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CHEROSJD PHCEIIX, ANB INDIANS’ ADVOCATE.
PRINTED UNDER THE PATA’ONAGE, AND I'OR 'IHE BliNK,FIT OF THE CHEROKEE NATION, AND DEVOTED TO THE .CAUSE OF INDIANS.•—J., UDUDIINCTT, I DITCIi.
— ■ ■. f -■'- --I.. J-=-' __ _
VOL. II.
NEW ECHO'S? A, WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2, 1829.
NO. 22.
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V.IR DeJ^)o*Iv<»A.
AGENTS FOR THE CHEROKEE
PHtENIX.
The following persons are authorized to
receive subscriptions and payments for the
Cherokee Phoenix.
Messrs. Peirce St Williams, No. 20
Market St. Boston, Mass.
George M. Tracy, Agent of the A. B.
C. F. M. New York.
Rev. A. D. Eddy, Canandaigua, N. Y.
Thomas Hastings, Utica, N. Y.
Pollard Sc Converse, Richmond, Va.
Rev. James Campbell, Beaufort, S. C.
William Moultrie Reid, Charleston,
S. C.
Col. George Smith, Statesville, W. T.
William M. Combs, Nashville, Ten.
Rev. Bennet Roberts, Powal, Me.
Mr. Taos. R. Gold, (an itinerant Gen
tleman.)
Jeremiah Austil, Mobile, Ala.
Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, Mayhew, Choc
taw Nation.
Capt. William Robertson, Augusta,
Georgia.
Col. James Turk, Bellefonte, Ala.
INDIANS.
From the National Journal.
The present Administration and the
Indians.—In order that the American
people may understand the fundament
al change which their Indian relations
are to undergo under the “reforming”
hands of Gen. Jackson, we publish
this morning his “Talk” to the Greeks,
and the letter of Mr. Secretary Ea
ton to the Cherok.cS Delegation. In
contrast with these extraordinary pa
pers \ve also publish President Mad
ison’s celebrated “Talk” in 1812, to
the Indians; a performance whip*;, for
beauty of style, and for (he justice
"^nd enlightened humanity of its princi
ples, is as charactereslic of its au
thor as the peculiarities of President
Jackson’s “Talk” and his Secretary’s
letter af-e suitable to these distinguish
ed functionaries.
General Jackson, after announcing
his elevation to the Presidency, in
terms which the phrase of European
ltoyalty, “by the Grace of God,” is
varied to suit the Indian taste, says to
his lied children with military brev
ity, “where you now arc, you and my
Whito children are too near to each
other to live in harmony and peace.”
The author of the Talk 6eems to
have suspected that this was rather
a summary disposition of a question of
right, for shortly after, he adds,
“where you now are your White
brothers have always claimed the
land.” This declaration must have
surprised the Creeks, as their Father
had just assured them that lie always
spoke “with a straight and not with a
forked tongue,” and they perfectly
knew that the United States had nev
er claimed that land. On the contra
ry, the Indian title to it is recognized
by the Constitution of the United
States, and by many of their treaties
with the Indians, from the treaty at
New York, in 1790, to that made at
Washington, in 1820. Equally ground
less with the declaration just referred
to is the pretension of Alabama to
“extend their law,-over the Creeks
—a people not citizens of the State,
a id not amenable to its laws. “IVJy
White children in Alabama ha\ r c ex
tended their law over your country
Nothing can more clearly show the
extravagance of the principle, con
tended for, than the terms in which
it is couched. The country is styled
the country of the Creeks—“your
country”—aiid yet is made subject to
the law of Alabama, and they are
threatened with banishment if they
decline submitting to it! “If you re
main i:i it,” (i. e. in your own coun-
try,) “you must be subject to that
law. If you remove across the Mis
sissippi you will be subject to your
own laws, and the care of your Fath
er the President.”
The letter of the Secretary of War
to the Cherokee Delegation, is an ex
position oftlie principles avowed in
the President’s Talk. Mr. Eaton
contends that during the Ilevoliition
ary war the Cherokees were the
friends and allies of Great Britain;
that Great Biitain claimed entire
sovereignty within the limits of the
thirteen United States; that by the
Declaration of Independence,. and
subsequent)', by the treaty of 1783.
all the rights of sovereignty pertaining
to Great Britain, became vested re
spectively in the original States oftlie
Union, including North Carolina and
Georgia, within whose territorial lim
its, as defined and known, the Chero-
Uees were then situated; that their
subsequent residence on their lands,
with “the right of soil and the privi
lege to hunt,” was only permissive;
that the treaty of Hopewell, conclud
ed in 1785, allotted and defined their
limits and hunting grounds, secured
them “in the privilege of pursuing the
same, and from encroachments by thb
Whites;” that it conceded a possessory
right only to the Cherokccs, leaving
the sovereignty, where it was before,
in those States within whose limits
they were situated; that a durable
peace was not entered into with them
till 1791, when the United States
gave a guaranty, “favorable to the
occupancy and possession of the coun
try,” but that they neither made nor
had the power to make a guaranty ad
verse to the sovereignty of Georgia
that in 1802, Georgia ceded 1/; the
United Slates all her We'kiin terri
tory on a condition wh’»ch was accept
ed, “llial the U»Vited States shall at
their own expense, extinguish for the
use of Georgia, as early as the same
°ui\ be obtained on reasonable terms,
the Indian titles to all the lands with
in the State of Georgia.” The Sec
retary then states that the establish
ment by the Cherokees of an indepen
dent substan’ive government, within
the limits of Georgia, against her will,
had induced her, through virtue of
her sovereignty, to extend her law o-
ver their country; on the hypothesis
that Georgia cannot rightfully exer
cise such a power, he w arns the Che
rokees that “the arms of this country
can never he employed to stay any
State of (his Union from the exercise
of those legitimate powers which at
tach and belong to their sovereign
character;”—and he concludes by
urging on the Cherokees, as the Pres
ident had done on the Creeks, a re
moval beyond the Mississippi, as the
only assurance to them of protection
ami peace.
No paper, we venture to aver, ev
er emanated from the War Depart
ment, so abundant in mistakes of fact
and reasoning, ns this letter of Mr.
Secretary Eaton. The fallacy,
which is the subtratum of the u'hole
argument, (if argument it can be call
ed,) is that any tille to lands in this coun
try exist, besides that derived down
from compacts with the aborig in a
proprietors, and the less unequivocal
title founded in European occupancy.
Great Britain, says Mr. Eaton, claim
ed, during the Revolutionary War,
“entire soveicignty within the limits
of what constituted the thirteen Uni
ted States.” The only right ever
pretended by Great Britain, to lands
in North America, were in the case
of inhabited territory, the right creat
ed by treaties and other agreements
with the natives, and in the case of
vacant territory, that of first occupa
tion; the latter description of right
belonging, according to the European
principle, to discoverers, and in many
instances being expressly confirmed
by Royal charters. The sovereignty
thence arising was mrnifestly only
operative against the pretensions of
other foreign nations, and neither con
flicted, or affected to conflict with
the distinct national character of the
aborigines. It was sovereignty, thus
explained, that by the Declaration of
Independence was assumed, and by
the treaty of 1783 devolved on the li
nked States; or as the Secretary, in
the superabundance of liis Constitu
tional learning affirms, on “the origin
al States of the Union, including
North Carolina and Georgia.” But
at no stage of (lie history oftlie sove
reignty, was the national Indian char
nel er ever considered to lie merged
in State membership, or any claim
set up to appropriate, without their
consent, the soil remaining in posses
sion of the Indians, and which they
had not bargained away. Indeed re
peated instances of a disavowal, ex
pressed or implied, of such pretensions,
are contained in treaties made by the
United States with the Indians, to say
nothing of the Const itut ion of the for
mer. In the treaty of Iiopfewell,
made in 1785, (to the preamble and
one section of which the Secretary
refers in a tone of triumph, but little
justified by other parts of it,) the in
dependence of the Cherokccs oh any
State is recognized by a provision en
titling them lo send to Congress a
deputy of their own choice. !t is al
so recognised by an article in the same
which it has suited Mr. Eaton to pass
over slightly, as securing them “from
encroachments by the whiles,’ 5 but
which expressly commit to Ih&ir own
jurisdiction any citizen td Die United
States, or other porsOii not being on
Indian, who shoo’d attempt to settle
on, or refuse to remove from, their
hunting, grounds. In the treaty of
Ho’stein, made in 1791. “the United
Struts solemnly guaranlie lo the Che
rokee nation, all their lands hot heie-
by ceded,” but, says Mr. Eaton,
they “forboie to offer a guaranlie ad
verse to the sovereignty of Georgia.”
What estimate the United States
formed of the sovereignty of Georgia
as adverse to the Indian title, is man
ifested by the new Constitution which
they had formed about two years be
fore, and which vested in the Presi
dent and Senate, and withheld from
the States, the power of making trea
ties, and omitted the provision con
tained in the 9th article oftlie Con
federation, “that the legislative right
of tiny State, within its own limits,
be not infringed or violated” by the
exercise of the power therein given
to Congress, of “regulating the trade
and managing all their affairs with the
Indians—not members ef any Slates.”
It is observable that after the war,
and during the operation of the Con
federation, Georgia had made various
abortive efforts to propitiate Congress
to her aggressions on the Indian title.
The provisions, in this same treaty,
turning over to the Cherokee jurisdic
tion citizens oftlie U. States, or other
persons, not being Indians, who should
settle on the Cherokee lands, is not
noticed by the Secretary. Ho is p-
qually forgetful of the article in the
treaty of Tellico, made in 1798, in
which the United States stipulate
with the Cherokoes, “to continue the
guaranty of the remainder of their
country forever, as made and contain
ed in former treaties/* and of similar
stipulations made in subsequent trea
ties. lie seems to consider all these
solemn facts as annulled by the agree
ment made in 18U2, between the (j-
nited Stales and Georgia, in which it
was proposed by Georgia, and assent
ed to by the United States, “that the
United Slates shall, at their own ex
pense, extinguish lor the use of Geor
gia, as early as the same can he peace
ably obtained on reasonable terms,
tile Indian title to all the lands within
the State of Georgia.” This agree
ment manifestly admits an existing
Indian title; supposes that such title
can be extinguished only by the con
sent of the Indians themselves; defines
no time for its extinguishment; asserts
no power or right in Georgia to at
tempt to extinguish it, in the contin
gency of a failure on the part of the
U. Stales lodo so, “peaceably” & “on
reasonable terms,” and above all is
an agreement lo which the Indians
were not parlies.
How such a compact can be sup
posed by any mind, and especially by
that of a licensed lawyer, to be a in
vocation of existing treaties between
the United Stales and Georgia, would
greatly surprise us, had we not previ
ous reasons for suspecting that the
Honorable Secretary was far more
distinguished for the inshness than for
the perspicuity ol his intellectual ef
forts. We aie, to speak candidly, a
little afraid that liis notions of law arid
logic arc sometimes sadly undigested,
in (his very letter, while arguing that
the Indians have only a possessory and
hunting right, ho concedes to them
expressly the right of soil, the very
thing they are contending for; and in
reasoning on the hypothesis that Geor
gia has no right to extend her law o-
ver the Cherokees, stales that should
she, how ever, do so, without rigid, lho
United Slates will suffer her to pro
ceed, because they will not obstruct
her in the exercise of her legitimate
power.
The high handed mandate, scarce- (
ly shrouded under the will of advice ,
that the Indians should remove to olh- j
er lands provided by their “Great ■
Father,” is enforced by an alleged in- ;
compatibility between their new insti- I
lotions and the claims of Georgia.—
It is unnecessary now to discuss the j
question of right, disregarded by this ;
assumption; for the Committee on In- :
dian affairs in Congress lust session, !
emphatically say that > they “do not :
perceive that tho regulations adopted
by the Cherokees under the forms of a j
constitution and laws, change in any
manner their relations to the United
States.” But the facts, which fully ;
sustain this opinion of the Committee,
seem to be the chief cause ol the
State despotism; if treaties aie to be
violated that lotteries may thrived
then indeed this may well be called
the era of Revolution, but who can'
say that it is the era of Reform?
Indian If conge.—We are rathe?
surprised to see the religious papers
so nearly silent as to the policy of the
present administration, m reference lo
Indian aflaiis. The plan of virtually
compelling the Creeks to migrate lo
the Rocky mountains for fartherly pro
tection, will be to establish a prece
dent which may soon be extended to
the Cherokees, and for ought we see
to every tribe whose land happens to
be coveted by avaricious speculators
among the whiles. One would think
that the guill of African slavery was
enough for the nation to bear, without
the additional crime of injustice to the
aborigine. And what if this policy
should be pursued? What would be
come of Indian improvement? Will
the w ilderness ol the Rocky mountain:
be a good place to acquire a know!
edge of agriculture, the arts ancr
sciences of civilization, attj the doc ; .
trines and duties cf chiistiahit)/?
such tiling. It is all hollow pictchce’
—sheer selfishness! The Georgia"
speculators may say what they please/
and (he new administration may lie-
come their abettors; but the Iranian
tions now on foot, unless we have tb-
tally mistaken the Subject, will be
foul blot on oar nation's character.
ff'estern Rec.
From the New York ■Observer.
The Indians.—A w riter who (if we
have rightly guessed the malt) is ad
mirably qualified for the task, lias
sent to the editors of the National In
telligencer a series of Essays on the
| pending and ripening controlersy Lc-
i tween the United States and (he In-
| dians. The editors have promised to
| insert them, and we may expect the
| first number in the course of a few
days. Meanwhile, we may leant
something of what is coining from the
following note lo the editors accompa
nying the Essays.
1. This is a subject which must be
abundantly discussed in our country.
2. It will be among the most im
portant, and probably the most con
tested business of the twenty-first
Congress. Some able members ci
Congress, to my certain knowledge,
wish to have the matter discussed.
3. I expect lo make it appear, by
a particular examination of treaties,
that the United Slates are bound to
secure to tbe Cherokees the integrity
and inviolability of their territory, till'
acrimony w ith which the State cf J they voluntarily surrender it.
Georgia has of late years pushed her | /j, j,, i| iC course of this mvest'ga-
pretensions. 1 he progress of fhe j ^j on I shall not agree with the jire S ent
Cherokees in civilization, under the i Executive of the United States, in
auspices of former administrations, : j] ie construction which he gives to
has awakened murmurs in Georgia | twenties, but shall be sustained by the
which must surprise and distress eve- ■ uniform tenor of our negociations with
ry liberal mind. A Committee ol the j (|, e Indians, and legislation for them,
Legislature complained in December ' f roni iho origin of our government to
1827, that the United States had con- j t ] 1c present day.
5. My discussions will not assume
1 rived “so to add to the comforts of
the Cherokees, and so to instruct them
in the business of husbandry, as to at
tach them so firmly to their country
and their homes, as almost to destroy
the last ray of hope that they will
ever consent to part with the Georgia
lands.” These “contrivance*” on the
part of the United States are the ap
plication of a beneficent system, w hich
the American Government, at its in
ception, solemnly agreed with tho In
dians to put in practice; of which the
success was a favorite object with
Washington and his successors; and
which is recbmntcnded to zealous ob
servance by every consideration of
philanthropy, sound policy, and na
tional faith. Such is the system that
the present Executive, in aid of sel
fish passions, now threatens to subvert.
If the policy, uniform from the colo-
niai to the present times, is to he sud
denly changed; if Federal protection
of the Indians is to he substituted by
a parly character at all; and when
ever 1 speak of the President, or the
Secretary of War, it shall alw ays be
by their official designation, and in a
respectful manner. Though I think
that the President has greatly mistak
en his powers and his duty in regard
to the Indians, I have no wish concern
ing him, but that he may be a wise
and judicious ruler of our growing re
public.
The country is “ripe for the discus
sion and impatient for it.” We had
ourselves been gathering materials for
a series of articles on this subject,
but are glad that the matter has (ali
en into better hands. We burn when
we think of the wrongs which have
bedn heaped upon the poor Indians.—•'
We hope that they will not attempt'
to avenge themselves, but there is
One who will surely lie their aveng
er.