Rural cabinet. (Warrenton, Ga.) 1828-18??, June 26, 1830, Image 1

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JUmrai Ceftkigf. VOL. 11. THE CABINET Is published every Butwdau b; T T ROBINSON, Ktrrenton, ‘ Geo. at three dollars per annum , which mau be discharged by two dollars and fifty cents if paid within sixty days of Hip time of subscribing. Advertisements conspicuously inserted a seventy five cents per square for the first insertion, and ffty cents fur each subsequent insertion Monthly inser tions chained as new advertisements Advertisements not limited when hand ed in , will be inserted until forbid , and charged accordingly. CONGRESS. In tub Senate .>f tub U. S. April, 1830. SPEECH OF MR. FORSVTII, OF GEORGIA. ( CONTINUED J 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 >lr. Frelinghuysen being un der consideration. The Stales claimed as comnioti property our Western lands, as ob tained by the expenditure of common blood and common treasure. The State of New Jersey presented a remonstrance to the old Congoess, claiming for the confederation, all the Western lands. Regardless of Indian rights,! and the independence of the tribes, now so dear to her bcnauu, New Jersey claimed the soil of the wild landfill* the confederation; leav ing the jurisdiction to the State, where the iand lay. The States North of the lloanoke, made a transfer of their W extern lands. Georgia offered a transfer, hut the conditions proposed were not satisfactory; and the transfer wos not made. In order to press up on Georgia this surrender of her lands, questions were raised under the arti cles of corifcderatiom e aboijt the powe? of she States ove-paf A war was threatened on the Southern fron tier, by the Creeks and Cherokees. Assistance was claimed under the ar tides of confederation, and Congress, although bound by these articles to defend all the States, talked gravely Os examining into the justice of actu ul w ar, in order to determine on the propiety of affording neceessory aid to their white brethren: and claimed in defiance of the article in the con federation, exclusive control of Indian affairs. To tempt Georgia, a transfer oflands was suggested as the best practicable mode of settling all ques tions of relative power between the States and the Confederation. By a a majority vote of Congress, treaties were required to be held, whenever a majority of the States ordered them to be held. These difficulties continued until the Constitution was adopted. The first President of the United State*, found the country embarrass ed by Indian hostilities, and his atten tion was earl} directed to give tran quility to our frontier settlements The State of Georgia formed treaties u t Shouldcrbonc, Augusta and Gal phinton, with the Creek Indians. Their validity was disputed. Gener al Washington asked the advice of (he Senate of the United States 01 l|,*i so points: —Should an inquiry be made into the circumstances under which theee treaties w* re held? If fairly held*should they be enforced by the arms of the Union? If not valid, they be made the basis of new iirangements with the Southern IribesV These inquiries were all an sacred in the affirmative. Uivcstiga tl ,n tl,e v *!'dny of these treaties was made by the Commissioner sos the U oited States, Griffin, &,*. and tl|C result was a report, that these com pacts were made with all the useful .formalities and fiinicss of Indian treaties. They were not enforced by ihe arms of the United States; an ar rangement was preferred, and terri. tory previously surrendered io the State by the Indians, was restored to them as hunting grounds; and the in tcicourse act of 1790 was passed, to enforce this violation of State sover eignty. What did Georgia di, on this palpable violation of her admitted right? Animated by a love of the U uion; by her respect for the peace and tranquility of the country to which her just claims had bom unconstitu tionally surrendered, she used nn vi olcncc; sttv sought no redress, by un hallowed moans, She came here to protest against this new treaty and a gainst the law of 1 TOO, as equally re pugnant to her claims and to the Con stitution of the U rtf ted States. She hoped fin* indemnity: it never was made. We have the satisfaction to see upon the public records, the ack nowledgement that our complaints were just. A committee of Congress reported, that injustice had been done to the State, ami that indemnity was due. Jri the compact of 1802; there is feuud the admission of the United States, that lands formerly ceded by the Creeks to the State, had been ta ken without equivalent from the State. I Without authority under the Consti tution; it certainly was wrested from! ua. l *l,® iionorahlft ftfOiatm'M from the East, would have been the conduct of the New England States had a similar surrender of their terri tory been made, even under the pres sure of dire necessity, to a foreign government? What is the feelihg of the East on this point, may be learned from the correspondence of the Gover nor of Maine and the late Secretary of State, on the North eastern boundary of the United States, now’ a question of arbitration with Great Britain. An inspection of tiiat correspondence will shew, that some warmth is felt even in the cold regions of the North. The blood can run amidst the snows of Maine, in a heady current, not less under the influence of a Southern sun. Fortunately for Gov. Lincoln, he liv ed in a favored region, and his doc tri les of State rights and sovereignty, brought down no invectives upon his head, although in theory, and in lan guage too, he did not lag far behind ihe fiery Georgian. The Senate will perceive, Sir, from the protest of the State, that the Senator from New Jer sey mistakes, when he asserts that Georgia has always acquiesced in Ids favorite doctrines. The first en croachment upon her sovereignty was resisted in the only practicable and peaceable form. The claim to all the Western lands lying on tlic Missis sippi, as the property of the U. States was revived under the Constitution, on the old ground, and anew claim set up on anew ground, to that por tion of the State of Georgia which lay between lat. 31 deg. N. and I at. 32 deg. 30 min. N. on this singular pre text. This strip of territory formed a part of Georgia or South Carolina, until the Floridas belonged to great Britain, and was annexed to West Florida, by Great Britain, prior to 1770 The treaty of peace with great Britain having surrendered to the lat. 31 deg. the surrender Was made to the confederation, and not to Georgia or South Carolina. *n the negotia tion with Spain to fix the Southern boundary of the United States, Lt. 31 deg. was claimed as the boundary of) VVummton, Juaeisi), 1830. iol Gioigja. w/ien that boundary was l h’ Spain, lat. deg. be- amc, in the Lngnage 6f the United V t I K boundary of Georgia bn, the boundary of a territory stirren j f„ (he Confederation, by the treaty of 1783, with Great Britain trvssrd by these claims, and anxious; ‘? strengthen the State iu her territo Mi pretensions, the Legislature of hour, meddle to companies, in the year 1794, of large purti m f |,cr Western lands. I morn |>*r means having been used to secure the gassigo of the legislative enact ments fir these Hales, they were do elared r oid by a subsequent Legisla ture, ami by a Convention which met m the succeeding year to alter (lie State Constitution. The Yaxoo fraud, as it is usually called, is a c6‘o stant tficme of reproach to the State, no otic remembers the stern integrity that prevented its success. Not sat isfied with a barren c.aiin to our Western lands, the United States deemed it expedient in 1798, to make a direct attack upon the state sover eignty by the erection of a govern ment, the territorial government o Mississippi within our boundaries* It is Irue, Sir, as if in ridicule of our pretensions, there is a solemn reser vation in the act of the right to the soil and jurisdiction. The sovereign ty is assumed. Exclusive legislation | exercised by the United State* with a i saving of the rights of soil and juris Suction thus openly violated. Within | the period embraced by these transac I tions, the State was harrassed by In dian depredations and Indian wars h eitating questions were perpetually ar isingv,. *ue Nnues anti tfr U nited States. The agitation produc ed by the sale of our lands to private companies, and the subsequent an nulment of the act of sale; the usurpa tion by the hand of power, of our sov ereign and territorial rights, and the hiitiatins questions produced by the savages within our limits, almost com pelled the State to a surrender of the Western lands, so long the object of desire to the other members of the Union. In January, 1798, a conven tion ba*H<S been called to reform the Corisiitution, tbe Legislature adop ted the report and resolutions which I will read to the Senate. (Mr. F. read the report and resolutions in the appendix No. 1.) The Legislature recommended the insertion of a clause in the new Constitution, authorizing the Legislature to sell tho Western lands on these conditions. First, the payment out of the public treasury, of g 1,500,000 iu specie, bank or funded stock of the United States. Second, that the United States should extinguish (at their sole arid proper expense) the Indian claims to all the land not ceded by Georgia within certain designated periods of time. All the lands between the tem porary line separdting the whites and Indians and the river Ocmulgee, with in two years from the date of cession Tl.c laud lying between the Ocmulgee and Flint rivers within seven years; between the Flint and Chattahoochie, within fifteen years. Third, that the U. States should guarantee the absolute right and title to Northward and Eastward of the Chattahochie forever. Fourth, that the territory ceded slnmld bo admitted into the Union, whenever tho number of inhabitants entitled it to a Represintative in Con gress as a free and independent State. This legislative recommendation was effectual; the convention incorporated a clause in the Constitution of Geor gia authorizing a cession to the U. States, Under acts of Congrtsfi and of the Stale Legislature, Com missioners were subsequently appoint ed, and the compact of 1802* \v*? for med. It will be found by rclVre.nV-6 to the compact that the conditions pro posed by Ihe Legislature of Georgia were not obtained. For Si, 500,000 in specie, onnfc stock, or funded stock, was substituted Si,ssO,o'Ort payable out of tlie proceeds oflhe land ceded, For the extinguishment of Indian claims \%itliin lj ye.os, Wan substituted a promise to exiingrtMi that claim as soou as it to (itd be done peaceably and on reasonable to: ms. For the guaranty of the absolute right and titfo to the land East of the Chat tahoochie, was substituted a cessiofi of the. right of the U. States to the ju risdiction and soil. The Act was ne vertheless ratified by Georgia, and it was fondly hoped that no future dispu tants about Indians and Indian lands could pnssfhty arise. Reljing upon the faith of the U. States, Georgia, from the date of the compact until re cently, refrained from all excr. isc or claim of authority over these subjects', confidently forward to a peri od hot remote, when all her claims would, without effort on her part, be ‘satisfied by the General Government. To this compact, the Hon. Sruatof from N. Jersey ruay look for an a> - swer to his repeated inquiry. Why did Georgia acquiesce of the treat/ • making power by the Federal Gov ernment.- Georgia having imposed upon the U, States the obligation to extinguish tho Indian title, did not consider herself authorized to inter fere in the maoncr iu w hich that obli gation was performed. Why she had 1 been compelled to interfere will be’ seen by a short history of tho cxec u tion of the compact. Tho money sti pulated has been after some didicut ties, paid. Os the laud, after the ex piration of 28 years, a large territory remains still occupied by Indians* When it is borne io uiind, Mr. lTes idcut, that since the year 1302, count less millions of acres of laud have bectV purchased by the U. States from In dian tribes, independent State* creat ed, and territorial government* form ed upou if, is it surprising that th> Georgians should inquire, why it i that this compact has not been fully and faithfully executed? To *ay nothing ol Illinois, Indiana, Missouri Alabama, Mississippi and the territo ries of Michagau aud Arkansas, coioi pare the purchases made by the Unit ed States in Ohio, from Indiana, aud the effect of these purchases on fh6 political power of tho South aud West. On the SOth of April, 1802, the act passed aiUfiormug the people of Ohio, to form a Constitution, llow stands Ohio compared with Georgia— an independent state ot the Revolution —in 1802 represented by three repren scutatives in Congress? At this mo ment, Ohio is cursed by the presence of but a few Indians, occupying a small body of laud, while in political power she stands, to adopt expres sions vauutingly used in this House, by tho side ot the great states of N, York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Ohm has been fostered, and the pro mise to Georgia has not been per formed. Ohio las fifteen represen tives in Congress* Georgia but 7. Why is this, air? Were there greater difficulties in making Indian purcha ses from the southern tribe* thau from the Northern Indians? If such is the fact, a sufficient causd existed to re press our complaints* The U. States from 1805 to 1819, purchased for oth er states 29,678,540 scies, not ouo foot of which lies in Georgia, from southern tribes. Yast acquisitions 1 ---. r-a-r IW 52.