ascended to the Father in the interest of peace,
that the counsels of peace might prevail among them; and I know too
that our prayers, together with the good influences that had been
exerted, did prevail on behalf of the Saints of that region of
country. And I know and can testify that the influence of our
interpreters and discreet Indian men and missionaries, whom we have
located on the San Juan River, between the Navajos and the Ute
reservations, who have been there during the last three years, as also
those on the south of the Navajo reservation, and between the
Navajos, and the Apaches on the various branches of the Little
Colorado, I know that their influence and the effect of their
teachings and counsels upon the Lamanites is in the interest of peace
between the white race and the Indians of that country.
I feel it a pleasure to be able to speak knowingly of these things,
and hope that this spirit of peace may extend throughout the land.
Amen.