Chapter IX: Front Matter (9)

_Proposal of Andrew Ross._--In the mean time[398] Andrew Ross, who was a member of the Cherokee delegation, suggested to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs that if he were authorized so to do he would proceed to the Cherokee country and bring a few chiefs or respectable individuals of the nation to Washington, with whom a treaty could be effected for the cession of the whole or part of the Cherokee territory. His plan was approved, with the understanding that if a treaty should be concluded the expenses of the delegation would be paid by the United States. Ross succeeded in assembling some fifteen or twenty Cherokees at the Cherokee agency, all of whom were favorable to the scheme of emigration. Under the self-styled appellation of a committee, they proceeded to appoint a chief and assistant chief in the persons of William Hicks and John McIntosh, and selected eight of their own number as the remainder of the delegation to visit Washington.[399]

_Protest of John Ross and thirteen thousand Cherokees._--Upon their arrival Hon. J. H. Eaton was designated[400] to conduct the negotiations with them. During the pendency of the negotiations Mr. Baton advised John Ross of the purpose in view and solicited his co-operation in the scheme. Mr. Ross refused[401] this proposal with much warmth, and took occasion to add in behalf of the Cherokee Nation that "in the face of Heaven and earth, before God and man, I most solemnly protest against any treaty whatever being entered into with those of whom you say one is in progress so as to affect the rights and interests of the Cherokee Nation east of the Mississippi River."

Chief Ross also presented a protest, alleged to have been signed by more than thirteen thousand Cherokees, against the negotiation of such a treaty.

_Preliminary treaty concluded with Andrew Ross et al._--Disregarding the protest of Chief Ross and distrusting the verity of that purporting to have been so numerously signed in the nation, the negotiations proceeded, and a treaty or agreement was concluded on the 19th day of June, 1834. The treaty provided for the opening of emigrant enrolling books, with a memorandum heading declaring the assent of the subscriber to a treaty yet to be concluded with the United States based upon the terms previously offered by the President, covering a cession and removal, and with the proviso that if no such subsequent treaty should be concluded within the next few months then the subscribers would cede to the United States all their right and interest in the Cherokee lands east of the Mississippi. In consideration of this they were to be removed and subsisted for one year at the expense of the United States, to receive the ascertained value of their improvements, and to be entitled to all such stipulations as should thereafter be made in favor of those who should not then remove.

The treaty, however, failed of ratification, though the enrolling books were opened[402] and a few of the Cherokees entered their names for emigration.

CHEROKEES MEMORIALIZE CONGRESS.

While the negotiations leading up to the conclusion of this treaty were in progress John Ross and his delegation, finding no disposition on the part of the executive authority to enter into a discussion of Cherokee affairs predicated upon any other basis than an abandonment by them of their homes and country east of the Mississippi, presented[403] a memorial to Congress complaining of the injuries done them and praying for redress. Without affecting to pass judgment on the merits of the controversy, the writer thinks this memorial well deserving of reproduction here as evidencing the devoted and pathetic attachment with which the Cherokees clung to the land of their fathers, and, remembering the wrongs and humiliations of the past, refused to be convinced that justice, prosperity, and happiness awaited them beyond the Mississippi.

The memorial of the Cherokee Nation respectfully showeth,
that they approach your honorable bodies as the representatives
of the people of the United States, intrusted by them under the
Constitution with the exercise of their sovereign power, to ask for
protection of the rights of your memorialists and redress of their
grievances.

They respectfully represent that their rights, being stipulated
by numerous solemn treaties, which guaranteed to them protection,
and guarded as they supposed by laws enacted by Congress, they
had hoped that the approach of danger would be prevented by the
interposition of the power of the Executive charged with the
execution of treaties and laws; and that when their rights should
come in question they would be finally and authoritatively decided
by the judiciary, whose decrees it would be the duty of the
Executive to see carried into effect. For many years these their
just hopes were not disappointed.

The public faith of the United States, solemnly pledged
to them, was duly kept in form and substance. Happy under the
parental guardianship of the United States, they applied themselves
assiduously and successfully to learn the lessons of civilization
and peace, which, in the prosecution of a humane and Christian
policy, the United States caused to be taught them. Of the advances
they have made under the influence of this benevolent system,
they might a few years ago have been tempted to speak with pride
and satisfaction and with grateful hearts to those who have been
their instructors. They could have pointed with pleasure to the
houses they had built, the improvements they had made, the fields
they were cultivating; they could have exhibited their domestic
establishments, and shown how from wandering in the forests many of
them had become the heads of families, with fixed habitations, each
the center of a domestic circle like that which forms the happiness
of civilized man. They could have shown, too, how the arts of
industry, human knowledge, and letters had been introduced amongst
them, and how the highest of all the knowledge had come to bless
them, teaching them to know and to worship the Christian's God,
bowing down to Him at the same seasons and in the same spirit with
millions of His creatures who inhabit Christendom, and with them
embracing the hopes and promises of the Gospel.

But now each of these blessings has been made to them an
instrument of the keenest torture. Cupidity has fastened its
eye upon their lands and their homes, and is seeking by force
and by every variety of oppression and wrong to expel them from
their lands and their homes and to tear them from all that has
become endeared to them. Of what they have already suffered it
is impossible for them to give the details, as they would make a
history. Of what they are menaced with by unlawful power, every
citizen of the United States who reads the public journals is
aware. In this their distress they have appealed to the judiciary
of the United States, where their rights have been solemnly
established. They have appealed to the Executive of the United
States to protect these rights according to the obligations
of treaties and the injunctions of the laws. But this appeal
to the Executive has been made in vain. In the hope that by
yielding something of their clear rights they might succeed in
obtaining security for the remainder, they have lately opened a
correspondence with the Executive, offering to make a considerable
cession from what had been reserved to them by solemn treaties,
only upon condition that they might be protected in the part not
ceded. But their earnest supplication has been unheeded, and the
only answer they can get, informs them, in substance, that they
must be left to their fate, or renounce the whole. What that fate
is to be unhappily is too plain.

The State of Georgia has assumed jurisdiction over them, has
invaded their territory, has claimed the right to dispose of their
lands, and has actually proceeded to dispose of them, reserving
only a small portion to individuals, and even these portions are
threatened and will no doubt, soon be taken from them. Thus the
nation is stripped of its territory and individuals of their
property without the least color of right, and in open violation
of the guarantee of treaties. At the same time the Cherokees,
deprived of the protection of their own government and laws, are
left without the protection of any other laws, outlawed as it were
and exposed to indignities, imprisonment, persecution, and even to
death, though they have committed no offense whatever, save and
except that of seeking to enjoy what belongs to them, and refusing
to yield it up to those who have no pretense of title to it. Of the
acts of the legislature of Georgia your memorialists will endeavor
to furnish copies to your honorable bodies, and of the doings
of individuals they will furnish evidence if required. And your
memorialists further respectfully represent that the Executive of
the United States has not only refused to protect your memorialists
against the wrongs they have suffered and are still suffering at
the hands of unjust cupidity, but has done much more. It is but too
plain that, for several years past, the power of the Executive has
been exerted on the side of their oppressors and is co-operating
with them in the work of destruction. Of two particulars in the
conduct of the Executive your memorialists would make mention, not
merely as matters of evidence but as specific subjects of complaint
in addition to the more general ones already stated.

The first of these is the mode adopted to oppress and injure
your memorialists under color of enrollments for emigration. Unfit
persons are introduced as agents, acts are practiced by them that
are unjust, unworthy, and demoralizing, and have no object but
to force your memorialists to yield and abandon their rights by
making their lives intolerably wretched. They forbear to go into
particulars, which nevertheless they are prepared, at a proper
time, to exhibit.

The other is calculated also to weaken and distress your
memorialists, and is essentially unjust. Heretofore, until within
the last four years, the money appropriated by Congress for
annuities has been paid to the nation, by whom it was distributed
and used for the benefit of the nation. And this method of payment
was not only sanctioned by the usage of the Government of the
United States, but was acceptable to the Cherokees. Yet, without
any cause known to your memorialists, and contrary to their just
expectations, the payment has been withheld for the period just
mentioned, on the ground, then for the first time assumed, that the
annuities were to be paid, not as hitherto, to the nation, but to
the individual Cherokees, each his own small fraction, dividing the
whole according to the numbers of the nation. The fact is, that for
the last four years the annuities have not been paid at all.

The distribution in this new way was impracticable, if the
Cherokees had been willing thus to receive it, but they were not
willing; they have refused and the annuities have remained unpaid.
Your memorialists forbear to advert to the motives of such conduct,
leaving them to be considered and appreciated by Congress. All they
will say is, that it has coincided with other measures adopted
to reduce them to poverty and despair and to extort from their
wretchedness a concession of their guaranteed rights. Having failed
in their efforts to obtain relief elsewhere, your memorialists
now appeal to Congress, and respectfully pray that your honorable
bodies will look into their whole case, and that such measures may
be adopted as will give them redress and security.

TREATY NEGOTIATIONS RESUMED.

_Rival delegations headed by Ross and Ridge._--But little else was done and practically nothing was accomplished until the following winter. Early in February, 1835, two rival delegations, each claiming to represent the Cherokee Nation, arrived in Washington. One was headed by John Ross, who had long been the principal chief and who was the most intelligent and influential man in the nation. The rival delegation was led by John Ridge, who had been a subchief and a man of some considerable influence among his people.[404] The Ross delegation had been consistently and bitterly opposed to any negotiations having in view the surrender of their territory and a removal west of the Mississippi. Ridge and his delegation, though formerly of the same mind with Ross, had begun to perceive the futility of further opposition to the demands of the State and national authorities. Feeling the certainty that the approaching crisis in Cherokee affairs could have but one result, and perceiving an opportunity to enhance his own importance and to secure the discomfiture of his hitherto more powerful rival, Ridge caused it to be intimated to the United States authorities that he and his delegation were prepared to treat with them upon the basis previously laid down by President Jackson of a cession of their territory and a removal west.

Rev. J. F. Schermerhorn was therefore appointed,[405] and instructions were prepared authorizing him to meet Ridge and his party and to ascertain on what terms an amicable and satisfactory arrangement could be made. After the instructions had been delivered to Mr. Schermerhorn, but before he had commenced the negotiation, Ross and his party requested to be allowed to make a proposal to be submitted to the President for his approval. He was assured that his proposal would be considered, and in the mean time Mr. Schermerhorn was requested to suspend his operations. So much time, however, elapsed before anything more was heard from Ross and his party that the negotiations with the Ridge party were proceeded with. They terminated in a general understanding respecting the basis of an arrangement, leaving, however, many of the details to be filled up. The total amount of the various stipulations provided for, as a full consideration for the cession of their lands, was $3,250,000, besides the sum of $150,000 for depredation claims. In addition, a tract of 800,000 acres of land west of the Mississippi was to be added to the territory already promised them, amounting in the aggregate, including the western outlet, to about 13,800,000 acres.[406]

_Proposition of John Ross._--On the 25th of February, Ross and his delegation, finding that the negotiations with Ridge were proceeding, submitted a proposition for removal based upon an allowance of $20,000,000 for the cession of the territory and the payment of a class of claims of uncertain number and value. This was considered so unreasonable as to render the seriousness of his proposition doubtful at the time, but it was finally modified by an assertion of his willingness to accept such sum as the Senate of the United States should declare to be just and proper.[407] Thereupon a statement of all the facts was placed in the hands of Senator King, of Georgia, who submitted the same to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the 2d of March. It was not contemplated that any arrangement made with these Cherokee delegations at this time should be definitive, but that the Cherokee people should be assembled for the purpose of considering the subject, and their assent asked to such propositions as they might deem satisfactory.

_Resolution of United States Senate on John Ross's proposition._--The Senate gave the matter prompt consideration, and on the 6th of March the Secretary of War advised Mr. Ross that by a resolution they had stated their opinion that "a sum not exceeding $5,000,000 should be paid to the Cherokee Indians for all their lands and possessions east of the Mississippi River," and he was invited to enter into negotiations upon that basis, but declined to do so.

_Preliminary treaty concluded with the Ridge party._--The treaty between Schermerhorn and the Ridge party was thereupon completed with some modifications and duly signed on the 14th of March, but with the express stipulation that it should receive the approval of the Cherokee people in full council assembled before being considered of any binding force. The consideration was changed to read $4,500,000 and 800,000 acres of additional land, but in the main its provisions differed but little in the important objects sought to be secured from those contained in the treaty as finally concluded, December 29, 1835.

_Schermerhorn and Carroll appointed to complete the treaty._--In the mean time,[408] two days after the conclusion of the preliminary Ridge treaty, President Jackson issued an address to the Cherokees, inviting them to a calm consideration of their condition and prospects, and urging upon them the benefits certain to inure to their nation by the ratification of the treaty just concluded and their removal to the western country. This address was intrusted to Rev. J. F. Schermerhorn and General William Carroll, whom the President had appointed on the 2d of April as commissioners to complete in the Cherokee country the negotiation of the treaty.

General Carroll being unable on account of ill-health to proceed from Nashville to the Cherokee Nation, Mr. Schermerhorn was compelled to assume the responsibilities of the negotiation alone. The entire summer and fall were spent in endeavors to reconcile differences of opinion, to adjust feuds among the different factions of the tribe, and to secure some definitive and consolidated action. Meeting with no substantial encouragement, he suggested, in a communication to the Secretary of War,[409] two alternative propositions, by either of which a treaty might be secured.

These propositions were: (1) That the appraising agents of the Government should ascertain from influential Cherokees their own opinion of the value of their improvements, and promise them the amount, if this estimate should be in any degree reasonable, and if they would take a decided stand in favor of the treaty and conclude the same. (2) To conclude the treaty with a portion of the nation only, should one with the whole be found impracticable, and compel the acquiescence of the remainder in its provisions.

He was at once[410] advised of the opposition of the President to any such action. If a treaty could not be concluded upon fair and open terms, he must abandon the effort and leave the nation to the consequences of its own stubbornness. He must make no particular promise to any individual, high or low, to gain his co-operation. The interest of the whole must not be sacrificed to the cupidity of a few, and if a treaty was concluded at all it must be one that would stand the test of the most rigid scrutiny.

_The Ridge treaty rejected._--The Cherokee people in full council at Red Clay, in the following October, rejected the Ridge treaty. Mr. John Ridge and Elias Boudinot, who had been the main stay and support of Mr. Schermerhorn in the preceding negotiations, at this council, through fear or duplicity and unexpectedly to him, abandoned their support of his measures and coincided with the preponderance of Cherokee sentiment on the subject. In his report of this failure to bring the negotiations to a successful termination Commissioner Schermerhorn says: "I have pressed Ross so hard by the course I have adopted that although he got the general council to pass a resolution declaring that they would not treat on the basis of the $5,000,000, yet he has been forced to bring the nation to agree to a treaty, here or at Washington. They have used every effort to get by me and get to Washington again this winter. They dare not yet do it. You will perceive Ridge and his friends have taken apparently a strange course. I believe he began to be discouraged in contending with the power of Ross; and perhaps also considerations of personal safety have had their influence, but the Lord is able to overrule all things for good."[411]

_Council at New Echota._--During the session of this council notice was given to the Cherokees to meet the United States commissioners on the third Monday in December following, at New Echota, for the purpose of negotiating and agreeing upon the terms of a treaty. The notice was also printed in Cherokee and circulated throughout the nation, informing the Indians that those who did not attend would be counted as assenting to any treaty that might be made.[412] In the mean time the Ross delegation, authorized by the Red Clay council to conclude a treaty either there or at Washington, finding that Schermerhorn had no authority to treat on any other basis than the one rejected by the nation, proceeded, according to their people's instructions, to Washington. Previous to their departure, John Ross was arrested. This took place immediately upon the breaking up of the council. He was detained some time under the surveillance of a strong guard, without any charge against him, and ultimately released without any apology or explanation. At this arrest all his papers were seized, including as well all his private correspondence and the proceedings of the Cherokee council.[413] In accordance with the call for a council at New Echota the Indians assembled at the appointed time and place, to the number of only three to five hundred, as reported[414] by Mr. Schermerhorn himself, who could hardly be accused of any tendency to underestimate the gathering. That gentleman opened the council December 22, 1835, in the absence of Governor Carroll, whose health was still such as to prevent his attendance. The objects of the council were fully explained, the small attendance being attributed to the influence of John Ross. It was also suggested by those unfriendly to the proposed treaty as a good reason for the absence of so large a proportion of the nation, that the right to convene a national council was vested in the principal chief, and they were unaware that that officer's authority had been delegated to Mr. Schermerhorn.[413]

Those present resolved on the 23d to enter into negotiations and appointed a committee of twenty to arrange the details with the Commissioner and to report the result to the whole council.

The following five days were occupied by the commissioner and the committee in discussing and agreeing upon the details of the treaty, one point of difference being as to whether the $5,000,000 consideration for their lands as mentioned in the resolution of the Senate was meant to include the damages to individual property sustained at the hands of white trespassers.

The Indians insisted that $300,000 additional should be allowed for that purpose, but it was finally agreed that the treaty should not be presented to the Senate without the consent of their delegation until they were satisfied the Senate had not included these claims in the sum named in the resolution of that body. It was also insisted by the Cherokee committee that reservations should be made to such of their people as desired to remain in their homes and become citizens of the United States.

As a compromise of this demand, it was agreed by the United States commissioner to allow pre-emptions of 160 acres each, not exceeding 400 in number, in the States of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama, to such heads of Cherokee families only as were qualified to become useful members of society. None were to be entitled to this privilege unless their applications were recommended by a committee of their own people (a majority of which committee should be composed of those members of the tribe who were themselves enrolled for removal) and approved by the United States commissioners. The latter also proposed to make the reservations dependent upon the approval of the legislatures of the States within which they might be respectively located, but to this proposition a strenuous objection was offered by the Indians.

The articles as agreed upon were reported by the Cherokee committee to their people, and were approved, transcribed, and signed on the 29th.

The council adjourned on the 30th, after designating a committee to proceed to Washington and urge the ratification of the treaty, clothed with power to assent to any alterations made necessary by the action of the President or Senate.[415]

_Commissioner Schermerhorn reports conclusion of a treaty._--Immediately following the adjournment of the council, Commissioner Schermerhorn wrote the Secretary of War, saying: "I have the extreme pleasure to announce to you that yesterday I concluded a treaty. * * * Ross after this treaty is prostrate. The power of the nation is taken from him, as well as the money, and the treaty will give general satisfaction."[416]

_Supplemental treaty concluded._--Several provisions of the treaty met with the disapproval of the President, in order to meet which supplementary articles of agreement were concluded under date of March 1, 1836,[417] wherein it was stipulated that all pre-emption rights provided for should be declared void; also that, in lieu of the same and to cover expenses of removal and payment of claims against citizens of the United States, the sum of $600,000 should be allowed them in addition to the five millions allowed for cession of territory. And, furthermore, that the $100,000 stipulated to be expended for the poorer class of Cherokees who should remove west should be placed to the credit of the general national fund.[418]

_Opposition of the Ross party._--Whilst these events were happening, and strenuous efforts were being made to encourage among Senators a sentiment favorable to the ratification of the treaty, John Ross was manifesting his usual zeal and activity in the opposite direction. Early in the spring of 1836 he made his appearance in Washington, accompanied by a delegation, and presented two protests against the ratification of the treaty, one purporting to have been signed by Cherokees residing within the limits of North Carolina to the number of 3,250, and the other representing the alleged sentiments of 12,714 persons residing within the main body of the nation. Mr. Ross also demanded the payment of the long withheld annuities to himself as the duly authorized representative of the nation, which was declined unless special direction to that effect should be given by an authentic vote of the tribe from year to year. He was further assured that the President had ceased to recognize any existing government among the Eastern Cherokees.[419]

_Treaty ratified by United States Senate._--In spite of the opposition of Mr. Ross and his party, the treaty was assented to by the Senate by one more than the necessary two-thirds majority,[420] and was ratified and proclaimed by the President on the 23d of May, 1836.[421] By its terms two years were allowed within which the nation must remove west of the Mississippi.

_Measures for execution of the treaty._--Preparatory steps were promptly taken for carrying the treaty into execution. On the 7th of June Gov. Wilson Lumpkin, of Georgia, and Gov. William Carroll, of Tennessee, were designated as commissioners under the 17th article, and vested with general supervisory authority over the execution of the treaty. The selection and general supervision (under the foregoing commissioners) of the agents to appraise the value of Cherokee improvements was placed in charge of Benjamin F. Curry, to whom detailed instructions were given[422] for his guidance. General John E. Wool was placed in command of the United States troops within the Cherokee Nation, but with instructions[423] that military force should only be applied in the event of hostilities being commenced by the Cherokees.

_The Ross party refuse to acquiesce._--John Ross and his delegation, having returned home, at once proceeded to enter upon a vigorous campaign of opposition to the execution of the treaty. He used every means to incite the animosity of his people against Ridge and his friends, who had been instrumental in bringing it about and who were favorable to removal. Councils were held and resolutions were adopted denouncing in the severest terms the motives and action of the United States authorities and declaring the treaty in all its provisions absolutely null and void.[424] A copy of these resolutions having been transmitted to the Secretary of War by General Wool, the former was directed[425] by the President to express his astonishment that an officer of the Army should have received or transmitted a paper so disrespectful to the Executive, to the Senate, and through them to the people of the United States. To prevent any misapprehension on the subject of the treaty the Secretary was instructed to repeat in the most explicit terms the settled determination of the President that it should be executed without modification and with all the dispatch consistent with propriety and justice. Furthermore, that after delivering a copy of this letter to Mr. Ross no further communication should be held with him either orally or in writing in regard to the treaty.

To give a clearer idea of the actual state of feeling that pervaded the Cherokee Nation on the subject of removal, as well as the character of the methods that distinguished the negotiators on the part of the United States, a few quotations from the letters and reports of those in a position to observe the passing events may not be inappropriate.

REPORT OF MAJOR DAVIS.

Maj. William M. Davis had been appointed an agent by the Secretary of War for the enrollment of Cherokees desirous of removal to the West and for the appraisement of the value of their improvements. He had gone among the Cherokees for this specific purpose. He held his appointment by the grace and permission of the President. It was natural that his desire should be strongly in the line of securing the Executive approval of his labors.

Strong, however, as was that desire he was unable to bring himself to the support of the methods that were being pursued in the negotiation of the proposed treaty. On the 5th of March following the conclusion of the treaty of 1835, he wrote the Secretary of War thus:

I conceive that my duty to the President, to yourself, and to
my country, reluctantly compels me to make a statement of facts in
relation to a meeting of a small number of Cherokees at New Echota
last December, who were met by Mr. Schermerhorn and articles of a
general treaty entered into between them for the whole Cherokee
Nation.

* * * I should not interpose in the matter at all but I
discover that you do not receive impartial information on the
subject; that you have to depend upon the _ex parte_, partial, and
interested reports of a person who will not give you the truth.
I will not be silent when I see that you are about to be imposed
on by a gross and base betrayal of the high trust reposed in Rev.
J. F. Schermerhorn by you. His conduct and course of policy was a
series of blunders from first to last. * * * It has been wholly of
a partisan character.

Sir, that paper * * * called a treaty is no treaty at all,
because not sanctioned by the great body of the Cherokees and
made without their participation or assent. I solemnly declare
to you that upon its reference to the Cherokee people it would
be instantly rejected by nine-tenths of them and I believe by
nineteen-twentieths of them. There were not present at the
conclusion of the treaty more than one hundred Cherokee voters,
and not more than three hundred, including women and children,
although the weather was everything that could be desired. The
Indians had long been notified of the meeting, and blankets were
promised to all who would come and vote for the treaty. The most
cunning and artful means were resorted to to conceal the paucity
of numbers present at the treaty. No enumeration of them was made
by Schermerhorn. The business of making the treaty was transacted
with a committee appointed by the Indians present, so as not
to expose their numbers. The power of attorney under which the
committee acted was signed only by the president and secretary
of the meeting, so as not to disclose their weakness. * * * Mr.
Schermerhorn's apparent design was to conceal the real number
present and to impose on the public and the Government upon this
point. The delegation taken to Washington by Mr. Schermerhorn had
no more authority to make a treaty than any other dozen Cherokees
accidentally picked up for that purpose. I now warn you and the
President that if this paper of Schermerhorn's called a treaty
is sent to the Senate and ratified you will bring trouble upon
the Government and eventually destroy this (the Cherokee) nation.
The Cherokees are a peaceable, harmless people, but you may drive
them to desperation, and this treaty cannot be carried into effect
except by the strong arm of force.[426]

ELIAS BOUDINOT'S VIEWS.

About this time there also appeared, in justification of the treaty and of his own action in signing it, a pamphlet address issued by Elias Boudinot of the Cherokee Nation. Mr. Boudinot was one of the ablest and most cultured of his people, and had long been the editor and publisher of a newspaper in the nation, printed both in English and Cherokee. The substance of his argument in vindication of the treaty may have been creditable from the standpoint of policy and a regard for the future welfare of his people, but in the abstract it is a dangerous doctrine. He said:

We cannot conceive of the acts of a minority to be so
reprehensible and unjust as are represented by Mr. Ross. If one
hundred persons are ignorant of their true situation and are so
completely blinded as not to see the destruction that awaits them,
we can see strong reasons to justify the action of a minority of
fifty persons to do what the majority would do if they understood
their condition, to save a nation from political thralldom and
moral degradation.[427]

SPEECH OF GENERAL R. G. DUNLAP.

It having been extensively rumored, during the few months immediately succeeding the conclusion of the treaty, that John Ross and other evil disposed persons were seeking to incite the Cherokees to outbreak and bloodshed, the militia of the surrounding States were called into service for the protection of life and property from the supposed existing dangers. Brig. Gen. R. G. Dunlap commanded the East Tennessee volunteers. In a speech to his brigade at their disbandment in September, 1836, he used the following language:

I forthwith visited all the posts within the first three States
and gave the Cherokees (the whites needed none) all the protection
in my power. * * * My course has excited the hatred of a few of
the lawless rabble in Georgia, who have long played the part of
unfeeling petty tyrants, and that to the disgrace of the proud
character of gallant soldiers and good citizens. I had determined
that I would never dishonor the Tennessee arms in a servile service
by aiding to carry into execution at the point of the bayonet a
treaty made by a lean minority against the will and authority of
the Cherokee people. * * * I soon discovered that the Indians
had not the most distant thought of war with the United States,
notwithstanding the common rights of humanity and justice had been
denied them.[428]

REPORT OF GENERAL JOHN E. WOOL.

Again, February 18, 1837, General John E. Wool, of the United States Army, who had been ordered to the command of the troops that were being concentrated in the Cherokee country "to look down opposition" to the enforcement of the treaty, wrote Adjutant-General Jones, at Washington, thus:

"I called them (the Cherokees) together and made a short speech.
It is, however, vain to talk to a people almost universally opposed
to the treaty and who maintain that they never made such a treaty.
So determined are they in their opposition that not one of all
those who were present and voted at the council held but a day or
two since, however poor or destitute, would receive either rations
or clothing from the United States lest they might compromise
themselves in regard to the treaty. These same people, as well
as those in the mountains of North Carolina, during the summer
past, preferred living upon the roots and sap of trees rather than
receive provisions from the United States, and thousands, as I have
been informed, had no other food for weeks."

Four months later,[429] General Wool again, in the course of a letter to the Secretary of War concerning the death of Major Curry, who had been a prominent factor in promoting the conclusion of the treaty of 1835, said that--

Had Curry lived he would assuredly have been killed by the
Indians. It is a truth that you have not a single agent, high or
low, that has the slightest moral control over the Indians. It
would be wise if persons appointed to civil stations in the nation
could be taken from among those who have had nothing to do with
making the late treaty.

REPORT OF JOHN MASON, JR.

In further testimony concerning the situation of affairs in the Cherokee Nation at this period, may be cited the report of John Mason, Jr., who was in the summer of 1837[430] sent as the confidential agent of the War Department to make observations and report. In the autumn[431] of that year he reported that--

The chiefs and better informed part of the nation are convinced
that they cannot retain the country. But the opposition to the
treaty is unanimous and irreconcilable. They say it cannot bind
them because they did not make it; that it was made by a few
unauthorized individuals; that the nation is not a party to it. *
* * They retain the forms of their government in their proceedings
among themselves, though they have had no election since 1830; the
chiefs and headmen then in power having been authorized to act
until their government shall again be regularly constituted. Under
this arrangement John Ross retains the post of principal chief. *
* * The influence of this chief is unbounded and unquestioned. The
whole nation of eighteen thousand persons is with him, the few,
about three hundred, who made the treaty having left the country.
It is evident, therefore, that Ross and his party are in fact the
Cherokee Nation. * * * Many who were opposed to the treaty have
emigrated to secure the rations, or because of fear of an outbreak.
* * * The officers say that, with all his power, Ross cannot, if
he would, change the course he has heretofore pursued and to which
he is held by the fixed determination of his people. He dislikes
being seen in conversation with white men, and particularly with
agents of the Government. Were he, as matters now stand, to advise
the Indians to acknowledge the treaty, he would at once forfeit
their confidence and probably his life. Yet though unwavering in
his opposition to the treaty, Ross's influence has constantly been
exerted to preserve the peace of the country, and Colonel Lindsay
says that he (Ross) alone stands at this time between the whites
and bloodshed. The opposition to the treaty on the part of the
Indians is unanimous and sincere, and it is not a mere political
game played by Ross for the maintenance of his ascendancy in the
tribe.

HENRY CLAY'S SYMPATHY WITH THE CHEROKEES.

It is interesting in this connection, as indicating the strong and widespread public feeling manifested in the Cherokee question, to note that it became in some sense a test question among leaders of the two great political parties. The Democrats strenuously upheld the conduct of President Jackson on the subject, and the Whigs assailed him with extreme bitterness. The great Whig leader, Henry Clay, in replying[432] to a letter received by him from John Gunter, a Cherokee, took occasion to express his sympathy with the Cherokee people for the wrongs and sufferings experienced by them. He regretted them not only because of their injustice, but because they inflicted a deep wound on the character of the American Republic. He supposed that the principles which had uniformly governed our relations with the Indian nations had been too long and too firmly established to be disturbed. They had been proclaimed in the negotiation with Great Britain by the commissioners who concluded the treaty of peace, of whom he was one, and any violation of them by the United States he felt with sensibility. By those principles the Cherokee Nation had a right to establish its own form of government, to alter and amend it at pleasure, to live under its own laws, to be exempt from the United States laws or the laws of any individual State, and to claim the protection of the United States. He considered that the Chief Magistrate and his subordinates had acted in direct hostility to those principles and had thereby encouraged Georgia to usurp powers of legislation over the Cherokee Nation which she did not of right possess.

POLICY OF THE PRESIDENT CRITICISED--SPEECH OF COL. DAVID CROCKETT.

Among many men of note who denounced in most vigorous terms the policy of the Administration toward the Cherokees were Daniel Webster and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts; Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; Peleg Sprague, of Maine; Henry R. Storrs, of New York; Henry A. Wise, of Virginia; and David Crockett, of Tennessee. The latter, in a speech in the House of Representatives, denounced the treatment to which the Indians had been subjected at the hands of the Government as unjust, dishonest, cruel, and short-sighted in the extreme. He alluded to the fact that he represented a district which bordered on the domain of the southern tribes, and that his constituents were perhaps as immediately interested in the removal of the Indians as those of any other member of the House. His voice would perhaps not be seconded by that of a single fellow member living within 500 miles of his home. He had been threatened that if he did not support the policy of forcible removal his public career would be summarily cut off. But while he was perhaps as desirous of pleasing his constituents and of coinciding with the wishes of his colleagues as any man in Congress, he could not permit himself to do so at the expense of his honor and conscience in the support of such a measure. He believed the American people could be relied on to approve their Representatives for daring, in the face of all opposition, to perform their conscientious duty, but if not, the approval of his own conscience was dearer to him than all else.

Governor Lumpkin, immediately upon his appointment as commissioner, had repaired to the Cherokee country, but Governor Carroll, owing to some pending negotiations with the Choctaws and subsequently to ill health, was unable to assume the duties assigned him. He was succeeded[433] by John Kennedy. To this commission a third member was added in the summer of 1837[434] in the person of Colonel Guild, who was found to be ineligible, however, by reason of being a member of the Tennessee legislature. His place was supplied by the appointment[435] of James W. Gwin, of North Carolina.

On the 22d of December James Liddell was also appointed, _vice_ Governor Lumpkin resigned.[436]

Superintendent Currey having died, General Nathan Smith was appointed[437] to succeed him as superintendent of emigration.

_Census of Cherokee Nation._--It appears from a statement about this time,[438] made by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that from a census of the Cherokees, taken in the year 1835, the number residing in the States of Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee was 16,542, exclusive of slaves and of whites intermarried with Cherokees.[439]

In May, 1837,[440] General Wool was relieved from command at his own request, and his successor, Col. William Lindsay, was instructed to arrest John Ross and turn him over to the civil authorities in case he did anything further calculated to excite a spirit of hostility among the Cherokees on the subject of removal. This threat, however, seemed to have little effect, for we find Mr. Ross presiding over a general council, convened at his instigation, on the 31st of July, to attend which the Government hastily dispatched Mr. John Mason, Jr., with instructions to traverse and correct any misstatements of the position of the United States authorities that might be set forth by Ross and his followers. An extract from Mr. Mason's report has already been given.

_Cherokee memorial in Congress._--Again, in the spring of 1838 Ross laid before Congress a protest and memorial for the redress of grievances, which, in the Senate, was laid upon the table[441] by a vote of 36 to 10, and a memorial from citizens of New York involving an inquiry into the validity of the treaty of 1835 shared a similar fate in the House of Representatives two days later by a vote of 102 to 75.

_Speech of Henry A. Wise._--The discussion of these memorials in Congress took a wide range and excited the warmest interest, not only in that body, but throughout the country. The speeches were characterized by a depth and bitterness of feeling such as had never been exceeded even on the slavery question. Hon. Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, who was then a member of the House of Representatives from that State, was especially earnest in his denunciation of the treaty of 1835 and of the administration that had concluded it. He looked upon it as null and void. In order to make treaties binding the assent of both parties must be obtained, and he would assert without fear of contradiction that there was not one man in that House or out of it who had read the proceedings in the case who would say that there had ever been any assent given to that treaty by the Cherokee Nation. If this were the proper time he could go further and show that Georgia had done her part, too, in this oppression. He could show this by proving the policy of that State in relation to the Indians and the institutions of the General Government. That was the only State in the Union that had ever actually nullified, and she now tells you that if the United States should undertake to naturalize any portion of the Indian tribes within her limits as citizens of the United States she would do so again. He had not disparaged the surrounding people of Georgia, far from it--"but" (said he) "there are proofs around us in this city of the high advancement in civilization which characterizes the Cherokees." He would tell the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Halsey) that a statesman of his own State, who occupied a high and honorable post in this Government, would not gain greatly by a comparison, either in civilization or morals, with a Cherokee chief whom he could name. He would fearlessly institute such a comparison between John Ross and John Forsyth.[442]

_Speech of Daniel Webster._--Mr. Webster, of Massachusetts, also took occasion[443] to remark in the Senate that "there is a strong and growing feeling in the country that great wrong has been done to the Cherokees by the treaty of New Echota."

_President Van Buren proffers a compromise._--Public feeling became so deeply stirred on the subject that, in the interests of a compromise, President Van Buren, in May, 1838, formulated a proposition to allow the Cherokees two years further time in which to remove, subject to the approval of Congress and the executives of the States interested.

_Georgia hostile to the compromise._--To the communication addressed to Governor Gilmer, of Georgia, on the subject, he responded:

* * * I can give it no sanction whatever. The proposal could
not be carried into effect but in violation of the rights of
this State. * * * It is necessary that I should know whether the
President intends by the instructions to General Scott to require
that the Indians shall be maintained in their occupancy by an armed
force in opposition to the rights of the owners of the soil. If
such be the intention, a direct collision between the authorities
of the State and the General Government must ensue. My duty will
require that I shall prevent any interference whatever by the
troops with the rights of the State and its citizens. I shall not
fail to perform it.

This called forth a hurried explanation from the Secretary of War that the instructions to General Scott were not intended to bear the construction placed upon them by the executive of Georgia, but, on the contrary, it was the desire and the determination of the President to secure the removal of the Cherokees at the earliest day practicable, and he made no doubt it could be effected the present season.[444]

GENERAL SCOTT ORDERED TO COMMAND TROOPS IN THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY.

The executive machinery under the treaty had in the mean time been placed in operation, and at the beginning of the year 1838, 2,103 Cherokees had been removed, of whom 1,282 had been permitted to remove themselves.[445]

Intelligence having reached the President, however, causing apprehension that the mass of the nation did not intend to remove as required by the treaty General Winfield Scott was ordered[446] to assume command of the troops already in the nation, and to collect an increased force, comprising a regiment of artillery, a regiment of infantry, and six companies of dragoons. He was further authorized, if deemed necessary, to call upon the governors of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama for militia and volunteers, not exceeding four thousand in number, and to put the Indians in motion for the West at the earliest moment possible, following the expiration of the two years specified in the treaty.

_Proclamation of General Scott._--On reaching the scene of operations General Scott issued[447] a proclamation to the Cherokees in which he announced that--

The President of the United States has sent me with a powerful
army to cause you, in obedience to the treaty of 1835, to join
that part of your people who are already established in prosperity
on the other side of the Mississippi. Unhappily the two years *
* * allowed for that purpose you have suffered to pass away * *
* without making any preparation to follow, and now * * * the
emigration must be commenced in haste. * * * The full moon of May
is already on the wane, and before another shall have passed away
every Cherokee, man, woman, and child * * * must be in motion
to join their brethren in the far West. * * * This is no sudden
determination on the part of the President. * * * I have come
to carry out that determination. My troops already occupy many
positions, * * * and thousands and thousands are approaching from
every quarter to render resistance and escape alike hopeless. * * *
Will you then by resistance compel us to resort to arms? * * * Or
will you by flight seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests
and thus oblige us to hunt you down? Remember that in pursuit it
may be impossible to avoid conflicts. The blood of the white man
or the blood of the red man may be spilt, and if spilt, however
accidentally, it may be impossible for the discreet and humane
among you, or among us, to prevent a general war and carnage.

JOHN ROSS PROPOSES A NEW TREATY.

John Ross, finding no sign of wavering in the determination of the President to promptly execute the treaty, then submitted[448] a project for the negotiation of a new treaty as a substitute for that of 1835, and differing but little from it in its proposed provisions, except in the idea of securing a somewhat larger consideration, as well as some minor advantages. He was assured in reply that while the United States were willing to extend every liberality of construction to the terms of the treaty of 1835 and to secure the Cherokee title to the western country by patent, they could not entertain the idea of a new treaty.

As soon as it became absolutely apparent, not only that the Cherokees must go but that no unnecessary delay would be tolerated beyond the limit fixed by the treaty, a more submissive spirit began to be manifested among them. During the summer of 1838 several parties of emigrants were dispatched under the direction of officers of the Army. The number thus removed aggregated about 6,000.[449]

CHEROKEES PERMITTED TO REMOVE THEMSELVES.

Later in the season John Ross and others, by virtue of a resolution of the national council, submitted a proposition to General Scott that the remainder of the business of emigration should be confided to the nation, and should take place in the following September and October, after the close of the sickly season, the estimated cost of such removal to be fixed at $65.88 per head. To this proposal assent was given,[450] and the last party of Cherokee emigrants began their march for the West on the 4th of December, 1838.[451] Scattered through the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, however, were many who had fled to avoid removal, and who, nearly a year later, were represented to number 1,046,[452] and Mr. James Murray was, in the spring of 1840, appointed[453] a commissioner to ascertain and enroll for removal those entitled to the benefits of the treaty of 1835.

DISSENSIONS AMONG CHEROKEES IN THEIR NEW HOME.