Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. (New Echota [Ga.]) 1829-1834, July 01, 1829, Image 2

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abule the consequences of such rules of action .is she might prescribe for their government. The President suggested to Mr. Thompson that it would he good policy for the Geor gians to admit their competency as witnesses in courts of justi e, and guaul against the evil which might result from it, by questioning tne cred ibility of their evidence He had no dbubt of their emigration, and such a course would leave them without cause of complaint. All this would sound very well, if the Indian lands in Georgia had ever b ?en legally ceded to that Slate; but the circumstance of their always hav ing been the property of the Indians, makes quite a material difference. The tenure by which they would hold the lands west of the Mississippi, if they should remove there, would be a very flimsy one compared with that of having forever been in possession of them; and as flimsy a pretext would be all sufficient to drive them from their new possessions, if a new state starling up in that quarter should find it convenient to occupy them. The present prospect is, that the Indian tribes inhabiting those territo ries claimed by the States of Georgia and Alabama, are destined, soon, ei ther to lie driven olf to the country alloted to them beyond the Mississip pi, or their situation rendered so un comfortable os to induce them to rc- ti'-e of their own accord. TheAlaba- m i papers state that Col. Crowell, late Agent in the Creek nation, has already been directed to remove the Agency wesf of the Mississippi; that the President has made known to the Creeks his determination to have their lands surveyed, and informed them that, inasmuch as the State of Alaba ma has extended her jurisdiction over them, they will be thrown without the protection of the General Govern ment, and their only course will be to remove, ft w>s thought by some that they would emigrate eu masse. It appears, however, that a party of the Creeks who a short time ago went to settle upon the lands designa ted for them, have returned to their old country. What will lie the end of this barbarous and unjust undertak ing to drive our fellow brings from their lands (after they have become in a great measure civilized and christianized'like so many wild beasts, into the wilderness, it is impossi ble for us to foresee. IfGeneral Jack- sou < ontinoe llie same spirit respect ing it with which he has begun, he wit! incur a most fearful responsibili ty We can never think on this spe cies of national wrong, without recur ring to i’ie forcible language used by J.vferso i in reference to it:—“Indeed, 1 tmnble for mv country, when l reflect that God is just, and that his vengeance cannot always sleep.” 4th. Because it is believed to be the province of the General Govern ment, (and so provided by the laws of intercourse,) to run all Indian bounda ry lines, claimed by her under trea ties, and not left to individual Stales, Hi especially, one which is interested, as is Georgia, in the present case. And, lastly, because I fear, should that line be run, it wouid encourage and occasion a great number of white families to rush into, and settle on the lands embraced within those lines, to the great annoyance, distress ami ruin of the poor, helpless and inoifensive Cherokces, who inhabit them. For the reasons above stated, 1 do, most sincerely and solemnly, pr'test against the running of the a- bove line, until the pleasure of the United States is known on the sub ject. I have the honor to be, your ob’t. servant, H. MONTGOMERY. 13th May, 1833. PROTEST. Of the Ciie.rol.se ..igent against the run ning 'J the hue, claimed by Geor gia as i,.ie t ue one between ike Creeks and. Citei oi.ee . Col S. A. Wales; Sju—As the United Stales Agent for the Clierokeas, and m accord nice with the wishes-of tint tribe of In dians, 1 deem ii to be my duty, to protest ag is your running any lines, or mar' v trees, through, or on tne C -o lands, and, particular)', a I torn Sjwanna, on the Chata- h hi, to the Sixes, on the Hightow- t which it seems, is intended to de- s.,nale a boundary line between them and the Creek Indiras. 1st. Because the Cherokees, posi tively and un :q livoc.tlly, deny that any such boundary at that place ever did exist between 1h< m. 2nd. Be- use the evidence taken by Georgia, in support of such claim, was entirely er parte, and no opportu nity given tlv in to refute or explain away the testimony which was tak en. '3d. Because ihc dividing line be tween t he Cie, okees and Creeks was definitely settled, and the line run be tween them several years before the Treaty of Indian Springs, under which the State of Georgia claims: see a conference on the subject, between them, on-tin* Dili of August, 1814, and the final adj stment of that question on the . 1 Ph December, 1821, both of wdii :h com.i ouces 'the Cherokces, allege was reported to the United * Suites' Government, and the line so ruirbetiveeo them recognized and ac- laiow I fill ed b" the lilted Stntes in he treaty at Washington, on the 24th an. 1 1826* May 13th, 1S29. Siu—Your letter if this date, pro testing against the survey of any line iu the Cherokee nation, aud particu larly against the line I am now mark ing; and enclosing a paper purporting to be a treaty with Creeks, at Wash ington City, in 18.26, together with a copy of an agreement between the Creek aud Cherokee tribes of Indians, in 1814, is before me. I consider it my duty, notwithstanding, to obey my instructions, and complete the sur vey, believing that it is not the pro vince of either the United States A- gent for the Cherokees, or myself to determine the question, whether the State of Georgia is right or wrong in this matter. It may be proper, how ever, for me to add, in justification of the course pursuing by the State of Georgia, that the testimony collected to which you object as ex parte, was deemed sufficient by the Executive of the State to establish the line, I am now running, as the true line be tween the Creek and Cherokee tribes of Indians, prior to the Convention be tween those tribes, in December, 1831. Their agreement on the sub ject of their boundary at that lime, fixing the Buzzard Roost on the Cliat- ahoochie River, as one point, and the mouth of W ill’s Creek os the other, is not considered as binding, either on the United States or Georgia, be cause neither were a party to it; and the law to which you refer makes that agreement void.—The paper you enclose me as evidence of a con lereme b> tween the Creeks and Cherokces, on the 9th of August, 18- 14, by which their boundary purports to be defined and settled, and whie* has the signature of General Jackson to it, is pronounced by him to be false: (see his letter on the subject to the Secretary of War, dated 4lh June, 1S16.)—The treaty with the Creeks, at Washington City, in 1826 to which you also refer me, as set tling definitively the boundary be tween the Creeks and Cherokees never has been nor never will be, re cognized by the State of Georgia, os a valid instrument. The treaty of 1835, at the Indian Springs, bad pre cceded it, and ceded for the use of Georgia, all the land owned by the Creeks within the chartered limits of the State. It is under this treaty that Georgia claims the land South of the line running from Suwanna Old Town, on the Cliatahoochie, to the Sixas Old Town, on the Etowah. I am, Sir, your oh’t servant, SAMUEL A. WALES. Col. Hugh Montgomery, U. S. Agent for the Cherokces. people of that State^n the prospect they have of “speedily acquiring the In dian country.” And how do they ac quire it? Do they acquire it by pur chase? No. Do they obtain it as a gilt? No. Do they amicably per suade the Indians that it is their inter est to remove? No such a thing.— But the President of the United States tells them, (and- doubtless they re member the fearful energy of his threats,) “that an agency will no long er be retained in their present nation; that his determination is to have their lands surveyed, and that the protec tion of the general government will be withdrawn from them, unless they remove.” And thus their doom is sealed. They cannot resist such a determination. They have no physic al force adequate to the protection of their property and their rights; and they must comply, as a matter of course, with vvhatevei demand cupid- ty and avarice may make. Hitherto hey have clung with wavering con fidence, but with the energy of des pair, to the justice and magnanimity of the United States. Our avowed pulley towards them has been that of protection; and though wc have but little regarded our treaties with them, lid though we have given them bau bles for their possessions, aud set up a string of beads as a just and competent compensation lor millions of acres, we have nevertheless obtained their consent to the contract. But the style of treatment is now suddenly changed. Negociation has become tedious; they cleave to their lands and their country with inconvenient tenacity; and to end the discussion, the arm of power is raised, and they are told to depart! ‘ Begone, you un christian dogs!” The mandate is per emptory; it stoops not at entreaty; it does not ask their consent, or contem plate their wishes. It dispenses w ith the council fire; it arrests at once the hand ot the planter; it breaks up their villages, their schools, their churches, (for these they have,) and sends them away from possessions, which they have inherited from the “King of Kings.”—JV. Y. Statesman. ~Bf 4, by the fact^WaHn the same place whence the crucible was taken, a soapstone slab was found, with exca vations of various sizes, which had probably been used in moulding orna ments, to decorate the ears and noses of the Indians, from (lie gold which had been previously melted in the crucible.—Raleigh Register. WEDNESDAY, ,JULY ], 1829. ‘Lo! the Poor Indian.”—With the change of administration, the protec tion ol the poor Geoigia Indians, which has hitherto been afforded by the General Government, has beeu withdrawn. The Georgia papers announce with exultation, that “the President lias recognized, in its full ex tent., the doctrine contended for by Ceor- ia, that the Cherokee Indians cannot be suffered to erect a government for themselves within the hounds ol ii sov ereign state; and that Georgia has a perfect right to extend her municipal laws over them.” Thus these last re mnants of the noble race who linger amongst us, in their poverty and crush ed spirits, the living monument of the white man s wrongs, are at last to be driven from their homes, and the tombs of their ancestors, to the wilds far in the West. What a < ontrast between this inhuman decision, and the noble, philanthropic & manly message of the late Executive, when, in 1826. the Georgians with their madcap gover nor, utdertook not only to trample the Indians into the earth, but to beard the Government. But times have changed, and who is there now “to mourn for Logan!” JV*. Y. Com. Mv. “And another King arose, that knew not Joseph,” The Creek. Indians.—The informa tion contained in the article from the Alabama Journal, published in our last paper, is of some importance.— No other act of the present Execu tive of the United States, thus far, in volves consequences so interesting to humanity, and so closely Conner,ted with the character of our government. The removal of office-holders is noth ing, and the making of n$w appoint ments is of little consequence. “A breath can make them, os a breath has made.” But a total change, as indicated in the statement referred to, in the character of our intercourse with a race dependent upon our jus tice, and protection by the faith of treaties, cannot pass among those oc currences that die w ith the day that gave them birth. The writer in the Alabama Journal, congratulates the THE CREEKS.—By a gentle man from Montgomery we have been informed that, on Tuesday the 2d ins tant, he saw 600 emigrating Indians passing through Pike county, on their way to Line Creek, where they are to join another party under the command of Capt. Walker. The whole, when assembled, it is supposed will amount to more than 1500. They are to proceed immediately to the west, un der the charge of Capt. Walker and Mr. Blake. We may now confidently look forward to the speedy acquisi tion of the delightful and valuable ter ritory possessed by this miserable race. Ala. Int. Indian Relics.—We are informed by an intelligent gentleman, that in digging for Gold recently, in the qoun- ty of Burke, a crucible was found at a considerable distance below the surface, which bore evident marks of having been much used. It is believ ed, that the Aborigines were aware of the existence of the gold formation, and doubtless the crucible found had been put in requisition by them for the purpose of fluxing the precious metal. This belief is strengthened The Editor of the Milledgeville Recor der, elated by the “certainty of obtaining at an early day” the lands now in the occu pancy of the Cherokees, directs the atten tion of Georgians to the growing impor tance of the State. If he is not deceived in regard to the certainty of obtaining the lands, he is most egregiousl v mistaken in his calculations. He supposes the popula tion of the State will, in ten years, be doubled, anil in twenty years tripled. The Cherokee country is indeed “picturesque, beautiful and healthy,® yet it is by no means calculated to support dense popula tion only about one sixth part being fit for cultivation. If this territory was added to the State, Georgia would not yet become the rival of New York, Pennsylvania, or even of Ohio. She will have to overcome one great obstacle before she becomes a great state-—slavery. Col. S. A. Wales has run the line said to be, but without the least shadow of truth, the true line betwxen the Cherokees and Creeks. This is an instance of high handed injustice. Shall a large part of our lands be forced from us, because we are weak and are unable to defend them? What lias become of the treaties to which we have heretofore been accustomed to flee for shelter from the persecuting arm of Georgia? Will the United States per mit her laws to be trampled upon in this manner ? For to survey au Indian country without authority from the General Gov ernment, is made by the intercourse law a crime of some magnitude. Here ^s then the turning crisis. If the General Govern ment looks on coolv, and indifferently, and permits the State of Georgia to wrest the j lands in question front under our feet, wc may give up all for lost, for most undoubt edly other claims, equally reasonable, in the view of men who are guided by power anil not by justice, will be laid to the rest of our country, aslhc one now set lortli.— If it is the intention of the whiles to de vour us. we hope th p y will begin soon— let us know the worst. It the United Stales intend to withdraw her protection, let us he appiized ot it soon. When we reflect upon the prospects of the Cherokees and their kindred tribes, and the methods and devices of interested white people to obtain their lands, we feel what is not in our power to express. We feel indignant at such arbitrary measures.— We often ask ourselves are we in the U- nite l States, tin* refuge of the oppressed— the land of Christian light and liberty?— Where is the superior excellence of repub licanism? While we feel indignant at the persecuting civil power which would hear us down to the ground, we mourn for the apathy &. indifference of the Christian com munity on the subject. Hotv few are there who will venture to speak a word in our favour? For our part we think, if the public opinion is not for the Indians, we must fall in spite of laws and treaties, for the signs of the times convince us that laws and treaties will form no barrier to the cu pidity of our while brothers. But will not justice be outraged ? It will be an easy thing for the state of Georgia, whenever she shall think it necessary, to possess the country by force of arms—even if she should be resisted, the poor Indians can ea sily be crushed to the dust; but a day will come when impartial justice must have its course. ka c* orwrCTicah history. That fcany of the citizens of this great republic Dill hear with astonishment the President's entire coincidence with the state in her cruel and unjust measures to wrest from us the little remainder.oflands left us by her rapacity cannot be doubt ed. It m; y he a laudable object for a state to acquire territory, and by spreading on a larger portion of coun try, and multiplying by the tide of em igration that ever flows into new countries, add to the strength of her representation in Congress, and her respect and influence abroad; but when to effect these, a disposition to tyrannize on the rightful owner of the soil, and by unfair means to obtain their lands, is manifested, it is indeed reproachful. It is cruel to tamper with the safety and welfare of the unfortunate Indians from motives of interested policy. We are aware of all the machinations and discoveries the stale authority has been guilty of, to scatter the brands of discord and faction in our ranks, to effect our re moval, hut they have all, so far, prov ed abortive, and our citizens remain in quietude, though the storm may be fast gathering and the screams of the panther heard on the mountain’s side. The kind of policy President Jack- son will puisuc toward us is no longer a matter of doubt, hut. happily, what'* over lie may soy,or on whatever side lie may be, our rights and privileges nr& still the san^. We are told that Georgia has derived her pretended power over us from the Treaty of S3, by which all the rights of sovereign ty pertaining to Great Britain hecaine vested respectively in the original states of this union. Her sovereignty over her territorial limits excluded from other powers the right of taking possession and occupying uninhabited lands, which w as confided lo her alone, and tantamount to this right, only,was the issuing of Royal Charter, and was derived by discovery; hut as the lands were occupied by the natives-she ex tinguished their title by Treaties.— But what right pertained to Great Britain to extend her legislate n over the Cherokees, and to declare all their laws and usages void? If any I have yet to learn. She treated them as a distinct sovereign people, professing the right to enact such rules and reg ulations for their own government as they dcedied proper,*not trespassing on any connecting principles (hey might have established by treaty 1 cannot conceive that Georgia by the treaty of ’83 derived any such right of abol ishing our government at her ow n cap rice, when the mother Kingdom pur- For the Cherokee Phoenix. Mr. Boudinott—In your last num ber appeared a talk of the President of the United States to the Creeks, and his letter through the Secretary of War to the Cherokee Delegation lately at Washington, upon the subject of Georgia extending her laws over a part of our territory. The letter was received by the Delegation on the eve of their departure from the city and the subject having been submitted by them to Congress, they did not con ceive any reply to be necessary. Wc are told in the plainest terms, of which language is susceptible, that Georgia has a right to extend her laws over us. and conscquei tly the right to demolish the institutions which we have with so much labor founded upon the ad vice of Washington and Jefferson, two illustrious worthies who stand pre eminent and unrivalled upon tl‘ e r a B e sued a course of policy so very differ ent from the state. But if we admit to her this right, surdy wi.h others, it must have been surrendered to the General Government by the confede ration. The United States possess the sole and exclusive power to Ijold treaties, and to regulate commerce with the Indian tribes. Had exclusive- power to legislate ever been vested in the state, would she have delegated to Congress the sole power to regulate* her trade w ith us? and would she have consented to guarantee forever, oup- lands to us, if at that day our right was merely possessory? Where was the necessity for the United States in Congress assembled to have received the Cherokees into favour and protec tion, and they [Cherokees] required to declare themselves under the sov- reignty of the United States and no other sovereign whatsoever, if the state had such unlimited sway? Why is it that the United States have soli cited by treaties permission to open roads, navigate their rivers, and es tablish fortifications, if all their na tional rights became vested in Geor gia by the treaty of. ’83? Why will the state have no power to tax our cit izens if she does extend her laws? and why shall not we be allowed repre sentation in her legislature? are not these essential rights, the one to the state and the other to the welfare of the citizens? There are many other important privileges that the state cannot assume, and others that will be deified to our citizens, all of which proves the injustice of the power to- be exercised. The President has called our atten tion to the compact of 1802,as anoth er cause why we should yield submis sion, or justify in some measure the course of Georgia. The Cherokees, are it is true, a party concerned, but not a party to that instrument, which in itself is nothing more than a condi tional agreement that the U. States shall purchase for Georgia our lands, whenever we may choose to dispose them peaceably for a reasonable cousidr