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.
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