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gjpffej 'mi’-tk- CHESI4IKEE PHMIX, MD INDIANS’ ADVOCATE. PRINTED UNDER THE PATRONAGE, AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHEROKEE NATION, AND DEVOTED TO l'HE CAUSE OF 1NDIANS.«*E« IIOUDINOTT, EDITOR. fro j'jteM. -/ .jf • if- NEW BOKOVA, sf SEPTEMBER 30,1829. PRINTEp WIIKLY BV 'JOHN. K WKBElEn, flWU,,. „ wr ,, | At $2:50 if paid in advance, $3 in six tnuuths, or $3 50 if paid at the end of the • year. ; To subscribers who- can read only the UIniokse language the price will be $2,09 in advance, or $2,50 ty bn paid within the (year. L very subscription will be considered as continued unless subscribers give notice to the contrary before the commencement of a new year,and all arrearages paid; PH I ,. .gratis. . Advertisements will be inserted atseven- iyiliye cents.pcr square for the first inser tion, an:’. thirty-seven and a half cents for ctfch.continuance; longer ones in propor- Sc^AU Wiicjts addressed to the Editor* post paid, will i-eccite diie dtterttiori; r [ftW y 3 C A If 0- A AD 'hf.lt E Cu« 4. TXJffMvJlwfBAA P'4 A! A. ^ ; ^h.VhA^ KT/1 'U#P 0»WB*T lift taOsK tcfz mp Wa tb DeJAoapse.i, kt 0»0JB.t P4A.I. l)U4i%EZ TB yiV rUij/^AIvAA, O-yAT D>pp 0»ejBA P-4oCA. dwyz tpc.u aiiCSiiA(»y, \vp*v ds-i 0»oib.i wa.i Tcrz TEjao-J** do- KTJ1Z D$P OSiy-V* O’S.IB" JR D9JAffBPo®A. 'AGENTS FOR THE CHEROKEE PHOENIX. The following persons are authorized to Receive subscriptions and paymeuts for the Cherokee Phoenix. Messrs. Peirce & Williams, No.' 20 Market St. Boston, Mass, *■ George M. Tracy, Agent of the A. B. •«C. F. M. New York, is Ke\'. A. D. Eonv, Canandaigua, N. Y. Thomas Hastings, Utica, N. Y. Pollard & Converse, Richmond, Va. Rev. James Campbell, Beaufort, S. C. William MooLtuie Reid, Charleston, JD. George Smith. Statesville, W. T. r ILLiAM M. Combs, Nashville, Ten. en BenNet Roberts, Powal, Me. ^Mr. Tims. R. Gold, (an itinerant Gen tleman.) ' Jeremiah Adstil, Mobile, Ala. Rev. Cvrds KtNGSDURV) Mayhew, Choc taw Nation. i Capt. William Robertson, Augusta, Georgia. Col. James Tunrt, Bellefonte, Alai ~ ISPAtMS. ~ From tlje National Intelligencer. PRESENT CRISIS IN THE CONDITION OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.—NO. III. The title of the Treaty to which I referred in iny last number is in these Words: “Articles concluded at Hopewell, .on the Kcowee, between Benjamin .^Hawkins. Andrew Pickens, Joseph ' Sjfju tin, and Lachlan M’lntosh, coip- £ms$ioijers plenipotentiary of the U. J^atcsfof America, of (fed one part Auid the Head Men and Warriors of CherokceV, : .°f the other.” The preface lo the articles is thus .expressed: . . ‘The Commissioners , Flenipoten ' tiary of the United States in Congress assembled, give peace to all the Clfe . rokees, and receive them into the fa vor and protection of t|ic United States of America, on the following Condi tions.” .. . Before I proceed to makh an aU stract of tjie articles, it ik proper to say, that Iti regard to this and all sub sequent. Treaties, I shall be as brief a# appears to be consistent with put ting the reader in full possession of the case. The more material parts of treaties lshall cite literally; and these yvilj be distinguished by double invert ed commas, Other parts will be a- bridged;, but where the principal wojpds .of any abridgment aye taken from (lie treaties, such passages will be nmrkodjby single, inverted com- luos. Tho^less material parts will bo ^Hprea?Da as ^HieflV*.as^po^sible in my owff language; but in all these cases | pledtfc myself to the strictest fideli ty. At least the subject of faery arti- cit shall be mentioned, that the read er qiay judge of the genera! ospeot of the whole, ai well as of the meaning of the most important parts. The Treaty of Hopewell, then, reads as follows: “Art. 1. The Head R|en and Warriors of all the Cberokees shall restore all the prisoners, citizens of the United States, or subjects of their allies, to their entire liberty: they shall also restore all the negroes, and all other property taken during the late war, from the citizens, to stfch person, .and at such time and place, as the Gona’rqissioners shall appoint. “Art. 2. The Commissioners of the United States in Congress assem bled, shall restore all tiie prisoners taken from the Indians during the late war, to the Head Men and • Warriors of the Cberokees, as early as is prac ticable. . VArt. 3. The said Inditiiis, for themselves, and . their respective Tribes and Tbwns, do acknowledge the Cherokecs to be under the. pro tection of the United States of Ame rica, mid of no other sovereign what soever. Art. 4. The boundary allotted to the Cherokecs fbr their hunting grounds, between the said Indians and the citizens of the United States, within the limits of the United States of America, is, and shall be the fol lowing:” This boundary defines the Northern and Eastern limits of (he Cherokee country. “Art. 5. If any citizen of th« U- nited States, or other person, not be ing an Indian, shall attempt to settle on any of the laqds Westward and Southward of the, said boundary, which are hereby allotted to the In dians for their hunting grounds, or hav ing already settled and will not ft* move fromthe same within six months after the ratification of this Treaty, such person shall forfeit the protec tion of the United States, and the In dians may punish him, or not, as they please.” Then follows a proviso, as to settlers “between the Fork of French Broad and Holstdri,” whose case is to be referred to Congress. “Art. C. If any Indian, or Indians, or persons residing among them, or who shall take refuge in their Nation, shall commit a robbery, or murder, or other capital crime, on any citizen of the United States, or pfej-son under their protection, the Nation, or the Tribe, to which such offender or of fenders may belong, shall be bound to deliver him or them up, to be punish ed according to the ordinances of the United States;” 'provided iliat the punishment shall not be greater, than if the crime had been committed by a citizen on a citizen.’ “Art. 7. If any citizen of the U- nited States, or person under their protection shall commit a robbery or murder, or other capital crime, on any Tfidiau,” he shall be punished in the same manner as if 'the crime had been committed on a citizeft;’ and the punishment shall be in thb presence of some of the Cberokees, who shall have due notice of (lie time and place. “Art. 8. No punishment of the innocent for the guilty, on either side, “except where there is a manifest violation of this Treaty; and then it shall bfc preceded first by it demand tjf justice; and.if refused, then by adecld- ratipn of hostilities.” “Art. f). For the benefit and coidr fort of the Indians, ami for (lie pre vention of injuries or oppressions on the part of the citizens or Indians, tjie United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the trade with the Indi ans, and managing; all their affair,*. in such inanuenas they think proper. “Art. 10. Until the # pleasure of . ..n “Art. I®. That the Indians may have full confidence in the justice oi the United States, respecting their interests, they shall have a. right to send a dephty of their choice, when ever they think fit, to Congress. “Art. 13. The hatchet shall be foVpver buried, and peace given by the United States, and friendship re established between the said States on the oiib part, atjdaft the Cherokees on the other, shall be universal; and the contracting parties shall use their utmost endeavors to maintain (he peace giveti as aforesaid, and friend ship re-established;” These articles were sigued by the four Commissioners of the United States, and by thirty-seven Head Men and Warriors of the Cherokecs, in tlie presence of William Blount, af terwards Governor pf Teijnessce, and eight oilier Witnesses; In the formul ary which precedes .tile signatures, tm;..articles are called a “Definitive Treaty. It may be well to look, for a few moments, at some of the ftatures of this instrument, though it is by no means so important, as twefor more of the treaties which have since been negotiated by the same parties. A- rnong the documents of. Congress, published during the last session, is a letter from the lion. llughL. White, ity of traders Art. 11. The said Indians shall g;ive ndtice” of hny designs, “formed in any neighboring tribe, or by any person whomsoever^ against the peace, trade, or int&esls of the United States.’* now Senator in Congress, lo Mr. John Ross, at present the, Chief man of the Cherokee nation, in which the writer argues at some length: that the treaty of Hopewell is not jiotv in force, on account of its having been abrogated by a subsequent war, and its not be ing expressly recognized in ally sub sequent treaty. Whether (fie con clusion of Judge White is correct, or not, has little bearing on the present investigation. If the treaty be not now in farce, it was ih force once; find its meaning may be worth consid ering. This is the first treaty made by the United States with either of the South westei-n tribes, or nations. The State of Georgia had, previously to the revolutionary war, entered iiito a compact with the Cherokecs, of which notice will be taken, at the proper time.. After the peace of 1783, and before the adoption of the Federal Constitution, the Congress made treaties with the Indians, in pre cisely the same manuer as with Eu ropean nations. If the power to do’ this wa9 doubted, or denied, the doubt or denial, has never come to rny knowledge. The treaty of Hopewell was negotiated by Commissioners, all of whoni, If 1 mistake not, resided at the South; and I have never heard that any remonstrance was offered by either of the States in the neighbor hood of the Chcrokees, on the ground that the Old Congress Dad no power to agree upon a line of debarkation with the Indians. A line was fixed, in the 4th article;* securing to the Indians the undisturbed possession of a tcf fi- tory, which appeared on the map to be a part of Virginia, the two Cnf bli- nas and Georgia; the States of Ken tucky aiid Tennessee not having then been formed. If L tliis treaty now stobd alone, and the relations of the parties had not been changed by sub sequent events, no white man could have '■attempted to Settle on any df the lands within the Cherokee boundary,’ even down to the present day, howev er he might have been sustained in his attempts by the constituted author ities of any or all of the States situat-* ed in the neighborhood of the Chero- kees. Against, ; such an attempt, the 'Indians woulddqiye been protected by the faith of the Confederated Repub lic. This remark is made simply for the sake of drawing the ^Mention of the reader to the inviolability of the Indian territory, as Strongly implied in the fifth article. From the phraseology adopted in two,or three passages of the trdaty, the conclusion seems to be tfrawn by the present Secretary of War, that treaties with the Cberokees are not binding upon the whites; at least not to the extent of their literal and proper meaning. The argument stands in this form. The Cherokees fought on the side of the British, in the war of independence. The Brit ish were beaten; and therefore the Cberokees were a conquered people To a conquered people the United ; States gave ptame; and therefore the United States arc not bound by the ve/y articled which they dictated— They allotted a boundary to the Cher okecs; and therefore tiie United Slates are not under obligation to res pect the boundary, which they them selves allotted. To refute such con clusions, established by such a process of reasoning, is unnecessary. The very statement of the argument is c- nou e l i- t * • It IS true, that the Commissioners of the United States, in several trea ties mado about the same time, ex press themselves rather haughtily, when they declare th^t they give peace to the Indians. , Tiie fact is .well known, however, that (he \i hi tea were much more desirous of peace than the Cherokecs were. The inhabit ants of our frontier settlements were in constant dread of incursions from the natives of tire forest. Impover ished as Out* country was by a seven years war, it would have been impos sible to have scoured the vast wilder ness from the settled country to the Mississippi. Any force which could then have been sent, would have fared worse than the army of St. Clair did, in a far less dangerous field, nine years afterwords. The Cli&rokees could not have set up for nice verbal critics of the English language, as they did not understand a word of it. It is questfohable whether one Indian inter preter in ten would make qny differ enc.e between give peace, and make peace, or agree to it peace. The Chero- kees doubtless understood, that the United States were desirous that there should be on end of fighting; but it is incredible that they should have thought there was linking, under the phrase of giving peace, any such mys terious implication of superiority on the part of the whites, as should ul timately exonerate the superior from all obligation to keep faith with bis inferior. Least of all could they have supposed, that there was a latent power in this phrase, which should destroy the validity of all future com pacts between the same parties, in not one of wfiich the insidious phrase is to be found. The phrase to give peace was a fa vorite one with the Romans, and was doubtless copied from them. 1 think Bonaparte used it also on some occa sions. But neither the Romans, nor Bond parti;, so far as I knpw, ever so berly contended that a tibaty was to be interpreted, otherwise than accord ing lo the obvious and proper meaning of the words, merely because one of the parties assumed rather a haughty aif t , in some few instances of the phraseology. As to the word allot, it is said to have been coinmonly used in the Southern States as syuonymous with fix, or establish. To say that a boun dary was allotted to the Cberokees, was no more than to say thaj( a boun dary was established, or agreed upon; for the boundary is not said to have been allotted by the Upited States. It may have been, indeed it must have been, as the whole .scope of the trea ty shows, allotted btj the consent of both parlies. WILLIAM PENN. WO' 26. -ate-: ■ . NO. IV. . , If our statesmen are about to in terpret treaties, on the principle of favoring the party which assumed a superiority, they must takD care lest there should be some very (unexpect ed con&quences. In a treaty formed between the United States and the Cttlckasaws, in the year 1801, and ratified by Presi dent Jeffereon and tho Senate, the firsjt article commence* ilms; ‘•’ihe. Min go, principal men, and Warriors of tjie Chickasaw Nation of Indiaqs.give have and permission to the President of the .United States of America, (<> Jay out^ open, and mak$ a convenient wagon road through tlicir land." After stat ing that the road “shall be a highway for the citizens of the United Stages and the Chickasaws,” and that the. Chiekasaws ‘shall appoint two dis creet men as guides,’ who shall he paiff by the United States for their servft ces, the article closes thul: “Provid ed always, That the necessary ferries over the water courses, crossed oy the saidj oad, shall be held and deemetf to be the property of the Chickasaw Na tion-” . Tfie second article makes a pecu niary compensation to the Chickasaw# for “their respectful and friendly tention to the President of the United* States of America, anil to the request made to them in his r hhme, to permit the opening of the road.” Who is the superior.h$re, ? Trans late these passages faithfully, find send, (ocm to the Emperor of China, and l$f him lay the matter beforghis coun^fej, lors, who never heard 6f the tJnjtjjjj States. They will soy, in a moment; tliat.yie Mingo of the Chickasaw! is a monarch, who jm # his great bonded scension, lias graid'^i/ (he humble re quest of'the President, on the conili* tion that the petitioner shall"Sake!, pecuniary compensation, and pay tri bute, under the nathe of ferriage. the Chickasaws, as often as any of the President’s People pass through the territory of the King of the Chicks asaws. According, to the recent code of national moraUty, wliat is to be the operation of this Chickasaw treaty ? Most undoubtedly, in the first place; the Chickasaws may close up the roadj (he stipulations of the treaty to the .contrary notivkhstariding. Indecfif they must have exercised great for bearance already, as they have jter- m it fed the road to be open twenty-seo/ en years, solely out of regard to this, treaty; just as Georgia lias widffel twenty-seven years before .taking pos session of the Cherokee territory, out of complaisance to the engagements of the United States, which tire in fact of nq validity,,._j In the second place, iionc ot (he treaties made subsequently by the Chickasaws are binding upon them;. and therefore they may reclaim all the lands which they have. iccdi?d jtft the United States. Of course the im habitants of West Tennessee, who now live on fertile lands, which were ceded to the whites by the Chicka* saws, must immediately remove, if the Chickasaws require it. The rea son is plain. Np superior can be bound to an inferior; but, that the Chickasaws are the superiors, is evi dent, a6 the Secretary of War says in the other case, because “the emphatt ic language” of the treaty “cannot be mistaken.” But it may be said that there are. other indications in the treaty of Hopewell, (fiat the United States as sumed a superiority, beside the phraseology, in the instances above cited. The question is not, be it ,re# mumbered,whether the United States, at the time of the treat? of Hopewell, were fl more, powerful nation than the Cherokecs; but whether, being A more powerful nation they are on that account exempted from the obligation of treaties. The Cherokecs did, undoubtedly place themselves under the protection 'of the King of Grpa.t, Britain; but bis power had failed them. It w'at natu ral that they should accept proffer* of protection from some other quar ter. This is not a new thing in the world. From the time of Abraham to the present day, there have beei alliances, offensive and Dt^pnsive, con federacies, and smaller States rely ing for protection Upon the plighted faith of larger ones. But what it im plied in the very idea of protection?*