Newspaper Page Text
o wv
CIlEll©K®3E PHOENIX, AN® INBIANS’ ADVOCATE. 1
PRINTED UNDER THE PATRONAGE, AND FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHEROKEE NATION* ADEVOTED TO THE CAUSE OF INDIANS.—E. BCl/DIN'OTT, LD1TCK.
VOL. XI.
NEW EGHOTA, WSMESM1T SliPTJSMBEH 9, 1829.
KO. 23.
PRINTED WEEKLY BY
JOHN F. WHEELER,
At $2 50 if paid in advance, $3 in six
months, or $3 50 if paid at the end of the
year.
... To-subscribers who can read only the
Cbferokee language the price will be $2,00
in advance, or $2,50 to be paid within the
year.
r Every subscription will be considered as
continued unless subscribers give notice to
the contrary before the commencement of a
Oew year,and all arrearages paid.
Any parson procuring six subscribers,
*nd becoming responsible for the payment,
shall receive a seventh gratis..
. Advertisements will be inserted at seven
ty-five cents per square for the first inser
tion, an;’ thirty-seven and a half cents for
each continuance; longer onis in propor
tion.
ICP All letters addressed to the Editor,
post paid, will receive due attention.
O IV y J tf A V 0-.» AD hllJEC,®!.
VeAVXoM TAAT* UW* JfuTBAA
BT9AE 4hWft-l<»y KTA. D.0P O^IBA
f*4tiftLt T(TZ TE-JUtM" D8,!AAI'(SiI.
T'CPZ TAO-A TB KT
074 0»0JBJt D9U&&F.Z TB VtV
DeJ^AWaA, 0-yjlT D^P O 3 0JB-i.F-489A.
^ ©tvyz o>g.r ahwii-i^y, \vp*v« Dt-a
r t0“0.1B-i K4o9uI V»?AB<r*, TCTZ TE^O-T* DO'
J-!>cȣvo9-I. KTAZ D.SP 0<3y*V* O^AB'
WAR D0J.5AI-<>9A.
AGENTS FOR THE CHEROKEE
PHCENiX.
The following persons are authorized to
f*»ceive subscriptions and payments for the
■Cherokee Phoenix.
. Messrs. Peirce &. Williams, No. 20
Kiarket St. Boston, Mass.
Georgs 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 & Converse, Richmond, Va.
Rev. James Campbell, Beaufort, S. C.
William Moultrie Reid, Charleston,
$. C.
Col. George Smith, Statesville, W. T.
William M. Combs, Nashville, Ten.
Rev. Bennet Roberts, Powal, Me.
Mr. Thos, R. Gold, (an itinerant Gen
tleman.)
Jeremiah Apstil, Mobile, Ala.
Rev. Cvp.us Kingsbury, Mayhcw, Choc
taw Nation.
Capt. William Robertson, Augusta,
Georgia.
Col. James Turk, Bellefonte, Ala.
* INDIANS.
Christianity; their caution in stocking i to its source; thence directly to the
The following is the first number of a se
ries of essays now in a course of publication
iti the Massachusetts Journal. We gladly
Insert it in our columns, as it ably discloses
•the origin and nature of the controversy in
which the Cherokces are so much inter
ested.
Observations on topics connected with the
Aborigines of North America.
<C A crew of pirates are driven by a
storm they know not whither; at length
n boy discovers land from the topmast;
tliey £0 on shore to rob and plunder;
Jthey see 1 harmless people, are en
tertained with kindness; they give the
country a new name; they take for
mal possession of it for their kiug;
they set up a rotten plank or a stone
for a memorial; they murder two or
three dozen of the natives, bring away
a couple more by force, for a sample;
return home and get their pardon.—
Here commences a new dominion,
with a title acquired by divine right,
Ships are sent with the first opportu
nity; the natives driven out or des
troyed; a free license given to all
acts of inhumanity andluat; the earth
peeking with the blood of its inhabit
ants; and Ibis execrable crew of butch
ers, employed In so pious an expedi
tion, is a modern colony, scot to con
vert and civilize an idolatrous and
barbarous people!
But this description, I confess, does
bv no means affect the people of the.
United Slates of America, who may be
an example to the whole world for
their wisdom,, care, and.justice in
planting new States; their liberal en
dowments for the advancement of re
ligion and learning; their choice of
jfevout and able pastors to propagate
their territories with people of sobe
lives and conversations from the moth
er Slates; their strict regard to the
distribution of justice to the Indians,
in supplying the civil administration
through all their territories with offi
cers of the greatest abilities, uttei
strangers to corruption, and, to crown
all, by appointing the most vigilant
and virtuous governors, who have no
other views than the happines of all
the people over whom they preside,
and the honor of the people their mas
ters.” Swift, excepting the words
italicised.
There is-' no subject that has been
more studied, and less understood, on
which so mtich has been written and
to so* little purpose, as that of which
we propose to treat. The Indian
character is almost incomprehensible.
We have no sympathy with the Indian,
no key to his mind, no compassion for
his sufferings, no pity for his fallen
fortunes. The intercourse we have
with; the aborigines, limited though it
be, is only calculated to engender dis-
tiilst and aversion on both sides. Of
the travellers who have given their
remarks to the world, few have
thrown any light on this dark spot in
the history of the world- Some, like
Carver, have described countries
they, never sow; and mixed so much
falsehood with what few truths they
collected, that it is impossible to sep
arate the wheat from the chaff. Oth
ers have galloped through the Indian
country at the rate of an hundred
miles per diem, like Long and
Schoolcraft, without understanding a
syllable of the languages of the roving
hordes they occasionally met, and
without deviating a foot from their
line of march, and, in short, without
any competent means of information.
Others, through ignorance, like Hen
ry, have only given a bare detail of
their personal escapes and adventures;
unmixed with any grounds for reflec
tion. Not a small number of writers
have made statements obtained by
hearsay, from ignorant and interested
persons. Such is the writer in the
North American Review, and of such
materials are his essays composed.—
His high talents and sound judgment
are thus, often on the wrorig scent.—
Franklin's narrative is the only book
of the kind that we call recommend.
We have been induced to enter this
terra incognita, by the forlorn pros
pect of the southern Indians; and if
we can parry one blow aimed at that
hapless people, our labor will be am
ply rewarded. Their wrongs cry to
heaven for redress, and as the call is
unheeded, we feel it an imperative du
ty to speak. From what has been
seen, we have no great hope that our
voice will be listened to, but it must
not be said the Indians had no advocate
in New England. We have passed
seven years with Indians, eating and
drinking, lying down and rising up with
them, travelling in their company, by
land and water, on foot and on horse- ‘
back. Our information is bought with
experience; and we shall advance no
thing that we have not personally ob
served, or heard from good authority.
The Chickasaw Indians, according
to Cant. Young’s Journal, amounted
to 3325 souls in the year A. D. 1820,
in the proportion of three males to one
female. They have always been
friendly to the United States. In this
age of treaties, cessions and removals,
it would be imprudent to 6ay what
their boundaries are at present; they
change too often to be traced, but in
1822 their territory was within the
chartered limits of Tennessee, Ken
tucky and Mississippi. It was bound
ed west by the , Mississippi, east by
ttie river Tennessee and Alabama, and
south by the Choctaw country. The
line begins on the Mississippi a little
bdlovy 'the thirty-fourthdegreb of north
latitude, running up the river to the
mouth of the Ohio, up the Ohio to tho
mouth of the Tennessee, up tho Ten
nessee to Cmu; Creek, up Cany Creek
Tombigbee; down the TorabigJjee to
the mouth of the Okketiboa wlero it
.meets the Choctaw line, tbeiieenorth-
westerly to its commencement on the
Mississippi.
This trios was accounted themoth*
er nation in the south.. They \tei e a
warlike race, as the French cobnists
Tound to their cost in 17.36 and .753-
3. According to tradition they came
from the West and first settled in tne
Ohio, but-soon after removed toiheir
present country. They have sufored
by treaties with the United Siat;s. —
Of their original habits and mainers
it is unnecessary to speak. They
were like the other Indians. In 1826,
it the desire of the national gb\ern-
ment they consented to remove be
yond the Mississippi on the following
considerations. That after visiting
and being satisfied with the courftry,
they should receive acre for acr$ lor
the lands abandoned; that improve
ments similar and equal to those they
might leave behind, should be made
for them, at the expense of the United
States. That a territorial govern
ment should be erected over them,
and a sufficient force kept up for their
protection by the said states. By
these conditions, insisted on by the
Chickasaws, it will be seen that they
were considerably advanced in civili
zation. The agreement, however,
has never been carried into effect.
The Choctaws differed in many res
pects from other tribes. They might
have been more properly called arrri-
ers than hunters. Neither were they
so much addicted to war as their
neighbors, though by no means defi
cient in courage when attacked. In
1771, they fought a battle with the
Creeks, and (he loss on either side
was about three hundred; but the
Choctaws boasted that they had taken
nb scalps but those of men. They
appeared suddenly in the corn try,
none being able to tell from whence
they came. Their own account of
the matter was, that they sprang
from a hole in the earth near Pearl
River.
Another remarkable trait in their
character was, that they never prac
tised much cruelty on their prisoners.
They brought then! home am; shot
them, but without any previous tor
tures.
They were staunch friends to the
French while they were in this part
of the continent, until the eastern part
of the tribe was drawn off by the En
glish traders. This occasioned a civil
war which ended in 1763. At the
Congress of 1771, there were two
thousand three hundred of this nation
enrolled on the superintendant's kooks,
almost all men. In 18!4j according
to Schemmerhorn, th^y were fifteen
thousand in number; of which, tour
thousand wevg fighting men. This
statement trees not include the emi
grants beyond the Mississippi, said to
be t\vo or three thousand. In 1822,
they were twenty five thousand per
sons. They have made several ces
sions of territory; but as this remark
applies to all the tribes within the
existing state charters, it will itot he
again repeated, unless to illustrate
some position.
The French attempted to convert
these savages without success. They
derided the Jesuits; called them old
women, and made sport of their reli
gious observances.
Before the arts of civilized life
were introduced general!}' among them,
they were, in comparison with other
Indians, industrious. They would
work in the field; they might be hired
as labourers, or even as • servants, a
thing which cannot be said of any oth
er tribe.
The Creeks, or as they call them
selves Muscogees, are the Veihafns of
the . Cawlttas, 1'allapoosas, Coosas,
Apalachiai, Cbashaks, Okemulgees,
Oconees, Okcheoys, Alahamas, Nat-
ches, Weeturakas, Tayensas, Chac-
seehoomas, Abekas, &c. la 1770,
they numbered three thousand five
hundred lighting men; in 1814, five
thousand; in 1822, twenty thousand
persons.
The Cherokees once resided on the
Atlantic coast near Charlestown, S.
Carolina. They drove out the tribe
that occupied the country they now
inhabit. Their language bears no al
Unity to that of their neighbours, and
is said to resemble the Iroquois. Id
1814, their number was twelve thou
sand and upwards. In 1822, accord
ing to Morse, it was eleven thousand.
The Choctaw and Chiakasaw lan
guages dre radically the same. The
different septs or tribes of Muscogees
speak different dialects.
The first white inhabitants of Geor
gia, landed on the river Savannah, in
1733, and Mr. James Oglethorpe un
dertook the supei intendance of the
settlement. He brought with him
.he king's Charter, afterwards the
charterof the State of Georgia; au
thorising him to occupy the uninhabit
ed lands. But he found none such.—
’I'he country was occupied by a dense
fflvage population.
The language of Oglethorpe to the
Itwer Creeks, was widely different
Torn the words of Troup and Jackson
irafter times. He said nothing to
tlem of want of room, or of the ne-
ctssity for their removal. He told
thi Creeks that great advantages
wiuld accrue to them from a friend
ship and connexion with the English.
Ttey ore now enjoying those advanta
ge. He said not a word about the
right of sovereignty, but informed them
tint they had plenty of land, and hop-
el they would give a sharfe to the
people who had come so far to bene
fit and instruct them. lie gave them
a few trinkets, and obtained thereby
a grant of the spot,on which Savan
nah now standi. 'f'he words of (he
fourth article of (his treaty may be
condensed in the following words:—
“We, (lie head men of the lowei
Creeks, being persuaded that God has
moved the trustees to send their be
loved men among us for our good, and
to instruct ns in what is right, declare,
that though this land belongs to us,
yet we consent that they shall possess
those lands that out nation has no oc
casion to use.”
At a council of the chiefs and war
riors of the lower Creeks, held in
1739 nt Coweta, the treaty of 1733,
was declared valid, and the bounda
ries of the country belonging to the
said Creeks were defined. Thus was
their declaration of rights worded.—
u This country does by ancient right
belong to the Creek nation, who have
maintained possession of the said right
against all opposers by war, and can
shew the heaps of the bones of their
enemies slain by them in defence of
the said lands.” This right so forci
bly expressed, was not then question
ed by the Georgians, nor construed to
mean a right of occupancy.
The first claims of the , Whites to
Indian lands were founded on papal
grants. After the reformation the
right of discovery was pleaded. The
letters patent granted by Queen Eliza
beth to Gilbert, in 1578, and to Sir
Walter lialeigh in 1584, alledge no
right at all. They simply empower
them to take possession of “such re
mote heathen and barbarous lands, not
actually possessed of any Iphristian
prince, as to them shall seem good,”
and to fortify any places they choose
to occupy. After the year 1760, the
English settlers in North America ac
knowledged the title of the aborigines
to their, lands, by asking their permis
sion to establish themselves thereon,
and purchasing the soil in some instan
ces. Upon the whole, it seems that
the European sovereigns never wast
ed, {^thought upon the question of right
to plbnt colonies. It appears to have
boon liken for granted, until the reign
of James the Firiit. After this period
we find the British authorities some
times treating with the savages as in-
depeadant nations, and respecting their
■ rights; at others disregarding ihein
and taking forcille possession of the
soil. But in all cases where the En
glish were not in actual possession, the
claim of their government to sovereign
ly, only operated in excluding lue
claims of other nations to the territo
ries within its assumed jurisdiction.—
The English never pretended to ex
tend legislation to the internal con
cerns of the tribes. On the contrary,
they treated with them as separate
mid independent nations. The right
ol passage through the Indian country
was, in some instances, stipulated in
treaties. Treaties of peace and alii-'
unco were made between the Indians
and the crown, or the colonial govern
ments, in the same manner as uitl<
civilized nations. That the Indians'
had some right to (heir lands was ad
mitted; else, why was an equivalent
ever offered for them? What this
was, and how fur it extended, we leave
our readers to infer from-these prein 1 *'
iscs, the proofs of which are on re*
cord.
In the war of the revolution the
Creeks took part against fhe Unite'!.
States. After the independence of
this country was acknowledged, rtitf
the constitution established, it hecntnH
a question, whether the claims and
rights of the British government over
Indian lands, devolved on the general
or the state governments. On this
point, controversies of a serious char
acter aroill,. and the consequent dif
ficulties were obviated by cessions of
the lands in debate, to the National
government, by the State govern*
inenls. These cessions Here made
at different times, and on different
conditions, by the several states, but
by acceding to these conditions, Con
gress did not admit them to be ncces*
sary to confirm the rights of the con
federacy.
Georgia alone, ceded no part of her
territory till the year 1802. In the
yenr 1780, the first treaty between
the general government and the Creek#
took place, at N. York. The lan
guage of the fifth article of this treaty
runs thus: “The United States so
lemnly guarantee to the Creek nation,
all their lands within the limits of the
United Slates, to the westward ami
southward of the boundary line des«^
bribed by the preceding article.”—
1 bis guarantee was a condition and
equivalent for the lands theft ceded
by the Creeks. Another condition
was that the United States should en
courage civilization among them, by
furnishing them with the means of
husbandry. They, on their part, ac
knowledged themselves under the pro*
tection of the United States; and' a-
grecd to hold no treaty with any State
government nor with private individ
uals. This treaty annulled the for
mer ones with the State cf Georgia,
How far the protection tacitly implied
in this manner, has been afforded
them, is a matter of after considera-
tioit.
This arrangement did not meet the
approbation of,Georgia. It was con
sidered by her a violation of Slate
rights. A part of her citizens enter*
cd the Creek country in a hostile man
ner, and the United States not inter*
feeing, the Creeks, dissatisfied by the
breach of faith, and excited by emis
saries of the Spanish government, re
nounced the treaty of New York and
entered into hostilities with Georgia;
After the treaty with Spain in 1695,
the Creoks were pacified. In July
1796* a treaty was held with them
at Coleraine, confirming the treaty of
New York, providing that the bounda
ry line should be run. and that the
Creeks should be provided with black
smiths in order Up their fcricouragift-
mpnt in civilization! Congress passed
a law the same year defining the boun
dary line, aud prohibiting any encroach*
ment on the Indians. Here the mat
ter might have rested if Gd^lrgia Ijad
not again raised difficulties.
See State papers*-