dy to
march it was arrested by the provision of the act passed by Congress
on the last day of the last session, which directed that all the
noncommissioned officers, musicians, and privates of that regiment who
had been in service in Mexico should, upon their application, be
entitled to be discharged. The effect of this provision was to disband
the rank and file of the regiment, and before their places could be
filled by recruits the season had so far advanced that it was
impracticable for it to proceed until the opening of the next spring.

In the month of October last the accompanying communication was received
from the governor of the temporary government of Oregon, giving
information of the continuance of the Indian disturbances and of the
destitution and defenseless condition of the inhabitants. Orders were
immediately transmitted to the commander of our squadron in the Pacific
to dispatch to their assistance a part of the naval forces on that
station, to furnish them with arms and ammunition, and to continue to
give them such aid and protection as the Navy could afford until the
Army could reach the country.

It is the policy of humanity, and one which has always been pursued by
the United States, to cultivate the good will of the aboriginal tribes
of this continent and to restrain them from making war and indulging in
excesses by mild means rather than by force. That this could have been
done with the tribes in Oregon had that Territory been brought under the
government of our laws at an earlier period, and had other suitable
measures been adopted by Congress, such as now exist in our intercourse
with the other Indian tribes within our limits, can not be doubted.
Indeed, the immediate and only cause of the existing hostility of the
Indians of Oregon is represented to have been the long delay of the
United States in making to them some trifling compensation, in such
articles as they wanted, for the country now occupied by our emigrants,
which the Indians claimed and over which they formerly roamed. This
compensation had been promised to them by the temporary government
established in Oregon, but its fulfillment had been postponed from time
to time for nearly two years, whilst those who made it had been
anxiously waiting for Congress to establish a Territorial government
over the country. The Indians became at length distrustful of their good
faith and sought redress by plunder and massacre, which finally led to