* * * * * * * * * *
Yesterday it rained
very hard, whereby the telegraph was interrupted so that our despatches are
mutilated. Yet they contain enough to show that impeachment was not made final
by the vote of Saturday. I notice that some feeling is exhibited against Henderson.
I believe, of course, that he has been actuated by the best and most honorable
motives. He certainly carefully heard every word of testimony, and all the
arguments, and if these led him to the conclusion that the case was not [made]
out, he was bound to vote accordingly. If party discipline is to ride down a
man's sense of honor and right,
Republican
government cannot and should not last many years.
* * * * * * * * * *
In our Indian
matters I think we are making as much progress as could be expected. The great
bulk of the Sioux have agreed to move to the Missouri where they will be too
far away from the railroad to be provoked to do it damage, and where the
appropriations for their benefit can be more economically and faithfully
applied. Some small bands will always be warlike and mischievous, but the game
of war will be simplified by their separation. The same as to the Cheyennes,
etc., below the Arkansas. The commission for present peace had to concede a
right to hunt buffaloes as long as they last, and this may lead to collisions,
but it will not be long before all the buffaloes are extinct near and between
the railroads, after which the Indians will have no reason to approach either
railroad. . .
