Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1829-09-29

L . y
and friendship; and shall we now-l speal
to the people of the United States at large
shall we now hesitate to acknowledge Ii,
full force Of the obligations by which w,
bound orselves? Having, in the days of GU
, weakness, and at our own instance, obtain
ed peace for our own benefit, shall We
: now, merely because no human power car
oppose an array of bayonets, set aside the
fundamental article, without which no trea.
ty could ever have been made.
But must proceed with other parts of the
compact.
J ART. 8. If any person, not an Indian
lshall settle on any of the Cherokees' lands
he shall forfeit the protection of the United
States, and the Cherokees may punish him
/ Art. 9. No citizen of the United States
shall attempt to hunt on the land os the Cher
Iokees; nor shall any such citizen ointo the
Cherokee country without a passport from
the GOVERNOR of State, or Territory, OF
such other person as the President Of the
United States may authorize to grant the
same.
AIR. 10 and IL. Reciprocal engage
ments, in regard - the delivery and punish
ment of criminals.
Art. IL. No retaliation or reprisal, in
case of injury, till after satisfaction shall
have been demanded and refused.
ART. Is. The Cherokees to give notice
ofany hostile designs.
"ART. IA. That the Cherokee Nation
may be led to greater degree of civiliza-
ton, and to become herdsmen and cultiva-
tors, instead ofremaining in state of hunt
tho IInifod mill g.
time, furnish, gratuitously, the said Nation
with useful implements of husbandry; fur
Their to assist the said Nation in SO desirable
a pursuit, and at the same time to establish
a certain mode of communication, the Unit
ed States will send such and SO many per-
sons to reside in said nation, as they NAV
Judge proper, not exceeding four in number,
who shall qualify themselves to act as inter-
prefers. These persons shall have lands
assigned by the Cherokees for cultivation
for themselves and their successors in Of
fee but they shall be precluded exercising
any kind of traffick."
ART. 15 All animosities to cease, and
the treaty to be executed in good faith.
ART. 10. The treaty to take effect, as
soon as ratified, by the President of the
United States, with the advice and consent
of the Senate.
The Treaty was signed, in behalf of the
United States, by William Blount, govern
our of the territory South of the Ohio, and
by forty-one Cherokee Chiefs and Warri-
ors in behalf of the Cherokee Nation and
was afterwards duly ratified by the Presi-
dent and Senate.
few remarks seem to be demanded on
several ofthese articles. In the ninth, the
country of the Cherokees is again called
their lands" as it had been twice before !;
and the citizens of the United States are
strictly prohibited from attempting to hunt
on said lands; nor could any of our people
even enter the country without passport
The tenth article, which is barely men,
toned in the preceding abstract, provides,
that " if any Cherokee Indian, or Indians, or
person residing among them, or who shall
take rufuge IN their nation, shall steal
horse from, or commit robbery, or murder,
or other capital crime on any citizens or in
habitants of the United States, the Cherokee
Nation shall be bound to deliuer him or them
up, to be punished according to the laws of
the United States"
Thus it appears, that if party of Chero-
KEGS should commit murder in the white set
Elements, upon citizens of the United States,
the murderers could not be pursued a foot
within the Cherokee boundary. Nay more,
IT 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 fragrant
the case might be, and however well known
the criminal. The Cherokees must arrest
him IN their own way, and by their own au-
thority; 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. Ne-
Their the United States, nor any particular
State, had any jurisdiction over the Chero-
kee country. But the next article, which
my argument makes it necessary to quote at
large, is if possible still more decisive of
OF the matter.
ART. IL. IF any citizen or inhabitant
of the United States. or of either of the ter
ritorial 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 peacable and
friendly Indian or Indians, which, ifcommit-
ted ,citLin the jurisdiction Of any State, or
tcithin the jurisdiction Of either the said dis
triets. agasnss citizen or any white inhabi-
tart 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 ,eithin the jurisdiction of
the State or district to which he or they may
belong, against citizen or white inbabitant
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 either of the territorial Dis
tricts 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 idiomatick express
sions Of our language to designate absolute
property. What then becomes of the as
an &c. Al