The Republic
May 1858
National News
Sioux Leaders Close To Treaty Agreement with Government
Dakota and Sioux treaty delegation in Washington DC
Washington, DC -- Representatives of the Sisseeton and Wahpaton bands of the Dakota and Sioux tribes are close to signing an agreement with the U.S. government which will cede a large tract of Indian lands in Minnesota territory to the United States. In return, the United States will pay an annuity of approximately $2 million to the Dakota and Sioux over the next 50 years. Specific provisions of the treaty call for educating the tribes to develop skills in agriculture, industrial arts and homemaking. The tribes that remain in the region will relocate to a 475,000-acre reservation on the west side of the Minnesota River.
Sioux headmen Muz-zah-shaw (Red Iron), Wam-du-pi-du-tah (War Eagle's Scarlet Tail.), Ojupi, (The Planter) , Ha-hu-ta-nai, (The Stumpy Horn), Maz-zo-ma-nee (Walking Iron), Maz-za-koote-manee, (Shoots Iron as he Walks), Upi-ya-hi-de-yaw (Chief of Lac qui Parle), Umpe-du-to-ke-chaw (Other Day) and Ta-chan-du-pa-ho-tan-ka (His Pipe with Strong Voice)
journeyed to Washington, D.C. in late 1857 to negotiate the treaty with the federal government after facing pressure to open up tribal lands in Minnesota to white settlement. Officials in Washington hope to conclude the treaty shortly after Minnesota becomes the 32nd state in the Union next month.
Pair Wins Competition to Improve New York Central Park
Diagram of Olmsted and Vaux's 'Greensward Plan' for New York's Central Park
New York -- On 1 April, landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand New York’s Central Park with a plan they titled the Greensward Plan. The urban park in the New York City borough of Manhattan initially opened last year and includes 778 acres of city-owned land. Construction on the improvements is scheduled to begin this year.
International News
Charles Dickens To Begin Reading Tour
Author Charles Dickens
London -- The author of A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist will begin an ambitious reading tour this month. Charles Dickens will tour extensively throughout England, Scotland and Ireland giving theatrical readings of some of his best loved works.
It is not known at this time if Dickens will extend his tour to America. The famous author last visited the United States in 1842. He described his impressions in the travelogue, American Notes for General Circulation. In this work, Dickens included a powerful condemnation of slavery, which he had attacked as early as The Pickwick Papers (published in 1836). While in America, he traveled as far west as St. Louis. He spent a month in New York, giving lectures and raising the question of international copyright laws and the pirating of his works in America. He persuaded twenty five writers, including Washington Irving to sign a petition for him to present to the U.S. Congress. However, the American press was dismissive toward this, saying that Dickens should be grateful for his popularity and that it was mercenary for him to complain about piracy of his works.
As Dickens begins his United Kingdom tour, the cloud of scandal hangs over him. There are widespread reports that Catherine, his wife of 22 years, recently has separated from the author. Rumors of an extramarital affair abound in the British press; charges which Dickens has strenuously denied.