USA > Indiana > Jay County > Historical hand-atlas, illustrated : containing twelve farm maps, and History of Jay County, Indiana > Part 65
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A brief summary only of his congressional labors will be given, and first, on matters relating to Indian affairs.
In the Fortieth Congress, General Shanks served on the committee of Indian affairs, and he was also chairman of the committee on the militia. He believed, and so declared in Congress, that under our constitution Indians were citizens of the United States, that there could not be a foreign power existing within our territorial limits, or within the limits of a State of the Union, that treaties made with them as a foreign power were but solemn mockeries, having no other real significance than contracts between the government and any other of its citizens, and that such contracts should be carried out, and especially sbould they be observed as the nation was strong, and they weak, and be insisted that under the fourteentb and fifteenth constitutional amendments tbe citizenship of the Indian was placed beyond a doubt.
On a bill regulating contracts with Indians, February 11, 1874, in his place in the House, he said: "In drawing this bill, I did so in such way as distinctly to avoid the question of validity of contracts. I drew it only in reference to the character of those contracts, as to whether they contained conditions contemplating fraud, or embracing provisions for exorbitant fees, and I did so, believing that Indians are citizens of the United States under the four- teenth constitutional amendment," and helieving them citizens. February 24, 1874, he introduced a bill to secure homesteads to them as to other citizens; be also introduced a resolution instructing the committee on Indian affairs to investigate and report to the House the legal status of the Indian as to citizen- ship, and as the Indians were not admitted as citizens of the States, on the 24th of March, 1874, he introduced into the House a bill, giving the United States courts exclusive jurisdiction over Indian reservations, and on the 6th of April, of the same session, be introduced a bill to admit Indians as wit- nesses in the United States courts. On the 18tb of June, 1874, he introduced a bill, which was passed, authorizing the appointment of a commissioner to investigate the status of tbe negros, the former slaves of Choctaw and Chick- asaw Indians in the Indian Territory, and on tbe recommendation of members of the House and of Senators, he was appointed by the President such com- missioner, and by personal investigation in the Territory, he was enabled to ascertain the facts in full, and embodied thein in a report. He was sent twice by authority of Congress, and six different times hy order of the President, among the Indians to investigate and report on all matters touching their lands, annuities, progress and treatment, and during these investigations he was instrumental in redressing many wrongs and irregularities, in exposiug and correcting questionable practices, and by a careful census he was enabled to correct the false estimates of their numbers by many hundreds, made either by interested agents or their dependants, and in this way he saved largely to the government in expenses for clothing, provisions, and in other annuity goods and moneys due them under treaties, so called. It may be safely stated, that no one person has done as much as the Ceneral in correcting the errors, abuses and frauds of the Indian service.
On the 13th of April, 1872, General Shanks delivered in Congress a lengthy and able speech in vindication of Indian titles and Indian character, and in the course of bis remarks he said: "No man can long live peaceahly who does not live honorably with his fellow-men, and no nation can prosper on the committed or permitted sacrifice of the rights of the humblest of its citizens ;" and again, "Neither the consolidation of crimes, nor the aggregation of wrougs, either does, or can it change the fixed rules of rectitude by which the one is determined or the other condemned. Wrong nationalized is but the maddening of a people to their own ruin." Touching the question of the title of the Indians in the Indian Territory to their lands, he said: "The title by which these several trihes hold their respective lands in this territory is not the original possessory title common to the early occupants of the soil, hut is
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a title held hy patent given in accordance with treaty stipulations that were made by virtue of a law of Congress, of May 28, 1830, after the original pos- sessory title of the Osage Indians had heen extinguished."
On the 3d of Merch, 1873, General Shenks. then chairman of the committee on Indian affairs, made to the House a report, (No. 98, third session, Forty- second Congress), and now e standard official enthority on the subjects treated, of seven hundred and ninety-three pages of closely printed metter, under a resolution of the House, introduced by him January 8. 1872, and again renewed June 1 of the same year, authorizing the committee on Indien effairs to make full investigation and report. In collecting the meterials for this report, Gen- eral Shanks traveled very extensively among the Indians. The General treated the subject exhaustively, giving every phase of Indian life. the numbers, location, condition, treaties, annuities and possessions of every tribe in the United States, with a detail of the wrougs inflicted on them hy indi- viduals, officials and companies, with suggestions for the improvement of tbe various Indian trihes, end of the Indian service generally. The report was entitled: "Report of the committee on Indian affairs, concerning frauds and wrongs committed against the Indians, with many stetistics of velue iu the management of Indian affairs, and hy this investigation and report the com- mittee hope to do something to rid the Indiens end the Indian service of those beartless scoundrels who infest it, and who do so much damage to the Indians, the settlers, end the government." The report embodied facts, not besed wholly, or even chiefly, on hearsay evidence, but obtained by personal pres- ence, experience and observation among seventy-two of the Indian trihes, hy a man determined to ascertain the truth, and for that purpose availing himself of all means of reliable data and informetion. The best evidence of the thoroughness and perfect reliehility of its contents, appeared in the fect of the attempt on the part of cxposed villains to destroy as many of the copies as they could secure, and they visited upon the author their harmless, hut highly compbmentary execrations.
It would he entirely within the bounds of truth to add, that no other one man has examined so fully the whole Indian subject, has given so much attention to it, had more and better facilities, availed himself more thoroughly of his opportunities, made a more complete expose of the wrougs, freuds and refined rsscality perpetrated on the Indians; who approached the subject with a more fixed purpose to uncover and expose wrong-doing, or was better fitted by his natural and cultivated detestations of the devious ways of Indian rings, to hring to light end to expose to the public, the accumulated and organized wrong-doing in this relation.
THE BARBARISM OF SLAVERY.
On the 10th of July, 1867, General Shanks introduced in the House tbe following important resolution, which was passed:
"WHEREAS, It is expedient that the subject of the treatment of prisoners of war and Union citizens held by the Confederate euthorities during the recent rehellion should be thoroughly investigated; therefore
"Resolved, That a special committee of five members of the House he appointed to make such investigation, and to record the facts thereby ohtained, and to report the same to the House at any time with such recommendations as may seem proper."
By an additional resolution the committee, in prosecuting their investiga- tion, were empowered to send for persons and papers, to employ a clerk and stenographer, to sit during recess of Congress, etc., etc.
General Shanks was made chairman of said committee, and on March 2, 1869, made a report, (No. 45, tbird session, Fortieth Congress), of 1,200 pages, giving a full and thorough showing of the laws of the treatment of prisoners of war from the earliest times, with every phese of prison life during the rebellion on hoth sides of the struggle, and it is an invaluable and much needed contribution to the history of the conflict, exhibiting, as it does, the low grade of morals, and the inhumanity engendered by the spirit of buman slevery. The report is without a perallel in the line of its investigations, in this country at least, is a recognized authority in the government, and in view of the labor involved in its production, and the industry, and perseverance evidenced in its compilation, it is certainly one of tbe ablest reports ever made to Congress. However much we may regret the cause, the conduct or the immediate incidents of the conflict, however much we may deprecate the sectional antagonisms resulting from it, and however much we may desire to ohliterate its sad memories, the inexorable demands of history, the cold glazier light of truth, and the higher claims of outraged humanity, imperatively call for just such a record, and fully justify its production.
The following is a summary of violations of law of netions, demanded by every consideration of enlightened humanity. of which the rebel government was guilty, as fully set forth by the committee:
1st. The murdering of prisoners after capture or surrender, by shooting and other means while confined inprison.
2d. The enslavement of persons mustered into the military organizations of the United States.
3d. The search of prisoners of war, and the robbery and plunder of their private property and effects.
4th. The unnecessary confinement of prisoners in crowded, unhealtby rooms and stockades in pestilential localities, and in numbers inconsistent with food, treatment, and due regard to health and comfort.
5th. The exposure of prisoners to infectious and malignant diseases.
6tb. The wanton and cruel neglect of the sanitary condition of prisons and prisoners.
7th. The continued confinement of prisoners without a sufficient supply of clothing, fuel, water and food, and withont shelter.
8tlı. The employment and retention of harsh, cruel and incompetent prison conunanders.
9th. The unnecessary infliction of corporal punisbment for slight and imag- inary violation of un warrantable prisou rules.
10th. The cruel use of dogs, or bloodhounds, in the pursuit and recapture of escaped prisoners.
11th. The illegal punishment of prisoners for ettempting to escepe.
12th. The issue of unwholesome provisions, and the reduction of the rations without just cause.
13th. The retention in confineruent of prisoners of war, when, hy its own confession. if true, it could not properly care for and maiutau them, thus compelling their death hy exposure, disease, and starvation.
14th. Wanton and disgraceful treatment of the dead.
15tb. The arrest, persecution, and murder, of non-courbatant and Union citizens.
All of which ects, in violation of recognized rules of civilized warfare, General Shanks reported from the committee, were done with the guilty knowledge of the rehel government.
The great purpose and practical value of this investigation have not yet been utilized. One great object of the Generel. in this matter. was the estab- lishimeut hy treaty. with all civilized netious et leest, of an universal system of peroles, so that no captured soldier would he imprisoned, but would he paroled and returned to his own bnes or vessels, the bsts of the paroled of the respective heligerants determining the relative numbers hclonging to eech party. On Generel Shanks' motion, the House unanimously passed e joint resolution, directing the President to open negotiations with foreign powers for this purpose, hut it did not pass the Senate. President Grant expressed bimself to General Shanks as favoring the movement, evidencing, as it did, a tendency among our people to a higher apprecietion of the value of human life, by ineugurating a system by which et least some of the cruelties and miseries of war might he mitigated. The General delivered an address before the Grand Army of the Republic, full of valuable and interesting statistics, bearing on this subject, and in a speech in the House of Representatives he enlarged upon the same topic, saying, "I hope the high morel, political end military position of our people will induce the government to procure the adoption in international law of a provision, that captives in war shall not be personally retained as prisoners, but shall, under flags of truce be returned at the earliest possible tinne to their respective bnes or vessels and paroled until duly exchanged, to the end that the lists of the commissioners of excbange of the several heligerants shall determine the relative numbers of captives, tbat thus the horrors and sacrifices of prison life might be prevented."
The treatment of prisoners of war is considered in the report, from the earbest bistoric periods, iu which captives were murdered as soon as taken or retained for future torture ; when prisoners of war were held hy their captors as slaves with power to kill them at pleasure; when, under the influence of the rules of chivalry, captives were held for ransom, but with the power to kill if not ransomed; when prisoners were exchanged for equivalent in rank, and finally, when partial paroles were estahbsbed, the laws of nations governing the subject, being given.
In svery view, the report in question is a valuable contribution to the history of the rebellion, without which that history would be incomplete. When the magnitude of the work, and the thoroughness and accuracy with which it was performed, are considered, we may be safe in concluding that but very few persons would bave undertaken, much less sought, the task, and fewer still who would bave persisted in completing it, in anything like the condition in wbich it now appears.
General Shanks, while in the House, favored and advocated the improve- ment of the falls of the Ohio river at Louisville.
He advocated the reduction of the number of regular army officers to the regulation standard.
June 20, 1870, he introduced in the House a hill providing for the procure- ment and maintaining of tomb-stones for the graves of Union soldiers buried in national cemeteries.
In the earlier part of his congressional service he introduced a resolution having for its ohject a tabuler statement of the nemes of all officers of the United States, or of those who at any time bad been such, and who, having taken an oath to support the constitution, had taken up arms against tbe government and that constitution. He believed thet the "roll of traitors," contemplated by the resolution, and perfected by official sanction, would serve a valuable purpose, as preserving in historical permanence a much needed evidence of the kind of civilization that wes bred of Southern slavery; and it would have been a fit accompaniment of the report on "The treatmeut of Union prisoners by the rebel authorities during the rebellion."
He introduced a resolution, which was adopted, directing an investigation of the grounds of imprisonment by British authority, of the Rev. John McMahon, a citizen of his district, and in his speech in favor of the resolution, he urged it as the duty of the government to maintain the right of expetria- tion. The investigation resulted in the liberation of McMabon.
In 1869 he opposed payment in coin of government liabilities, believing that tbe transition to specie payment was too sudden, and that it would produce a shrinkage of prices, ruinous to the debtor classes.
He favored the resumption act of 1875, hecause it gave ample time for our people to prepare for the necessary adjustment of prices accompanying a sound financial basis.
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PERSONAL HISTORIES-Continued.
He advocated in Congress the equalization of soldiers' hounties.
He called the attention of Congress to the acts of the English, French and Spanish governments, which under a joint treaty of October 1, 1861, organized a force and seized Mexico, and placed Maximillian, a foreigu-born prince, on a throne in Mexico, first established hy their military power on the ruins of the Mexican republic, and this the General claimed was done not only in aid of the rebellion then existing in the United States, but at a time when we were powerless to resent the indignity. After a protracted struggle, however, the Mexican people threw off the yoke of their oppressors and executed their representative
General Shanks was subsequently sent-1865-with a cavalry force to Texas, and among the objects of bis presence there, was to look after our horder interests in that direction, as well as to he near the scene of action in case any further attempt should he made to establish an imported monarchy in our sister republic of Mexico, and to extend military control over the State of Texas, in order to make effective the proclamation of emancipation.
July 8, 1867, he introduced, and asked to have referred, the following resolutions:
Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:
That the people of every nation of right have the control of their own gov- ermnents respectively, and in their sovereign capacity to create, maintain or exchange the principles and workings of their governments, in accordance with their own judgment.
Resolved, That this right includes that of quelling insurrections and repel- ling invasions, with the right to punish treason at home and usurpation from abroad.
Resolved, That all people have the right to choose their own officers, and that all orders of nohilty, and all assumed right to rule, hased on hirth or accident, are in opposition to republican government and obnoxious to a free people.
Resolved, That we look with anxious hope for the prosperity of all republican governments, and at this time especially of our sister republic of Mexico, and that we view with pleasure the restoration to power of the government of her people over the self-styled Emperor Maximillian.
Resolved, That, waiving all expressions of opinion as to any particular acts of the govermuent of Mexico, it is the opinion of Congress that the attempt recently made to establish an empire in Mexico ou the ruins of a republic, would not have heen made, had not the United States at that time been engaged in a civil war of great magnitude, and that said attempt was part of a gigantic effort to overthrow and destroy the republic of the United States, in which the slave power of America, and its natural ally, the aristocracy of Europe, labored with preconcerted and united interest ; and that the over- throw of the usurper Maximillian was necessary to the success of republican principies and government in Mexico and elsewhere, and was eminently right and proper ; and
Resolved, That the people of the United States can not look with unconcern upon an attempt to control the destinies of Mexico by a power or powers in antagonisin with republican government.
On the 28th of November, 1867, General Shanks introduced a bill providing for furnishing and continuing to supply from time to time, at government expense, artificial limbs for all disabled Union soldiers, which measure, much limited however in its provisions, became a law. In a speech in the House, in advocacy of the bill, the General said: "There are five thousand and six soidiers who have lost one arni, thirty-three have lost both arms, four thousand six hundred and twenty-seven have lost one leg, forty-two have lost both legs, twenty-one have lost one arm and one leg, two thousand five hundred and sixteen have been afflicted with hernia caused by service in the army; in all proven to this date, January 11, 1870, there were twelve thousand two hundred and forty-five persons who would be recipients under the measure I have offered."
General Shanks voted for, and spoke in favor of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States. The following is his entire speech in advocacy of impeachment measures: " Mr. Speaker-My opinion is that in this grave emergency this House should speak but one word and strike hut one blow, and I desire that the hlow should come first. I am tired, sir, of this protracted discussion which postpones an hour what the people have long desired to see. I am in favor of the official death of Andrew Johnson, without dehate. I am not surprised that one who began his presidential career in drunkenness, should end it in crime."
January 7, 1869, General Shanks delivered in the House a speech, evidencing great research, in advocacy of a resolution previously introduced hy him, providing for the recognition by the United States, of the existence of the provisional government of the Island of Crete, then under Turkish jurisdiction, but in open and armed revolt. The resolution read as follows:
"Resolved, By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that it is the duty of the government of the United States to acknowledge the existence of the provisional government of Crete as an independent State, and to treat with it as such."
He was highly complimented hy Senator Sumner, who cordially thanked him for his effort, aud the Cretan provisional government, as well as the Greek government, voted and forwarded to him an expression of thanks for his resolution, his speech and sympathy in hehalf of the Cretans, and the speech, with accompanying resolution, was printed in English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Turkish, Russian and Greek languages, and widely circulated.
The Island of Crete, situated at the southern extremity of the Grecian Arch- ipelago, to a great extent commanded the entrance to the Dardanelles, and
thus to the Black Sea, and while these waters were nominally under Turkish coutrol, it was believed that in a commercial point of view, they were indi- rectly used in the interest of England and France in their support of the Sultan, who thus largely controlled the grain trade of the country hordering on the Black Sea.
While, therefore, General Shanks, in his endeavor to give the inhumanly treated Cretans at least the moral support of the United States, as a matter of justice and of right, incidentally a substantial recognition of the independence of Crete, would doubtless have materially inured to the benefit of our merchant marine, in the matter of the grain trade of the United States, then virtually debarred from European ports, owing greatly to the restrictive monopoly of that commerce exercised hy England and France, both directly, and, as was no doubt the case, through treaty arrangements, and their well understood influence with the Turkish Goverment, and thus the wisdom and foresight of the General have been vindicated, as the slow process of time and the logic of events have eventuated in over a decade of years, in securing to us what HE endeavored to bring about long before.
The General was anxiously solicitous for commercial advantages to his country. although moved by lively sympathy for a harbarously, savagely treated people struggling under adverse circumstances, to relieve themselves from the galling yoke of a cruel and vindictive oppressor.
The committee on foreign relations in the House, to whom was referred the resolution of General Shauks, seemed not only wholly indifferent to the fate of a people against whom was waged a war that would have disgraced in harharity a Patagonian savage, but failed to comprehend even the commercial importance of the movement.
If the policy contemplated in the General's resolution had been adopted and carried out to its legitimate result, in the complete independence of Crete, thus practically opening the water communication to the Black Sea, the con- dition of our grain trade would then as now, have yielded large halances in our favor, and would have largely saved our people from the financial crisis through which they passed.
He advocated a bill declaring forfeited the lands granted in aid of construct- ing certain southern railroads, there having been a failure to comply with the terms of the grant, and he also favored the forfeiture of all land grants that had lapsed for similar reasons, affirming that the great object of such grants was to invite and facilitate settlements, and that it was unjust to permit cor- porations to await settlement, and then speculate off of those who had borne the hardships of frontier life and made improvements without the aid of the roads.
He opposed the grant of Indian lands to railroad companies and voted against all railroad land grants, except to the Southern Pacific, and on his motion the price of these lands was limited to two dollars and a half, and the lands were required to he kept in market, and to be forfeited if not sold on completion of the road,
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