Conservative *
PIKE'S REPUBLIC.
It is most agreeable to learn , even
through the roundabout medium of the
New York Tribune , of the establishment
by the neighboring state of Kansas of a
permanent public park on one of the
interesting historic spots located within
the borders of that commonwealth.
They seem sometimes to outsiders
to be somewhat fantastic in their
ways , down in Kansas , but they
have good hearts and lots of good
ideas , and if one could not be a
Nebraskan one would perhaps not find
it such an extreme hardship to be a
Kansan. We of the South PJatte
country should have an especial fellow-
feeling for our neighbors on the south ,
for we came near having our lot thrown
in with theirs how near , few of us
know , for the story of the annexation
project of 1858 has never been written.
This time it is the Kansas State His
torical Society which has accepted a gift
of land from Mrs. Elizabeth A. Johnson
of White Rook. This land is said to be
the site of the puzzling Pawnee Republic
which was the scene in the year 1806 of
two striking occurrences ; the first being
a visit from a Spanish military force
from Santa Fe , numbering several hun
dred , under the command of Lieutenant
Malgares ; the second a visit from a
detachment of the United States army ,
consisting of sixteen privates and five
officers , under the leadership of Captain
Zebulon Montgomery Pike. The Span
ish came to explore the country , turn
back any Americans they might en
counter and "renew the chains of
ancient amity" with the Pawnee.Omaha ,
Kansas and other tribes of Indians ; they
missed the tiny band of Yankees , and
explored no further than to this Pawnee
Republic , where their hearts failed them
and they turned back. The Americans
were out to view the unknown region
their government had lately purchased
and to do with their might whatsoever
their hand found to do. Coming to this
curious Republic , they were confronted
by the abhorrent sight of a Spanish flag
waving before the head chief's tent ;
Captain Pike at once called for its re
moval. His army could not have been
very imposing in the eyes of the
Pawnees , a single village of whom could
put a thousand warriors on horseback at
a moment's notice ; especially after the
recent passage of the gay Spanish troop ,
with upwards of two thousand horses
Pike himself admits that "this was
carrying the pride of nations a little too
far , " but the Spanish flag came down
and the emblem of the United States
was exalted in its stead. This event ,
which the good people of the neighbor
hood hold to have been the first raising
of the stars and stripes over Kansas soil ,
it seems they have been in the habit of
celebrating each year on the 29th of
September , its anniversary ; and it is to
commemorate it that Mrs. Johnson , who
f
has owned the adjacent land for nearly
thirty years , has presented to the state n
tract of eleven acres , covering what is
said to be the exact spot ; thus setting a
notable example of intelligent public
spirit , and securing for her own name
the grateful remembrance of posterity ,
to a time when the memory of other
Kansas women , who have sought fame
in more explosive ways , will have
perished from off the earth.
About the Flag.
The whole truth regarding the occur
rences of Monday , the 29th of Septem
ber , 1806 , however , is that they did not
pass off so exactly like an ordinary 4th
of July flag raising as one might sup
pose. In fact , after he had carried his
point , Captain Pike deemed it politic to
return to the Indians the detested yellow
banner , and then he marched on , with
his sixteen infantry , toward the Rooky
Mountains , where there awaited him
such suffering and such a monument as
perhaps have fallen to the lot of no other
of our soldiers. If now some prophetic
vision could have been granted him , as
he trudged over the endless plains , of
the next encounter between those two
flags , ninety-three years later ?
Pike's Story.
His account of the affair is worth
reading. "After the chiefs had replied
to various parts of my discourse , " he
ays , "but were silent as to the flag , I
again reiterated the demand for the
flag , adding that it was impossible for
the nation to have two fathers ; that they
must either be the children of the
Spaniards or acknowledge their Ameri
can father. After a silence of some
time , an old man rose , went to the door ,
and took down the Spanish flag , and
brought it and laid it at my feet ; and
then received the American flag , and
elevated it on the staff , which had lately
borne the standard of his Catholic
maiesty. Perceiving that every face in
the council was clouded with sorrow , as
if some great national calamity was
about to befall them , I took up the con
tested colors , and told them , that as
they had now shown themselves dutiful
children , in acknowledging their great
American father , I had no desire to em
barrass them with the Spaniards , for it
was the wish of the Americans , that
their red brethren should remain peace
ably round their own fires , and not
embroil themselves in any disputes
between the white people ; and that for
fear the Spaniards might return there
in force again , I gave them back their
flag ; but with an injunction that it
should never be hoisted during our stay.
At this there was a general shout of
applause , and the charge was particu
larly attended to. "
A Correction.
If these Kansas people have their facts
right , as they undoubtedly must , then
the location of this enigmatical Republic
was about ten miles south of the Ne
braska line , in Republic county , on the
Republican river ; and THE CONSERVA
TIVE has erred on several occasions in
conjecturing , from inspection of the old
maps , that it was on the Nebraska side
and in the nwighborhood of Superior.
The newspaper article from which we
have our information makes a further
statement as to the origin of the name
Republic for this sub-tribe of Indians ;
in regard to which something may be
said in another number of THE CON
SERVATIVE.
A Suggestion.
Kansas thus delighteth to honor one
of the places of historic interest within
her limits ; Iowa has taken great pains
with the grave of one of Lewis &
Clark's men , whom they buried on a
bluff below Sioux City ; could the present
Nebraska legislature do better than to
mark in some fitting way one or all of
the three old army posts our state
possesses ; Fort Atkinson or Calhonn ,
Old Fort Kearney at Nebraska City , and
the Fort Kearney of the freighting days ?
A. T. R.
REPLY TO THE CHRIST MYTH , "
To THE EDITOR OP THE CONSERVATIVE :
j
I have read with much interest the
articles in the recent numbers of your
paper on "The Christ Myth , " pro
and con. Mrs. Evans' article has
been treated historically and personally
and I would like to treat it from a
theological standpoint thus :
Two kinds of proof may be adduced
in behalf of Christianity , internal and
external. The internal -arguments are
drawn from the nature , scope and doc
trine of Christianity coupled with the
sublime character of the author of
Christianity Christ. The external argu
ments are based on the authority of
those who embrace Christianity as well
as the authority of some who denied
Christianity as well as history.
Some Internal Arguments.
The doctrine of Christianity is so
simple , so grand and so sublime that it
cannot be considered as the work of
man , although this doctrine is the work
of several authors who committed to
writing what they learned from Christ
and who composed their works , at a
distance from one another. Yet in these
doctrines there is no contradiction , but
they form one harmonious and consistent
whole. In them are no absurdities , no
contradictions , all the doubts , con
jectures and capricious fancies of every
system till then are satisfactorily
and sufficiently solved. This alone
would be a suffioient evidence of the
truth of the. doctrine of Christianity. A
sublimer morality than philosophical
minds had been accustomed to hear is
presented to us ; a morality , that not
only solves all the secret mysteries of