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Fort Pitt, on the 17th of September, 1778. It contains the following very remarkable article:

"ART. 6. Whereas the enemies of the United States have endeavored, by every artifice in their power, to possess the Indians in general with the opinion that it is the design of the States aforesaid to extirpate the Indians, and take possession of their country;-to obviate such false suggestion, the United States do engage to guaranty to the aforesaid nation of Delawares and their heirs, all their territorial rights in the fullest and most ample manner, as it hath been bounded by former treaties, as long as they, the said Delaware nation, shall abide by, and hold fast, the chain of friendship now entered into. And it is further agreed on, between the contracting parties (should it for the future be found conducive to the mutual interest of both parties) to invite any other tribes, who have been friends to the interest of the United States, to join the present confederation, and to form a State, whereof the Delaware nation shall be the head, and have a representation in Congress; provided nothing contained in this article to be considered as conclusive, until it meets with the approbation of Congress." [That it did meet with the approbation of Congress is manifest; because it is now part of a national treaty.]

The bare suggestion, that the United States designed to take possession of the Indian country was treated as a slander and a calumny. The territorial rights of the Indians were to be respected, and the Indian tribes generally were encouraged with the proposal that they might be represented in Congress. The natural implication of this last proposal must have been, that the Indians not only had territorial rights, but might expect to retain them permanently, in the same manner as the State of Virginia, or Connecticut, and the other confederated republics, expected to retain their territorial rights.

Let it be remembered, that this treaty was made when the United States were struggling for independence against the whole force of the British empire, and when every accession of strength to the American cause, and every subtraction from the power of the enemy, was a matter of great importance. Nor should it be forgotten, that other treaties formed with the Indians, after the peace with Great Britain were extremely desirable to the United States; that the exhausted treasury of the nation could ill afford the expense of Indian wars; that the Indians had the undisputed possession of boundless forests, on all our frontiers ; that many of them had endured public and private injuries, which were unavenged and uncompensated; that the Indian tribes were strong, compared with their subsequent decline and their present total want of power; and that the United States were weak, compared with their present gigantic strength.

Though the treaties were formed in such circumstances, not a single article bore hardly, or oppressively, on the United States, or on the new settlers. The Indians claimed nothing unjust or unreasonable. The early negotiations wear the aspect of mutual benefit, and appear to have been concluded with a desire to secure permanent peace to the parties, founded on the acknowledgment of their mutual rights.

Are the people of the United States unwilling to give a fair, candid, and natural construction to a treaty thus made? I might say, Are they unwilling to give it the only construction of which it is capable ? Are they unwilling to admit a meaning which stands out prominently upon the very face of the transaction, and which no ingenuity can distort, pervert, or evade? Will they refuse to be bound by the plainest and most solemn engagements, deliberately formed, ratified, acted upon, confirmed, ratified again and again by the highest authority of our re

public? How can it for a moment be apprehended, that the co-ordinate branches of our Government-our high, legislative, executive, and judicial functionaries, will manifest so total a disregard of every principle of public morality?

SIXTH COMPACT WITH THE CHEROKEES.

This instrument was executed on the 20th of October, 1803, by Return J. Meigs, Agent of the United States among the Cherokees, and by fourteen Cherokee chiefs, beginning with Black Fox, the principal Chief, and ending with the famous James Vann. It was witnessed by five officers of the U. S. Army, and three other persons, one of whom was Charles Hicks, then acting as interpreter. I have called it a compact, not a treaty, because it was not sent to the Senate for ratification. But though it be not technically a treaty, it is morally binding upon the United States; for it has been carried into effect, and the United States, particularly the people of Tennessee and Georgia, have derived great benefit from it. I have an accurate copy before me.

"Articles of agreement between the United States and the Cherokee nation, for opening a road from the State of Tennessee to the State of Georgia, through the Cherokee nation.

"The Cherokee nation having taken into consideration the request of their Father the President of the United States, to grant that a road may be opened through the nation, from the State of Tennessee to the State of Georgia, and being desirous to evince to their Father, the President, and the good people of the United States, their good will and friendly disposition, do hereby agree, that a road may be opened from the State of Tennessee to the State of Georgia, with the reservations and provisions as in the following articles are expressed; and further to evince to our Father, the President, that we are not influenced by pecuniary motives, we make a present of the road to the United States."

ART. 1. A road granted, sixty feet in width, passing through about 150 miles of Cherokee territory, and opening a communication from Augusta, Georgia, to Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee. [This has usually been called the Federal Road. It has been much travelled; and great quantities of merchandize, and other valuable property have been transported over it.] It was to be made solely at the expense of the United States. The article also provides; that when the road is opened, the direction of it shall not be changed; and that no branch or branches (except one which had been described)" shall ever be permitted to be opened without the consent of the Cherokee Naion."

ART. 2. The Cherokees reserve to themselves the income of the ferries; and specify where the ferries shall be kept.

ART. 3. Various regulations respecting houses of entertainment, which the Cherokees were to establish; keeping the road in repair, &c. &c.

ART. 4. No neat cattle from the southern States shall be driven through the Cherokee Nation; and when horses are taken through, the number of them shall be inserted in the passport of the owner. The Cherokees not to be answerable for

estrays from among the animals of the whites.

ART. 5. Officers, civil and military, mail carriers, and some other classes, exempted from toll and ferriage.

ART. 6. Commissioners to be appointed on each side to survey and mark the road. ART. 7. One copy of this agreement to be sent to the Secretary of War, another to be left with the principal Cherokee Chief, and a third with the Agent of the United States among the Cherokees.

The road was opened the following year, and has now been travelled for a quarter of a century; and, during this whole time, has greatly facilitated intercourse between different parts of the southern States.

No reader of the foregoing abstract can be so dull as not to perceive, that the privilege was granted to the United States, at the special instance of the President; that the Cherokees were extremely

cautious not to compromit their territorial rights; that they made the grant from motives of friendship, and a willingness to afford the desired accommodation. They guard, in a suitable manner, against vexations and liabilities, to which this act of kindness might be thought to expose them; and they reserve the income of the ferries, some of which are over considerable rivers, and have been quite profitable.

The word 'Father' is repeatedly used in this document, to indicate the relation which the President of the United States held to the Cherokees as their protector from aggression, and as bound to see that the treaties with them are carried into effect "with all good faith." We had obtruded the word upon them. We had put it into their mouths, and it was made the standing pledge, not merely of our justice, but of our kindness and generosity towards them. Shall this sacred and venerable name be prostituted to purposes of injustice and oppression? For most assuredly it will be deemed oppression, rank oppression, if we disown our engagements, forswear our most solemn covenants, and then take possession of the lands of our poor neighbors, which had been secured to them by the highest guaranty which we could make. Nor will the oppression be less odious on account of its being accompanied by professions of great benevolence, and the promise of a new guaranty.

SECOND TREATY OF TELLICO, OR SEVENTH NATIONAL COMPACT WITH THE CHEROKEES.

This instrument was executed "in the garrison of Tellico, on Cherokee ground," Oct. 24, 1804, by Daniel Smith and Return J. Meigs, for the United States, and ten chiefs and warriors for the Cherokees, in the presence of five witnesses.

The preamble says, that certain propositions were made by the Commissioners; that they were considered by the Chiefs; and that "the parties aforesaid have unanimously agreed and stipulated, as is definitely expressed in the following articles:"

ART. 1. " For the considerations hereinafter expressed, the Cherokee nation relinquish and cede to the United States a tract of land bounding," &c. [This was a small tract, called Wafford's Settlement, containing perhaps not more than 100,000 acres. It was a strip on the frontier between the Cherokees and Georgia.]

ART. 2. “In consideration of the relinquishment and cession, the United States, upon signing the present treaty," shall pay the Cherokees $5,000, in goods or money, at the option of the Cherokees, and $1,000 annually, in addition to the previous annuities.

The treaty was ratified by President Jefferson and the Senate. The relinquishment and cession" are of the same nature, and carry with them the same implications, as have been described in preceding

comments.

THIRD TREATY OF TELLICO, OR EIGHTH COMPACT WITH THE CHEROKEES.

This treaty was executed Oct. 25, 1805, by two Commissioners of the United States, and thirty-three Cherokee chiefs and warriors, in the presence of ten witnesses.

ART. 1. "Former treaties recognized and continued in force.

ART. 2. "The Cherokees quit claim and cede to the United States all the land which they [the Cherokees] have heretofore claimed, lying to the north of the

following boundary line:" [The lands here ceded were of great value, and fell into the State of Tennessee, extending east and west near the central parts of that State.] ART. 3. “In consideration of the above cession and relinquishment, the United States agree to pay immediately" $14,000, and $3,000 a year, in addition to previous annuities.

ART. 4. The citizens of the United States to have the free and unmolested use of two roads, in addition to those previously established; one leading from Tennessee to Georgia, and the other from Tennessee to the settlements on the Tombigbee. These roads to be marked out by men appointed on each side for the purpose.

ART. 5. This treaty to take effect, "as soon as it is ratified by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the same."

The treaty was ratified by President Jefferson and the Senate. It will be observed, that the first article contains an express recognition of previous treaties, and pledges the faith of the United States anew for the fulfilment of those treaties.

Several documents of this kind remain to be considered; but I engage myself to you, Messrs. Editors, and to your readers, that I will be as brief as possible, consistently with fidelity to the cause. This is

a serious matter to the Indians and to the people of the United States. It is a matter which must be decided by the great body of the people, through their Representatives in Congress. The people must therefore have the means of understanding the subject.

No. X.

Fourth treaty of Tellico, or ninth compact, 1805-Proceedings of the State of TennesseeFirst treaty of Washington, or tenth compact, 1806-Settlement of the Chickasaw boundary-Treaty of Chickasaw Old Fields, or eleventh compact, 1807-Second treaty of Washington, or twelfth compact, 1816-Proceedings of South Carolina.

I would content myself with saying, in reference to the remaining treaties, that they are perfectly consistent with the preceding ones, were it not, that this sweeping declaration would by no means do justice to the cause of the Indians. Several of these treaties contain new and striking illustrations of the doctrine that the Cherokees were understood to possess their country in full sovereignty.

FOURTH TREATY OF TELLICO, OR NINTH NATIONAL COMPACT WITH THE CHEROKEES.

This treaty was executed October 27, 1805, at the same place, as the one next preceding, and only two days afterwards. It was signed by the same commissioners and fourteen of the same Cherokee chiefs. The occasion of it is sufficiently explained in the first article:

ART. 1. "Whereas it has been represented by the one party to the other, that the section of land on which the garrison of Southwest Point stands, and which extends to Kingston, is likely to be a desirable place for the Assembly of the State of Tennessee to convene at, (a committee from that body, now in session, having viewed the situation,) now, the Cherokees, being possessed of a spirit of conciliation and seeing that this tract is desired for public purposes, and not for individual advantages, reserving the ferries to themselves, quit claim and cede to the United States the said section of land, understanding, at the same time, that the buildings erected by the public are to belong to the public, as well as the occupation of the same

during the pleasure of the Government. We also cede to the United States the first Island in the Tennessee above the mouth of the Clinch."

ART. 2. The Cherokees grant a mail road to the United States, from Tellico to the Tombigbee," to be laid out by viewers appointed on both sides."

ART. 3. "In consideration of the above cession and relinquishment, the United States agree to pay to the said Cherokee Indians $1,600."

ART. 4. The treaty to be obligatory when ratified.

Within a year or two past, as I have already said, the politicians of Georgia have contended, that the national government has no authority to make treaties with Indians living, as they describe the matter, "within the limits of a sovereign and independent State." The fact is, that the national government is the only competent authority, under the federal constitution, to enter into any engagements with the Indian tribes, which yet retain their organization as separate communities, and are acknowledged to possess a title to land within definite limits. The uniform practice of the government has accorded with these principles; and Georgia herself has, until very lately, been urging Congress and the Executive to hold treaties with the Cherokees. How did the State of Tennessee understand this subject? Let the first article of the preceding treaty answer. The legislature of Tennessee, desirous of obtaining a site for the erection of buildings to accommodate their state government, sent a committee to view the point, at the junction of two beautiful rivers, the Tennessee and the Clinch. The boundary, as it then stood, ran very near this point; and the State solicited a square mile for the public object above described. The Cherokees, out of a spirit of conciliation, and for $1,600 in money, ceded the section of land, with these remarkable reservations, viz: that they were to retain the ferries at the seat of government of Tennessee; and that the grant was made for public objects only. Of course, the land would revert to the Cherokees, if the seat of government should be removed. As the legislature afterwards fixed the seat of government farther west, no public buildings were erected at this place. Narrower boundaries were subsequently established between the United States and the Cherokees; but the ferries were held for a long time, if they are not now held, by assignees of the Cherokees. The treaty was ratified by President Jefferson and the Senate.

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This whole transaction strongly illustrates several important positions, which have been taken, or implied, in the preceding discussion such as the inviolability of the Cherokee territory; the right of the Cherokees to make or withhold cessions of land, according to their pleasure; their right to impose such restrictions upon their grants as they pleased; and the treaty-making power of the United States being the only medium by which a State can get a proper title to Indian territory.

TREATY OF WASHINGTON, OR TENTH COMPACT WITH THE
CHEROKEES.

This treaty was negotiated at Washington, January 7, 1806, by Henry Dearborn, Secretary of War, and seventeen Cherokee chiefs and warriors.

The object appears to have been to adjust certain claims of the Cherokees and Chickasaws to the same lands, lying between the Ten

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