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About Rural cabinet. (Warrenton, Ga.) 1828-18?? | View Entire Issue (June 19, 1830)
VOL. 11. TIIE CABIXE T Is published every Saturday by i\ L. IIUBLY&OJY , War rent on, Geo. ai three dollars per annum , which may be discharged by two dollars and fifty cents if paid within sixty days of the time of subscribing. Advertisements conspicuously inserted a seventy five cents per square for the first insertion and ffty cents for each subsequent insertion ‘ Monthly inser tions charged as new advertisements Advertisements not limited when hand ed in, will be inserted until forbid , and charged accordingly . “oongmessT * In the Senate or tiie U. S. April, 1830. SPEECH OF MR. FORSYTH, or GEORGIA, ( C OJYITJYUE D,) On the bill providing for an ex change of lands with the In dians, and for their removal west of the Mississippi; the amendment proposed by Mr. Frelinghuyscn being un der consideration. In common with ail who have ad dressed the Senate, I feel and have ever felt the strongest anxiety to do justice to the Indian tribes. 1 have reflected much on the subject since the project of congregating them be yond the Mississippi and establishing a great Indian Government was first suggested during Mr. Munroe*s ad ministration. 1 looked on that pro ject as wild, visionary, and imprac ticable. Anticipating its discussion in 1823, l contemplated proposing a scheme of my own; fixed the outlire and arranged some of its details. This scheme would have embraced these nrovisions; ..t the land occupied by the In dians in all the States and Territories, should be taken possession of as tin property of the Government in the new States, and of the States in the old; each tribe to be credited on the hooks of the Treasury with per acre, beari g an interest of 5 percent for the land occupied by them. This debt to be called the Indian Fund; the interest to be paid seini an nually to defray the expenses of gov erning and civilizing the Indians un til they are incorporated as citizens of the United Statcg; after that event the debt to be considered as extin guished. A grant in fee simple to be made to each Indian family of acres for each member of it; not alienable before the year 1900, and on leases beyond one year to be valid. This land to be surveyed in a body, and good soil carefully selected. Twelve hundred and eighty acres to be set apart in the centre of the gran ted lands for public use as the seat of Indian government* Government to be organized for the Indians by Congress. AG< vernor to be appointed by the President of the United States of white, or Indian, or mixed blood. Three Counsellors to be chosen by the Chiefs of the tribes. Representatives (according to the number of Indians) but never less than ten to be chosen by the Indians annually. The Governor and Council to pro pose laws to the Representatives, the Governor having a veto on the pro ceedings of the Representatives. The Counsellors and Represents fives to be of Indiatr pr mixed blood; their compensation and that ot all thi officers to be fixed by Congress. Judges to be nominated by Govcr- not* and Council, and proved by Representatives, removable cvtly u fl years. Judgesto be white men for twenty years. Jury trials to prevail, tfie Jurors to boos Indian or mixed blood. Criminal and Civil Laws subject to the revision of Congress. System of education to be devised by Congress; all the Indian childreni under ten, to be embraced in the pro vision to be made, and their education not to be considered complete until they are 21. All Indians to become citizens in 1900. i Indians not willing to submit to these regulations, to be lemoved be yond the Mississippi; hunting lands to be provided for them there, and a just indemnity made for the expense and trouble of removal. Full of the idea of conferring impor tant benefits on this hapless race, 1 was on the point of proposing a bill to be presented to the consideration of Congress. But, Mr. President. 1 was led by the frequent occurrence of constitutional objections, to this pre vious inquiry. Has the Government of the United States the constitutional power necessary to execute such a scheme? It involved the exercise of these two important powers to appro priate to the exclusive use of the Indi ans, land, the jurisdiction over which, with the soil itself, was claimed by the states, and without the consent of the states, and the power to establish exclusive municipal regulations for; lie government of a class of persons! within the state sovereignty. Con- J vinced, on a short examination, that! neither power was conferred by any grant of authority in the constitution, and neither fairly incidental to any specific grant in that instrument, l was reluctantly compelled to abandon my project. Although not reconciled to the pro ject of Mr. Munuoe‘s administration, I was convinced that the basis of that project, the removal of the Indians be yond the states and territories, was the only nnx-lo by which the power of • lie General Government could be properly and exclusively exercised for their benefit. I do not believe that this removal will accelerate the civilization of the tribes. You might as reasonably expect that wild ani mals, incapable ot being tauieu in a park, would be domesticated by turn ing them loose in the forest. Thisde sirable end cannot be obtained with out-destroying the tribal character, and subjecting the Indians, as indi viduals, to the regular action of well digested laws. Wild nature never was yet tamed, but by coercive disci pline. The recent experiment made on the Arkansas, has somew hat shak en my faith. It is understood that Cherokees, who removed to that country in 1817—18, with a view to continue the hunter's life, have ad vanced more rapidly than those who remain on this side ol the Mississippi, in the arts of civilized life. Yet, doubting as I do, the effect of this measure as a incans of civilization, I shall vote for it with a hope of reliev ing tlye states from a population use less and burdensome, and from a con viction that the physical condition of the Indians wi*l be greatly improved by the change; a change not intended to be forced upon them, but to be the result of their own judgment under the persuasion of those who ore quite as anxious for their prosperity and quility, as the seif constituted guar dians of theii rights, who have filled his Hall with essays and pamphlets in their favor. That all the Indians n the Unit and States would be bene fitted by their removal beyond the • v ni roo-p-!. J ‘ite 10, 1830. atatrsto a (.o mi try appropriated for (hi ii tiii lusive residouce, cannot be doubt and by any dispassionate man who knows their condition. With ;nnc or two remarkable exceptions, ail the tribes are rapidly diminishing in number, from the operation of causes, j the strtte governments either will not, <*r do not choose, to remove. Tin •report made in 1820 to the War Do partment, by the Agent Morse, ap pointed to collect information on this subject, shows that there were then in New England, 2526 Indians; in New York, 5184; iu Virginia, North, and South Carolina, 497; in Georgia, 5,000 Clier kees: making an aggri gate of 13,107 in the old states. All these Indians, with the exception of the Cherokecs in Georgia, arc in a state of voluntary minority. Their property is in the hands of trustees or agents, not (iiosen by themselves, but appointed for them, with hut a nomi ual responsibility for their faithful performance of their duty. As indi viduals; they are responsible for crimes, and punishable in the courts of justice of states. Rut they can nei ther sue or be sued, contract or be be contracted with, without the inter vention of their trustee. Without in dustry and without incentives to im provement, with the mark ofdegrada lion fixed upon them by state laws, without the control of their own re sources, depending upon a precarious, because ill directed agriculture, they arc little better than the wandering] gypsies of the old world, living by beggary or plunder. Os the new states, Ohio contains 2407; Indiana and Illinois, 17,000: Alabama, 20,000; Creek*—Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina, 8000 Chcrokees; Mississippi, 28,625 Choc taws and Chickasaws. In the terri tory of Florida, there are 5000, in Michigan, 28,380; total 109,418. In some of these states the laws have been, and in others th*y probably will soon be, extended to the Indians as in dividuals: These Ind.ans are partial ly regulated by their own usages yet subject to the operation of the crimi nal law in the courts of the United States. In no part of the country have the Indians and admitted right to the soil upon wl ich they live. They are looked npon as temporary occupants, who have not, and are not intended to have a fee simple title to the land. They are hunters, whose game is every day diminishing; and who must change their place of rcsi dance, or their mode of procuring sub sistence. In the removal of the Indians from the States, for which provision should be made from motives of humanity, the U. S. have no interest. Should those residing in N. England, N York, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina be disposed to try their for tunes in the West, the States from which they remove or the owners ol the land upon which they now n side, (in many cases the land occupied by them has been granted to white per sons,) should be required to pay all the expenses of their transportation to the country allotted for them. Geor gia, of the old States, stands on dis tinct ground. The U. States are bound by compact to pay all the cost of extinguishing the Indian claim to lands lying within her limits. In the new States from the removal of the Indians is this. fond* occupied by them will he immediacy subject to survey, sale, and settlement. (>r , the old and for the new States tin* important object will be gained; a race nut admitted to be equal to the rest of the community not governed a* completely dependent; treated some what like human beings, but not A&- mi tied to be freemen; not yet entitled, and probably never lo be entitled to equal civil and political rights, will be humanely provided for. I should he happy, Mr. President, if a sense of public duty permitted me to dismiss this subject with these brief remarks. The Senator from New Jersey has imposed upon me tho no-easity of occupying much of tho time of the Senate in the examination of the charges made against the State of Georgia, llis amendment sterna to have been manufactured fi,r the purpose of assailing and villihing the State, 1 mean not to excuse; nor de fend the State—neither is it necessa ry. A fair exposition of facts is suffi cient for the triumphant vindication. She stands at present on the vantage ground. All the public functionaries, to whom the Constitution gives the power to decide upon our pretensions, have admitted them to be just. Tho gentleman indeed, censures the Pre sident of the United States for decid ing an important question, which ought to have been submitted to Con gress. With w hat justice is this cen sure bestowed? Is it not the duty of the President to execute the laws and observe the obligations of the United States? The Cherokees demanded the intervention of the President, al leging an infraction of a compact made with them. Was the President to interfere because the Cherokees complained? Was the President to de cide against the pretensions of a State without examination to the merits of the question presented? It was his duty under the high sanctions of bis oath office, to decide. lie could not escape a derision had he a mind to evade it. This decision has been made, and if error has been commit ed, it is in favor of the Cherokees. The President considers the obligation of the United States to guarantee to the Indians the enjoyment of the lands as paramount to the claims of the State. A decision which cannot be sustained. The land and the Indians are, according to the same principles, subject to the exclusive control of the State sovereignty, and such will be the decision should the question ever be judicially determined. I trust and believe that the question will never be agitated. It will not be unless the Senator of New Jersey should suc ceed in filling the minds of the Cher* okces with vain hopes and tempting them to acts fatal to their security. The President has, in conformity with his constitutional opinions, stated to the Indians with their true position. They must remove, or remain and bo subjected to tho state laws, whenever tin States choose to exercise their power. The gentleman assumes that this is a violation of a treaty stipula tion with an independent tribe, and on this assumption he rests bis condem nation of the Executive. Now, Sir, the gentleman must perceive that the President puts a different construction upon these compacts; that he construes them as made under the Constitution of the United States, w hich gives to the General Government no power by the instrumentality of an Indian com pact to the jurisdiction, or narrow the sovereignty of one of the States. | will not now inquire who is right, the gentleman or the Executive. It is now my purpose to defend the Presi dent; he has done what he believes his duty required, and is not justly chargeable with any attempt to fore stall opinion, or shut the door to inqui ry. What prevents the Senator, if he'wishes a decision of Congress, from presenting fairly and openly the ques tion on the construction of tbe9e in struments? I should bo glad to meet him on fair ground. I invite him to No. 51.
