Description
This article talks about the treaty being created with the Nez Perce Indians and how important it is to the Union. The author says that in Lewiston, "There is a strong secession element in the community, who have no desire to see a treaty made, but would prefer a difficulty with the Indians for the sake of plundering them and commencing a war of extermination." Apparently, the men who feel this way have told the Indians that the U.S. government is destroyed and that if something were to happen, the U.S. government would do absolutely nothing to help the Indians.
Reference is made to William H. Wallace, who has been the Washington Territorial Delegate to Congress and has been appointed to be the governor of the new Territory of Idaho. The Commissioners who plan to arrange the treaty are awaiting his arrival and leadership. (He is called "Colonel Wallace" here because, prior to entering politics, he served a brief stint with the Iowa state troops.)
This article mentions Perrin Whitman, a nephew of the missionary Marcus Whitman, who lived among the Nez Perce as a youth and became their most trusted interpreter with the Euro-Americans.
In conclusion, the author warns that, unless the residents around Puget Sound take action to encourage settlers to cross the Cascades, "you will find in another year that the Star of Empire has turned Eastward." This referred to a symbol for the idea of Manifest Destiny. “Westward the Star of Empire takes its Way—the star of the empire of liberty and law, of commerce and communication, of social order and the Gospel of our Lord—the star of the empire of the civilization of the world. Westward that star of empire takes its course. And to-day it illumines our path of duty across the Pacific into the islands and lands where Providence has called us." - Alfred J. Beveridge, September 25, 1900, in The American Nation: Primary Sources, Bruce Frohnen, ed. (2008)
Bibliographic Citation
Vol. 3, No. 29, p. 2, col. C-D