and bad treatment; and if General Grant had done
nothing more to signalize his administration than the appointment of
honest agents to look after the welfare of Indians on reservations,
while leaving to Generals Sherman and Sheridan the dealing with wild,
refractory bands of pagan savages, roaming over the settlements on the
plains, to do their murderous work of brutalities that sicken the heart
to contemplate, and make to the sufferers a welcome death as speedily
as possible,--he would be one of the greatest Presidents we have had.

I have thus tried to give an impartial history of the "Indian
Question," showing the characteristics of our white settlers in their
treatment of the Indians; and, on the other hand, painting the savage
as he is, in his wild, cruel nature, and with whom we have to deal with
all the wisdom our government can devise. I have done so with a
purpose. This is to show how little Christianity has done thus far to
make white men just, fair, and honorable, and to gain the respect of
the red man for the Christian's God. It is a sad reflection, too, that
we are doing so little, and that the world's conversion is so far, so
very far away in the future. _There is a dreadful responsibility
resting somewhere!_

If our religion is not a sham, we must meet the question as it has
never been met before. Infidelity has no surer or more deadly weapon
than that which it wields to-day against our professions of love for
the souls of our fellow-men, while we content ourselves with
expressions only of that love. It is hollow, superficial, and full of
cant. If our religion does not take a deeper form, and go out in active
sympathy and work, it will surely perish, and deserves to perish. Men
ask for results, and it is right they should. The tree is known by its
fruits. We cannot gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. This is
Christ's standard. Do we belong to Him, or are we false, hypocritical
children of the Evil One?

Our Saviour said, "It must needs be that offences come; but woe to that
man by whom the offence cometh!" Now, if so be that God, who is just,
shall require that we atone for all the wrongs perpetrated upon the red
men ever since the Mayflower landed her pilgrims on the shores of New
England (for there is no repentance for nations at the day of
judgment), or that our children shall suffer in some way for it,--who
shall say it is not a righteous retribution? "Vengeance is mine, I will
repay, sai