Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1829-09-15
garded by every honest man, and by every

/
would say, estopped. General Washing.
ton, with his Cabinet and the Senate, pro.
nounced the Cherokees nation. 1t does
not appear that doubt ever crossed the
mind ola single individual, for nearly for
ty years, whether this admission were not
perfectly correct. President Adams 1.-THE
elder, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.
all admitted the Cherokees to be nation.
and treated with them as such. The
Secretary of War, (now Vice-President
of the United States) negotiated the last
treaty with the Cherokees and affixed his
signature to it. In this treaty, as in every
preceding one, the Cherokees are admit
ted to be nation, and there is not word
in any of these solemn instruments which
has the most distant implication of the
contrary. If the United States are not
bound in this case, how is it possible that
a party should ever be bound by its own
admissions The truth is, that if our
country were bound to France or Eng
land, by any stipulation, however mortify-
ing to our pride, or Instantaneous to our
interest, and the meaning ofthe obnoxious
clause were supported by one-fiftieth part of
the evidence by which it can be proved that
the United States have recognized the na-
tional character Of the Cherokees, no
Statesman would risk his reputation by
attempting to dispute or evade the mean
ing. We should be obliged to submit to
inconvenience resulting from our own
stipulations, till we could remove them
by subsequent negotiations. If we have
been overreached by the Cherokees in so
many successive treaties: if they have
had the adroitness to get from us repeated
acknowledgements, of their possessing a
character and rights which they did not
possess; if General Washington, and
long line of distinguished Statesman, have
made incautous admissions; and if, in
this way, we have made bargain which
bears hard upon ourselves-still, our
hands and seals testify against us. We
must be more cautious the next time.
+" He that sweareth to his own hurt, and
changeth not is declared in Holy Writ
to give one proof that he is an upright
man, and will receive the appreciation of
God. In word, if Washington and
Knox, Hamilton and Jefferson, comprom-
ised the interest of this country, by indis-
Greet and thoughtless negotiations, we
must gain wisdom by experience, and APP
point more faithful and more considerate
publick agents hereafter.
Having inquired into the meaning of
the title and preamble of the treaty of
Holston, let me now direct the attention
of the reader TO its provisions -
q ART. /. There shall be perpetual peace and
friendship between all the citizens of the U. States
of America, and all the individuals composing the
whole Cherokee nation of Indians"
If the "peace and friendship" were to
be perpetual the future continu-
ance of the Cherokee nation of Indians
for an indefinite period, was taken to be
matter beyond all question. 1t seems
clear, also, THAT Indians" can constitute
a " nation." The word tribe, when used
to denote community living under ats own
laOs, is of equal force with the word ma
ton; and in this sense it is to be taken,
wherever it occurs in the preceding dis
cussion. But the Cherokee nation had
been divided from time immemorial, into
seven clans, sometimes called tribes, and
the Choctaw nation into two such tribes.
This fact occasioned some of the peculiar
phraseology in the treaty of Hopewell AS
The seven clans, or tribes of the Chero-
KEGS were united under one government,
hey were all comprehended under the
phrase of the Uhole Cherokee nation of
Indians" and the word tribe is not found
in the treaty of Holston. The word ma
ton, as applicable to the Cherokees, oc-
ours no less than twenty-seven times, and
always in its large and proper sense.
FART. O. The undersigned chiefs and warriors,
Tor themselves and all parts of the Cherokee nation
10 acknowledge themselves and the said Cherokee
nation, to be under the protection of the u States
Of America, and of no other sovereign whatsoever
md they also stpulate that the said Cherokee ma
ton will not hold any treaty with any foreign pow
or, individual State, or with individuals of any
State"
remarked upon the treaty of Hope
well, that it has always been common
thing for weak States to rely upon the
protection of stronger ones. When weak
State acknowledges SUPERIOR, it is
bound 10 good faith to act in accordance
with that acknowledgement but it is, in
all other respects, Independent of the SUI
periour. In other words, it retains all the
rights which it does not part with. What
IS to be understood by the Cherokees be-
ng under the protection of the U. States,
will very fully appear in the course of this
Investigation. In the very article now UNI
Ter review, the Cherokees bind them
selves not to hold any treaty "with any
oreign power, nor with any individu-
ii State" This was very material re-
of their natural rights but
it was supposed to be counterbalanced by
various advantages secured TO them by
The treaty, particularly by the solemn
guarantee in the seventh article, which