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«'d to nrr,at*!n her motives for disposing of. «r
distributing Iter own lands, and not only des
ignated them as mercenary, outspoke ol h» r
plan or distribution as « gumMing lottery s\s-
tern, if I rightly understood his expressions.
In adopting that method, she adopted no
new principle in reference to her public and
iiiilucuted l auds. From the earliest period ot
the history of Georgia, so far as I have been
informed, and certainly ever since the passage
(.! tier law for opening a land office on the 7th
of June. 1777, the public lands of the Slate ol
(■ieorgia have been considered the property ol
her citizens, and distributed among them.—
This, sir, is an old system of gambling, and
sanctioned h\ some ot tie wisest am! best
men of this country, which b><$ existed in one
lorin or another, certainly lor sixty years,
and proha hi v in substance lor more than a
century. I teniarked yesterday, that in the
jurisdiction claimed tortile I - eder-d Govern-
ment over Indians, there w hs hut a single grant
of power to it in th • Federal C-uiistilniioo on
that subject, and that that grant was contained
hi the briCffclause conferring the commercial
iik’iT upon this Government, and was alike
applicable to the regulation «>J commerce with
foreign nations, among the several Stales ,and
wuli tin* Indian tribes. I said it was the
ahsnrdcst of all inferences In attempt to de
duce exclusive jurisdiction over Indians Irom
that clause of the Federal Constitution. For
that in so doing, we should wn ihilute the re-
served rights and jurisdiction of the States in
overv thing else. Tne slightest attention to
the general tone of discussion on the part ot
those who contend for the exclusive jurisdic-
turn of the Foiled Stati s over the Indians,
must satisfy every unprejudiced mind, that it
is made to rest upon the extravagant and cr-
ronemis impression that, Irom first to last, the
United States us one consolidated nation, pos
st-ssed original, inherent sovere guty over this
whole subject. Uni, as I said yesterday*, the
entire sovereignty over the soil and population
of the several colonies planted on this contin
ent, from the hour that the banner of Ferdi
nand and Isabella v. as unfurled upon its shores
by Columbus, was claimed by the colonizing
nations of Europe ; and that such sovereign-
tv, as to us, passed, perfect and unimpaired,
to the possession of the several States at th>*
establishment of American Independence,—
This being the case, all the powers ol the
Federal Government are tin* free gflt of the
St iltii; and none but t <e ciiiiuuerciul power
Having been granted to it iu regard t<» the In-
Uidii tribes, tutor jurisdiction over them is not
details; in consideration of wn.eti, Georgia
legislated specifically to protect the Cherokee
occupants in their possessions • until Nmeui-
ber. 1836, several months beyond the session
of Congress w illvn w hich Ros> pledged him-
self to close a finul adjustment, still reserving
the power of further extension, and in 1636
actually extended the right of the Cherokee
oreni oi cy to tho 25'h of May, 1836. In
the course of that session of Congress m wh'cli
Unss held out to Georgia the promise ol a
final arrangement, the treaty of which we
have beard so much, was ratified ; and in con-
iormity to Us provisions, allowing to the Cher
okees two years to complete their removal
from the 23d of May, 1836, iu November
thereafter, the Legislature ol Georgia exten
ded the protection of the Stale to the Chero
kee occupants up to the 25th of May, 1638.
Sir, the whole course of the Legislation of
Georgia upon this subject, from ihe tune the
Cumnniuieauon from Ross was I ud hetore ihe
Legislature, was bused upon the faith of that
durtrr.cn!.
[At this stage Mr. Haynes yielded to the
ei.treaties of a numbe *.| gentlemen, and gave
way to Mr. Underwood of Kentucky, on
whoso motion the committee rose. Uu the
following day the House went again into com-
initiee on the same bill, and Mr Haynes coii
eluded his remarks as follows.—hepnrier.]
Mr. Chairman, when 1 addressed the House
yesterday, 1 had, as 1 thought, closed, or
nearly closed, the remarks 1 proposed to make
ns to the right of Georgia to jurisdiction over
the Indians within her limits, together with her
legislation upon the subject. As 1 stated to
the committee at the commencement of m\
remarks, it was a subject of sincere regret to
find my self under the necessity of once more
taking part iu the discussion of this Indian
subject. Hut I will now recur, for a moment,
08 coiuic.cted with the history of this subject,
to u document written, or purporting to have
been Written, by a distinguished citizen id
Kentucky, now one ol her Senators in the
Congress of the United Slates, [Mr. Clay.]
• Asul'NB, Juno fi, 1831.
SiMR Sib : I received your lelicr of the 14th ulti-
niQ, describing I lie wrongs and *»uHcriugn of the
Cherokee nation. Oi there 1 have been previously
well informed. In common with u largo portion of
tho .citizen* of the United States. I regretted them,
and fell th® "incerert sympathy with ou on account
of them; 1 regretted them not only because of ihcir
injustice, but because they inflicted a deep wound on
the eh.nacler ol tho American Republic.
I have supposed that the principles which had uni-
’ family governed our relaiions with Ihe l herokec and
other Indian nslions, had licen loo long and loo firm,
ly established to be iiisturbcd at thu day. They
were proclaimed in ihe negotiation with Ureal Britain,
at Ubenl. bv the A • erii-sn ronmihf.mii*-!> » hu can-
vmm . . c - ilrtVIH*2 |»a?NCtl
eluded tho treaty of peace; and having been one ot r . . . r „
lhLcomm.ssi.Lrs, I tool will....ore sensibility than ‘he question of ihe jur-sdietmu oi .. SU te ov«*r
most of my fellow.cilisuus, any violation of those l...li*m« vviihui her fmius. nod esueri-llv «a
principles. For, if wo staled them incorrectly, we
deccueu L»reul Britain; and it our Government acts
in opposition to them wo deceive the world.
According to those principles, the Cherokee nation
-e-t—**-*
For near thirty years we bnve evidence of its
existence in a more or less extended form ;
mid from December, 1824, the'entire plan
has had the sanction and recommendation of
ilirr-e successive Presidents of the U. States.
As 1 have b.-fore s.ud, in May, 183U, under the
recommendation of President Jackson in his
first annual message to Congress in Decem
ber, 1829, an act was passed contemplating
llie entire emigration of all the Indians resi
ding east of the Mississippi to the west ; and
1 v«-r\ well rememner the hard fought battle
through which we accomplished its passage
in this House. Sir, it was with no little re
gret, on tny return to this House in 1835,
that I found we had lost, or seemed to have
lost, iu Inis great question of Indian errngra-
turn, the powerful co-operation of my honuru-
file friend, the distinguished member from
Tennessee, [Mr. Bell,] now, as iu 1830, the
chairman ot Ihe Committee on Indian Alburn.
I could not readily express my regret at the
altered, or apparently altered, position of my
honorable friend, lor personally he is so, and
I regret that I cannot cull him my political as
well as personal Iriend, upon this subject. 1
have taken this occasion to speak of the hon-
oruble gentleman from Tennessee, that he
may have the opportunity to set me right if I
have mistaken his present position in refer-
enee to this question of Indian emigration, in
the furtherance of which we so heartily co
operated With each other eight years ago.
What are the considerations which bear up-
on inis subject ol Indian emigration and colo
nization ? What has been the course of the
different Slates of th s Union—l mean the
original thirteen States—in regard to the In
dian tribes settleJ within their territories? I
shall not recur to it in a spirit of unkinduess,
or lor the purpose oi awakening unpleasant
recollections, but to contrast for a moment
• lie fate of the numerous tribes scattered over
this great country, and subjected to the legis
lation, us I have shown, ot twelve of the thir
teen original States, with wliat will be the
condition of such as shall emigrate beyond
the reach of our population to the west of the
States and Territories of the Union. I shall
not attempt to enumerate the Indiun wars
which have occurred at various periods of our
history, nor the severe enactments of many
of the colonies towards the Indians. In m i-
uy instances, what seems to have been kind,
benevolent, and paternal legislation, has been
exercised towards them ; and 1 may here say,
without iutomdug to make un invidious dis
tinction between one portion of the country
inent, and to alter and amond it from lime to ti ins,
according to its own sense of its own wants ; to live
Uimcr it* own laws ; to be <-xcm|>l from the operation
of the laws of the United Suites; an<! quietly to |>us.
ecas and enjoy its lands, subject to no other limitation
than that, when sold, they can on!y be sold to the
United Slates. 1 consider tho present Administra
tion of the Government of tho United Soles at liav
jug announced a system of policy in direct hostility
With those principles ; and thereby encouraged Coor-
jrjj i„ usurp powers of Legislation over the Cherokee
vUon, which she doe* wot of right possess.
i5Ur.li are my opinions which are expressed at your
request. But they uro llio opinions of u private indi-
viau il, which can uvail you nothing.
*^Whal ought the Cherokees to do in their present
critical situation 7 is u most important question lbr
their consideration. Without being able to advise
them, l see very clearly what they ought not to do.
They ought not to make war. They ought to bear
every oppression rather than fly to anna. Tho peo
ple of the United Stales uro alone competent now to
redress these wrong*, and it is to be Imped that they
will sooner or later apply the competent remedy.
In communicating these opinions at your instance,
I have done it with no intention that they should be
‘ published. A publication might do injury, and 1
therefore request that :* be not uiado.
I feel very thankful for tho fri’ndly sentiments
towards inysclt, which you have expressed; and of.
for my sincere wishes that rour nation finally may
obtain justice at the hands of the United Males, and
may become a civilized, Christian, and prosperous
community.
I am, with high respect.
Your obedient servant,
II. CLAY.
Mr. Jons Cysts*.
Tn«*rc is no member of this committee who
is less inclined to engage in partisan contiici
than I am; hut as a purt of the history ol the
influences brought to bear upon tne cuniio-
ver*y then pending between Georgia and the
Cherokee*. I should have felt conscious o! do.
mg injustice to the people who have confided
to uv* n high trust, if I lutd not placed that
communication in such connection with this
•abj rt as In have brought it to their notice.
1 will advert mice more, for u moment, to the
controversy between the authorities of (ieor
gia and the missionaries Worcester and Hut-
ler, for the purpose of stating, that all which
Georgia required of them, nr any other nidi-
vidual* residing within Unit portion of tier ter
ritory occupied by the Cherokees, was the
nek mm Judgment of nnd submission to, the
jurisdiction of the Stale.
1 might not have thought it necessary to
* spend it word upon this subject, if it were nut
• for the impressions made iu various parts of
this country as respects the true motives which
actuated Georgia in these transactions, uud il
she hud not been represented us designedly
trampling upon the dispensation of religious
and Christian principle. W hen those mission
' arics entered the Cherokep country, it was by
permission of the Government ol tne United
Stoles, and the law of Georgia under which
they were tried und convieted, contained am-
, pie provision tor the protection of every tndi-
f-vidual settled there ns an agent, dsc. by the
-permission of that Government; and they
must have been exceedingly ambitious of mur.
■' ty rdom, or something else, wantonly to huve
exposed themselves ;o the criminal jurisdic.
lion of the State. k , ,
Iii the remarks mado by the gentleman
from Virginia, [Mr. Wise] upon tliu-cbnduct
of Georgia towards the Cherokees nnd other
Indian tribes within her bonders;fie was
in the slightest degree impaired or limited in j and another, that the Southern States have
any other particular. ‘ been as remarkable (might I not say more
Having passed as briefly as I could over »«»:) for kindness aud indulgence tow »rds tt,e
* Indian race, as any other members of tins
luUtniis wiihiu her fonts, and especially **d j Union. Ih.it ancient and renowned Corn-
veiled to the legist .non ot Georgia towards I monwealth (Virginia) which I am proud to
the Cherokees, it in i\ he proper that l should call my mother, may well compare her legis-
say something on the subject of the cinigra- Nation over the Indian tribes, lor humanity,
uud colonization of the Indians to the kindness and paternal solicitude, with that of
west ol the States mid Territories of this Un- I any other Slate in the Union, aud what has
ion. Upon inquiring into the history of j become of her Indians ?
this suojert, the first official notice I have
ocui able to find of the adoption of the prin
ciple of Indian emigration mid colonization,
is to he found hi the treaty concluded with
the Cherokees iu 1817, in which is recognis
ed a pledge given to a portion of the tribe 1»\
President Jefferson early iu the year 1809.
I have understood, hut cannot now lav my
hand upon the document, which in ty he quo
ted as authority, lhat one important considera
tion which induced Mr. J-(Person to desire
me acquisition ot Louisiana, was to procure an
extensive range ot wild country, to which tc
remove and colonize th-* then residing Indians
east of the Mississippi. Be that as it may, he
encouraged the emigration of the Cherokees
The honorable gentleman from that Slate,
[Mr. W ise] who so vehemently opposes the
fulfilment of the Cherokee treaty, and seems
to he so much opposed to the general scheme
of Indian emigration, has given us u sad com
mentary upon the late of Indians surrounded
hy n white population, ill his statement of the
degraded and now extinct Gtngiisk'ns, once
flourishing upon the eastern shore of Virgin
ia. Looking throughout the wide extent of
our country, looking back to the numerous
and powerful tribes by which it was covered
when our fathers colonized the American
wilderness, let me ask, where are the Catuw.
has, the Tuscarums, the Nottoways, the Pa
munkeys, the Nauticokcs, the Delawares, the
is early as January, 1809, urging them to Six Nations, ihe Nnrngansells, the Pequuds
settle high up tiie Arkansas and White rivers,
that they might tie entirely removed from the
neighborhood ol the white population; nnd
one of tho provisions of the treaty of 1817
purports to carry into effect thu pledge thus
given to the Cnerokees, in le>'J9, by Presid.
cut Jefferson, and to secure to them the
peaceable possession of their new country i*
the West.
There is nothing further in * ur legislation,
or older documentary history, so l. r as 1 have
been aide to learn, ou this subject, until we
come down to the Iasi annual message ot Pre.
.-id* nt Monroe to Congress, iu December.
1624, in a short parngiaph ol which lie invites
Ihe attention oi Congiess to it, und urges Us
adoption. At a subsequent period of the
same session of Congress, on jlie 27tn oi
January, 1625, Mr. Monroe roininyniculed «
special message to Congress, euipliaticalK
recommending a general plan ol Indian cm -
igr-tioii uud colonization west of the Missis-
•he Peiiobsrols, arid the thousand other tribes
which onee covered the laud ? Gone, buried
most of them, and the n; xt generation may
forget tlx ir very existence. Does this en
courage us in ihe course which has been pur
sued hy the various States of this Union to
wards the Indians ? Does this justify us, as
a humane nod benevolent people, iu endeav
oring to subject to a process, hy which all
these tribes have been annihilated, or nearly
annihilated, the remnants still lingering among
us? 1 think not, sir. And if any one will
take tne trouble to inquire of an intelligent
Ch* rokec or Creek, of John Ridge or ('hilly
McIntosh, lie will find lhat the portions of
of those tribes which have emigrated to the
West arc in u more prosperous condition than
they have ever been at any former period of
their history. On the one side, degradation,
decay, and final extinction await them ; on the
other, their social, moral, uud intellectual ad-
v iiK-ciiieiit m all the arls of refinement and
sippi, hut Congress then adopted ro general, civilization, with the permanent preservation
or even partial legislation, so far us i know
or believe, iu regard to it. Eirlv iu the
year 1826, troubles having arisen iu the
Creek ll•.liun the previous year, tv lu.fi result
ed in ihe dealu of Tustunuuggce lla*1ki, tin
white warrior ol Muscogee, better known a*
General McIntosh, his followers were anxious
and elevation of the ludiaif race.
These are some of the considerations which
justify the great ineii who have gone before
us, and which should embalm their memory
in the heart ot every lover ol Ins kind, fur
selling on foot this great scheme of Indian
emigration and colonization in the West
(u remove to tho West, and provision was We have been told of the danger to be uppre-
made by law f.»r Uie.r emigration and settle- bended from embodying so large a number ol
rnent tiiere. Indians upon our Western frontier, and the
As bus been already stated, in 1823, a gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Wise] has
treaty whs made by Ihe Western Cherokees, J seemed to desire to appal us by arraying an
one of me objects of which was to induce the
emigration of that portion of the tribe still ro.
niainiug, east ofthu Mississippi.
Iu the last annual message of President
Adams, communicated to Congress in 182S,
he invited its attention to the general plau of
aggregate ol more than three hundred tbous*
and, ready, without warning, to devastate one
ot the luirest portions of pur country. That
gentleman must have forgotten that much the
largest portion of that number exist in that
country independently of any action of ours,
Indian emigration ns fully and elaborately ur. j and has overlooked the countervailing force o*
ged by Gen. Porter, the then Secietary of I the four great South Western tribes residing
War. The subject was again earnestly between us and the wilder and more turbulent
pressed upon the attention of Congress by portions of their race. For my part, i do not
President Jackson in his first annual Message I hesitate to express the confident belief that
to Congress, m December, 1329 ; und iu j the Chiekasuws, Chocklawa, Cherokees and
May, 1839, the Indian bill, us it was called, 1 Creeks, will Ibrm fur our frontier a cordon of
was passed, the <ibje»*t of which was the <u!l defence against the wilder tubes beyond them,
itnd'entire emigration of all the Indian tribes The various considerations of interest and good
residing oust of .the Mississippi; to the west of 1 wilt which .most teud to such a result, it cannot
that river. ... I be necessary for tne now to enumerate, lam
So, sir, the scheme of Indian emigration I aware that I have fatiguqd the committee by
to the west is uot new, nor the ofisprtug of a J goiug into a tedious detu.il of the principles of
wojjle.heartcd god a risionaryijaaagiautiQn.—I American colonization by the different nations
of Europe, and the extent of jurisdiction
claimed and exercised b> the colonies over
the aboriginal inhabitants of America. I
have, perhaps added to that fatigue by the
brief slid desultory observations I have made
uuon the emigration of ttie Indians to the
West, but I could not otherwise have p! iced
the subject in the light in which 1 think it
ought to be viewed oy every benevolent mind
from one extreme of our country to the other.
Having, in this imperfect manner, passed
over what seemed to be essential prelimina
ries, I come now to make a few brief closing
observations upon the subject immediately be-
fore us. I regret exceedingly the wide range
of discussion winch has been indulged in, es
pecially by the gentleman from Virginia,
[Mr. Wise,] upon a bill, the single object of
which is to make un appropriation to repress
and suppress Indian hostilities, and to dis
charge arrearages for the past. I regret,
with no less sincerity, that a topic which has
no necessary connection with the bill, wheth
er the Cherokee treaty be indeed a treaty or
no treaty, should have been introduced into
this discussion. Hut us it is our habit to dis.
cuss any and every thing in Committee of
the Whole on the state of the Union, however
immediate or remote its relevancy, it might
be con fflered indelicate for me to remark fur
ther upon it. 1 will, therefore, come as brie!
ly as 1 can. to the consideration of that treaty
tho opposition to which bus rendered a portion
of the appropriation now asked for necessary
In the winter of 1634—5, ns the Committee
ha* heen informed over and over again,
delegation of Cherokee Indians came to this
city, and proposed to the President of the U
Slates, through the Secretary of War, to set
tie all their difficulties by u final cession o
their territory east of the Mississippi, for the
gross sum of $20,000,000. This proposition
being very properly considered extravagant
and unreasonable, was promptly rejected liy
the Secretary of War. He was then urged
in February, 1835, in a further communica
tion from the delegation, to submit the ques
tion, without stating any particular sum, to
the Senate of the United States, with the ns.
suraiice that whatever sum might be fixed by
tiiat body as a fair equivalent for the territory
to be abandoned, they would use their exer
tions with their countrymen to induce them to
accept. In compliance with this earnest as
surance, the proposition was submitted, and
the Senate returned as their answer, that the
Cherokees should receive five inilliuns of dol
lars.
Subsequent to the declaration of the award
by the Senate, an attempt was made by the
Executive to induce the delegation to enter
into the necessary stipulations for earning
the award into effect, and then, end not until
then, ns I verily believe, did that delegation
discover that they had no power to close the
arrangement without reference to their coun-
try men. It is necessary to be remembered,
that iu the course of the communication refer
ring the acceptance or rejection of ?he uward
to their countrymen, the delegation again
pledged themselves to use their influence to
induce them to accept it, laving particular
.stress upon tiie principle that it should have
due regard to individual rights.
Reference bus been made to an attempt
subsequently made by the Executive to enter
into an arrangement with another delegation,
and it has been attempted to be shown that
the Executive endeavored to depart from the
award of the Senate, by reducing its amount.
This was triumphantly answered by the gen-
tleman from North Carolina, [Mr. Graiiam,]
who showed that it still proposed to adhere to
ihe basis of five millions of dollars. The
Executive having faded to induce the delega-
tion to enter into stipulations here, it was ad-
journed to the Cherokee council to he assem
bled at Red Clay in October, 1835. Com
missioners were sent bv the President to that
council, under the pledge of Ross and his del
egation, lhat the arrangements should be there
made fur closing the iitfuir, by carrying out
die award of the Senate, by such stipulations
as might be agreed upon by the parties.—
The delegation stood doubly pledged to cn-
deavor to induce their people to accept the
award of the Senate, and to er.ter into the ne
cessary stipulations when met by commission
ers in their own country.
Hut what was the course pursued by John
Ross at that council? Notwithstanding his
pledge to treat, and to endeavor to induce the
acceptance of the five millions awarded by
ihe Senate, he uot only declined to treat will;
the commissioners altogether, but himsel.
presented to the meeting, und procured the
adoption of, a protest against the acceptance
of the five millions awarded by the Senate
This violation of the pledge given by John
Russ, both before and after the declaration ot
the award by the Senate, is not left to infer-
encc or conjecture, but is placed beyond the
possibility ot doubt by the statement of an in
dividual of the nation, Elias Boudinot, us re
spectable us Ross himself, who says, tint so
far from endeavoring to redeem that pledge,
bv pressing the acceptance of the award upon
his countrymen, Ross himself presented to
them and induced them to adopt a protest
against that very award.
Mr. Boudinot, in speaking of the proceed
ings at tne meeting at Red Clay in October,
1835, holds the following language:
“ At the call of tbe public crier, the Cherokees, to
tho uumber of about one thousand, were collected
around u stand, to hear some important communica
ti in from their chief. Mr. Ross soon appeared, with
a bundle of papers in bis hand, which turned out to
bo the nomination of the twenty delegates, and their
powers. They were all written out, ready to receive
(bo assent and the signatures of the multitude, who
stood around the chief with indescribable anxiety, to
hear some important developeinent, or a suggestion
of souio plan that would result in their relief. Mr,
Ross commenced to read an instrument of writing,
drawn in the form of resolutions, to be adopted or
approved by the people, granting powers to the twen.
ty delegates, of which number ho was ooe. Those
powers, to an English reader, or to n person under,
standing the English language, may be understood
as being ample and sufficient. They authorized the
delegation to terminate the difficulties with the Uni
ted States, by a treaty arrangement, either there or
elsewhere. They gavo them full power to negotiate,
upon .what principles tliey pleased, m any manner
they pleased, and for any amount they pleased. In \
fine, they were unlimited, discretionary powers. So
far, it was well enough, only that they were too ex
tensive to be intrusted to twenty irresponsible per
sons. In addition to the fullest extent of authority
hicli the people had conferred upon their delega.
tion, they were made to declare lhat thty would be
bound by all the acts of that delegation. What will
be your surprise when I tell you that those rcsolu-
iuns, containing such a declaration, were accompa
nied with a protest in which tho people are made to
say, that they will nerer consent to a treaty made up
on the basis cf the five millions of dollars!”
Thus did that artful and perfidious chief,
John Ross, concentrating in himself Cliero-
kce power and Cherokee will, violate his own
oluntary pledge to tirge upon his tribe the
award made by the Senate at his own press,
ing solicitation. As Ross hud violated his
engagements by the proceedings at Red Clay,
tbe commissioners notified tbe Cherokees
that they would meet them at New Ecbota in
December following, for the purpose of draw
ng up these stipulations. According to lhat
notice given to the nation, a meeting did Like
place at New Echota on the. 29lh of Decem
ber, 1835, and a treaty was entered into with
a larger number of delegates than usual on
such occasions, which treaty, subsequently
modified by the Senate, was ratified bv that
body on the 23d of May, 183G. We know
that the opposers of this treaty have artfully
directed public odium against the two individ
uals by whom its stipulations wore arranged
with the Cherokees. And why ? Because
the breath of calumny dares not utter a whis
per against the Senate by whom it was rati
tied. Who arc the commissioners usually
employed on such occasions ? Men of busi
ness, acquainted with Indian character, and
competent to arrange the details of the pro
posed arrangement. But is their work a trea
ty? No, sir; far froor it. The only power
known to our laws competent to make a trea
ty, is the President of the United States, by
and with the advice and consent of tiie Sen-
ate. \\ hen we remember that there is not
another body in the world possessing a high
er character for intelligence nnd integrity than
the Senate of tho United States, it would
seem sufficient to stamp the seal of validity
upon any transaction, treaty' or otherwise,
which had passed the ordeal of its scrutiny.—
If objections are made to this transaction, it
is sufficient answer to say, that it was not the
work of an hour, or a dny. Ii was under ud-
visement, from the first to the last, from Feb
ruary, 1835, to the 23d of May, 1836. All
the evidence, all the documents referred to in
the course of this discussion, all that had been
said or written on the one side, all that had
been said and written on the oilier, was under
the calm and deliberate consideration of the
Senate, previous to the ratification of the
try was submitted to that body, but in October
1635, as 1 showed to the committee yesterday]
addressed an official communication to the
Governor of Georgia, desiring him to lay it
before the Legislature, and asking forbear.
ar.ee, as all difficulty would be adjusted at
the approaching session of Congress, unless
be misunderstood the sentiments of the Ex-
ecutive of the United States, about which he
could not be mistaken. Georgia did not only
forbear to authorize her citizens to enter up.
on lands in the occupancy of the Cherokees
but passed an act especially to protect them iu
such occupancy until November, 1836; a
period beyond the close of the session within
which Ross expected » final adjust meat—_re.
serving the power still longer to extend such
protection.
In the course of the session referred to
by Ross, a treaty was made and promulgated,
allowing two years from the 2‘3d of May,
1830, for the final emigration ol the Cliero.
kees. Georgia hears nothing more front
Ross; hut when her Legislature convened in
November, 1636, un act was passed still fur.
the: extending protection to the Cherokee
occupants until the 25th of May, 1838. Sir,
upon a review of the whole subject, I do not
think I go too fur when 1 say that John Uoss
lias been faithless to the United States, faith,
less to Georgia, and faithless to his own people.
1 have already spoken, in the course of
these remarks, of the vuriuus causes which
wfcre brought to operate upon the relations of
Georgia and the Cherokee Indians—of the at.
tempted usurpation of the Supreme Court of
the letter of the distinguished Senator from
Kentucky, [Mr. Clay] ail brought to bear
upon us before the formation of the treaty
which it has just been my duty to discuss
But, from the showing of Ross himself, in a
letter addressed to George Lowry, mid pub
lished at pages 679 and GS0, ot Senate docu.
incut, No. 120, of the present session of Con.
gress, powerful and active influences huve
been at work, since tbe ratification of tho
treaty, to prevent tho emigration of the Cher-
okees, in compliance with their obligations.—
Ross says, in that letter: “Some of the mem-
tiers say that the President is displeased with
tiie Senate’s arneudnunt ; and otheis say,
what lias been done cannot be viewed ns fi.
nal, until a majority of the whole Cherokee
people shall approve il; init all lhat hits been
done would be nothing, if the Cherokees would
be firm in their minds, und consider it the same
us if there was no treaty mude and ratified, and
be strong in this resolution, and not uccqd of
the provisions of the fraudulent treaty, made by
unauthorized individuals." Who were tho
members that advised this course, 1 cannot
pretend to know; but tiiis 1 w ill say, that if
treaty. And upon solemnly viewing and re- v ahe blood of the white man or the Indian shall
viewing the whole ground, w.th an eye sin-
gle to justice to all parties, it received the as.
sent ot the Senate. Whatever opinions otli-
ers have entertained on the subject, it is my
solemn conviction that there never has been
a treaty entered into by the United States
with an Indian tribe, ay, or with any other
nation in the world, more fair, just, and hon.
orable to our Government than this, tinder
what circumstances was this treaty negotia
ted ? It was essentially a transaction direct,
ly between the United States and the Govern
ment of the Cherokee nation ; as much so as
a similar transaction could be between us and
any one of the Governments of Europe.
Mr. Chairman, who is John Ross? He is
the principal chief of the Cherokee nation, so
far as tho two tire concerned ; nnd his friends
here who have extolled hint—especially his
peculiar friend, the gentleman from Virginia,
Mr. Wise.] who has ranked him above every
itizen of Georgia—have said enough to con.
ince this committee, and every intelligent
man in this country, that he is the imperson
ation, the embodiment, of the political power
and w ill of the Cherokee nation. In his prop,
osition to refer, nnd, so far as he was con-
cerued, to abide by thu umpirage of the Sen-
ate. be placed himself and the Cherokee peo-
pie under as strong an obligation to this Gov
ernment ns any civilized Government in the
world could place itself. Yes, sir, if Great
Britain, or France, or Russia, or utiv other
power in the world, had contracted such obli.
gations to the American Government as John
Ross contracted, and failed or refused to re
deem its pledge, it would furnish just cause
of war.
It is said that fraud has been done to the
Cherokee Indians. What is fraud ? It i«
wrong, injustice, injury. Let me ask wliat
wrong, wliat injustice, what injury, has been
done to the Cherokee Indians?
Sir, the head of that nation, the Cherokee
government, politically the Cherokee nntian,
hound himself to the Government of the Uni-
ted States to accept five inilliuns of dollars as
an equivalent for the abandonment of the ter.
ritory occupied by them oast of the Mississip
pi, and how has wrong been inflicted by *,i, e
treaty we are consiJviing? That treaty not
only secures the full amount of five millions of
dollars, as stipulated by the uvvurd of the Sen.
ate, but it gives the additional sum of six hun.
dred thousand dollars for the expenses of re.
inovai. tnfd certain spoliations previously com
mitted upon them.
Not only' this, but it also stipulates to
extinguish, fur the use of the Cherokees, cer-
tain reservations within the country to which
they ore to emigrate, which will cost some
twenty or thirty thousand dollars more. Nor
is this all: for it further provides that they
shall he authorized to send-a delegation to
this House, , whenever Congress shall make
provision lor it. Further still, it takes partic
ular care of individual rights, in the mode of
applying the funds to be received under it;
and I am not quite sure that this does not
constitute one of the greatest objections iu a
certain quarter against it.
Where, then, is the wrong, the injustice,
the injury, of which we have beard so much ?
John Uoss, the Cherokee Government, politi
cally the Cherokee nation, not only placed
himself under a pledge to the United-States
to accept the uward of the Seriate, when the
question of the value of the Cherokee coun-
m
m:
. X& ■
■Mmm
flow. Irom the unhappy controversy they liuve
so largely contributed to create, theirs will be
the responsibility.
The gentleman from Virginia, [Mr. Wise,!
Ins given to John Ross great credit for his lor.
be.irance in restraining bis people from acU
of violence towards the citizens of Georgia.
Docs nut that gentleman know that the plain
est dictate of self-preservation ol himself and
his tribe imperiously demanded it? Is there
any thing magnanimous in thu forbearance of
the weaker purty, when his own existence
depends upon it ? I think not. 1 have ah
ready expressed my regret at the latitude of
discussion indulged on the present occasion,
and could very much have desired that it had
been confined to the bill immediately before
the committee. Upon that bill, a brief dis
cussion upon the contingency of Cherokee
hostility, uud the necessity of precautionary
measures for its prevention, would have been
sufficient. 1 shall not now enter into it, but
ruler to the warning given us by our Indian
relations in Alabama and Florida, that it u
our imperative duly to bo prepared lor the
worst, if war with the Cherokees should
come, we shall he free irom the vain regret
of not having foreseen or provided against it,
and if il should not come, the appropriation
now asked, so fur as it relates to . the future
contingency of war, will not be needed, and
in due time will full buck into the Treasury.
I trust, therefore, (or that reason, aud further
for the reason that, us a representative of
Georgia, 1 insist upon the fuil uud complete
fulfilment of the Cherokee treaty, that lam
most decidedly opposed to diverting from it*
original object any portion of the proposed ap
propriation. 1 cutmol vote cither for the
amendment offered by tho honorable gentle
man from Tennessee, nor that offered by or
der of the Committee on Indian Affairs. I
will not, l cannot, consent to recognise any
alteration of the treaty tti the smallest tittle
whatsoever. Sir, I can but express my »»•
lonishmcnl and regret at the proposition of
the Secretary of War to the Cherokee dele
gation, essentially to change, as I understand
him, the terms of the treaty. That proposi
tion meets tny m* decided and unqualified
disapprobation.
I regret that proposition more on account
of the correspondence that preceded it th* 1
any thing else. The bare opening a corres
pondence with John Russ, to atcertuin extent*
placed the Executive in his power, and justi
fied, on his part, the expectation of essential
modifications of the treaty, at least in th®
particulars of time and money. I do not
question tho benevolence of the motive by
which the Secretary was actuated; but can
not doubt that the tendency of this measure
has been materially to retard the execution
ol the treaty.
I knew not who may have been his advi
sers, but, for myself, 1 would never have con*
settled to any alteration o- the treaty whatso*
ever. Its prompt execution, I have no doubl,
was equally demanded by the best interest*
of the Cherokees, as weft as that of (he citi
zens of the States concerned in its immediaW
execution.
A word or two in reply to tbe gentleman
from Virginia, [Mr. Wise,] and I have done-
1 will uot discuss the question mooted by d*ot
gentleman about the castigation of a State by
this Government. I need only say to hi®
that “ sufficient for the day is (fie evil ihcreofr