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kee nation shall be bound to deliver him or them up, to be punished according to the laws of the United States."

Thus it appears, that if a party of Cherokees should commit murder in the white settlements, upon citizens of the United States, the murderers could not be pursued a foot within the Cherokee boundary. Nay more, if one of our own people should commit murder, or any other capital crime, and should take refuge in the Cherokee nation, he could not be pursued, however flagrant the case might be, and however well known the criminal. The Cherokees must arrest him in their own way, and by their own authority; and they were bound by this treaty to do, what by the laws of nations they would not have been bound to do, that is, to deliver up criminals for punishment. Neither the United States, nor any particular State, had any jurisdiction over the Cherokee country. But the next article, which my argument makes it necessary to quote at large, is, if possible, still more decisive of the matter.

"ART. 11. If any citizen or inhabitant of the United States, or of either of the territorial districts of the United States, shall go into any town, settlement, or territory belonging to the Cherokees, and shall there commit any crime upon, or trespass against the person or property of any peaceable and friendly Indian or Indians, which, if committed within the jurisdiction of any State, or within the jurisdiction of either of the said districts, against a citizen or any white inhabitant thereof, would be punishable by the laws of such State or district, such offender or offenders shall be subject to the same punishment, and shall be proceeded against in the same manner as if the offence had been committed within the jurisdiction of the State or district to which he or they may belong, against a citizen or white inhabitant thereof."

If there is any meaning in language, it is here irresistibly implied, that the Cherokee country, or "territory" is not "within the jurisdiction of any State, or within the jurisdiction of either of the territorial Districts of the United States." Within what jurisdiction is it, then? Doubtless within Cherokee jurisdiction; for this territory is described as "belonging to the Cherokees,"—one of the most forcible idiomatie expressions of our language to designate absolute property. What then becomes of the assumption of jurisdiction over the Cherokees by the State of Georgia? This question will be easily decided by the man who can tell which is the strongest, a treaty of the United States, or an act of the Legislature of a State. The treaty says, that the Cherokee territory is inviolable; and that even white renegadoes cannot be pursued thither. A recent law of Georgia declares the greater part of the Cherokee country to be under the jurisdiction of that State; and that the laws of Georgia shall take full effect upon the Cherokees within less than a year from the present time. The Constitution of the United States (Art. VI.) has these words: "All treaties made under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any thing in the laws or Constitution of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." The question of jurisdiction is, therefore, easily settled.

But the full acknowledgment of the national rights of the Cherokees, and of the sacredness of their territory, is not all that the treaty contains. The fourteenth article was framed expressly for the purpose of preserving and perpetuating the national existence of the

Cherokees. That they might "be led to a greater degree of civilization" appears to have been a favorite design of the American government. With a view to this object, and that they might "become herdsmen and cultivators," the United States proffered some important advantages; and it is by the aid of these very advantages, and by the co-operation of faithful teachers and missionaries, that the Cherokees have been led to a greater degree of civilization' than any other tribe of Indians. So undeniable is this fact, that Georgia has complained of it: and the government has been blamed for doing those things, which the United States were bound to do by the most solemn treaty stipulations.

In a word, the treaty of Holston is a plain document, having a direct object. It is consistent with itself. It does not contain the most distant implication, that any portion of the human race, except the Cherokees themselves, had even the shadow of a claim upon the Cherokee territory. It guarantees that territory to its possessors as their own absolute property; accepts grants from them; and engages that the United States shall befriend them, in their future, efforts for improvement. That the Cherokees have never forfeited the benefit of these stipulations will appear in subsequent numbers.

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Third treaty, 1792-Fourth treaty, or second treaty of Philadelphia, 1794-Guaranty of another Indian treaty-Fifth treaty, or first treaty of Tellico, 1798-The guaranty repeated, and declared to be forever-The construction of former treaties confirmed No shadow of evidence on the other side.

On the 17th of February, 1792, an additional article was signed at Philadelphia, by Henry Knox, Secretary of War, for the United States, and seven chiefs and warriors in behalf of the Cherokees. As this article was the result of a distinct negotiation, held seven months after the execution of the Treaty of Holston, it may with propriety be called the THIRD TREATY between the United States and the Cherokees. It provided, that the annuity, given by the fourth article of the next previous treaty, should be raised from $1,000 to $1,500; and it declared that this annual sum was given "in consideration of the relinquishment of lands," which had been made in that treaty. Of course, the United States admitted, that the Cherokees had possessed lands, on the outside of the limits established by the treaty, which lands they had relinquished to the United States. This additional article was a confirmation of the Treaty of Holston, after ample time had elapsed for consideration:

FOURTH TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEES.

This document was executed at Philadelphia, on the 26th of June, 1794, by Henry Knox for the United States, and thirteen chiefs for the Cherokees.

After a preamble, which states that the treaty of Holston had "not been fully carried into execution by reason of some misunderstandings," and that the parties were "desirous of re-establishing peace and friendship,"

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ART. 1st declares, "that the said treaty of Holston is, to all intents and purposes, in full force, and binding upon the said parties, as well in respect to the boundaries therein mentioned, as in all other respects whatever."

ART. 2d stipulates, that the boundaries shall be ascertained and marked, whenever the Cherokees shall have ninety days' notice.

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ART. 3. "The United States, to evince their justice by amply compensating the said Cherokee Nation of Indians for relinquishments of land," made by the treaty of Hopewell and the treaty of Holston,' agree to give the Cherokees, in lieu of former annual payments, $5,000 a year, in goods.

ART. 4. The Cherokees agree that. $50 shall be deducted from their annuity for every horse stolen by any of their people from the neighboring whites.

ART. 5. These articles to be permanent additions to the treaty of Holston, as soon as ratified. They were soon after ratified by President Washington and the Senate.

It has appeared, in the course of this discussion, that the treaty with the Creeks, in 1790, was the basis of the treaty of Holston in 1791. This was confirmed in 1792, and again, expressly and solemnly, in 1794. Thus we have four distinct documents, which received the approbation of General, Washington, and his cabinet, all agreeing in the same principles, and all ratified by the Senate of the United States. Several other treaties, in which the same principles were involved, were formed with other tribes of Indians, during the same administration. In one of these, the United States engage, that they will never claim the lands reserved to the Indians; but that the Indians shall have the free use and enjoyment thereof, until they choose to sell the same to the People of the United States.'

FIFTH TREATY, OR TREATY OF TELLICO.

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This treaty was signed near Tellico, on Cherokee Ground," Oct. 2, 1798, by Thomas Butler and George Walton, commissioners of the United States, and thirty-nine Cherokee chiefs and warriors, in the presence of Silas Dinsmoor, Agent of the United States among the Cherokees, and thirteen other, witnesses, among whom was the late Mr. Charles Hicks, who acted as interpreter on the occasion.

The treaty begins with a long preamble, stating the reasons why it was necessary to make another treaty; and among the reasons are these two clauses; viz. "for the purpose of doing justice to the Cherokee Nation of Indians ;" and "in order to promote the interest and safety of the said States." ART. 1. Peace renewed and declared perpetual.

ART. 2. The treaties subsisting between the parties in full force; "together with the construction and usage under the respective articles; and so to continue." ART. 3. Limits to remain the same, "where not altered by the present treaty." ART. 4. The Cherokee Nation " do hereby relinquish and cede to the United States all the lands within the following points and lines:" [Here follows a boun dary, by which a considerable district of land, now in East Tennessee, was ceded to the United States.]

ART. 5. The line described in the treaty to be marked immediately, "which said line shall form a part of the boundary between the United States and the Cherokee Nation."

ART. 6. In consideration of the preceding cession, the United States agree to pay $5,000 on signing, and $1,000 annually, in addition to previous stipulations of this kind; "and will continue the GUARANTY OF THE REMAINDER OF THEIR COUNTRY FOREVER, as made and contained in former treaties."

ART. 7. A road granted by "the Cherokee nation," across a small corner of their country, to the citizens of the United States; and in consideration of this grant, the Cherokees are to be permitted "to hunt and take game upon the lands relinquished and ceded by this treaty," until settlements shall make such hunting improper.

ART. 8. Due notice to be given of the payment of the annual stipends, and the

United States to furnish provisions for a reasonable number of Cherokees, who shall assemble on these occasions.

ART. 9. Horses stolen from Cherokees by whites to be paid for by the United States; and horses stolen from whites by Cherokees, to be paid for by a deduction from the annuity.

ART. 10. The Agent of the United States residing among the Cherokees to have a sufficient peace of ground allotted "for his temporary use."

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Lastly this treaty to "be carried into effect on both sides with all good faith." The treaty was ratified soon after, by President Adams, and the Senate of the United States.

A few remarks on this treaty, may not be improper.

The words cede, nation, and guaranty, are used in the same senses here, as in the treaty of Holston, seven years before. During the interval, the government of the United States had been frequently employed in making treaties with various tribes of Indians; and it is safe to say, that in no period of our national history, was the meaning of public documents more thoroughly weighed, or the tendency and ultimate effect of public measures more seriously considered; and the world may be challenged to produce an example of the administration of a government over an extensive territory, and over a people in new, various, and complicated relations, in which fewer mistakes, either theoretical or practical, were made, than during the administration of General Washington.

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The parties were so careful of the inviolability and integrity of the Cherokee territory, that the use of a short road, in the northern extremity of that territory, (now in the State of Kentucky,) at a great distance from the actual residence of the Cherokees generally, was made the ground of a solemn treaty stipulation, and an equivalent was given for it. Nay more, the Agent of the United States, residing among the Cherokees to distribute the annual payments, to encourage the natives in agriculture and manufactures, and to execute the treaties in other respects, could not claim even the temporary use of land for a garden, or a cow pasture, till this small convenience was allowed him by treaty.

The United States not only acknowledge former treaties, and declare them to be in full force; but "the construction and usage under their respective articles" are acknowledged, ratified, and declared to be the rule of future usage and construction. This is a very remarkable provision; and was doubtless adopted to quiet the Cherokees in regard to encroachments feared from the United States. The construction and usage, under the previous treaties, can be proved at this day, by living witnesses, and by public archives, to have tended invariably to this one point-that the Cherokees were to retain the unimpaired sovereignty of their country; and that to enable them to do this permanently, and in the most effectual manner, they were to be taught all the common arts of civilized life. To this course they were urged, in the most affectionate manner, by letters written with General Washington's own hand. This was pressed upon them at every council, and habitually in private, by the Agent of the United States, in pursuance of written and verbal instructions from the head of the War Department. No historical facts can be proved with more absolute certainty than these; and there is not, it is believed, even the pretence of any evidence to the contrary.

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It appears, moreover, in the preamble to this treaty of Tellico, that the " misunderstandings" had arisen, because white settlers had transgressed the Cherokee boundary, contrary to the intention of previous treaties;" and that these intruders had been removed by the authority of the United States.

Again this treaty was negotiated by George Walton, a citizen of Georgia, in whom that State reposed great confidence, and by Thomas Butler, commanding the troops of the United States, in the State of Tennessee; and it was executed, (to use its own language) Cherokee ground.”

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Thus, the country of the Cherokees is called, as I have already shown, "their lands," their "territory," "their nation," and their "ground." These epithets are used, not by careless letter writers, nor in loose debate; but in the most solemn instruments, by which nations bind themselves to each other. And what is there on the other side? Is it said, or implied, that the Cherokees had a qualified title? a lease for a term of years? a right to hunt, till Georgia should want the land for growing corn or cotton? the privilege of adminis tering their own laws, till Georgia should exercise her rightful jurisdiction, as a sovereign and independent State? Is there any thing that looks this way? Not a word; not a syllable; not the most distant hint. While it is asserted in various forms, and implied more than a hundred times over, that the Cherokees were a nation, capable of treating with other nations; that they had a country, which was acknowledged to be indisputably their own; that they had a government to punish criminals and to deliver up renegadoes; and that they were to become a civilized people, permanently attached to the soil; there is not, in all these instruments, a single intimation, or ground of plausible argument, to the contrary.

Lastly, this treaty not only adopts the word "guaranty" from the treaty of Holston, but interprets it, (as every civilian in Europe and America would have done,) to be applicable to "the remainder of their country FOREVER;" that is, (for the meaning can be no less,) the Cherokees were to retain the clear title and unincumbered possession of the remainder of their country, which they previously had of the whole; and such title and possession were guaranteed to them forever, by the power and good faith of the United States.

No. IX.

Guaranty to the Delawares, in 1778-Ingratitude of not giving a fair construction to these treaties-Sixth compact with the Cherokees, 1803-Caution in the preservation of their rights-Use of the word Father-Second treaty of Tellico, or seventh compact, 1804Third treaty of Tellico, or eighth compact, 1805.

The idea of a guaranty, and of a country, as a territory belonging to Indians, was not new, even at the period of the treaty of Holston. The first treaty, which I have been able to find, made with Indians by the United States in their confederated character, was executed at

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