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CHEROKEE PH
& INDIANS’ ADVOCATE.
VOL. III.
jmesas:
NEW BOHOTA, SATURDAY N 3VEjSd3Eit 6, MftO.
N ^
4iV>„
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.AGENTS FOR THE CHEROKEE
PHCENiX.
The olio wing persons are authorized to
- receive subscriptions aud payments lor the
<Jherokee Phoenix.
Messrs. Peirce & Williams, No. 20
Ma i-Uet St. Boston, Mass.
(ifinnuB .vi. A'racy, Age.it of the A. B.
Ki. k>\ M. Now York.
Rev A. L). Eddy, Canandaigua, N. Y.
Thomas Hastikus, Uuca, N. Y.
Kev. Jambs Campbell, Beaufort, S. C.
W u,liam Moultrie Reid, Ciiarleston,
*. C.
Col. Gkohoe Smith, Statesville, W. T.
Jeremiah Austil, Aiolme, Ala.
Rov. Gyros Kinosbury, May hew, Choc-
. {aw Nation.
Capt. William Robertson, Augusta
(Geo.
Col* James Tube Bellcionte, Ala.
jm'u
ii\ Jl.1.1 A.
0 F TilE GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA.
The following is that part of Governor
/.diner's Message which relates to Chero-
-Yee affairs.
Tlie great number of persons who
linye taken possession ol the Chero
kee territory in search ol gold, in de
fiance of the authority of the Stale, to
the injury of the public properly and
the lights of the Indians, has made it
fieoessary that you should be assem
bled together sooner than the time ap-
p -iuted by law for the meeting of the
Legislature.
In the early part of the year, gold
was discovered in great qualities in
•the Indian lands. The act of 1829
having fixed upon the first pf June, as
the time when the laws were to be
extended over that part of the State,
ell persons seemed to consider them
selves at liberty, in the mean time,
to appropriate as much of its mineral
riches to themselves as possible.
The whole community became very
! »uch excited. The profits of those
engaged in searching for gold, were re
ported to be very great. The love
'«fgain, always one of the strongest
passions, became stimulated to ex
cess. All classes of people, but es
pecially the idle and profligate, press
ed into the mineral region, with the
tkope of acquiring great wealth with
little labor. The thousands of per
sons thus collected together, all oper
ated upon by motives which lead to
most of the dieerders of 'society, and
freed from tbore restraints which the
Vws impose upon the evil dispositions
*of men, exhibited a scene of vicious
indulgence, violence and fraud, which
would not have been tolernted for
a moment if the means could have
been used to prevent it. The Indian
right of occupancy was wholly disre
garded- The ! Indiana themselves
were not even permitted to have an least so far as to prevent the necessi- the territory occupied by Hu C,,. co
equal enjoyment of the riches of the
earth, which circumstances had thus
for a time made common to all. The
Cherokee government, of the impor
tance of which to the ludians so much
has been lately said, proved utterly
powerless to protect any rights or
punish any wrongs. The magnitude
of the evil was such, that it became
a matter of consideration, whether
the Legislature should not be called
together to provide for it some
proper remedy. At this time
the bill for the removal of the Clier-
okees beyond the Mississippi, was de
pending before Congress. The Gov
ernment of the United States was,
for the first time, earnestly endeav
ouring to execute the contract of
1802. The manner proposed was
believed to he the only practiced one,
consistent wi ll humanity, to the In
dians, and justice to Georgia. Un
fortunately for the country, the op
position to the Administration deter
mined to make'the propMw l removal
of the Indians a party question; The
facts connected with the subject were
found to be so far removed from the
knowledge of the people, as to afford
ample opportunity for the instruments
of party strife to mislead the public
judgment. It was considered prop
er not to call the Legislature togeth
er, until the result of this extraordina
ry struggle in Congress was known.
A hope was also entertained, that
when the laws of the State went into
operation, our citizens would be dis
posed to respect their authority; and
such would probably have been the
case, had not a larger number of the
persons engaged in searching for gold
been from other States. Their re
fusal prevented the obedience of the
people of this State. Before infor
mation was received of the passage
of the Indian hill, the United States’
troops had, in the enforcement of the
non-intercourse law removed all per
sons, whether from this or other
States, as intruders upon the Indian
lands. Although the most confident
opinion was entertained, that the U-
niteff-'States’ troops had no such au
thority, its exercise was so beneficial
for tlie time, that no opposition was
made *o it. The correspondence
with the President and War Depart
ment, will explain more fully the o-
pinion and policy of the Executive up
on this subject.
The calling the Legislature togeth
er at an unusual time, is so inconve
nient to the members, and so expen
sive to the people, that the design of
doing so was relinquished, from the
belief that it misht not be necessary.
On the first of June, the laws of the
Slate were declared in force over
the Cherokee country by public pro
clamation. A distinct proclamation
was at the same issued, declaring the
right of the State to all the gold, and
other valuable minerals, in its un
granted lands occupied by the Indians.
The right thus asserted was suppos
ed to be established by the customa
ry law of all the European nations,
who made discoveries, or formed Col
onics on this Continent, by the fee
simple or allodial title which belongs
to the State, to all lands within its
limits not already granted away; and
the absense of all right in the Indians,
they ncvei having appropriated the
mineral riches of the earth to their
own use. Immediately after the is
suing of this proclamation, a compe
tent and faithful agent was'appointed,
with directions to preserve the rights,
thus asserted, from violation by all
the m<>ans which the forms of the law
and the process of the courts would
sanction. This duty was promptly
attended to, and although it was
known that occasionally many per
sons were engaged in taking gold, yet
it Avas hoped that the efforts of the
agent and the force of the United
States’ troops, would finally prevail
in stopping them, if not entirely, at
ty of resorting to other means: Nor
was this opinion changed until it be
came too late to call a session of'the
last Legislature. The militia would
have been employed in protecting the
rights of the Stale to the gold, and
removing those who were trespassing
upon that right, if the constitution
and laws had given me that authority.
The law which attached different
portions of the Cherokee Territory
to several counties, so as to include
the whole within the organized lim
its of the State, contained no prohi
bition against white persons mingling
with the Indian population, or enter
ing upon the lands occupied by them,
neither hud any law of the State made
it criminal to take minerals from
such lands. The gold diggers were,
kees, but, of the greatest value in the
section bei ween Cbtslatee .,cd E-
(owali rivers. That part ot ihe
country is so broken and inaccessible,
so near the boundary of the Stale,
and the means of enforcing the law#
so difficult to be commanded, that
neither of those objects can be prop
erly effteted, without takinu posses
ion of the mines. To do ibis i>. .s U < h
manner as to have them wrote lit
profitably and salely to the State. ,r;d
at the same time to guard (he Indian
right of occupancy from violation, it
may be necessary to obtain an accu
rate survey ol iho whole country.
By doing this, those tracts which
contain gold may be ascertained, and
leases made with mure certainly of
' on lining the tenants of such vv it Lin
therefore, neithei subject to ariest j their bounds, and of distinguishing be-
nor any other criminal process. Un- j tween the rights granted to tlie "ten
der such circumstances, if an attempt j ants of those tracts which may he oo
had been made to remove them by cupied by Indians, and those without
tlie use of extreme force, should j that incumbrance. This measure
death have fnsued, it would have may also be necessary to suable this
been murder in the actors. If orders i Slate to ascertain with <eruii>»v,
Indians within its
ot their improve-
had not been given to use that kind of | the number of the
force, the employment of the militia j limits, the extent
would have been worse than useless
The Governor, howeve p , has no pow
er over the militia, except in cases
of insurrection, invasion, or the prob
able prospects thereof. But if I had
been invested with ample authority
to have called out the militia, aud the
intruders had grossly violated the
penal statutes, or trespassed upon the
acknewledged rights of the State in
its possession, yet no appropriation of
money had been made by law, by
which I could have armed, equipped,
and supported,for a single.day, a suf
ficient body of militia to have effected
the desired object. Perhaps the pub
lic interest would have been ad
vanced, if the Legislature had been
called together, as soon as it was dis
covered that the Executive was in
sufficient to protect the public prop
erty. One advantage, however, we
have the right to expect from the
course which has been pursued. All
persons every where must be now
convinced of the necessity which im
pels the State to exercise jurisdiction
over its Indian territory, not only for
the protection of the property of the
Stale, but the rights of the Indians,
and that the Cherokee Government,
if it had been permitted to exist,
would have been wholly incompetent,
under present circumstances, to dis
charge any of the duties for which
Governments are organised.
Your attention is requested to be
given, as early as possible, to the
passage of such law, as you may sup
pose most effectual, for the removal
of the persons at present upon the
public lands searching for gold, as
well as to prevent any future entries
thereon for that purpose. Such is
the tempting nature of this employ
ment that highly penal enactments
will be necessary to effect this object.
Very few would engage in it, if it ex
posed them to confinement far years
in the Penitentiary. As the evil to
be prevented is of a great magnitude,
and requires an immediate remedy,
it will be expedient that the provi
sions of whatever law you may pass,
should be few and of obvious necessi
ty, and operate as soon as possible.
No doubt is entertained of the sub
mission of the citizens of this State,
to the requirements of any law which
may be passed, but as a great num
ber of the intruders have beeir from
other States, and said to have been of
lawless character, and to have evinc
ed, the disposition to set at defiance
the power of the State, it may be
necessary to authorize the use of the
militia for its enforcement. The
great value of the gold mines, render
it proper, that you-should not only
provide for some other means for se
curing them from trespass, but also
to render them profitable to the
State. They are found throughout
meats, the quantity of their unor< u-
pied lands, the places which liar! been
occupied by emigrants, the icsichnce
of white persons, ami distinguished
Chiefs—the location of the towns and
their population, with various other
information of the same character,
all Of which must lie known, in order
that appropriate laws may be passed
for the government of our Indian peo
ple. No doubt is entertained of the
right to survey the entire Cherokee
territory, if' such rneusuie should be
considered expedient. The rights of
jurisdiction and soil are essential at
tributes of government, and were ac
quired by tlie State upon the ac
knowledgment of its independence,
sovereignty and territorial limits, by
Great Britain. These rights have
never been relinquished. For, al
though the jurisdiction of the States,
is restricted by the constitution from
operating upon a few specified oh-
jects. & persons, yet it is unlimited in
all other respects; and the constitu
tion contains a special provision that
it shall not be construed to the preju
dice of the claims of the States, to
territory Various cessions of these
rights of soil and jurisdiction over In
dian tribes, and the territory which
they occupied, have been made by
different States, to the United States,
by virtue of which it has created
territorial governments, and granted
the right of soil to individuals. Vir
ginia, Georgia, New York, Massachu
setts,''Connecticut, N. Carolina, ssd
S. Carolina, have made such ct- jicns.
Although the whole extent of this
country was in the possession of the
ludian tribes when the first settle-
menn was made by the Colonists, and
most of it has been ceded by Judkins
in the form of treaties to the Colo
nists or States, yet not oite foot of
land is believed to be held by the
force of an Indian title. Each State
in the Union, as did every Colonial
Government, claims to be the pro
prietor of all the lands within its lim
its. The courts recognize no title
unless it be derived from the State,
Colonial or British Governments.
Such is also the doctrine of the
Supreme Court. The Indian tribes
have no where been considered as for
ming such communities as could be
recognized as Governments, and hav
ing the power to act nationally. The
principal objection, which has been
made to the exercise of the right of
soil and jurisdiction by the State over
the Cherokees, has been drawn from
the phraseology of the treaties be
tween that tribe and the United
States. If such treaties were to be
considered as compacts between in
dependent nations, as has been as
serted, *they would bo void, so for at
they pretended to limit the sovereign
rights of the Stale. But treaties