Among the instructions referred to in the above letter was one of which the following is a copy:

"DEPARTMENT OF WAR, September 6, 1841. "SIR: Among other objects to which your attention is called, under the *mission recently committed to you in the Southwest, is one that has reference to the manner in which the emigrant Indians have been supplied with the provisions stipulated to be furnished to them in the several treaties under which they emigrated.

"I desire you to make personal inquiry, with the view of ascertaining whether the emigrated Indians have had cause for the complaints that have reached the Department, that the supplies have been of inferior quality, have been insufficient in quantity, and irregular in issue, to the great injury of the health and comfort of the Indians, and in a manner to shake their confidence in the good faith of this Government towards them, and thus lay the foundation of a disaffection which, with other exciting causes, might have led, and may still lead, to murders and outrages, and perhaps an open war, devastating the Southwestern States adjacent to the peculiar population we have thrown upon their borders. It is not only a duty in itself to execute our treaty obligations with those Indians faithfully, but we owe it no less to our own population, within reach of their vengeance, should they think themselves aggreived, and attempt violently to remedy the wrongs of which they may complain. No honest man can take exceptions to a rigid scrutiny into this subject, since the result must be favorable to those who are entitled to credit for fidelity; and those only who are implicated in alleged wrongs are likely to throw obstacles in the way of your inquiries. In the latter case, the opposition you may meet with will perhaps suggest a root in which you may find the seed of the abuses it is desirable to correct for the past as far as possible, and to prevent for the future.

"At one period, an immense quantity of provisions, mostly pork, bacon, and flour, was purchased, by order of the Indian bureau, and thrown into the country west of the Arkansas, at the cost of several hundred thousand dollars-originally designed, as appears by the correspondence on file in the Indian bureau, for various tribes; but the plan of issue being dispensed with, and the system of feeding the Indians by contract having been resorted to, the provisions seem to have been charged to the Cherokee fund, and the bulk of it accounted for by sales and by a transfer to certain contractors for furnishing provision to Creeks and other Indians.

"One of the letters on file in the Indian office, in reference to those provisions, is from James Glasgow, 'for Glasgow & Harrison,' dated at St. Louis, November 30, 1837, addressed to C. A. Harris, Esq., Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and purports to be a proposal to take the provision above referred to on certain conditions, which are stated; the proposal being that they will receive the provision then in depot at Fort Gibson, Fort Coffee, Fort Smith, and Little Rock, at the following rates, and under the following circumstances, to wit: "Pork, six dollars and fifty cents

Flour, two dollars per barrel

Bacon, three cents per pound

$650

2.00

03

"Of the pork, we will take all that is sound and in good order. The flour, we are aware, is all sour; but we will take all of that which has not

been damaged by wet. The bacon, we will take all that is not damaged; and, if I am rightly informed, it is generally in good order, as. Captain Stephenson has paid great attention to it.'

"He then proposed to give their (Glasgow & Harrison's) notes at three payments, between the 1st of September, 1838, and 1st of September, 1839.

"For the provision thus taken, the contractors, according to their proposition, expected to make a contract for issuing provisions to Creeks, Seminoles, and other Indians, at twelve and a half cents per ration, provided the issues were made at the depots where they expected to receive the provision above designated; but if required to issue it at other points, they were to be allowed an advance not specified.

"Upon another sheet of paper, annexed to this letter, and in the same handwriting, is another proposal, in the following words:

“We would make a further proposition, that would should [verbatim et literatim] a much less loss in the disposal of the supplies referred to in our other letter, viz:

"Ration the Indians as aforesaid at 18 per ration, and add 50 per cept. on the price of the provisions; which would make pork $9 75, flour $3, bacon 43 cents.

"If you wish any additional information respecting our standing, I would beg leave to refer you to our friend, Colonel A. H. Sevier.

"Respectfully, your obedient servant,

"GLASGOW & HARRISON.'

"It will readily occur to you that this simple mode of diminishing the 'loss' on the provision, under the orders of the Indian bureau, might easily have prevented altogether a 'loss' on that provision, but with the inconvenience of paying that loss out of the Treasury of the United States by an advance upon the contract proposed by Glasgow & Harrison. This extraordinary proposal, it was suggested, (by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,) might be communicated to the officers in the Southwest by a letter, with a clause expressly declining to pass an opinion upon it. If it was not intended to be used, it might be asked why was it transmitted, unless, indeed, to guard the public agents against a proposal which was on its face an evident attempt at a fraud upon the Treasury, and by that fraud to cover a proceeding originally entered upon in haste, under, perhaps, a defect of judgment. But if it was sent as a caution, why is so much care taken in withholding all judgment upon the proposal?-as if, by possibility, it might be a fair transaction, especially if the character of the contractors should be certified by their friend, Colonel A. H. Sevier,' now in the Senate, from Arkansas.

"By following up the correspondence, a great number of letters are found upon the subject of that provision: some of which appears to have been sold; some loaned to contractors, to be returned at another season; and, finally, a large portion of the balance on the hands of the agents, about the 1st of February, 1838, was transferred to Glasgow & Harrison, by an arrangement under which they received a contract for issues to Indians, substituting fresh beef for pork, and corn for flour, ration for ra tion-the contractors receiving two cents for every ration of meat issued, and 5.1 cents for every ration of corn issued for the quantity received

14

beyond the quantity of provision thus received by transfer, at the rate of 12 cents per ration, to any extent which might be required by Captain Armstrong and Captain Collins, to emigrating Indians in that country.

"As illustrating the history of this provision, you are hereby furnished copies of the contract, as transmitted by Captain Armstrong in a letter of the 23d of April, 1838, to the Indian bureau; a copy of said letter; and a copy of another letter from Captain Armstrong, of the 9th of September, 1839, giving a brief review of the several expedients resorted to in disposing of the provision.

"Your attention is particularly called to the effect of the proceedings above indicated upon the Indians; and you are requested to ascertain how far the arrangement answered the just expectations of the Indians, and how far it was judicious with respect to the Treasury of the United States, which was subjected under it to the payment of several hundred thousand dollars under a mere arrangement between individuals, in the nature of a private agreement, not appearing to have been consummated under public advertisement inviting proposals and securing to the Government whatever benefit might have resulted from a fair and open competition.

"It will not fail to suggest itself as a remarkable fact, that the contract was made with Glasgow & Harrison, the first being the author of the extraordinary proposition to the Indian bureau to diminish the loss' on the Government purchase of provision. To show a similarity of character in these contractors, and that they needed the certificate of a man of high standing to justify any business connexion with them, you are furnished, herewith, an extract from a letter of Major A. J. Raines, of the 13th of February, 1840, addressed to the Indian office, and purporting to give a copy of a letter of instructions from Mr. Harrison, the partner of Glasgow, to himself, then an agent of that contractor, pointing out a mode by which the Indians were to be cheated in the issue of provisions. The letter of instructions, as given by Major Raines, over his own signature, is in the following words:

"""NORTH FORK CANADIAN, April 5, 1827.

666 "DEAR SIR: I have drawn some orders on you in favor of Indians, for corn, which you will deliver them out of the corn bought of Hill, which is in the shuck. In delivering to them, you will be careful not to let them see that you have any such thing as a seal half-bushel.

"If you have shucked out and measured a barrel, (meaning a flour barrel,) I think that you will find that it holds but little more, if any, than a bushel; and the same can be put on the Indians, and will be satisfactorily received at one-fourth to one-third over its true measure, in which way you will endeavor to give it to them, if possible.

"Major A. J. RAINES.'

"This copy, by Major Raines, purports to be from an original, as he alleges, and is included in this communication, as an indication of a point in the inquiry you are desired to make.

"The great press of business in the Department, pending the present session of Congress, will not enable me, at this time, to embrace other points, on other but kindred subjects, intended for your examination.

When more leisure shall enable me to collate the papers and evidence, and transmit them to you, the necessary instructions will be transmitted. "Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"ABRAHAM MARTIN, Esq.,

"Clarksville, Tennessee.”

"JOHN BELL.

I proceeded to the Indian country west of the State of Arkansas, occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles, where I remained from about the 1st of December, 1841, to the last of February, 1842. During this period, I travelled several hundred miles, extending my route to the False Washita, passing by the Little river of the Canadian, and returning by the way of Fort Towson to Fort Smith. I was principally engaged in executing instructions from the Department of War, not embraced in this report; but I used the time in making, incidentally, the inquiries directed by the instructions of the 6th of September, above cited.

Owing to the lapse of time since the transactions occurred to which those inquiries were directed, and the consequent dispersion of some and death of others, who, it might be presumed, were capable of furnishing the materials for a correct history, it will not be expected that a report can, at this time, be as full as might otherwise have been anticipated.

I append, herewith, documents and statements in reference to the subject, (numbered 1 to 100;) and have to remark, that the statements made in my presence were all obtained without the slightest urgency on my part, beyond what was implied in the inquiries made in compliance with my instructions; and they may be regarded as the voluntary testimony of persons freely communicating their information on the subject-matter to which their statements refer.

I did not take the statement of any man who was not, in my opinion, fully competent to understand the subject; and I carefully warned all with whom I had intercourse, that I made no accusations against any man or set of men, and desired only the truth.

It was my desire to avoid making an ex parte examination; though, from the nature of the case, the persons making statements not being confronted with the parties affected by their testimony, the inquiry necessarily assumed something of an ex parte character.

If I could have had an opportunity, I should have felt it my duty to have applied for information to some persons not within my route of travel, whose proceedings may become the subject of inference from the statements obtained.

It should be remarked, in justice to all parties, that a general inquiry, unchastened by the cross-examination of those affected, must always result in more or less indefinite matter, furnishing apparent grounds for unfavorable inferences, which more light might dissipate. I wish, therefore, distinctly to state, that the principal contractors, whose proceedings are brought under review, were not within my reach, and have made no representations to me; though I have been willing to record any statement to their advantage, as the statement of Greene Erwin (No. 63) will in some degree show.

It will be seen that I have taken a few statements from the principal

rule excluding their information would be proper; for, though a general rule may exclude Indian testimony before courts, the rule is an old one, founded upon a presumed ignorance, and not the want of veracity in the Indian in his wild state. The reasons for the rule do not apply among the Southwest Indians, many of whom are sufficiently intelligent, and as truthful as any people in the world. If the rule could be supposed to turn on a question of comparative veracity, I should be inclined to the opinion of Montaigne, expressed many years ago, that "it has been to our advantage that we have had less of that virtue than they." In the case of Benjamin Marshall, the Creek, if his statement (No. 64) needed any thing to enforce a conviction of its truth, it would only be a knowledge of the man himself. By the regulations of the Indian bureau, the ration for Indians consists of three articles-meat, bread, and salt. The meat ration is either threequarters of a pound of salt pork, or a pound of fresh beef; the bread ration is either a pound of wheat flour or three-quarters of a quart of corn; and the salt is furnished at the rate of four quarts to every one hundred rations.

The usage of the service contemplates, in case Indians are to be supplied with rations, that advertisements through the newspapers shall invite sealed proposals for furnishing the rations; the advertisements, when practicable, pointing out the precise place or places where the rations are to be delivered, and in some cases the number of days for which each issue is to be or may be made. The number of Indians to be supplied is stated, and also the commencement and termination of the issues.

These advertisements allow more or less time for bidders to prepare their proposals. If the time is short, there is always danger of a combination among the bidders. A company is usually formed, embracing all those who are disposed to enter into the business; and one or two propose for the contract-sometimes putting in fictitious bids above, their own, to save appearances.

Those of the company whose names are not on the contract, or some of them, often sign the bonds of the contractors, and are frequently employed as agents in the business of the company, in making purchases or delivering supplies, or in the character of disinterested persons, not seen in the contract, are useful in impressing the public agents, or the public generally, with the views calculated to advance the interests of the company. I do not allude to any particular case, but describe a well-known practice, as among the difficulties a Government agent is compelled to encounter in letting out and supervising the execution of contracts.

If the company finds an individual disposed to bid against them, a proposition is made to him to take an interest in the contract, and the proposition is accommodated to his means and situation, and so adjusted as to compensate him for relinquishing his power of interference with the company. The bid of the company is increased to meet all demands of this sort. If the plan succeeds, the company generally realizes a large income, and subsidizes (under the form of an interest in the contract) every one who might have been disposed to bid, into their support, or into silence. The facility with which this is done depends upon the number of bidders." If the number is few; it is readily done; or, what is nearly the same. thing, if the contract is very large, so as to drive away small capitalists, a company is readily formed, unless the time between the advertisement and the opening of the proposals is increased so as to bear a due propor