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226 ifor ti| e Columbian fpufmw. To Jams* Seacrovf, i i s Q.. Super intendent of in dun: Affairs, C. A. Sir, ON behalf of my late Colleagues, I return you my hearty thanK.*, for the early attention you paid my call lor the authentic documents in your poflef lion. Permit me, however, to oblerve, that considering the means prartifed, rind the characters employed to obtain your information, the authenticity of the whole, may well be doubted. I fnall not ; however, gofo far—for I rea dily plead guilty, it there be any guilt attached to the only letter, 1 ever wrote John Galphin. 1 lhouldhave been hap py, lir, il you had made your comment on that pait of ir, which you conit rued criminal, for lain really fa ignorant, or ib hardened in my guilt, that altho’ I have read it over, and over again, I can diicovei nofentiment it contains, which dishonours ray head, cr argues a depravi ty of my heart. If I ieel remorse at all, it is for condescending, notwithftan dingallhis importunities, to notice by one Single line, this worthy lecond of the worthy superintendent of Indian Affairs. He is however, brought forward by you, to ellablifh charges of a serious na ture, against the late Comrniflioners of the State. You have produced this halt breed Indian, as an evidence, and brought forward Mr. Weatherford’s oath, to prove what this half breed said against us. You mud therefore admit, ■what this half breed has said, and wrote, at other times, to be evidence against you. On the 6th day of June, so far from the Commiifioners tcaung Mr. Galphin, he began to tease them ; and wrote me the hrit line I ever had the honor to re ceivcfrom this very authentic character, in the words following : in CAMP, 6th June, I 796* Dear Sir, I AM happy to hear you are one of the honorable board of Commiflioners. I make no doubt but you have heard of the notorious falfehoods that have been ieportedagainft me, which lam willing to put my felt to any court of juflicc, and make no doubt but you have a bet ter opinion of me, than to think that 1 should murder or rob a man. No fir, my father’s memory ftili lies in mv bread, and nothing upon earth would make me do any thing to hurt iny fath er and mothers character. I have been fciead a gentleman, and my whole inten tion is to l'upporc that character, and hope you may think so of me. I will be glad that you will write me in the Eiorninp-. w And I have the honor to be, fir, Your moil obedient servant, JOHN GALPHIN. JAMES JACKSON, Es^. (dommijjioner of Indian Affairs. On the 7th of Jure, lie sent me the fol lowing epillle : ‘•The *}th June y I 796. Si r, I WROTE you a day cr two a go, and as yet never had the honor cl an answer. I now infill, if convenient, you will be so good as write me ; if not, I muff retire with my people. Had 1 not proposed coming to the Treaty, none of my town would have come ; and I am certain that nothing can be done without them. I was happy to hear you was one of the Commilhoners, when I flattered myfelf that matters, perhaps might be fettled to the latisfac tion of both parties. Our principle chiefs are not here—that is the Hollow ing King and Y’oung Prince; and with out their consent to a Treaty* I know* and am well convinced it will be dif annuiled. I was sent forward by those chiefs, and can bring them forward if required.—l presume the business now in hand, will be of little weight, without those chiefs are present, which you may plainly fee by the talk they sent by rue to Jantes Seagrove, Esq. Will be happy for an answer before my departure. I wifli if poliible, to return home to-mor row. And have the honor to be, fir, Your inoft obedient servant, _ t . JOHN GALPHIN. JAMES JACKSON, Esqv. V -r. CommijJioner of Indian Affairs. i P. S. The talk sent by me, I dcliv- Fercd to Mr. Barnard. On the 9th, he came on board the State vefici, and without being called on for tne purpolc, or aiked a question on the head, asserted, that the land would not be procured, and that it was owing’ to the talks Mr. Scagrove had sent to •she nation* \ was not cm board; but on Columbian j^lufeum, Settilla river at the time, but refer for the truth of this, to the journals of the State Commiflioners* and Mr. Moore's oath. On the 10th, early in the morning, 1 was peitered with another letter, as follows : *The 1 Oth of June, 1796. Sir, I SHOULD have been happy to have seen you perfonaliv, that I could have informed you the real rcafon of the ob jection, the chiefs of my nation, have in not complying with the rcquelt you de mand ; and nothing but time will now bring nutters to your wish, which I will explaine to you, when I have the honor of feeing yotK The blame is not to he on the Indians—l will lay no more till I fee you. And have the honor to be, Your moil obedient lervant. JOHN GALPHIN. JAMES JACKSON, Esq. CommijJioner of Indian A fairs. Being thus teased, I wrote the fame day, the very criminal letter which you have produced to prove my guilt* anti in answer thereto, on the'nth, I re ceived the follow ing : In CAMP, June I I lb, 1796. Sir, YOU RS of the iotb, I had the hon or of receiving, and return you my thanks for your kind advice, and lhail follow it. Y’ ou have been pleased to lay, I can fee you at any time ; but r afiure you, fir* that the chiefs were told by Mr. Seagrove this morning* to try and per fnade me from feeing you ; that you was here only to try to Ipoii their talks, by demanding lands, a .and that’ he would lee their lands should not be taken by you. iic heard i was on board your veil'd, which he is not pleased at. I wish to fee you very much—l have fome busi ness that 1 should be very glad you would undertake to do tor me. I liave no feai ing-wax, therefore 1 refer you to my brother for particulars. 1 will thank you for fome paper and wax, and a few biscuit ; and beg you will not as yet, make this public, and you shall have mat ters to your fatisfadtioa—l can do more with thete Chiefs than people think. I have the honor to be, Your inoft obedient servant, JOHN GALPIIIN. James Jackson* Es<^ Comm £ion<. r of Indian A fair:. Without recurring at present to oth er letters, is this not iufficient to prove, ii at the tcafing of Mr. Galphin, cid not lay with the late State Coinmiiiion ers,? but that he teased them—and docs it not also prove the faddy of his curn pofition ? where he fays, “ I ftili con iulted my friends, when they ftili told tne to encourage the business— l wrote a tb-.rd letter, when Gen. Jaekfon sent me word* that 1 mull undertake the busi ness.” I have inserted lour of this au thentic gentleman’s epistles already, and the fourth is a positive dead charge a gainit you* fir, as the oecaiion of the failure of the cefiion. Vv ith refpedl to tue offer of five hundred pounds—ls it probable, fir, that the late State Cotn mitnoner; would advance thislum, from tneir private pockets, or even three hundred dollars, which you aflert Mr. Garvin offered lor the mere purpose of breaking you. You, fir, had great ad vantages over the State Commiflioners in this refpert, for you li3d public prop erty in your hands to distribute as pre sents, and could bribe at the expense of the United States. The public goods in the lands of the Hate Commiifio tiers, were nnt at their disposal, to make pre feiits of anti bribe with, but for the ex press purpose of a payment for a ceftion of land, which theic is great room for fufpertion, you were the cause of our not obtaining. If, however, Galphin was at market, and fuppofmg the offers he ailedgCs, to have been made him by us was the fart, what is the natural con clusion Which mult strike the moll com mon mind at a gta.ice ; but that he was knock and off to the highest bidder,, and that you became the purchaser. Wheth er you bought him or not, to make the infamous ilatement through the channel of your other authentic friend, Mr. Weatherford, who fome years since, for his good deeds, no doubt, was closely cropped, lays between you.—His evi dence is to befure a inafter piece ol its kind—You swear him to what John Galphin said, to criminate us—why did you not swear him to clear your felf, when your other deputies and agents were paraded before the Federal Com missioners. This man, fir, from your own (hewing,-appears to have been your principal ciniflary ; and why, fir, did you not swear Galphin to his Ilatement; you might as well have done so, as to swear Aleck Cornels, your half breed interpreter ; the one was as much a chriftian as the other. If they had all swore to the statement, however, the following oaths of Captain Moore, and Mr. Jacob Cunes, referred to in that statement, and both well known in Sav annah, will prove it a moil corrupt and iniquitous connivance, to answer fir.iu ter purposes. Before those rcfpertable depositions, the charge against us of onbing John Galpin, will vanish like the balelefs labrick of a vision, whillt they will confirm suspicions already grounded of your malcondurt. City of Savannah, J State of Georgia, f PERSON A L L Y ippea red before me, James Box Young, one of the Aldermen of said City, John Moore, E'q. also an Alderman of the fame, who being duly sworn, depofeth : ‘That he accompanied the late Commiflioners ap pointed on the part of the State, to hold a Treaty* to Coleraine, and whilst there, resided on board the State Ves sel, where lie had great opportunity of hearing and feeing their tranfartions and con verfat ions. That he perceives in Powers & Seymour's paper, in a publica tion made by Mr. Seagrove, a statement of John Galphin’s, where he declares, that the Commiflioners of the State, promised him five hundred pounds and an elegant horfc, for services to be per formed by him against Mr. Seagrove, and refers to a Captain Moore, who, he tlie deponent, takes to be himfelf, as no other Captain Moore to his knowledge, was at Coleraine, as being present at the convenation. The deponent does molt lolemnly declare, that he never was pre sent at any such conversation : That he does not know of any bribe offered by the late State Commiflioners, to John Galphin or any other person whalfoever i nor aid he ever hear any conversation of the Commiifioners to that purport. He further declares, that so far from the Commiflioners countenancing Galphin, they wished to avoid him : That Galphin was only once on board— and then General Jackson was absent : That wlsiht he, Galphin, was there, without being questioned, he declared that the Lcliion of Land world not be obtained, and that it was owing to the talks which Mr. Seagrove had sent to the Nation : That this he believes, •was on the 9th day of June last, and a day cr two afterwards, Galphin came down on the bank and abused the Federal Commiflioners and Mr. Sea grove ; but was not asked or permitted to come on board. JOHN MOORE. Sworn to before me, this \Cyth day of Sett. 179 6. James Box Young, one of the Aider men of the City of Savannah. J ACOB CUNES beingduly sworn, maketh oath, that he has seen a state ment of a half-breed Indian, named John Galphin,publifhed in Powers & Styviour’s paper of the 13th inst. by James Seagrove, Esq. Superinten dent of Indian Affairs, where he the de ponent is referred to as one of the per forms present in a converfation* where the late State Commiflioners for holding a Treaty at Coleraine, promised the said Galphin, five hundred pounds and an elegant horfc exclufi'-e, as a bribe to pro cure the services of said Galphin in the Creek Nation, and to bring down the Hollowing King and little Prince* to Beards-BlufF. l'he deponent was at Coleraine during the Treaty, but never heard any conversation of that kind, either between the Commiflioners and Galphin, or Galphin and any other per son ; nor did he ever hear any conver sation between the Commiflioners and any other person tending, or which could be construed to tend towards the bribing of John Galphin or any other person whatsoever : and he the depo nent does lolemnly declare, that he be lieves the whole statement to be a bare faced lie, and having had great opportu nity of hearing and feeing what the State Commiifioners did, as he the de ponent was at Coleraine as one of the militia guard, and residing on board the State Yeffel. JACOB CUNES. Sworn to before r:e, this 14 th Jay of Sept. 179 6. Justus 11. Shbu b er, J. P. As to Mr. Garvins offer,-the certifi cate of the Secretary of the state mil fion, will prove lhat he was not author ized by the Commiflioners of the state. From Galphins own lhewitig, suppo sing the paper genuine, which there is great doubt of, it mull appear that Mr. Garvin was actuated by private resent ment against you for ill officej-donc him, for Galphin mentions that he said h e would do any thing to break you, an i that his uiing the Commiifioners name v. as to induce Galphin, the more readih to undertake it. Standing in our fitu*/ tion, however, as Commiflioners, with tne pointed information we had received fr om Galphin, against you, and when the Federal Commiflioners refufed to attend to it, as the extract from our journals hereto fubjoinei proves; could we have been censured for taking ever, that step to procure your talks so Inimi cal to the object of the state. We could neither have been censured by the law of nature or society, and I question, if we are not blameablefor not taking fome /tick Step to procure them. I HEREBY certify, that David Garvin, was never authorized by the State Commiifioners, to make any pro posal to John Galphin, for no step was taken by them of public import, but what was agreed on at a full board, and determined by a majority, and every tranfartion was preserved and entered on their minutes. And I further certify that there is no entry of the. kind on the journal ; and this if required, I will swear to. THOMAS ROBERTSON, Late Sec relay to the Georgia Mfion. ‘ Savannah, 14th Sept. 1796. Dark suspicion must have clouded your brow, and conscious guilt pervad ed your breast, when you undertook to break the feai of private cor relpon deuce* and pry into the secrets of individuals. Where, fir, is the moral difference be tween this artion of yours, and breaking open the mail. Ifit inclofed no bank notes, it concerned private tranfartions, which perhaps the intention of the par ties being now disclosed, may prove an equal loss, as a settlement of account* with different persons was there men tioned, who may advantage themselves of the disclosure—Like all 1 Liners and persons of that description, however, you found as you deferved,nothing in it which pleased you, and the fame motives* which induced you to break the seal of private correspondence, also induced you to take all the censorious part cf Mr. Hammonds letter to yourfelf.— With all your sagacity, you can find nothing in this letter, criminating the State Commiifioners. They might,and probably would have employed Town fhend, if he had been down as State In terpreter. They had heard a good charatftef of the man ; they had author ity to employ more than one, and they certainly would not have employed your emissaries. Perhaps, fir, notwithstand ing your interception of Mr. Ham mond’s letter, the talk to take fatisfac~> tion for Cornel, may yet come forth, and even Townihend’s cropping, make” against you. Who authorifed Mr. Hammond, he belt knows—it is niffi cient that he does not name the laie Commiflioners oi the State, and! con ceive no charge to lay against them.— When you, however, produce a proof of it, the late Commiifioners will not heli tate to answer it, altho’ they need not blufn, if they even avowed that the au thority proceeded from them, as I have before ohferved, in the case of Mr. Gar vin. l'he breaking open the letter ar gues your arbitrary difpofirion, which is so frequently exhibited in Camden, and where in the double character of Su perintendent and Collector, you rule the county —under the former, you hold the frontier infubjertion, and under the. latter, the fca coalt. By virtue of your assumed powers, you imprison citizens at pleasure. Without even the fanrtion of the Commiifioners regulations, you confined a poor man at Mufcoghe, for making enquiry for his brother in law, (fee the affidavit of Thomas Clark.)— And your worthy deputy, who ought to be the protector of the port of St. Ma ry’s, not only detained the State veflel for several days, by going out of the way, to prevent a clearance,.whilft lad a fair wind ; but artually loaded a cannon,, and pointed it to link her, and was only prevented from firing, by fome deserving citizens,, who took it from him, and threw it off the Wharf he had planted it on, into the river ; and this, fir, was done under cover of the night, whilst the State Comniilfioners, were in the arms of deep, unfufpiciou* of so bast a tranfaertion. How far thegeneralgovernmentcan Ur mir two permanent offices, so diametrical ly opposite to the duties of each other, t‘* be held by you, may well be wondered at. The one calls for at least, half your resi dence in the Creek nation, and the ot><o* for the whole of it at the town of St. Ma ry’s. God forbid, fit, that your con duct should be typical of the federal ao* miniltrarion, or that the fathers o. ou* country in Congress, should ftrjf N°. 57.