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_ ^ Nj K ^ ^CHEBOKEE PH(E»IX, MD INDIANS’ ADVOCATE* 'V P.livrs) (J At TER T.IjS PAT ft ON A HE, AND FOR TUB BENEFIT OF THE CHEROKEE NATION, AND DEVOTED TO THE CAUSE OF JNDiAM .—1 . ICLJJlMn, LLilUt. VOIi. II. vsmw iiOHOT i, wamimuAX «jl, ju*9. =4 1 yniSTFU WKFKLV BV JOHN y. WHEELER, I At #2 50 if 7>a* 1 in a.1 ranee, $S in six cx.inth or #3 50 if paid at the end of the year. l’o subscribers who can read only the C3h 1 Oicae lanjaa?e th' price will be #2,00 in alva ice, or #2,50 to be paid within the ‘year. • Kverv subscription will be considered as continued unieiiiu iscribers give uolic.’ to <h- contrary before llie com.nence>nent of a «iew year,and all arrearages paid. Inv person procuring six subscribers, •an I becoming responsible for the payment, pin I receive a seventh gratis. Advertisements will be inserted at seven ty-live cents per square for the first inser tion, an ' thirty-seven and a half cents for each continuance; longer ones hi propor tion. 513® Vll letters addressed to the Editor’ jiosi paid, Will receive due attention. tf’.Vy JtfAUOA AD Ti » 1 J E tt, a a. V0VT»X*.I TAAW HR* IIiifRAa I-4i».J. hsae aiiW.'i.tfty ktvx n^p o’o.rnj l*±z.l TCTZ TF.J90-T’ De.IAc3N.ifcl. xerz tnp tj#o*v tb ne:,s>j®i-<3.i, kt Yuir o»oin.i d».iac®ez th yw O0 1-% t'KA.l, (vy.XT DAP CPOOB.l W4<3..I. ft’.vyz C>aK MiQShJ'dy, WPW 4 0»4 *>0in.t b-tnA P'MbiT’, tctz TEJCo-fl’* ne* KT.1Z D^P BJty^ O^AB" tUR D0,I*«N.-%.t. ^AGENTS F )'l T1IE CHEROKEE PHOENIX. The following persons are authorized to jo - -ive subscriptions and payments for the JCli-rokee Phoenix. Messrs. P".M'CE &, Williams, No. 20 .Market St. Boston, Mass. (« io'igf. M. Tracy, Agoot of tlie A. B. dC. F. M. N“w York. lt 'V. A. D. Eddy, Canandaigua, N. Y. Thomas Hastings, Ut ca, N. Y. Pollard Ik Converse, Richmond, Va. lie.. James C ,.Aiec-<- 4 R. infort, S. C. William Moultrie Reid, Charleston, S. C. Col. Gcor.Gr. Smith, Siatesville, W. T. William M. Combs, Na-liville, Ten. U 'v. Bsknet UonEiTs, Poval, M", Mr. Tuos. tt. Gold, (an itinerant Gen tleman.) Jeremiah Austil, Mobile, Ala. IP v. Cyrus Kingsbury., Mayhew, Choc taw Nation. Cant. William Robertson, Augusta, Georgia. Col. Jambs Turk, Bellefonte, Ala. IN DA INS. From the National Intelligencer. jMtPSKNT CRISIS IN THE CONDITION OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.—NO. VIII. On the I7lh Fpbiuary, 1792, tin .additional article was signed at i'lui- adelphia, by llenry Knox, Secretary of war, for the United States, ai d Seven c hie is and warriors, in btdiall of Jhe Cherokee*. As this article was the result of a distinct negotiation, field seven months after the execu tion of lho treaty of Holstun, it may with propriety be called the third ,tj;f.atv between the United States &, the Cberokceg. It provided, that the annuity, given by the fourth arte le of the next previous treaty, should be raised from $1,000 to $1,600; and it declared that this annual sum was jgiven “in consideration of tb* relin- fl nisi uncut of lands,” whi h It; d been fnndfc in that treaty. Of course, the United Statc9 admitted, that the Cherokees Ind possessed lands, on the outside of the limits established by the treaty, which lands they.had re linquished to the United States "^'his additional article w as a confirma tion of the treaty of llolslon, after j#mpie time had elapsed for considera tion*, FOURTH TREATY WITH TIIE CIIEnO* KPES. This document ivns executed at Philadelphia, on the 26th of June. 1794, by Henry Knox, for the United States, and thirteen chiefs, for the Cherokee*. After g preamble, which states that the trentv of Holston had “not been fully carried into execution by reason of some TrsunJerstandinas,” and that the partiu# tv or*, “ftosiious of re* Art. 1st declares,- that the said treaty of Holston'is, to all mteuts and purposes, in ful^Jfor, e, and binding mphii ibe said parties as well' in re.s- pe t to the boundaries ttu-reii. iv >■- tinned, ns in dll oliier respects whulev- cr.” Art 2d stipulates, that the boun daries shall be as :ertaincd and mark ed, whenever the Chorokces shall have ninety days noli e. '■ Art. 3. The United States, to evinefe their justice by amply com pensating the said Cjierokee nation of Indians for relinquishments of land ” made by the treaty of Hopewell and the treaty of Holston,’agree to give the Cherokees, in lieu of former an nual payments, $5,000 a year, in goods. Art. 4. The Cherokees agree that $50 shall be deducted from their an nuity for everv horse stollen by any of their people from the neighbouring whites. Art. 3. These articles to be per manent additions to the treaty of Holston, as soon as ratified. They were soon after ratified. It has appeared, in the course of this discussion, that (lie treaty with the Creeks, in 1790. was fhe basis of the treaty of Holston in 1791 This was confirmed in 1792, and again, expressly and solemnly, in 1794. Thus we have four distinct documents, which received the approbation of General Washington, and his cabinet, all agreeing in the same principles, and all ratified by the Senate of the United States. Several other trea ties, in which the same principles were involved, were formed with other tribes of Indians, during the same administration. In one of these, the United States engage, that they will n. r rf'i/nr 4, »e lands reserved to the Indians but ‘hat the Indians ‘shall have the fe use and enjoyment thereof, until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United Si at es.’ FIFTH TREATV, OR TREATY 0E "EI.- LICO. Tins treaty was signed “near Ttl- lico, on Cherokee ground,’ October 2 1798, by Thomas Butler and George Walton. Commissioners of the United States, and thirty-nine Cherokee Chiefs and warriors, in the presence of Silas Dinsmoor, Agent of the United States among the Cher okees, and thirteen other witnesses, among whom was the late Mr. Charles Hicks, who acted os interpreter on the occasion. The treaty begins with a long pre amble, slating the reasons why it was necessary to make another treaty; and among the reasons are these two clauses, viz. “for the purpose of doing justice to the Cherokee nation of Indians,” and “in order to promote the interest and safety of the said Stales-” Art. 1. Peace renewed and de clared perpetual. Art 2 The treaties subsisting bet seen the parties in full force; ‘ together with, the construction ana usage under the respective articles: and so to continue. ” Art. 3. Limits (o remain the same, ‘•where not altered by the present treaty.” Art 4. The Cherokee nation “do hereby relinquish und cede tb the Uui- ted States all the lands within the following points and lines;’ [Here follow s a boundary, by which a con siderable district of laud in East Tennessee, was ceded to the United States, j Art. 5. The line described in the treaty to he marked immediately, “which said line shall form a part of the boundary between the United Slates and the Cherokee nation.” Art. G. In consideration of the preceding cession, the United Stales agree to pay $5,000 on signing, and $1,000 annually, in addition to pre vious stipulation* of this kind; '••and will, continue llie GUARANTY of the REMAINDER OF THEIR COUNTRY EUREV c,lt, us nutate anti, contained in jurnier treaties.” Art. 7. A road granted by “the CiKHOitee iiiuiun, uciuss a small corner olitien couiiuy, to lliC citizens ui me c .uicrt Stales, and in cousiu* ra- iiuii oi tins gram, Um vAlb»o:.ci.B are to go permuted “to hunt amt la. e game upon ibe lands relinquished and ceded by tins treaty,” until st.tue- menls shall make sum hunting impro per. Art. 8. Due notice to be given ut the payment of the annual slipc.ius, and Uiu United States to lurmsu provisions lor a reasonable number oi Cherokees, wtm snail «.sm mbie ou these aeoasions. Art. 9. Horses stolen from Chero kees by wnucs to be paid lor uy tin United Stales, ..nil tioises stolen iiom iv tines by Giieiokces to be paid fur by a deduction Horn tnc annuity. AKr 10. The Agent oi the United SlUics residing among the UheroKccs to iiav. a sum lent piece ui ground ailolteti J‘jf Ins tempornry use. Lastiyt tins ticniy to • he carried into eflen on both sides wad uU goou Jiiith.” fhe treaty was ratified sooil titter oy P.esidi n. Adams, and ilic Senate oi me United States. A lew remains on this treaty may not be improper. The wot us ceoc. nation, i.no guar anty, aie usee in the same‘sense ncic, as m the treaty of iinlstou, seven yeais before, During im nueivul, the govermuenl cl the United bitav s liad been trequenlly employed in ilia King treaties with numerous inht s oi li.dians; and it is sale to s, v, that m no peiiud oi out m.lioual history, was the meaningot publn uotuments mure thoroughly weighed, or the ten dency .and ultimate elicit oi public nieasnres moie seriously considered; aim the world may he tlialUigcu to produce an example oi the adinmislra- tion ot a government over au exten sive territory , and over a people m new, various, «i:tl coiriplicatee rela tions, in which lower mistakes, either theoretical or practical, wm: made, than during the administration oi General Washington. The parties were so enrelul of the inviolability and integrity of the Cherokee territory, that the use oi u short road, in llie northern extremity of that terriloiy, ^uow m the htaie of Kentucky,, at a grout distance from llie actual icsidcn t oi the Cherokees geneiuliy, was iin.de the ground oi a solemn treaiy stipula tion, and an equivalent was^ivuiioi ii. Nay more, the Agent ol me United biuii s. residing among lho Cherokees, to distribute the annual payments, to encourage the nativts .n i.^itjuiUiic- and manufactures, aim to ext cute ilic treaties m other icspct Is, could not claim even the teinpoiu y use ol ianu for a garden, oi a cow pasture, till this small convenience Wosalicwt-u him by treaty. 'flit* United States not only ac knowledge former treaties and ueclaic them to be in lull lone, bid * lho construction and usage under then respective articles are acknowledg ed, ratified, and dm lured lu be the rule of future usage and construction. This is a very remarkable provision; and Was (louhtKss adopted lo quiet the Cherokees in regard lo encroacn- ments feared trom the United Stales, 'fhe construction and usage, under the previous treaties, can be proved at this day, by living witnesses, and by public archives, to have tended invariably to this one point—that the Cherokees were to retain the unim paired sovereignty of their country; and that to enable them to do this permanently, and in the most eflectu- al manner, they were to be taught all the common arts of civilized life. To this course they were urged, in the most afiectionate manner, by letters vviitten with General Wash ington's own hand. This was pressed upon them at every council, uud habitually in private, by the Agent ol llie United .States, in pursuance of vvnl.eu and verbal instructions irom the head of the War Department. No historical facts can be proved \ ilh more absolute certainty than these, &. there is not, it is believed,even the pivicttec ofany evidence to the conira- <D It appears, moieover, in the pre amble i<> tins treaty of Tellico, that the “misunderstandings’* had arisen, because wane settlers had transgress ed the Cherokee boundary, ‘•contra ry to the intention of previous trea ties;” and that these intruders had been removed by the authority ol the t oiled Stales. Again: this treaty w as negotiate;) by George Walton, a citizen of Geor gia, in whom tlial Stall reposed treat confidence and by Thomas Butler, cammandiiig the troops d ibe 1 nited Stales, in the State of l emiessee: and it was executed flo use its own language,) ‘ on Cherokee ground.” 'fhus, the country of I he Cherokees is tailed, as I have already shown, “their lands, ’ their “tei ritory;” “their nation,” and their “ground.” These epithets aie used, not by care less letter writers nor in loose de bate; hut in the most solemn insl ru men's, by which nations hind them selves to each other. And what is there on the other side? Is it said; or implied, that the Cherokees had a ! q lifted title? a lease for a term of 1 years? a right to hunt, till Georgia j should vvant the land for grow ing corn i or co’ton? the privilege of administer- ■ ir.g 'heir own laws, till Georgia should i exercise hei rightful jurisdiction, us a sovereign and independent State? U there any tiling that looks inis way? Not a word; not a syllable; nut the most distant hint. While it is as serted in various Conns, and implied more than a hundred times over, that the Cherokees were a nation, capable of treating with other nations; that they had a country, which was ac knowledged lo he indisputably their own; that they had a government to punish criminals and to deliver up renegndoes; and that they were to become a civilized people, permanent ly attached to the soil; there is not, in ail these instruments, a single in- timation, or ground ot plausible argu ment, to the conirary. Lasily. this treaty qut only adopts the word • guaranty” from tue lu-aly of Holston, hut interprets it, ^as eve ry civilian in Europe and America would have clone.) to be applicable .to ‘■■ the remainder oj their country FOREVER; ; that is. ifor llie mean ing can be no less,) the UUe»okCc.s were to retain the clear title and un- incumbered possession oft he remain der of their country, which they j.ie- viotis'y had oi tlie ir/io/c; anu such ti tle i.ud possession were guarantiee lo them forever, by the power auu gooit faith of the United States. W ILLiAivi PLKN. NO. IX. The idea of a Guaranty, and of a country, as a terriloiy belonging lo Indians, was not new, even at the period of the treaty of lloiston. The first treaty, which I have been able to find, made with Indians by the U. States in their confederated char acter, was executed at Fort Pill, on the 17th of September, 1778. it contains the following very remarka ble article. “Art. 6. Whereas the enemies of the United States have endeavored by every artifice in their power, to possess the Indians in general with the opinion, that it is the design of the States aforesaid to extirpate (he Indians and take possession of their country; to obviate such false suggestion, the United Stales do en gage lo guaranty to the aforesaid na tion of Delawares and tjicir heirs, all their territorial rights in the fullest and most ample manner, as it hath been bounded by former treaties, as loiig as they, the said Delaware na tion, i^lLahi<JfiJzi«jiiEUiold fast, the ctiaui oi fi knuiSdip now dn„ r* ed into. Ami n is lurtuer og.ced on, between the vonliacting v siiouid it for the fu\ue ne lounu . oii-| ducive to the mutual Kterest oi ^oth parties) lo invite any oilier mu>s, who have been friends lo ,he interest ol tire United States, lo joih the t .ies- ent confederation-, ami to form a kSt.ile, wnereol the Lt,aware shall he the head, and have a . ation in Congress-, provideu no,.,,,,g' com allied iu tins article to be co . eiud as conclusive, until i. metis with the approbation oi Congress.—- [That it did meet with the appruba’- lion ol Congress is manifest; because it is now pail of a national treaty ] flic bare suggestion, that the Dor- led fist a t s designed to take possession ■J the Inuian country nas trea ten as a slander and a calumny. The le -do- riot rights ot the Indians were to be „ respetled,&ihe Indian tribes gei.cn h- ly were encouraged with lire proposal,, that they mi^lit be lepresented in i in gress. The natural implication c. i s last proposal must have been, that ;he Indians not liny had lerritoi ial rig. s, r . but might expect to retain them; r, ,,af neatly, in the s; me manner as *bC .Slate of\ irgmia, or.Coiaiectiiui the other * onfecl.erated r< jiuhlier { *■' peeted to retain iAeiVterHturial righte... Let it be remembered, that treaty was made when llie United Slates were struggling for independ^ encc against the whole force ol the British empire, and when every -iec cession ol strength to the Amieriv alf cause, and every subtraction from the power of tin enemy, was a mailer of great importance. Nor should it be forgotten that othi r treaties formed;.- with the Indians, after the peace of Great Britain, were extremely de sirable lo the United States; that (W exhausted treasury of the nation t ould ill afford the expi use of Indian nai95 that the Indians had the undisputed possession of boundless lorosts, on i.Il our frontiers; that many of them had endured public and private injuries, which were unavenged and cnecin- pensated; that the Indian tribes w/u-e stiong, compared with their subse*’ quent dec line aud their present total w aut of power; and that the United .Stales were weak, compared will# their present gigantic strength Though the treaties were formed in such circumstances, not a single article bore hardly, or o. pressiveiy,. on llie United States, or on the n.-vy settlers The Indians claimed noth ing unjust or unreasonable. The ear ly negotiations wear the aspect of mini tual neuelit, and appear to have been? concluded with n desire to, secure-' permanent peace to the parties, found ed on the acknowledgement of thei^ mutual iights. Are the people of the United State* uuwiliiug to give a fair, candid, and natural construction to a treaty thus made? I might say, are they un- wtiling to give it the only construc tion of which it is capable? Are they unwilling to admit a meaning which stands pionnneyily upon the very ja 0 ot the transaction, and which no in genuity can distort, pervert, or c- vadc." Will they refuse to be bound by the plainest and most solemn en gagements. deliberately formed, rat ified, acted upon, < onfirmed, ratified again and again by the highest author ity of our republic? How can it for a moment be apprehended, that the co-ordinate branches of our Govern ment—our highest legislative, execu tive, and judicial functionaries, w ill manifest so total a disregard of fv- ery principle of public morality? SIXTH come ACT WITH THE CI1EH06 REES. , This instrument was executed mi the 20th of October, 1803, by Re turn J. Meigs, Agent of the Unitc4 States among the Cherokees, and by fourteen Cherokee Chiefs, beginning with Black Fox the principal Chiefs and ending with .the famous Jamotf Vann. It was witnessed by five offi cers of Ibe United Stotos Army,