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ejaculated the line of Horace.—“ Quo
me liacche;” I was surprised to find
that my stomach did not crave the
accustomed stimulant. Nature could
hold out no longer; disease had set in;
my frame was debilitated, my flesh
was as yellow as saffron, and it
seemed that rivers of watci could not
allay the internal burnings which
gnawed my vitals. I was almost nak
ed, an inclement winter had begun, I
had now become completely wretch
ed, no bed would receive me, no house
would shelter me. 1 commenced my
retreat, from this scene of ruin, and
wandered with a slow and trembling
pace, l knew not whither; until my
limbs refused to sustain me, and I was
received into a sleigh. My mind was
no less debilitated than my body.
When I entered Brockville, in the
immediate vicinity of my former resi
dence, I knew not where I was; and
my most intimate friends, with whom
I was soon surrounded, as strangers.
I was immediately supplied with
clothing; and, with the kind attend
ance I received, my health recover
ed. In the mean time a newspaper
was established in the village, under
the title of “The Brockville Record
er,” and I was employed as its edi
tor. I continued in this capacity for
a few months, until intemperance un
fitted me for business, and I left the
Province almost as destitute as I en
tered it.
Such are some of the incidents
which have attended my course,—ami
these are but a few of the “wounds
without cause,” and complicated
woes, produced by my inordinate at
tachment to spirituous liquor. This
has been my ruling passion; has load
ed my limbs with irons, confined me
in guard rooms and dungeons; made
me a hissing and a by-word, so that
the very rabble have treated^pe with
contumely, whom, in better days, “I
would have disdained to set with the
dogs of my flock.” There have, in
deed, been some lucid intervals of
short continuance. Nature could nev
er have held out thus long, under the
consuming influence of one incessant
stream of liquid fire. At these per
iods, guilty and undeserving as l was,
Heaven never failed to confer choice
blessings, The wealthy and the edu
cated befriended me. But these in
tervals, either of partial or of total
abstinence, were like the calm before
a storm; and the prelude of a more
daring movement in the road to
hell.
Here let me puase—my feelings
recoil at the retrospect; I would glad
ly obliterate the traces of the past
from memory. But while they still
live in the softened light of mental
perspective, and I am enabled to say,
“Such things were,” may not a salu
tary lesson be derived from this
shameful story? Perhaps a living ex
ample may exhibit the fatal tendency
of this prevalent vice in more vivid
colours, than abstract moral precept.
I have given this recital with a desire
that others may avoid the breakers
on which my barque was wrecked.
This desire has overpowered the
strong repugnance I felt, to detail,
with my own pen, the story of my
own shame.
The time may come when my term
of legal death shall expire, and I ex
perience a kind of resurrection from
the tomb, and again find this fatal
liquid within my reach. But if my
enlargement is to be the means of re
commencing this destructive habit; if
the animal functions, now restored to
their proper tone, are again to be
heated, maddened, infuriated; 1 would
now, on bended knees invoke the
Great God, that this prislh may rather
be iny tomb; that I may never see
these doors unbarred, nor again ex
claim, “I am an American citizen.”
I do not make this solemn appeal with
out impressions of the deepest awe. I
would not offend a Redeemer whom 1
love. I would not tempt a God whom
I fear, and whose chastening hand lies
heavily upon me. 1 indulge hope of
better days; and I could not desire
these hopes, fondly cherished, to be
blighted in “the land of forgetful
ness.” I could not leave this mortal
tenement, willingly, for I cling to
life. But there is something so ap
palling in that which I have but just
escaped; something so inexpressibly
fearful in the idea of a confirmed
drunknrd tottering on the verge of the
eternal world, anil its fearful rever
sions; that prisons, dungeons, falling
rooks or mountains, would be compar
ative ministers of tnercy.
INDIANS.
From the Savannah Mercury
At a Council of the chiefs, head
men and warriors of the Creek Nation,
convened by authority, the Talk of the
President was communicated by the
Agent. After a profound silence of
many minutes duration, Speckled Snake,
a warrior, whose head has whitened
with the frosts of more than a hundred
winters, and who supported himself
on the shoulders of two young men, it
is supposed, arose, and spoke as fol
lows:—
Brothers! we have heard the Talk
of our gre.it father; it is very kind;
he says he loves his red children.
Brothers! I have listened to ir.any
talks from our gieat father. When
he first came over tiic wide waters,
he was but a little man, and wore a
red coat. Our chiefs met him on the
banks of the Savannah, and smoked
with him the pipe of peace. He was
then very little. His legs were
cramped by sitting long in his big boat,
and he begged for a little land to light
his fire on. He said he had come o-
ver the wide waters to teach hidians
new things; and to make them happy.
He said he loved his red brothers; he
was very kind.
The Musoogees gave the white man
land, and kindled bun a fire, that he
might warm himself, and when his
enemies, the pale faces of the South,
made war on him, their young men
drew the tomahawk, and protected
his head from the scalping knife.—
But when the white man had warmed
himself before the Indian’s fire, and
filled himself with their hominy, he
became very large. With a step he
bestrode the mountains, and his feet
covered the plains and the vallies.—
His hands grasped the Eastern and the
Western sea, and his head rested on
the moon. Then he became our great
father. He loves his red childrefi,
and he said, “get a little farther, lest
I tread on thee.” With one foot he
pushed the red man over the Oconee,
and with the other he trampled down
the graves of his fathers, and the for
ests where he had so long hunted the
deer. But our great father still lov
ed his red children; and he soon made
to them another talk; he said “get a
little farther, you are too near me.”
But there were some bad men among
the Muscogees, then, as there are
now. They lingered around the graves
of their ancestors, till they were crush
ed beneath the heavy tread of our
great father, their teeth pierced his
feet, and made him angry. Yet be
continued to love his red children, and
when he found them too slow in mov
ing, he sent his great guns before him
to sweep his path.
Brothers! 1 have listened to a great
many talks from our great father.—
But they always began and ended in
this—“get a little further, you are too
near me.”
Brothers! Our great father »says,
“where we now arc, our white broth
ers have always claimed the land.” He
speaks with a strait tongue, and can
not lie. But when he first came over
the wide waters, while he was yet
small, and stood before the great chief
at the council on Yamacraw blufffhe
said—“give me a little land, which
you can spare, and 1 will pay you for
it.”
Brothers! When our great father
made us a talk, on a former occasion,
and said—“get a little farther; go be
yond the Oconee, the Ocmulgee, there
is a pleasant country—he also uid, it
shall be yours forever.” I havewsten-
ed to his present talk; he says the
land where you now live is not yours
—go beyond the Mississippi; there is
game, and you may remain while the
grass grows oi the water runs. Broth
ers, will not our great father come
there also? he loves his red children.
He speaks with a strait tongue, and
will not lie.
Brothers! Our great father says
that our bad men have made his heart
bleed, for the murder of one of his
white children. Yet where are the
red children he loves, once as numer
ous as the leaves of the forest? how
many have been murdered by his war
riors; how many have been crushed
beneath his own footsteps?
Brothers! Our great father says we
must go beyond the Mississippi. We
shall there be under his care, and ex
perience his kindness. Ffe is very
good. We have felt it all before!
Brothers! I have done.
The President has appointed Caleb
Atwater, of Ohio, with Cols. M’Neil
and Menan, to treat with several In
dian tfibes, on the Mississippi. The
object is said to be the purchase of
the right of sojl south of the Ouiscon-
sin river, especially the lead region.
‘ FOREIGN.
Arrivals at Ncw-York from Havre
and Liverpool, furnish French and
English papers to the 10th May.—
The intelligence which they contain
shows that Europe is in a very unset
tled state, and convulsions of no ordin
ary character are apprehended. Ri
ots of an alarming nature have taken
place both in France and England.—
In the former, the most serious took
place at Montrnorillion and at Nevers,
when large mobs, of whom a large
proportion were women, stopped the
grain carts. The rioters were dis
persed by an armed force and the^
leaders taken into custody. Other ri
ots of a less serious nature had oc
curred at St. Denis d’Orgucs, Coulans,
Nogcnt de Rotrau, Saumaur, Con-
courson, Oiron, St. Fargeou, Dieppe,
Lide, Ratliel, Lupallisse, Lyon and
Gisors. No farther advance is now
apprehended in the price of grain by
which these riots were occasioned.
The Gazette de France says: "“The
danger of our situation is immense;
the symptoms hi-come so alarming
that it has become a subject of inqui
ry whether it would be prudent to
prorogue the chamber until Septem
ber, in order to remit the discussion
of the budget afte* the harvest, and
not 1o leave the factious such terrible
means of exciting masses to opposition.
The same Journal says that the
chamber of deputies presented an af
flicting spectacle at the silting on the
7th May; when three men, who had
solicited from strangers in 1815 the
expulsion of the Bourbons, had ap
peared boldly applauding themselves
for what they had done; the ministers
remaining silent in their seats during
the whole scene; while M. de La
fayette was eulogising the Cortes and
speaking abusively of a prince of the
house of Bourbon.
In England blood has been shed in
the popular tumults, which are con
fined to the manufacturing districts
At Rochdale, the rioters destroyed
the looms, and carried aw'oy the shut
tles. Twenty three were appre
hended by the magistrates and the
military. The remainder collected
before the prison, to liberate them.—
The soldiers at first fired blank car
tridges, which not intimidating the
rioters, who rushed upon the soldiers,
several rounds of ball w ere fired, by
which 5 were killed and 25 wounded.
There had been extensive riots and 57
persona had been apprehended at
Manchester. Through the inter
vention of the soldiery, it w r as a^gain
pretty quiet on the 7th May. The
Dragoons at Birmingham had been
ordered to Leeds. There were
hopes of compromise at Spitalfields.
Turkey and Russia.—The note of
preparation for the wat* between
Russia and Turkey, was sounding
louder and brisker. The Russians
were congregating their forces on the
Danube. It is thought that the Rus
sians have acquired more know ledge,
as well as advantage, in the last cam
paign than the Turks. Varna is of
vast importance, being halfway house
to Constantinople, securing the ready
advance of the Russians to the foot ol
the Balkan. The Turks, however,
will give them a very unwelcome re
ception.
While General Diebitsch is pre
paring to strike a decisive blow on
land, Admiral Hayden is endeavoring
to detach the Pacha of Egypt from
the service of the Porte in the Med
iterranean. He has already captur
ed two vessels' of war belonging to
the Pacha, and hints that if he will
abstain from helping the Turks, the
ships will be restored by Russia. It
is very dextrous policy in him to at
tempt to weaken the ’Porte by caus
ing the defection of Egypt, but it is ve
ry doubtful whether he will succeed.
A war between Russia and Persia
was very likely to ensue in conse
quence of the late murder of the Rus
sian Minister. Other Russians are
said to have fallen victims to the pop
ular fury in Persia. The English
Minister had threatened to leave the
country, if the Persian Government
did not put a stop to these acts of vi
olence. He had taken several of the
suit of the late Russian Ambassador
under his protection.
Letters received from Holland
state, that a new and awful system of
warfare is to be adopted by the Turks
in the ensuing campaign. Orifers
have been given to the Turkish com
manders, on the approach of the Rus
sians to any town, to dig up (he
church-yards, and bring the dead bod
ies into the houses. The inhabitants
arc instantly to leave the towns,'—
This is to be done, in the hbpe that,
should the Russians take possession of
these places, a pestilence will imme
diately assail them.
The Russians claim a victory over the
Turks m Asia, & state that 1000 of the
latter were killed and wounded, while
the loss of the Russians was less than
200.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8,1829. a
We have occasionally informed our rcad-
ersofthe treatment the Cherokces have ex
perienced from some of their white breth
ren since the passage of the law in Geor
gia, declaring the incompetency of Indians
as witnesses. In stating cases of ill-treat
ment, we did not intend to say it was a.gen
eral thing on the whole line of the Georgia
frontier, but on particular parts, especial
ly in that section embraced by the line late
ly run by Col. Wales. There the ill-treat
ment has been a general thing, and though
persons at a distance may doubt our asser
tions, on account of too much confidence in
the juottcc and Ultoralily of tlw* Stato of
Georgia, they arc nevertheless true, &. it is
equally true, that the authorities of the state
have been indifferent spectators thus far,
beholding in silence the progress of such
flagrant injustice and oppression. We ve
rily believe, the legislators who enacted the
law above alluded to, designed that its ef
fects should be as they have been, and as
they promise to be.
To Correspondents.— One of the
Hickses is deferred until next week.
FOR THE CHEROKEE PIHENIX.
Mr. Editor—Forbearance is de
sirable with me, could it exist with
out doing violence to my feelings; but
sir, so interwoven are my feelings
with the welfare and general interest
of my country, that 1 cannot remain si
lent, when such glaring injustice is ap
proaching it. Without the least regard
to principle or humanily, which should
always characterize a magnanimous
people, the Georgians, right or wrong,
by the authority of their Governor,
without the consent of the General
Government, have commenced the
survey ol a line beginning al Suwanna
old Town on tire Chattahoochy, along
a supposed old trail to the Six’s on
the Hightower. The pretence is,
that it was once the bo'midary be
tween the Cherokces and Creeks, hut
it is without the least shadow 4 of sub
stantial evidence. Of the existence
of such a trail we have no knowledge,
nor of the proofs that have been ad
duced to establish it. The surveyors
were five or six days in searc h of this
much desired trail, and some of our
oldest citizens were offered five dol
lars per day to travel with them, and
show them the trail, at which they
laughed, and declared their ignoianee
of its existence. Finally the survey
was commenced, and sir, the persons
employed were not wanting for old
trails; if one did not do, they tried a-
nolher, and thus they went on a line
they are determined to have, trail or
no trail. This, sir, is the conduct
which now characterizes Georgia,
who prides herself so much upon her
virtue, honesty, and justice; if this
w ill not make her blush, what can?—
The pretext to this frivolous claim
was never in existence unt&the late
discovery of Wofford, one of the would
be wisest politicians of his country,
whose sagacity is so much celebrated
by his constituents for such important
discoveries. But after all this, our
claims are just, our evidences will be
to the point—let us have justice, and
it is all we ask. Our friends at a
distance in their sympathies for us,
and defence of our rights, must not
speak, without being calumniated.—
In Indian affairs, Georgia claims all
the wisdom and all the skill. The fol
lowing affords a fine specimen of her
.charity and liberality. “The line has
never been in dispute between the
Creeks and the Cher *kees, within the
memory of the oldest inhabitants of
the country white or red; nor has
there ever been a compromise,”—
She tells us, “the line has always
been known to run as Georgia now
icontends, from the Suwanna old tow r n
on the Chattahoochy by the Hightow
er old trail to Six’s, until the Oteek
chief M’Intosh, having married a
Cherokee wife, influenced his tribe
to permit the Chcrokecs to run a lino
further south; and that such is the
notoriety of these facts that even the
Cherokecs do not pretend to deny
them.” We do deny them, and wo
are unanimous in our voice m
this subject. If they existed at
all, it isoio where but in Georgia.—
Wc are told further that w e are “sen
sible of the rights of Georgia, so
that we have not the faintest hope of ■
holding the land in question, and are
quietly leaving them.” This I know
to he notoriously false. Within the
limits of this disputed land I live. Nev*
er were citizens more attached to
their country, and here we intend to
remain at all hazards. True, a few
have gone to the interior of the Na
tion, and why? Because they have
been forced from their homes, and
their stocks driven from them by such
oullawed wretches as have taken
refuge in some of the bordering coun-*
ties from the justice of the law.—
When we apply to the laws of Geor
gia for justice, we are gravely denied
our oaths &any right of suffrage by an
act of the last Legislature of the
State. Such is the treatment with
which wc meet, and such, sir, is the
policy of Georgia, I presume, to cf
feet our speedy removal to the coun
try of Arkansas—but, sir, vve arc not
Arkansas men. The chase we des
pise—the kettle, gun, and steel-trap
iii'o no induoomrints for ue—we delight
in cultivating the soil, and we know
it is finely adapted to our purpose.
Of our rights and liberties we ask no
further than they have been guarantied
to us by our treaties, & thus far we in
tend to maintain them. If destruc
tion is inevitable, the sooner the bet
ter, for our present state is a painful
one. But, sir, we jire not to he a-
larnied from our lands, to them we
are firmly attached, our dwellings
arc comfortable, our farms are fer
tile, the climate healthy, our laws
pretty good, with the prospect of bet
tering them, and our condition cannot
he bettered by a removal—resistance
we never intend, but with our blood
will vve water our land, and deposit
our ashes with those of our ancestors.
A CHILLAHCULLAHGEE.
OoKILLOKEE, C. N. )
2d. July, 1829. £
Mr. Boudinott,
Sir,—The last number of the
Cherokee Phoenix contains the fol
lowing news to its readers taken
from the “Georgia Journal”. “The
Cherokces are making extensive ar
rangements to go west of the Missis-'
sippi. The whole of the. Ilicks family
are going. Charles Hicks, it will be
remembered, was, previous to his
death, the Head Chief, or King of the
Nation” &e. As a brother of the
Head Chief, mentioned, and being one
of the “whole of the Hicks family,”
stated to he in readiness to depart
from this Nation to the west, I pro
nounce the above paragraph in re
gard to me, my sons, George, Eli,
Jay and William Hicks, to be a gross
slander. My brother is mentioned in
the Georgia papers, as having filled
his situation as Chief, “with great
dignity, and credit.” IIow was this
assing compliment, which is given
v Georgia Editors, after his death,
earned and achieved, among his peo
ple? It was by his firm adherence to
his country, and in the exercise of
indefatigable perseverance to in
struct his people in civil polity, and
to open their hearts to receive Chris
tian principles.
My Great Father above has en
trusted to my charge a large family
of children, who are the object of ray
prayers, and whom it is iny wish to
raise “in the nurture and admonition*
of tK^ Lord.” Hitherto I have had
encouragement to hope, that my labor 1
has not been in vain, and it would be
now, the proof of folly to suppose me.'
capable of deserting the cause of my
Country, and its Christian and civil*
lights for those of savage and Pagan
habits, to which my younger children
would be liable in the western wilds r
It is true indeed I have seen with
pain a new doctrine advanced by Maj.
Eaton, now Secretary of War, that our
right to Government, which we have
always retained, is inadmissable, and
that the U. States never guarantied
thQ same to us in our treaties. But
I know this also, that the executive of
the United States, at this time, have
not spoken os arbiters of justice a«-
cording to law, but the language of
Commissioners, in earnest negotiation
for land. When treaties or compacts
are concluded; it ist^ne by one sove
reign with another. A Nation talks
to a Nation. How inconsistent, tg