The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-10-21

serving the right of establishing factories a
military post, and roads, within the boundaries
above defined"
Art. 6. The United States to make full com.
pensation for the Improvements on land within
the Cherokee Nation, which shall have belong
| ed to the emigrating Cherokees, and to furnish
fiat-bottomed boats and provisions for their re.
moval.
Art, Z. improvements on land ceded to the
United States, to be paid for by the United
States. There is provision, also, in this arti.
Gle, that the profit of the improvements men,
toned in article 9th, shall be applied to the
benefit of poor and decrepid Cherokees
Art 3. TO every head of an Indian family,
residing on the lands coded by the Cherokees
land, that is, $40 acres, provided he wishes to
remain on his land thus coded, and to become
a citizen of the United States. He shall hold
life estate, with right of dover to his wild
ow, and shall leave the land in fee Simple to
! his children
Art g. Both parties TO ENJOY free naviga-
ton of rivers.
Art 10. The Cherokee nation cedes to the
| United States certain small reservations with
out the present limits of the nation.
| Art ii. Fhe boundary lines to be marked
Art IL. No whites to enter upon the lands
ceded, till the treaty "shall be ratified by the
duly promulgated"
Art l3. The treaty to be in force as soon
as thus ratified
The treaty was signed on the 18th of July,
! 1917, by Andrew Jackson, and the other Com
InlssIoners, and by thirtyone Chiefs and War
| riors Tor the Cherokees, who expected to re-.
main east of the Mississippi, and fifteen Chiefs
and warriors tor the emigrating Cherokees, in
the presence of nine witnesses. 1t was ratified
by President Monroe and the Senate.
1t would seem as though the public affairs of
the Cherokees had been so ordered by Pfovi-
dence, as to present the very strongest con.
| cevable exhibition of the obligation of treaties
1t has usually been thought, that if single
plain stipulation were made between two ma
tlons and duly ratified, this would bind the
parties. 1 am now examining the fifteenth
treaty with the Cherokees, every one of which
is perfectly consistent with every other and
they all unite in leading to the same conclusion
AS 1t this were not sufficient, the personal
character and political consistency of our most
prominent statesmen, not only lend their aid
to confirm these national compacts, but are
actually personified, as it were, and embodied
in the treaties. 1t may be doubted whether
there is q similar instance in the annals Of
mankind.
Gen Washington, soon after the organization
OF our National Government, laid the basis of
our Indian relations, in perfect consistency
with the principles and practice of the early
| settlers and colonial rulers. Mr.. Jefferson was
member of his cabinet, and doubtless init
matey conversant with these Fundamental
measures. The FIVE first Presidents of the
United States made treaties with the Chero-
KEGS, all resting on the same acknowledged
principles. Mr.. jefferson, the third President,
having pursued the policy of Gen. Washington
|
than on any other subject whatever-beng
about to retire from the Chief Magistracy-
and standing midway between the era of 1889
and the present year, wrote a fatherly letter to
| the Cherokees, giving them his last political
advice. This letter is preserved by them in
their archives A negotiation is held with
them, on their own soil, or, as the title has it,
"within the Cherokee Nation" under the d.
| rection of the fifth President of the United
States. The letter of Mr.. Jefferson is pro-
duced and incorporated into a treaty. 1t is
therefore adopted by the people of our land,
and approved as among the national NUM-
ments, erected for the defence of our weak
neighbors. What adds to the sngularity of
the transaction is, that this letter, reaching
backward and forward through five administra-
tions, is adopted in the fifth, by negotiator,
who is now the seventh President of the United
| States; thus bringing all the weight of per-
sonal character and political consistency to sup
! port as plain stipulations can be found in the
English language. or any other. May it not
| be said, then, that the case of the Cherokees
has been prepared by Providence, that we may
show to ourselves and to the world, whether
engag ementS can bind as ; or whether the i'm
agined present interest of small portion OF
the American people will transform itself into
a Samson, and break national treaties by doz-
ems, and by scores, "GS thread of tOp is
BROKEN ,chen a. tOuchcth the fire"
Rthis case should unhappiIy be decided against
the Cherokees, (Which may Heaven avert y it
will be necessary that foreign nations should be
well aware, that the people of the United States
are ready to take the ground of fulfilling their
contracts so long only, as they can be overawed
by physical force that we,. as a nation, are
J ready TO avow, that we can be restrained from
injustice, by fear alone; not the fear of God
which is a most enobling and purifying prinoi-
pie; not the fear of sacrificing national char
acter, in the estimation of good and wise men
in every country, and through all future time
not the fear of present shame and public scorn
but simply, and only, the fear of bayonets and
cannon.
But what does the letter of Mr. jefferson
thus adopted and sanctioned, and made the
mouthpiece of the nation what does The letter
written after much delibera;ion and much ex-
perience, and on the eve of quitting public life,
say to the Cherokees? 1t says, that the Unit.
cd States win always regard both branches Of
the Cherokee nation as their children. "a
good father, | suppose, does not tell lies to his
children, nor break his promises to them; es-
pecially promises that have been often repeated
during the lapse of forty years) II says, that
the Cherokees of the Arkansas must not enter
upon lands claimed by other Indians, thus ad-
hitting that the widest Savages have a claim
to lands. 1t says, that all the individuals OF
the Cherokee nation hare right to their coun-
try; and, therefore, if a part Of the nation sur
renders to the United States its right to lands
East of the Mississippi, il must receive from
the United States a right to lands West of that
river 1t says, that those Cherokees, who wish
to remove, may emigrate with the good wishes
J and assistance of the limited Stnies md that