ct, were we to cast up the expenditures involved in the Sioux
war of 1852-1854, the Cheyenne war of 1864 just referred to, the Navajo
war, the second Sioux war in 1866, the second Cheyenne war in 1867, we
should undoubtedly reach a total greatly exceeding one hundred millions
of dollars. Yet these wars sought only the submission of individual
tribes to single demands of the government, and effected, generally,
something less than that. It has been shown that the actual expense of
the so-called "peace policy" is measured by the increase of the average
expenditures of the period 1869 to 1872 over the average expenditures of
the period preceding, that increase being about three millions of
dollars. This is the sum which is to be compared with the cost of a war
which should seek to reduce all the Indian tribes of the continent to
complete submission by force of arms, instead of awaiting their gradual,
and in the main peaceful reduction through the advance of population and
the extension of railways.

We have thus far treated the policy of the government towards the
dangerous tribes as one not requiring the use of the military arm in
any emergency short of an actual outbreak. We have done so, first, that
we might encounter the full effect of the objections to the plan of
concession and conciliation; and, secondly, because we hold it true,
that, when the alternative is between allowing a considerable degree of
insolence and outrage to go unpunished, and entailing upon the
Territories a general Indian war, duty and interest require the
government to go to the last point of endurance and forbearance with the
savages. But this alternative is not always presented: it is often
practicable to repress and punish violence, without exposing the
settlements to the horrors of massacre. Whenever this can be done, it is
scarcely necessary to say it should be done, and done effectually. The
feature of the present Indian policy of the government which allows this
to be done without incurring general Indian war is known as the
reservation system,--a system shrewdly devised to meet the known
weaknesses of the Indian character. By it extensive tracts have been set
apart for the warlike tribes, within which they may pursue all their
customs and habits of life, and indulge themselves in savagery, being
also subsisted thereon to the extent of their actual necessities, but
outside of which bands or parties are liable to be struck by the
military a