refer you to the report of the
Secretary of the Interior and the accompanying documents.

The Senate not having thought proper to ratify the treaties which have
been negotiated with the tribes of Indians in California and Oregon, our
relations with them have been left in a very unsatisfactory condition.

In other parts of our territory particular districts of country have
been set apart for the exclusive occupation of the Indians, and their
right to the lands within those limits has been acknowledged and
respected. But in California and Oregon there has been no recognition by
the Government of the exclusive right of the Indians to any part of the
country. They are therefore mere tenants at sufferance, and liable to be
driven from place to place at the pleasure of the whites.

The treaties which have been rejected proposed to remedy this evil
by allotting to the different tribes districts of country suitable
to their habits of life and sufficient for their support. This provision,
more than any other, it is believed, led to their rejection; and as
no substitute for it has been adopted by Congress, it has not been
deemed advisable to attempt to enter into new treaties of a permanent
character, although no effort has been spared by temporary arrangements
to preserve friendly relations with them.

If it be the desire of Congress to remove them from the country
altogether, or to assign to them particular districts more remote from
the settlements of the whites, it will be proper to set apart by law the
territory which they are to occupy and to provide the means necessary
for removing them to it. Justice alike to our own citizens and to the
Indians requires the prompt action of Congress on this subject.

The amendments proposed by the Senate to the treaties which were
negotiated with the Sioux Indians of Minnesota have been submitted to
the tribes who were parties to them, and have received their assent.
A large tract of valuable territory has thus been opened for settlement
and cultivation, and all danger of collision with these powerful and
warlike bands has been happily removed.

The removal of the remnant of the tribe of Seminole Indians from Florida
has long been a cherished object of the Government, and it is one to
which my attention has been steadily directed. Admonished by past
experience of the difficulty and cost of the attempt to remove them
by military force, resort has been had to conciliatory measures.
B