Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

wmijmi m.mk '.n~-^,Trnwmu..i,naiami■ tn ■ iiiii i i —gniirr-inr'-ftr"f —a?r-TtiOTTßawaMßfriß? jwi r-Kt*:-\wvrr**amn i?-7*r*r?*t% .rtr-w.-.r.:^4kr*mng^s9KJMtfHnßaHyi’ _ * t-jny of the political evils, under which every Country in the world labours, are not owt >rlo anv want of love for our Country, bo to an i« nor. m*« of its real eonslitnto-i. Dial interest-.” pRIJESTBV NEW SERIES. Yol. 111. AUGUSTA, TUESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 15, 1825. No. 41. —w— ■ aact; Cije Caaaftitutianalitft i U PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY BY W. J. BUNCE, AUGUSTA, OA. FROM THE GEORGIA .[OURNTAL.— Evtrd. THIS DAY at 12 o’clock, (he Governor transmitted to both branches of the LeVis. O lature the following O Executive Depirpmeni-, (iso. ) Milledgcville, Bth Nov. 1825. $ Fallow Citize, ns of the Senate, And of the House of Representatives. The political ye r put close 1 has not been without blessings, oi without trials. Abun dant thankfulness is due for the former to the of everv good and perfect gift, not Css for exemption from war, pestilence and fam ine, than for the enjoyment of more than ordinary health, propitious seasons and an ample harvest. For the latter, as they be long to mortals, it is our holy duty, in the spirit of Christian resignation, to bow with reverential sub nissio i, and to implore the Omnipotent wn » orders all for the best, to convert them into blessings. The year has been ren lered me norab'e too by the sojourn of the great an 1 amiable Lafayette ; the uni versal joy diffused by it; tbe display of all the chirities and graces ot lite in the over flowings of grateful hearts, inseparable Irom his presence, and by the tears ol millions, when, after giving to our country his last benediction, lie re-embarked for his native land. Tue recapitulation of the eventsof the last two years—the results of our intercourse and correspondence with the General Govern ment, painful as it may be, is a duty too sacred to be omitted. —In performing it no apology is due for the prolix detail, so incon sistent with the analytical character ol a state paper like this. The variety of topics, the multitude of facts, justify a departure from the ordinary usage. A tedious expose may be, more acceptable than a superficial survey, as the contemplation of the whole ground will enable you so to apply the resources of your wisdom and patriotism to the exigency, as, with, the assistance of Divine Providence, to avert the mischiefs which threaten, make our own wavs ngiteous in our own sig.it and in the sight of ail others, and bring back to a sense of j istice those w'.io, in their aber rations from ir., have done us wiong. I had for the first time come into office when a subject of peculiar delicacy present ed itself, and being, intimately connected with the Independence of the elective fran chise, without which it Would be vain tir Georgia to claim for herseif the attributes ot a sovereign state, it was made known to the President, that on the occasion of the elec tion just then terminated, an officer in his employ, bearing a high and dignified com mission, and being a cifittm of another state, had abandoned his post to mingle in the strifes of that election ; had espoused the cause of one of the parties to the pre judice of the other, and bv the weight and in fluence of lusoffice united with the most en thusiastic ardor, had rendered himself sosig nally conspicuous that the Chief Magistrate could not conscientiously forbear among his first acts to complain to the Executive Go vernment of the Union of this outrage upon the most sacred of all the rights of sovereign ty. An occasion offered at the moment to give weight to the presentation, and it was embraced. Toe head of the Missionary es tablishment in the Creek Nation had been provoked by the ill usage, and lawless con duct of the same officer s o prefer certain charges against him, which, if supported by truth, could not fail, it was believed, tu bring upon him the severest animadversion of his own government, and it was hoped A that the remonstrance of the Governor of Georgia, thrown into the scale, would ac complish what seemed to him an important object, the removal from office of a man who by his prejudices and passions would pre sent the most formidable obstacles to the satisfaction of the just claim- ot Georgia against the General Government, at least so long as a certain person filled the first of fice of that state—They failed of their in tent, and whatever sentence might have been passed on the memorial of the Missionary the remonstrance of the Governor of Geor gia was unheeded. The inference was in evitable, that in virtue either of positive in struction or of implied consent, the Agent of Indian Affairs being a cj.izen of another stale and resident in the Nation, would at any time consult both duty and inclination in deserting his station to lend himself with his insignia of office, to any party in the stale, whose views it might be the interest of himself or of his government to promote. The state of Georgia had claims up m the General Government-of great magnitude; her territorial ones Had been so-long neglec ted that time seemed to be running against them—The Indians were acquiring a per manency of foothold under the direct en- mmmmmm—ue ———n vmam jeouragement of the United States which i r |Would rivet them like their fixtures to the soil forever, and it was seen that a day or an l hour was of precious import to her whom an 1 (act id limitations might bar, upon the arbi-!i itrary edict of a stronger power. When, therefore, in a temper not dis-i , creditable, it is hoped, to the author, those! claims were pressed upon the General Go-n veriiinent, it was answered that every thing! had been done, which in good faith could be I d.tne to satisfy the claims of Georgia, and; tha' now nothing could he done because the Indians bad said nothing should be done. An answer so unkind, ungenerous and faith- 1 less, left no alternative but to abandon or strenuously assert them. It was vaiu for the state of Georgia to 1 orove to the United States, that regardless of her claims, they had acquired immense ' tracts of country Irom time to time for other, 5 states and for themselves, and that in the celebrated treaty of 1814, if the United 1 States had been mindful of their engige -1 ments, they could as easily have' acquired " the whole country within our limits as a ■ single acre. n * By the treaty of 1814, the Creeks were 1 ' treated as a conquered people, whom Geor * gia had assisted with her arms to conquer ; 1 their boundaries were marked by the sword,; I but charity, which begins at home, more pi- 1 j tent, than any stipulations of the articles of 1802, acquired for the United States a very "I large extent ot rich country within the limits V*f Alabama, whilst twenty millions of acres >! within the limits of Georgia were reserved hand guarantied to the Indians, and this guar-.' 2 : anty subsequently produced against us to de ;t *at our claim to the same territory. Geor gia could not see in all this that scrupulous fidelity in die fulfilment of engagements as-; '|Serted for the United Slates. II j When at last the way seemed opened to a 'hfurther acquisition of territory, and Com "jmissioners were appointed to negociate with e the Creeks at Broken Arrow, Georgia found e the agents of the United Slates arrayed a- 1 ’ gainst her to defeat a treaty, so that it was f hllfli ult to understand whether the whole •; movement was a mockery to sport with Geor , gia, or a perfidious betrayal by the agents of * the t ust reposed in them. The treaty was * defeated and by their agency ; the prin :ipal > agent appeared to rise in the esteem and con Alienee of his government, and thus termi c nated this most disgusting scene. c ’ The rehearsal of what happened immedi-i "lately after at the Indim Springs, would on-; ly revive recollections of the same odious! B’practices 8 ’ practices of the same agent, not less dis-i " graceful, because they were more covert and! I less successful. From this period is to be ■plated, all the mischiefs, disorders and heart- - '■ burnings which followed, produced chiefly, Iby the conduct of the same officer. But in i “‘ justice to him it should bn said that from " this period he is tube considered* rather ash 3 |an instrument than a principal, as his own: "Igoveriuneiit, looking back upon the his-j r itory of the past, had seemed to approve - 1 his actings and doings in the gross, and had! I given every token of undiminished con-| ■ frlence in him, so that from that day " theneef irth, whatever was said, done or ■ written by him seemed good in its sight. ■ No evil report of him would lie listened e to; the word of no man taken against s him—all testimony in his favor eagerly "received —-all against him promptly discre- II dited —-The expressed will of the constitut " ed authorities of the state which denounced 0 him as an enemy to its interest, disregard 8 ed’by his government and contemned by "himself; in short, his single declaration in !I ,the face of truth, made by that government the basis of tbe most offensive measures a -11 gainst this, even to the extreme one of V threatening ns with the sword, and ’ctually o drawing out a regular force for its execu- R'tio n. 1 1 The history of the treaty of 1825, and 'fjthe character of tbe events which followed, ■~| will be best learned by the documents and d|evidence heretofore published and those o now laid before you. The epitome is, (bat - the treaty was as untainted with fraud as e most other Indian treaties —was made with afan authority long since recognised by the <’ United States as competent to make it— -i was acquiesed in at li -t by the great body -of the nation, and would have been checr n fully submitted to by the whole tribe, as t e V hostile Chiefs in Council indicated to Col. Lanur, if the Agent had not returned from ■ his mission to Washington ottered it. —lt was this ominous return from his defeat be s fore tbe President and Senate, m which r Mclntosh foresaw the rum which to infu t Gated man would bring upon him and his u(generation—“ We are not in any danger hun.il he comes and commences hos'ildy ejdod urges it himself upon us,” says Mein flush—“ If ratified (meaning the treaty.) it imay produce a horrid state of things a rinong those unfortunate Indians,” says the. 4|Agent. What the penestrating sagacity of ( the one foretold soon come to pass —Mclo-j titosh was no more, and thus tin evil genius' -of the other, which pioducted the coining ofi -(the whirlwind, which rode in it and direct-' i rr irina mmmmmu m in i i rrrim * au, cd the storm, saw in the one fell swoop the triumph of his mechinations and' the fulfil ment of Ids prophecy. Mclntosh and his Chiefs had given their assent to the survey {of the country, and this assent was se. ; /,ed| jby the Agent to divert the public odium I Irom himself, and to fasten it on the Chief j Magistrate of Georgia, who had sought and obtained that assent. The nuked declara tion of tin; Agent to this effect, unsupported by a title of proof, was sufficient to coin till'd the absolute credence of Ids govern ment, and contrary to all opposing testi mony of Ihe most conclusive‘character, to warrant it in charging the cilamities of the nation upon tne same magistrate astheau jthor of them all—to forbid the survey and to embody a corps of regulars to prevent it, and to continue both its offensive orders and its offensive armament even after ano ther of its age.nfs, by false testimony, bad proved to its satisfaction that no such as sent was ever given, and had announced to it moreover what was not tim fact, but what on Ids authority it implicitly believed to be the fact, that pacification of the In jdians had been,concluded, and of course or der and tra ■ Thirty permanently restored ; ; nevertheless* offensive m mdatc is unre- 1 voked and- parade of bayonets main-' , tained. i The Indi ght of occupancy is the on-' ly one ackn Sged by the European now-! ers from ti p ginning—the only one ac- '■ knowledged by all tbe public instruments through which Ge irgia derived her title— the only one conceded to the Indians by Georgia in all her treaties with them from the first settlement of the country, and the only oie recognised by the United States themselves. The Spaniards and the French, without respecting even this right, have forcibly ap propriated to themselves entire countries j when and where it suited them---The En- 1 glish and Americans have so far respected : it as to make compensation for the relin quishment of claim or abandonin' nt of use. * It is true that with regard to this right of. use the United States, in their own territo- ! ry might have given to it any latitude which ' pleased them, because the soil and jurisdic- 1 tinn belonged to them ; but with regard to i the territory of Georgia, where the soil am! < jurisdiction are indisputably liers, this right 1 ot use can only b ■ construed to mean what jin all the treaties it did mean, the right of {use for hunting. When therefore the Uni ted States, by changing the mode of life of' jthe aboriginal upon the soil of Georgia, l {changed essentially this right, and caused liter lands to be separately appropriated for ' the purpose of tillage, and gave every en couragement, to fixed habits of agriculture, l they violated the treaties in their letter and spirit and did wrong to Georgia. It is not! less strange than true, that of all the van -1 ious tribes of aborigines dispersed over the jvast country within the limits of the Uni- 1 ■ ted States, two of them within the limits' l of Georgia, have been specially selected as 'most fit subjects for the operation of this {great scheme of reclamation and that the', partial success of this scheme (founded in wrong to Georgia, and continued in wrong) should be hold up to ns now as a mirror in which we are invited to see at once our own deformity and the moral beauty of its an tbors, and that this original and continued wrong should be set up-in bar of our un doubted rights. The state of Georgia contends that the jurisdiction over the country in question, is absolute in itself-—She proves it by all the titles through which she derived her : claim from the beginning ; by (lie charters and proclamations of tbe mother country ; by the repeated acknowledgments of the United States themselves, and bv their so-' solemnly expressed recognition in the first and second articles of the agreement and cession of 18U2. — It Was shewn that if Georgia had the jurisdiction, Georgia had never patted with if ; and that if she had it not, she can never have it in virtue of any authority of any power known to her. i Ye’ Georgia has been denied the right of ■ survey of her own soil, within her ownju ; risdivtioa, a right as inseparable from that - jurisdiction and as innocent as a rigiit of way, and this notwithstanding the consent • to that survey, as is verily believed, freely! ! given bv every Uliief within (lie limits of . the territory, who could by any possibility i suffer harm or detriment from it—Nay none, it is confidently believed that if the; U. Stales government or its agents had not i extorted from one portion of ihe Indians: objections to tiie survey, there would not i bare been found a single individual who •would have thought of entertaining any; l ■and here it will not escape you that at the! Council of Broken Arrow, where (he Com missioners of Georgia were present, the t in' lit rr v officer of the United States, under Ins i sh u lions, made known o the Chiefs; •that ids government had resolv *d not to pcr-ji ;in it the -urvev, so that it a • pint at anvil [time, from any cau 4, had aid lated the In-i Milan to hostility against Georgia, the suv-> 'age would have availed himself of the sur •■k# i mi, - ■ x HuKixJks raxir. .m. .:..stmidir. - *ir 1 • vev ass a pretaxt-fo full upon our people, and with the more ferocity because assured that lie would be sustained by the anus of tbe I h States. I Die last pretext of tin? {’resident for re sistance to the survey, is the obligation to execute the Bth article of the treaty, which guarantees protection to the friendly Indi ans. Under that guaranty the U. States passively sutler Mclntosh and lus friends to be murdered ; iu the hour of peril nu arm is lifted to save or to protect —the dan ger past —the Chiefs massacred—their pro perly destroyed or dispersed—'be survivors in Georgia asking bread and protection ot tlieir lives, after abandoning to their enemies everything valuable at home—-the United Stales step forth vvilli their armed power to defend under the 8(h article of the treaty these same Indians against all tlieir ene mies, and more particularl y the Georgians, tlieir only friends and protectors. Mclntosh having fallen in the cause of (he. United States by the hand of treachery —(lie United States were bound in honor under the Btb article, to bring to punishment bis murderers—to restore to his friends tlieir rank, power and property lost in tbe same cause, and to have coerced tbe execution of the treaty—all which could easily have been acecomplislied, but the Agents of tin? United States indulging more of sympathy for the bo-tile than for the friendly Indians pre scribe to the latter the terms on which they shall make peace with tlieir enemies—the blood of Mclntosh unwashed from tlieir bands, the plundered property unrestored ; the Agent nnremoved ; the hostile party are to lie received into the bond of communion and fellowship with a forgiveness of sins, ns if these natives of (he wilderness at once Ihe noble and fallen of their species, should in (he darkness of heathenism do more then the philosophy of the heathen or (Ac fortitude of the Christian ever did—(he money s'ipula ted to b ? paid to them exclusively, and hy the Commissioners of the United States, or dered to be paid in part to tlieir enemies and by the hands of other agents than those appointed by the treaty ; these wrongs done to the friends of Mclntosh are adverted to{ merely because they cannot be overlooked in the catalogue of wrongs done to Georgia, and to shew that the friendly Indians may have suffered for indulging friendly sen j ti mentis : towards Georgia, and Georgia for ' indulging like sentiments toward the friend-i ly Indians. The result of all which is,l that judging the motives and objects ofhu-j man action by the results, the agents ol the United Stales, whether commissioned for (hat purpose, or not, must have been in tent mi vindicating the conduct of the Agnit for Indian Affairs, and opening the way for the rupture of the treaty—for that conduct has been vindicated and approved by them and all the materials as itis understood col-| lectcd for that rupture, whilst, the Indians remain unreconciled either to one another or to the treaty, and a large pm loin of them more embittered and exasperated against the authors of it than ever. | The President haying ultimately resolved to refer the Treaty to Congress, for re con- of nllodged intrigue and treachery practised to obtain it, the lleso lution adopted by the Executive to prose cute the survey under the act of the Legis lature of the 9th day of June last, was changed and the change immediately com- Imunicalcd to the President. It would he uncandid, fellow-citizens, to disguise that but for tbe proposed refernnes to Congress, the survey would have been commenced and prosecuted. So long as : the controversy was confined to the Execu tive of the Union, and the Executive of i Georgia, there could be no hesitation at) to the measures which it became the latter to . pursue. Between stales equally indepen dent it is not required of the, weaker to yield to the stronger, because this would’be settling controversies by the rule’ of force, not by the rule of right, and between sove reigns the weaker is equally qualified as the stronger to pass upon its rights. The im mediate survey of the country, required certainly by the interest and convenience of Georgia, was not of that vital importance Which would justify offensive measures to execute it. But the abandonment ofa.ight, not considered doubtful by the only power competent to pronounce upon it, was ano ther and very different matter. The con cession of a right without an equivalent by a weaker to a stronger power is never made without exposing the former to injurious 'imputation, and will always lie followed’ by concession af'er concession, to unjust de htiands until nothing remains to be deinaii ded on the one side, or conceded on Ihe o tiier. When therefore the President of (he United States commanded the Governor ol Georgia to forbear the survey, and when that command was followed by a distinct annunciation of the penalty which awaited [the disobedience to it, the Executive of 'Georgia, would not merely have surrender ed a right already declared to he so, by the supreme power of the State, but wsuld have made a dishonorable surrender to a stron 1 ger power, with the sword suspended over I iiis head. \\ Ivdst, therefore, the Governor . would in this respect have treated the man - date of the President as unlawful, he did not hesitate as soon as the contemplated re o ten iu:e ol the treaty to Congress for alleged lv intrigue and treachery, was officially known - to him to p s'pone the survey until the mect > ingof the legislature ; not because (hat rc s fcieiice was lawful, but that its legality or o illegality Was not so appropriate!v a ques tion for is decision as for that of (ho ie - gisluture. So that whilst the Government s of Georgia denied the power of the Exccu f* live authority of the United'States to pro s notince upon her rghfs, it might not refuse il to the assembled Stales of the Union the 0 opportunity of investigating certain claims, yor discussing certain questions in contra - versy connected with the Treaty, or with ~ her own character and conduct in relation to it. So far as (hat, character and conduct if were in any mariner involved in the nognei v ation or cnncluftion of the Treaty, or in tha r events which preceded and followed, their t purity, uprightness and jus’icc migu freely rbe canvassed before the whole world. Thus e much was conceited for our own soke, until f the meeting of the legislature—the rijils »of Ihe State were saved by protestation, 1 and th<*, legislature is yet free to act upon e the subject as if no measure had been taken -jby tli•• Executive in relatUm to that refer ydice. The legality of the survey was as e|sorted, the power to invalidate the 'Treaty r denied, and the absolute title ol Gee,pda to ; the soil ami jurisdiction vindicated. e The very limited knowledge of the his i tory of die Creek tribes poss"SHed by (lie s people of the Uni'ed Slates and (he mis s'conccptions and misrepresentations which iicould not fail to ensue, induced the Execu j five to direct the attention of J. V Bevan, ( Esq. (already assiduously occupied under -I.V'iur appointment, to collect the materials ■ lor a history of Georgia,) to, the illustration ■|of that part of the Creek story which had emore immediate reference to th * points in jjvolved in the discussion of liny Treaty.— ?! The result of his diligent research is sub ibnilted in the paper markek (A.) You will 1 find there the ground assumed by the Exe cutive of Georgia in maintenance of the. d Treaty: viz. that the consent of Coweta jwas of itself sufficient, independently of all other considerations, to give force and efficacy to that instrument is Cully sustain ,|ed, and by evidence derived from such au thentic sources as to leave nothing to cavil I or to subterfuge. In obedience t" the will of (he legislature expressed in their resolutions of the 11th day of June last, I proceeded to lire appoint • uient of Commissioners to carry the objects of them into effect. In selecting the mem- I'bers of this commission, I endeavored to ■have regard to (liequalifications of upright , ness, integrity and intelligence. It was be lieved that the selection would be approved ijby (lie moral and enlightened of our own Since, however, the censor ship of the United-States Agent has pas -1 j sed them in review, the Executive is inform •led by those Agents that he was mistaken I-and deceived, and accordingly you will see jin sundry documents accompanying this -{message the characters of those cminnis ■jsioncis so pourtrayed that it would have i been difficult to resist the belief that by a •{strange fatality they had been chosen from |the least worthy and estimable of society, if i the characters of the persons filling the high ;!cst offices of State both Legislative and Ex I'ccutive had not previously been subjected j to tbe same scrutiny and shared the same - fate The Report will inform you of the f treatment they received, and of the obsta > cles thrown in their way at every step by i which all investigation was rendered una,- - vailing. The principal Agent having been i instructed by the President to advise with ;jtlie Governor of Georgia upon the measures , j necessary to the successful prosecution of - his mission, when (he Governor of Georgia ; appointed commissioners to co-operate with - him in the task of investigation, as well as 1 to guard the interests of Georgia, the act ( of appointment is pronounced a usurpation ; —the commissioners treated as private p. r >'sons-—every obstruction opposed to the pro curement of testimony—intercourse with • the Indians denied them—-the promises giv ■ en of a separate examination of the Indians -[violated--the word of an Indian chief rccei ■ veil as true against the testimony cf the whole ; world, the Ajjcnt of Indian Affairs declared i innocent, if condemned by 23 States ot the ' 24—and Clierokee chiefs who had distin ■ giitshed themselves in the councils of their ■ own nation for hosdlity to the interests ot • Georgia, permitted to sit in the councils, ■ to aid with their advice, and to diclate the Talks of the Creeks, whilst the conlVonta i tion with their tocnies sought by the Irieml t ly chiefs was uTu-rd. 1 In compliance with the requisition of the [ same resolutions 1 Iransuiitted without de* - lay a copy of the imoant ial addressed by • the. Legislature to the President, expo-big • the conduct of the Agent lor Indian Affairs - requesting his removal tram office. Th.eo