Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. (New Echota [Ga.]) 1829-1834, April 15, 1829, Image 2

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»i>», Hie evil spirit, who would ta*t. g on pleasure in *eourgmg them se- v ely, and thun permit them to pass ou. They thought that their god re ail) undo all things to grow, and gov- «.• v i me world. But the individuals of v ■ o n I made inquiries, believe fq.it the Indians generally consulted, in a m».e devout and nimble manner, tneir^ household gods, than they did their great' deity himself.f These h > seuold gods were generally images nn le of wood, and sometimes the representations -of things which had given to them ntlioially, in answer to their dreams. One of these images was eieeted a number of years ago at the Allegany reservation. It was m-defroma large pine log, and was 14 feet in neighl. The native dances were generally performed around this image while it l isted. Tnere was a set of men among this people, who were styled prophets.— Tney professed to hold intercourse with spiritual beings, and with their god himself. Among these, was the great Allegany prophet, who' several years ago lived at the Allegany reserv ation. This mm had obtained, by bis proficiency in the arts of enchantment, a great ascendency over the religious prejudices of the people. The last year of his life he prophesied that he should die at such a time; and be did actually die about the time predicted, a latural death, as the Indians sup pose. This fact appears very unac countable to the Indians even now. T’my say, they hope he was a good man. though ignorant, and that per haps he has gone to heaven. * I'lig missionary who died several years Ago, at Oneida Castle. ' t It cannot probably be well ascertained that the worship paid to these images did Ti-fl commence subsequently to the inter course of th p Roman Catholics, and did not - have its origin in' the ceremonies of that Church.—JSd. CANADA MISSIONS. Extract of a letter from the Rev. JVm. Case elated York, U. C. Feb. II, 1829. To-day we returned from lake Sin- coe, where we have held meetings with about 300 Indians lor tour days. The communion was administered to a great number, two were expelled for intemperance, and nineteen were baptised and received into society From the Grand River & Credit. VVe have within ten days past, .sent out to different bodies 11 native labourers. n trn ily, three to the Buy Quinty Mo hawks, two to the Oueidas. and one to assist brother Messmore on the Grand River mission. From the Credit we have seat two to a^body of Indians oil the Lake Huron on the north, and one in the Monceytown.— The work of grace among the VIo- ha.vks is great, both at Grand River a id at the Bay Quinty. A letter received from the latter place says, ‘Nothing now remains for a general a- wakening but laborers who can speak anl pray in their own tongue.’ So a- thirst are both the Mohawk and Mis- sissaugahs for the scriptures and liymn3 in their tongue, that they eve ry where inquire when they can ob tain them. ‘'The work in this country is great and marvellous. Hundreds are giv ing themselves up to the Lord, and calling for our instruction, and we now need thousands for improving our re ligious and civil condition. I can tell you much when I come to New York. ‘•Please t.oinform the Dorcas So ciety, that their kind donations were f .ad here, (via Black Rock,) and are forwarded to Grape Island. They will not think their labour in vain when they kno v that there are 350 Lillian children at the different schools, Goveu'y of whom are now reading in tli-* Testament, many of them orphans and they hid fair to be good members ofso'icty. At the Credit alone are a!> i it twenty widows who ore hard at work to support their children while at s hooj. Twety-six of the children from the Credit mission attended the anniversary at New York last evening Chr. Mv. and Jour From the Pandect. Extract of a letter from the Rev. C' r rus B ington, m’ssionary among *he Choctaw tribe of Indians, to Mr. C. Kemper, dat ed \uxhcna, Dec. 28. 1823. My dear Brother Kemne**: # * # # * “While ! was 4i'k, my brethren held a four* days meeting for the benefit of the Choc taws. They f om a great ffs- 4anc». The Spirit of the Lord was present, as wo hope. Many were »- ...ihfiL'il a id continue so. About I^ poisons sai on the anxious seat. Da vid Folsom, tue Chief, took an active part. Before the meeting commenc ed, Jie wrote me a note expressing a nope that I would be able to attend and do s im.-ibing ‘for the glory of God.’ He also remarked, I would be willing to preach two sermons a day- da ring the meeting.’ He is a great speaker. His heart became much affecteil during the meeting. He en treated all who tell themselves to be lost, to sit on a bench by ihemselves. Several came forward, and he went and sat down with them. One of bis brothers has since said, I do not know what was the matter with David that day; for when he began to talk our hearts bounced and bounded.’ One man who bad never heard the gospel before, was much allccted, lay awake all Saturday night, ami in the morning went to Folsom and told him his feel ings, who related them to the mission aries. When the meeting closed, the man wept, went home to his family and talked to bis friends, who did all they could to persuade him to ‘throw away’ vvhat he had heard. But he said -how can I? It is in me; it hangs to my heart; and my heart goes sfter God, and how can I throw away the Gospel?’ He remained at home some days called his family together, talk ed to them (ill lie wept, and then start ed off for Folsom’s to hear more. You remember Sampson. His fa ther s family is one of our most inter esting families. His father and a bro ther were, as I am told much affect ed. One of his sisters spt on the,anx ious seat, and is a very interesting young woman. While the anxious were seated, old Tanupinehufa was requested to tell them how he had found mercy, &c. So he arose and talked to them in a very simple but affec ing manner. He told them when he first heard the gospel he thought of it, and tried to pray: hut his heart got into a knot,’ &c. At the meeling he was asked some questions; among others; whether his heart was ever cold, and felt unwilling to pray. He replied. ‘I am a red man: I do not know much. I do not know how white nen think. But l pray,l love to prayr- pray in the morning and at noon—I pray at night; if I wake up I pray then, and when I am in the field at work and sit down to rest, I pray—And I arn happy.’ And from all 1 knew of T Will not say what is burning in my mind for Red Jacket is alone in the, wo.id, and would go to his grave in pence. But let them wait—let them wait a little, till I have mingled in; hones with my tribe; for the grein Spirit gave me the women and chi! di eu of ihe Senecas, that I should take care of them, and how shall 1 dare to appear before Ilim, and tell that 1 have given up their lands to the stranger. It is useless now to regret the treatment the Indians have received; it is mere sophistry to argue about the necessity- which compels us; to dall them cumberers of the ground; drones which should be driven out of the swarming hive; and to dwell upon the precedents of other nations found ed on the destruction of the aboii- gines. The fact is. we have land enough; and if we had not, we should have no right as men and as Christians to wrest it from them. We might as well seize upon our neighbor’s wealth, upon the plea that we could spend il more judiciously than he.-Mass. Jou:. Within a few weeks we have seen a sort of a public notice given in some of the Georgia papers, that the govern ment of that state were expected to do think he my return 1 told the truth, have had much him. He often Since conversation with calls to see me. I now hope to be able to attend a two days’ meeting at Mr. Cushman’s, on the first Sabbath of January.— There are several in that neighbour hood Who are serious. David Folsom s father and two of his sister we hope are pious. Anna Horner has.married a half brother of David. She told him that he must love God first and then love her. He is quite serious, as I am told. Anna is the same that her letters indicated. You can hardly judg“ how glad we have been in meet ing; and when she told me how she wept when I was sick, it touched me, and still makes the tears start as l think of her. It is a privilege to be a missionary among the chosen vessels of mercy. RED JACKET. This celebrated Indian is to deliver a lecture at Julien Hall this evening, and we hope that benevolence as well as curiosity will lead many to hear him. Say vvhat we will of this de coded race, they are a deeply in jured, and deeply interesting people. The world may smile and call it ro mance; but to us their broken tribes and fallen chieftains are as impressive as the mouldering pillars and temples of worlds long since departed. They are the moral deserts, the intellectual ruins of our land; and we envy not the philosophic mind which sees no melancholy grandeur in their decay. “When we fought by the side of o >r white brethren, in Canada,” say* Red Jacket, “they said the chain of friendship should he made brighter & stronger; and that the lands of the red men should be secured to them. But scarcely were the tomahawks of my tribe dry, when they said to us. ‘Give us more of your land—you must go to "Jreen Bay, and leave thejiand of your fathers to us.’ They are com ing upon us like a torrent.*’ Here the ojd chief paused a moment, and added in a tone of deep and tmiohing -sadness—“Well, if it must be so there ie no resisting the great Spirit lake measures to get in their posses 1 - sion a large tract of the Cherokee Lands, held by them up to the pres ent time, on the plea of their having belonged to the Creeks, who have emigrated. We give the following brief view of the subject; partly foi the purpose of showing how differently a case of the kind may appear, when both parties interested are allowed a hearing, and partly for the purpose of giving Ihe public an opportunity to form a correct opinion in relation to this particular attempt to deprive a feeble, defenceless, and much injured people, of some more of those posses sions which, it would seem, it is the determination of our countrymen, they shall never hold in peace. Georgia now claims all lands south of a line drawn from Suwanna old town to Six s, on the High Tower, and down that river to the chartered line of Georgia and Alabama, under pretence that it was once the boundary between the Cherokees and Creeks, and that the new boundary has never been ac knowledged by the United States; On their part, the Cherokees al lege, as appears in their “Phoenix,' that the line claimed by Georgia was never agreed upon or acknowledged by the two nations of Indians. The Creeks at one time claimed to that line, but the Cherokees also claimed to a line far south of it; ajld the only boundary ever agreed upon between them was fixed, in a spirit of com promise, half way between the two claims. This line, which extends from the Buzzard Roost to the mouth of Will’s Creek, has always since been egarded as the frotitier, and has been so regarded by the United States go- ernittent. It is explicitly acknoul- ed, and in terms which admit of no mistake qr doubt, in the second arti cle of the late treaty of Washingtop. The surveyor of the United States, Mr. Wright, was also instructed to follow that line in his surveys. But, as the editor of the Phoenix re marks, even supposing that land was owned by the Creeks. Georgia has no claim to it; for the late treaty, which nullifies the treaty of the Indian Springs, does not yield it to that state. One of the Georgia papers states that a deputation has been sent to Wash ington, by the Cherokees, to oppose the claim. The Phoenix says, the deputation were gone before the claim was preferred.. Now when, with facts like these before us, we hear of white men already beginning to encroach up on those lands, and to endeavor to drive off the inhabitants, we cannot but de sire to see a humane interference for the protection of the right but defence less side.—JV*.“ Y. Mv. lieved the Cherokees wil] abandon, n many cases, much valuable, improv ed and desirable properly. Property; .vhen .left by them it was-supposed would go to decay, or he entered and taken possession of by the first who might enter it. That it is desirable property, is shown by the tenor oi Col. Sevier’s letter; aiid if so, it does appear to ine that the only proper ouise to take in regard to it, is the one which has been adopted, viz: to offer it for rent to the highest bidders, until disposed of by Congress, llil is valuable, it will be bid lor; if not, it will not be. If it bring any thing, then the sum realized from them will go so far towards lessening the expense of the late Treaty; if it shall bring nothing, then the Execu tive will have done its duty. This course is proper also to the citizens of Arkansas. It places all of them on the same level. Whereas, if the property were left unprotected, then the fleetest of foot, or horse or the nearest neighbor, would engross all (lie advantages < f improvements; at the same time none having any right <o it. . It belongs to the United States, when abandoned by the In dians by purchase. The steps taken, ought, therefore, to he satisfactory to them. 1 see no good reason for withdraw ing the order, but submit the subject, with these few remarks, respectfully, to you. THO. L. M’KENNEY. To the Hon. P. B. Porteh, Secretary of War. juries, is already but too prevalent muiig them. > ■ f" Permit me to say to you, in conclu- sion, that your order will not be obey- tid.., That you will iiud .yourself Una ble to enforce it. To ,p,Invent col lisions, then—to make the government more respected—to promote the peace and quiet of my neighbors—I hope sincerely you will revoke your order immediately and unconditionally* With great - respect, 1 have^tlilr honor to be, your obedient servant. A. H. SEVIER. President Jackson's Inaugural Jld* dress.—Though we must acknowledge ourselves disappointed in the perusal of this address, wo iv.ere happy to seo the pledge lie has publicly given to pursue a just and liberal policy towards; the Indian tribes; We hope it will’ not prove a mere promise, it is an in teresting crisis with our Indian bretlW ren-^-in fart one of life and death, and the government have a fair opportune ty to allay their painful apprehensions/ and protect them in their just inherit^ anc*.—Ch. J\lir. NEW ECIIOTAs WEDNESDAY,. APRIL 15, 1829. From the Arkansas Gazette. CHEROKEE IMPROVEMENTS. The following correspondence, in relation to the order recently issued by the War Department, fnMe^sins out the unprovement8 in the country acquired from the Cherokees. by the late Treaty, has been enclosed to us by Mr. Sevier for publication. Department of War, i Office of Indian Affairs, 26th Jan. 1829. Sir In-responding to the reference to me of Col Sevier’s letter of this date, 1 have to state, that it is be- On the receipt of the preceding letter, Mr. Sevier addressed the fol lowing: letter to Gen. P. B. Porter, Secretary of War. Washington, Feb. 10th, 1829. Sir—I had the honor to receive, last evening, the letter of Col. M Ken noy,'to yourself, dated 28th of Jan. a:.d which 1 presume, is intended by you as an answer to my letter to you of that date, on the subject of the gov ernment’s leasing out to our citizens the improvements lately acquired ol the" Cherokees. The coiulusion to which you and the Colonel have ar rived, are very different from what 1 expected. Had these improvements been a matter of contention between the Indians an my constituents, I should have been at no loss to have known where to have found the Col onel. But, as the Indians have no in terest in these improvements', 1 ex pected the invariable practice of the government since its organization— its uniform permission of settlements upon the public lands’ where the In dian titles had been extinguished— would have been extended to the cit izens of Arkansas. Bui it seems that I was mistaken—tliat new, unusu al, and oppressive rules are to he a- dopted and enforced alone against them. Of all the citizens of the Unit ed States..they, alone, present Ihe on ly instance of being sacrificed, time after time, by Indian treaties—by In dian negotiations. As well might’you order off, and exact rent from, those occupying at present, the improve ments acquired from the QuapawS.— As well might you order off, of exact rent from, those oeupying elsewhere any of the’ public lands. They all stand, sir, precisely upon the same footing. At this very moment many of nay-constituents are in possession tff the improvements recently acquired from the Cherokees. They refuse to move off or pay rent. They have, in my opinion, come to a correct conclusion, and havo»done as I would have done. What step, sir will you take? will you institute actions of trasspass against them? The gov, eminent have tried already a few hun dred actions of that kind in Arkansas: and, unless indisposed to profit by ex perience, the government, I should think, w’ould not he over-anxious to re peat the experiment. Examine the hooks of your Treasury; and you find you have spent some ten or twenty thousand dollars to prevent the de struction of the public timber. The proper course for the government to pursue, is to survey their lands and sell them. Until that step is pursu ed, fruitless will be all your attempts to prevent settlements on the public lands, unless you guard every im provement—and hedge around with your armed regulars every vacant spot of land. Are you disposed to pursue this course? I presume not It would cost more than the land is worth; and tend, in a great deeiee. to increase the feelings of diseon*pnt which,, in consequence of repeated in- We notice with much pleasure the inters est taken, in different parts of the United States, in the cause of temperance, and thtf happy results of vigorous efforts to stem the torrent of vice9 produced by the use of arJ der.t spirits. We hope that the feeling om this subject so strongly expressed in other' parts, mav reach the citizens of this nation.. Certainly we are not out of the reach of the great enemy. Perhaps of all men, thd Indians have been most subject to it. Tli«f patriot and the Christian has therefore eve ry reason to exert his utmost efforts, and ie do what he can to encourage the cause of temperance-in this nation. Let him begin with himself, abstain, entirely too, from ii* toxicating liquors St set a good example, in thij respect, before his family, & neighbors* Th“ country is in a sad condition when in^ temperance is encouraged directly and in directly, by all classes of people, including ev"n professors of religion. , We are happy to sav that few individu als ar; beginning to pay proper attention to this important subject. In this country as well as in others, whiskey is considered a necessary guest in companies at hohse- raisings and log-rollings. Even Christians are ^guilty of following . this mischir voub practice. A neighbor of ours, whose name we will not now give to the public, has set an admirable example—at bis late log-roll- , ing he dispensed wijh whiskey entirely. He informs us that his company appeared to be well satisfied at the absence of the old guest j and that labour was performed with* ease and becoming order. We are authorized to say that this good example will be fol lowed by others. VYe are requested to state that some day during the sitting of'the Circuit Court iu Coosestaytec, an election will be held for a Sheriff of this District; and that John A,. Bell and |£llis S.Harlen are candid-: ates. ' We are glad to present to our readers th© letter of the inhabitants of Aquohee Dis trict on the subject of emigration, as it con tradicts the assertion made by many, that the common people of this country are un der the sway of the chiefs, who prevent their emigration to the west, from seif h motives* Till* assertion made &, repeated by Wofford, McKenney, Mitchelkand oth ers, we have in several instances, in our paper, stated to be unfounded, y.*t, we be lieve, we have not had the fortune of ga!W ing credit. For why is a military force recommended to defend the icill of the peo ple? What we have stated in regard t®, the supposed despotism of the chiefs, w^ know to be facts, whether the world will believe us or not. The editor of this pa- . per can have no interest in deceiving hia readers, for he'is not a chief nor does he expect ever to be. In the present case thm people will speak for themselves.: [Translation.] To Mr. Emas Boddinott. . Beloved Brother:—We, (who aw ihis day assembled at the Town Hdnse Hiwassee, Aquohee District, being neithrp chiefs nor white men; but common citizens of the country,) wish to speak, that our brethren may hear. We have listened, with attention, to the proposals of our white brethren, on th^ subject of emigration, towards the setting cun; to a good laud, free from the troubles*, which perplex us here. We have con sidered the plan; and we do not approve of it. Our Creator gave us the lands we now possess, long before the memory of man. Here he kindled our fires and fixed our homes: and among these healthful moun--, *ains and clear wate’s, our minds are at- jieace^ If we liave the inheritance, wliicfc-