The Indian Dispossessed
the Poncas, for which no reparation can be made,—the loss by death of many of their number, caused by change of climate."
Again this curious recognition of the Indian title after, and not before, the Indian has been dispossessed—but without a suggestion of restoring the land.
How changed is the tone of official Washington when above the clamor of the Vociferous Few rises the real, the unmistakable "voice of the people"; of a high-minded people, outraged, burning with shame that the Government of "all the people" should lend itself to the intrigues of a handful of mountebanks!
A year after their removal to the Indian Territory, the Poncas, again removed one hundred and eighty-five miles farther west, were still living in tents; their agent says:
"Their sufferings have greatly discouraged and made them dissatisfied with this location, and they express a strong desire to go back to their old reservation in Dakota. However, I am of the opinion that if the Government will fully and promptly fulfil all the promises made to them to induce them to leave Dakota and take up their home on this reservation they will cheerfully accept the situation and settle down with a determination to labor and better their condition. At present there is a restless, discontented feeling pervading the whole tribe. They seem to have lost faith in the promises of the
174
