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_ .csideatyat the opening of the next
session of Caress, laid the‘Whole
Subject before theut l#r their consti
tutional Action Upon it. General
Hamilton folly declared, .that no o-
piniou of the President, on the point
of neutrality, or the French guaran
ty, could in the least effect the ques
tion;, and the>lessage simply announc
ed Ihe issuing of the Proclamation
and its real object. Mr. Madison
has furnished ua with his opinions on
tW»'nature of the treaty-making pow
er, in the let lets of Hoividiits. The
friends of Slate, rights may cletftly
see, in that commentary, in ivhat di
rection the government is advancing,
if the measures ol the Executive,
cince the adjournment of the last Con
gress. are sanctioned by this h-otisc.
The power he has exercised involves
the assumption of the most transeencl-
He must submit it to Con- ! continent i« swayed by bands of reck- i the project*
i i . i" .1 I... ,1^^. V < m. U11 a i liliorl I mstiil
himself, no uiv» ««»•«.• »» —■» * -—-»■. -- i • a.
gross. If a treaty is to be declared less despots. Vet, while theirlil»w^neut-«b J
void, itdsfor Congress only to annul' ties haye been crushed, we find in EiP c
it. The President and Senate can-j rope thpt, in spito of the jiowe ^
not do it unfess by negotiation. But,' kingly alliances, the parliament pf odfe what qum-
ci-._ .1 — ---•——vw„„„„ 0 amt government at least, and .that, 4ob,
Sir, these.qre extreme? cases, and
that befonr lis is. not one of thenv,.—
The President has not jicled, or pro
fessed to act, with any such views.
He.has given to the other party his
own final determination of the ques
tion 1 , and has acted upon it through
out. lie declined to suspend the mut
ter at all till the case could he sent
here,-and directed the Secretary of
thefSvar department to inform the
Cherokee .delegation that the course
of the government was changed, and
to communicate to them his final de
cision. He asks us now for no opin
ion upon it; but. considering it sc
tied, wo are called upon to appi
miatc some millions to relieve lli
enlal sovereignty of the Sales, and j other parly from the condition i
prostrates every other department of which this decision has reduced them
Executive
jol-
the Government. The
may in other ways bring you inio col
lision with foreign nations,, on his re-
sponlibilUv to those who may consti
tutionally call him to audvor; but in
the case before us, I considoi; that he
has acted by open usurpation. It
should be quite enough that lie may,
in «h<- exercise of his confessed pow
ers, force von inio war against vour
o vii will, without yielding to him the
power to enthrone himself above the
Consulution. If, on any question
yv'ii'-h involves\lio consiru 'lion of a
treaty—much more its validity —
he may assume the powers of the
Senate, the- Judiciary and Congress,
there is no longer anv power in the
government which c.ao be said to
h ive boon limited by the Constitution
at .»!). It is a bold stop indeed of
executive prerogative, and I have
been surprised to find tint gotrIcmcu
in this house si? down so quietly under
it. I was anxious, in the oarly part
of the session, to know how it might
be received by the Senate; hut my
doubts ware entirely removed when
this bill appeared at your door.—
They have capitulated. They arc
completely disarmed, and have b-en
marched out of their entrenchments
without the honors of war. The
duty of the Executive in this matter,
was exceedingly plain. If he doubt
ed as to tun validity or operation of
these treaties, the example of Ins
predecessors were before him. He
should have at Jenst paused before he
moved so rashly—have kept all things
in tho condition in whi'di they stood,
and submitted >he whole case to Con
gress. The first suggestion m ide to
the Cherokee delegation was right;
end it is to be lamented that it v^s j
ever revoked nr withdrawn 'V iat j
is to he OU’* security to o ir E irnpean j
treaties* If the E«o -utive doubts is
-as ta the construction or validity of
•those, too. shall he cut the knot for
himself, and dissolve their obliga
tions/ O ir commercial treaties have
no greater sanctity than any others.
Is vour foreign trade an I intercourse
yvkh other nations to be at his rn*rcv
too? I am not aware that the la vs
of C ongress have anv greater sanc
tions than your treaties. You have
in, iv treaties with oHior nations for
the advantage of your citizens. Shall
the Executive so deal with these,
too. as to prostrate your navigation,
.or subject it to retaliation? h> may
annul the stipulations of treaties mide
to favor your own. trade; for if !l<?
ean overleap the law of nations and
the Constitution, by revoking those
•which favor others, you have no bet
ter security than his will, for your-
felvei. He can release them from
their stipulations in your favor, as
well as those which operate against
them. If he should think that all bis
E redecessort and former Senates have
een wrong-headed on other points,
ancf that they have been too liberal to
particular interests or linve favored
commerce, or navigation or manufac
tures too ranch, it is only for the Ex
ecutive to put forth his prerogative,
and your constitutional securities are
at his hand.
I am ready to admit that a case
of high and uncontrollable necessity
may occur, so deeply involving Ihe
fa'e of the country, or so seriously
affecting its safety, that the Presi
dent, auoittitt ing himself to a high re-
sOponsibility, nny feel it to be his duty
to decline the execution of a treaty
until Congress can be convened. But
Ills dutv in such a case is..very cle-.r.
JH* mav suspend, acting upon it alto
gether, but he has no power to de
termine 6uch t question finally for
onfce Jlu’ most despotic of them all, is
successfully limiting the power and
influence of'the cfown.. Shall .wt>,
then, strengthen the hands of the Ex
ecutive here as pad of the Securities:
of the, rights pf the Stales? 1 know
very well the answer which gentle
oaio from
4p.es not bq-,
decide upon
equenify inform:*!
(he constitutionality of a A fdaty whi-dv
has been ratified by the senSlc of thir
United Slatos, or any Anw of congress
founded upon such trooty; it is his
duty to see tkcmr executed—lo anoth
er tribunal belongs the powtu of de-
[ckling upon constitutional questions
men are eady to riffer on this 1 ooca- kit would be a source of much grati-
1 know that there is apathy here u -
der these assumptions of the Exeen
tivc; but we ;ire bound to resist tliest
encroachments on the powers of Con
gross at tho beginning. This is not »
distant alarm. The inv.idcrs are
within tins half. His manifesto is on
your table; and. at the next step, we
too, shall have surrendered at discre
tion I have often thought that, af
ter all, those who usurp authority
were not so much to blame a. we
commonly consular them to be, when
•ve find others so ready to yield up
the powers of government into their
bands.- Rome preserved her liber
ties until tier public councils pre
pared the way for one family to estab
lish itself on their ruins; and the
Tudors and otunrts did not rule in
England by pro *1 intavion, until ser
vile parliaments looi,ed upon the ad
vances of prerogative at least with
indifference. If these oner achments
of the executive depart im mt are not
mot and repelled in these halls, they
will be resisted no where. The only
power which s’amls between the Ex
ecutive mid Ihe States is Congress.
The Siatos may destroy the Union
si#n. VV are to be told that his de
cision hat, been in favor of the Slates.
Iths ihis*which leads us to look upon
hlvmeaWps with complacency; and
this is tlte soothing opiate by which ho
has quieted our fears. I should like
o hear the answer to anolhei ques-
lon. What will be the decision of
tie Executive in the next case? Will
•Ik l be in favor of the States, or a-
linst them? I will tell you, Sir.
They will not be suffered to ask that
juestion. When they have, conceded
Hie power to settle such a matter for
iiimself, tho Executive will take core
to exercise his new prerogative with
out consulting them We may see,
on this occasion, m the clearest light,
tlie tendency, ol executive power in
those collisions which occassionally
spring up in every federative govern
ment between the members of it and
the head. This department is con
stantly on the wall'll, and seldom
fails to secure to itself the arbitra
ment of evu'y such matter. This
third party is ever lying in wait for
power. Under some plausible dis
guise, it attracts the confidence of the
parties, and not unfrequently by ap
peals to tne pride is well as tho in
terests of States, it secures itsolt in
its usurpations, and leads them will
ingly to rivet 'heir own chains,
the Executive had decided that all
our former treaties with ihe Chero
kees anJ’Creeks hod boon void, as to
the cessions of land which some of
the Slates have received under them,
should we not have witnessed a very
different feeling here? Should we not
fication, if this unhappy controversy
were--amicably.*pdj«$ite4»'Wa<id the
Cherokees prevailed upon to emigrate
to the lands proposed to be givc&them
in exchange. If they consult their
true interest thcx^viil embrace the
conditions proposes by the adminis
tration, and west of the Mississippi
they may lay the foundation of a pros
perous state. —JVashtn/le Herald.
cera oV-llwi Guard went
arrtwt me also, al-
pliiihcoj with, the Act
of i4m. Lcgulature, bad removed.
uiy*resiJcnct$from the limits of that
Stale, about ahe 10th of February
last.. On the 7th I reached Mr. s
Troll’s residence and learned that he
was arrested the preceding day, and
that he bad left special word tor Hie
lo go an<| sen him, provided I would
not'be afraid,of. an arrest also,.—*-
Knowing that they could not faun-
fully arrest me, l determined on cm
t. _ . J J — _ M.Mil l 1 V* • 1%
, and tvoB needtepanied by the Rev.
Mr. Wells, a Mctjiodist missionary
residing in the Alabama part of the
themselves by open force, but the j have heard something—and that, loo,
concentration of power in the bands quiet earnestly—of plighted faith—of
of ihe Executive lends to despotism,' solemn treaties—and tho conslitution-
whioli is worse. Of the two evils, I I al securities of ihe States? By what
should prefer lie nullifying power in
the St.n< j. It is less dangerous, ami
admits «f surer remedy. A single
Siato tiny occasionally sit unquietly
under the measures of government,
I) it the good sense of the people oill
set all things right in ill- end. But
the executive depart aunt never
yields up posver Tile whole Union
will sooner or later feel the shock,
if ibis control of our treaties shall be
surrendered. The inis liief will
reach every where, and is irrepar
able. The judiciary m iy partially
protect individual right, but there arc
t vo parties lo the treaties and one
ot them vill not always >e under ymn
control. We have already reached a
point in legislation, at tics session
where we should pause, and seriously
consider in what path we arc advan
cing. ’There are several bills now
on y«ur table, formally prepared in
the committee rooms of the House
and reported here, which confer
powers of an extraordinary character
on the Executive. When you shall
have passed the bill now under con
sideration, which places your tnrrito
ry west of the Mississppi at his sole
disposal, tho two bills relating <o the
army aud navy, the reciprocity art
reported a few any* otto by «ne ol my
colleagues, and yielded up tile ppwe
claim -d over your treaties, this gov
ernment will scarcely be a masked
monarchy. The Constitution will
have become blank paper, and the
first dictator may come to your table
and write his decrees upon it at his
pleasure. It may not become me to
address an admonition to this House,
and it would profit nothing from mo
or any man, if history has already
done it so often in vain. But it is at
least time for us, as prudunt men, to
opnn that book at almost any page,
and read the fate of all republics that
have gone before us and perished; or,
if we are not admonished by the past,
4o look around us, and see what is
passing in the world in our own day.
What is now the condition of South
Amentia, in whose emancipation we
felt s# deep an interest; and where
we hoped to find the cause of free
government strengthened agiinst the
alliances of'Vs enemies? Disunion
has blasted oilr hopes. Slavish Con
gresses have (here betrayed their
country, and the power of that whole
process of infatuation, or by what op
eration, of self love or State pride,
have we brought oursolvcs to yield
to the Executive the power to pro
nounce these treaties to be worthless
to the other parties? There can bo
From the Western Weekly Review.
Wili.ia.mson County, Ten.
July 26.
Mr. Editor:- Through the ctlunms
of your paper I, wish to communicate
to the public an unvarnished stnte-
; ment of lacts, in relation to tho late
j arrest and subsequent treatment ef
; several missionaries m the Cherokee
Nation, under the authority of the*
State of Georgia, and by a military
guard of that state.
It is perhaps *pret,tv generally
known by the readers of »our paper,
that tho last session of the Georgia
legislature passed an act enjoining,
an oath of allegiance on all the white
ciiizens residing in the Cherokee
Nation, within the chartered limits
of that state, or a removal therefrom
by the first of last March. The
penalty annexed to the act, in a
If i non-com iliauce with its requirements,
is not less than four years hard labor
in the penitentiary. There is but
little doubt that the main design of
this ad was to remove the mission
aries from the Nation, who were
considered by the law-makers of the
Si ale, as exercising an influence pre
judicial to their policy rvitli regard
to the removal of the Cherokees. and
the acquirement of their country.
To avoid serious difficulties, (as tak
ing the prescribed oath was entirely
out of the question with them.) some
of the missionaries removed out of
the limits of Georgia, wl ile others
resolvod »o remain and contend fpr
their right to preach tlu* gospel in
Nation. About 10 o’clock %n thtf
8th inst. i*e met the. Guards with
the prisoners,,-pn a lino of marl'b tu*
wards head quarters. I rode Up to^
Col. Nelson, the sub-commander of
tho Guards, and asked permission to r
converse with Mr. Trott. He told,
me I could do so as they advanced*-
provided I tallied loud enough to be-
Jieard by th Guard. In our cOpl'ei'-t
saiiimj «shod Mr. Trott if he.JhadH
been chained the .preceding *<night,,
to which he answered in the affifaiar
tive. Said I, “Is it agreeable to the
laws of Georgia to chain a prisoner
when there is every reason to believe
that he would not run away?” He
said he supposed they had no law for
so doing, but that their order# were,
sueh, adding the Guard were in*
ctined to be more favorable Jq Ihi
prisoners than even their oiSUl would
allow t
no doub
no tyranny worse than that which re-[ the Cherokee Nation as well as i
fuses lo be goyernod by its ownriile.'.
I find that wl have entered into
more than two hundred treaties with
toe Indian nations since the declara
tion of independence. Fifteen are and Dr. E. !?u
any part of the United States. 'Those
who remained were the Il v.J. J.
Trott, Methodist itinerant missiona
ry. and the Rev. S A. Worcester,
with the Cherokees alone, and all! About the last of May past, the
but one of those have been made since
the adoption of Hie present Constitu
tion Tlwjy have beVn made under
every administration. Commission
ers for treating have been nominated,
o the Senate, and regularly* commis
sioned for HUs purpose. Every Sen
ile since 1789 has ratified them; and
they are proclaimed by the Executive
like all other treaties. The states
men, whoso names have sanctioned
ihem, are Washington, Adams, Jef
ferson, Madison, and Monroe. I sec
among them, too, the name of the
present Chief Magistrate. It is in
the face of yucli a case ns this, that
we have heard the validity of Indian
treaties denied, and the history of this
government for half a century troated
as a deliberate system of jugglery and
R**v. Mr. Trott was arrested by the
We publfsri Jp-day ■several articles
in relation to the high-handed meas
ures of the Georgians towards the
Missionaries who were settled in tho
Cherokee nation. Their conduct is a
practical illustration of the doctrine
of nullification, so strenuously main
tained by a party in tho south. We
have always expressed our decided
approbation of the policy of the ad
ministration ir, endeavouring to pro
cure the removal af the native tribes
from within tho limits of the states,
and their settlement west of the Mis
sissippi, a measure upon which all
parties should unite, but we are e-
qually decided in our reprobation of
the course pursued by our fellow cit
izens of Goorgia, and the acqui
escence of tho executive in their op
pressive and arbitrary measures. S>o
long as the Cherokees occupy the
territory which they now possess,
which has been solemnly guarantied to
them by successive treaties, they
are entitled to, and should receive
Goorgia Guard, marched on foot be
fore the mounted horsemen, in a cir
cuitous route, considerably more
than a hundred miles, chained and
locked every night but one, conducted
into head quarters in martial order,
forced into a miserable place called
a prison, kept there four or five
days, and then conducted under the
Guard into Gwinnett county, tried
before a magistrate, and found guilty
ol residing, as before named; where
upon Mr. Trott gave bail for bis ap
pearance at the next superior court.*
Ho then received orders to leavo the
limits of the state within ten days,
and returned home to his family. On
the 6th inst. the Rev. Mr. Trott was
again arrested b^ a detachment of
tho Guard, for continuing his resi
dence at the same place, and drag-
gou froth 6 weeping “!' nosl toai't
broken wife, lo encounter worse
hardships than before. On the 7th
the Rev. Mr. Worcester was arrest
ed at bis own house ami dragged off
as a felon, from his wife, who has
been long lying ou a bed of sickness:
and on the seme day Doct. Butler
was arrested, chained around his
neck, and made to walk by the side
of n mounted horseman. When it
became very dark, he was placed
behind the soldier on the same horse,
one end of the chain fasteued around
his neck willi a padlock, and the oth
er eud locked to a rope around the
neck of his borso. In this situation,
it bciug very dark, the horse tell
backwards into a gutter, upon both
his riders, and remainqd on them
until ho was pulled off by others of
the Guards. They were, bqth badly
hurt, and the soldier had two or three
of his ribs broken by the fall. Al
this time I was in the Nation attend
ing to some appointments previously
to he. I told rum I had
that, and did not intend^
to censure the Guard for executing
their orders. “But,” said I, “they
seem tn act more from order thstr
from /rtio.” At this expression some:
of the Guards .became insulted, and
threatened me with an arrest. <f I .
did’nt mind how I talked. I '.o'J" *‘
them I had, as a free man; sunniy'
expressed whnt I believed, without
intending an insult; hut if what I hud
said was esteemed criminal, I m ss’
in their power-they could arres’ mp.-
About this time Col Nelson and * -J„
Brooks rode up from the roar, .md
inquired wh t was the matter. 0tC
being informed what I had said the,..
Col ordered me instantly off I
undertook to explain myself, but iv '
a more angiy tone, he told me tu
flank off quickly I told him at hiA
command 1 would go. and as I roder
off, I observed to him that perhaps’
he would “boar from me again;**
meaning that J would give the pubti#- ,
a statement of his conduct towards
me. He and Brooks then followed 1 ,
me and ordered rar to slop. Thof
Col. asked me where I lived. * I told
him “in West Tennessee ” I tra*^
then made to dismount, my horse ta.
ken from me, M Wells ordered oflT
aud my horse given up to him, while
a storm of * human vengeauoe wo#
beating upon me, in ail the violence
of abusive language* threats, and hor*.
rid imprecations. Brooks urged that
I should receive a hundred lashcv
forthwith, and I was told.if I replied
to them m any way, a bayonet should
be run through me. The Colonol
swore he would “make a case of
me,” and that I was “the very felloty
he had been wauling to get hold of
for some time.” For some distance
1 was forced through mud holes and
branches,- but afterwards allowed the
same privileges as the oilier prisoners*-
The Rev. Mr. Wells followed
at some distance behind the. Guards,
leading my horse, in company wills
another gentleman, a Presbyterian
missionary. On coming up with Coh
Nelson, Mr. Wells was told by him
i not to in 8i s , *t' He #lacker.Ou
gale, and ft!! back 70 or 80 j aril*
from the Guard, but still coimw^K
to move on slowly. Col. Nelson thetf
got down, cut a large club, rode uj#
to Mr. Wells, nod asked him whf
he did not obey him, and gave him
a severe blow on the lioad with tb*
club. Mr. Wells thei\told him he
was a free man, travelling peaceably
ou a public road, and would go al
tho risk of his life, which he continu
ed to. do. The Col. was well armed
with a sword, pistols, and club, while
the preacher had no weapon of de
fence, not knowing that he ever
would come .w coqtact with such, a
bravfi man. The only provocation
was bis being a missionary*, and fol
io wi g the Guard with a prisonorV
horse. .
At night I was chained to two oth
ers, the Rev. Mr. AVoynoster, and
Doct. Butler, before named, who
are, as I should Ifcjve uieulionedf.botb