Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: You will receive herewith a copy of a report, which was made on the 4th of March instant, by Brevet Major General Albert S. Terry, commanding the department of Dakota, through the Lieutenant General and the General of the armies of the United States, to the Secretary of War, and by him submitted to the President. By examining this paper you will perceive that an emigrant road stretches its way from Fort Abercrombie on the Red River of the North, by the way of Fort Berthold, on the Missouri river, thence to and beyond Fort Benton, and finally terminates in the Territory of Montana, which Territory is rich in mines, and is being rapidly settled.
This road, through a length of 500 miles, is parallel to the boundary between the United States and the British possessions, and at no point distant more than 100 miles from it. The country on both sides of the border between the Red river settlements in the east and the Rocky mountains in the west, is entirely uninhabited by civilized man, and is occupied only by bands of Sioux, Assinaboines, Blackfeet, Blood, and other Indians, who change from one side of the border to the other, as their convenience, safety, or pleasure dictates. All of these Indians are unfriendly to the white man. They are restrained from predatory attacks upon the emigrating parties only by military force. Their position gives them extraordinary opportunities for such attacks, and secures them almost absolute immunity from punishment.
The report further shows that no system of military posts is available, and that the Indians can only be held in check by movable columns. The report suggests that there is no remedy for the difficulty in the case, unless an arrangement can be made with her Majesty’s government that the United States troops, when pursuing Indians who may have committed hostile acts within the jurisdiction of the United States, should be allowed to follow them for a reasonable distance in the uninhabited portions of British America.
The President cannot doubt for a moment that her Majesty’s government will cordially sympathize with this government in the desire to render the important road in question secure against Indian depredations. The policy is essential to the progress of civilization on this continent. The progress of emigration along the road in question must be advantageous to British America in a degree only secondary to the benefits it secures to the United States. Aside from every question of interest, the case is one which appeals equally to the sentiment of humanity of both nations.
You will, therefore, bring the subject to the notice of Lord Stanley. In doing so, you will distinctly admit that this government does not claim as a right that its armed forces shall in any case cross the frontier. You will assure Lord Stanley that whatever concession her Majesty’s government may make will be received with due acknowledgments of her sovereign authority within the British dominions. You will further say that the United States would be ready to accept the desired concession under such prudential restraints, and to give such proper guarantees against any possible abuse by the civil or military agency of the United States as her Britannic Majesty’s government might reasonably presume, and also to accept the concession with any limitation of time. You will also take care to assure Lord Stanley, if her Britannic Majesty’s government should think it necessary to decline our request, that then the United States will consider any plan or proposition which her Britannic Majesty’s government may make to secure the desired result by some other course of procedure. In this connection, however, you will say that the high character of the military authorities by whom the proposition is made and sanctioned, is deemed a very reliable [Page 69] guarantee for the exercise of all necessary caution in the movement and operation of our military forces on the remote and uninhabited portions of the frontier in regard to which so extraordinary a privilege is desired. As the spring season advances emigration may be expected to be vigorously renewed, and the facilities for Indian aggressions increase with the growing temptation.
You will use all reasonable urgency to obtain an early reply.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.