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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-!>c»£vo9-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*-