The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-09-16

said. at the CuFrahee mountain, it is hereby
agreed that, In addition to the consideration
heretofore made for the said land, the United
States will cause certain valuable goods to be
Immediately delivered to the Undersigned
chiefs and Warriors for the use of their nation /;
and the said United States will also cause the
sum of 81 900 to be paid annually to the SAID
Cherokee nation. And the undersigned chiefs
and warriors do hereby, for themselves and
the Cherokee nation, their heirs and cescend-
ants for the consideration above mentioned, re-
lease, quit claim, relinquish, and cede all the
land to the right of the line described and be-
ginning as aforesaid.
One object of the treaty was declared in the
preamble to be to " ascertain the timuS OF the
CherokeesH In the article just quoted, the
limits are defined on the north and east that
is on those sides where the white settlers
weuld live, near the borders of the Cherokee
country On the south and west the Chero-
KEGS were limited by the country OF their Creek
and Chickasaw neighbors so that there would
have been no propriety in even mentioning the
subject here.
At the close of the article, the Cherokee
chiefs, I" for themselves and the whole Chero-
kee nation, their heirs and descendants, release,
quit claim, relinquish, and cede," a certain
portion of their country; that very country
which had been called "hunting grounds in
the treaty of Hopewell, and of which, as it is
now pretended, the Cherokees were tenants at
will Was it ever before heard, that tenant
at will released and ceded land to its rightful
owner!
The phraseology here used not only implies
that the word allotted, in the previous treaty,
meant no more than that the boundary of the
Cherokee country was fired, defined, by the
article in which il is used bat, it implies, also,
strongest HIdHHef, tnat the sovereign
power of the Cherekees over their territory was
l. MI l. . Al
most common and operative word, in all trans
fers of territory from one nation to another
Unless explained and iEited, it conveys the
xhe right OF sovereignty. Thus, in cessIons of
small portions of land to the General Govern
ment, for Navy Yards, &c, the several States
IRE in the practice Of reSerUing certain rights ;
such as the right of entering to apprehend
criminals, &c. implying that the word cede
would, eI Ui termiai, convey to the General
Government I'LL the rights ofsovereignty. But
noparty can convey what it does not possess ;
and it would have been absurd for the United
States to ask and accept cession without ad
uniting that the Cherokees had power to make
one. This article expressly declares that the
agreement was entered into, the cesson made,
and the compensation given "to extinguish for
ever all'the Cherokee nation" to the lands thus
ceded. The Cherokees are acknowledged,
then, to have had claims, not cancelled by war,
not swept away oy the superior loFce % tue
United States, never before surrendered:
claims which the solemn sanction of treaties
was deemed necessary to extinguish.
"ARr s. 1t is stipulated and agreed that the
citizens and inhabitants of the United States
shall have free and unmolested use of a road
from Washington district to Nero district, and
thenavigation of the Tennessee river"
This is another very curious provision, if we
are to believe that the Cherokees merely
tenants at will, and the people of the United
States the rightfu owners. But upon the
only tenab.e grounds, viz: that the Cherokees
had perfect title to the soil, with undoubted
rights of sovereignty it, the article is intel
ligible and reasonable. The people of the
United States wanted free passage through
particular part Of the Cherokee territory and,
as the parties now sustained amicable relations.
such passage was granted by treaty stipula-
ton.
carr. 6. 1t is agreed on the part of the
Cherokees, that the United States shall have
the sole and exclusive right of regulating their
trade'
BY the constitution of the United States it
had been provided. that Congress should have
power TO regulate commerce " with the Indian
tribes" This policy had besn pursued in the
treaty of Hopewell, and was doubtless chosen
wisely, and with view to benefit the Indians.
1t was not binding upon them, however, till
tley voluntarily COnSeIteu 10 IT,
{. ART. The United States solemnly guar
antee to the Cherokee nation all their lands
not hereby eeded"
This is the most important article in the
treaty. The Cherokees had yielded some i'm
portant rights. They had agreed not to treat
with any foreign Power. They had commit
ted the regulation of their trade TO the United
States They had admitted the United States
to participate in the navigation Of the Tennes-
see and had granted free passage through
certain part Of their country to the citizens of
the United States. They had ceded portion,
though not a very important one, of their ter
ritofy.
On the other hand the United States engaged
to protect the Cherokees, to promote their CIV
ilizaton, as will hereafter be seen, and especial
ly, to guaranty the integrity and inUiOLabitity
Of their territory. In world full of outrage,
fraud, and violence, IL is good advantage for
a weak State to obtain the solemn guaranty of
a powerful neighbor, that its rights and sove-
reignty shall be safe. All this is implied by
guaranty. The URited States solemniy engag-
ed TO preserve and defend the Cherokees against
all foreign Powers, "a colony of Spain being
then in their neghborhOod) against the States
of Georgia and North Carolina, against the
United States in their federative capacity, and
against all whites who should commit aggres-
sions upon the Cher0kees.
The werd guaranty can mean no less, unless
limited by the subject or context If Bona
parte guarantees the integrity of Switzerland,
he engages to defend and preserve Switzerland
from aggression and invasion, whether the dan
ger arises from Austria, Prussia, Holland, or
even France itself 1t is the chosen and APP
propriate word TO express the utmost security,
which can be gained or pledged to one by the
power and good faith Of another
Upon the guaranty of the United States the
Cherokees have relied, with mistaken coEstan-
cy, since the year 1891 Within few months
their confidence has been shaken; and they
are now in a state Of great solicitude and anx-
iety. 1t remains to be seen whether treaty
will bind the United States TO a weak and de-
nandant ally. or whether force is 10 be the only