The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-09-16
From the National butslIigsncsr.
PRESENT CRISIS IN THE CONDITION
OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS.
No, Y,

HaVlng described the manner in which the
indian treaty, after the organization of our
present form OF Government, was negotiated
by the Cabinet of President Washington, and
shown that it was ratified by senators not infe
rIor to any of their successors, and who were,
countless, peculiarly cautious in the first exer-
else OF the treaty making power, and having as
certalned by minute comparison, that the
important articles Of the treaty of Hoston, ex-
ecnted less than year afterwards, are mere
transcript OF the first treaty, l proceed now to
inquire, What as the mourning Of the treaty of
/ H0lStOn?
i The title and preamble were quoted in nv
last number. The title begins thus: 81 treaty
Of peace and friendship" What is a treaty !
IL Is compact between independent commu-
mites, each party acting through the medium
| OF ITS Government No instrument which
does not come within this definition, can be
sent to the Senate of the United States to be
acted upon as within the scope of the treaty.
If the agents of the United States purchase
land for public object, such purchase is not
a treaty..
If the State of Virginia, on the application of
the United States, cedes a piece of land for
Navy Yard: or a Fort, compact Of this sort is
not treaty. If the State of Georgia cedes to
the United States all its Gains to territory
| enough for two large States, and the United
+.
such ceSsion or agreement are not treaty
Accordingly, such neg ociations carried on
and completed by virtue of laws of the National
and State Legislatures. OF course, compacts
of this kind are never called treaties and the
idea OF sending them to the Senate of the Uni
ted States for ratification would be preposter
Gus. One of the confederated States is not an
independent community; nor can it make
treaty either with the nation at large, or with
foro IL -, ,.:tz L
nations have made treaties with the United
States during the last forty years, till the whole
number of the treaties thus made far exceeds
! hundred every one of which was ratified by
the Senate before it became obligatory. Every
instance of this kind implies that the Indian
communities had governments of their own !;
that the Indians, thus living in communities,
were not subject to the laws of the United
States and that they had rights and Interests
distinct from the rights and interests of the
People of the United States, and, in the fullest
sense, public and national All this is in accor
dance with facts !; and the whole is implied in
the single word treaty
Again; the parties on the banks of the Hois-
ton signed treaty q Of peace" 1t is matter Of
history that there had been fighting and blood
shed. These acts of violence were not denom-
mated riot, seditiOa, q rebellion they con-
! stituted AGAR. The settlement of the difficult
I ~ " ds ilol CdliSu puTUON all HHtNsSGV, d sup
preston of riot, cOnUictiOn, punishment ];
it was called peace. Nor is it said here, as in
the treaty of Hopewell, that the United States
gtCe peace" There is, in the title and pre-
ambe, every indication of perfect equality be-
tween the parties. In point of fact, the whites
were, at the moment much more DESTROYS of
! peace than the Cherokess were.
| This is also treaty of " Friendship - which
| Implies, that the Chsrokees were not only
substantive power, capable of making peace
and declaring war, but that, after the treaty
was executed they were expected to remain in
the same state. 1t was not a surrendry of their
national existence, but the establishment of
amicable relations TO remain and, so far as
this treaty could operate, the amicabIe reia-
tions, thus acknowledged to exist, were to con-
tinuc through all future time.
I Who are the parties 10 this "treaty of mace
and fricudship ?" The President acts in be-
half of one Of the parties, and IS the undersigned
chiefs and warriors of the Cherokee Nation of
Indians, on TIE part a1d behalfof said Nation"
fThe Cherokees then are nation and the
best definition of nation is, that it is q COM
munity iUing under its Opn laus
A nation may be power of the first, second,
| third, or tenth rate. 1t may be very feeble,
and totally incompetent to defend its own rights
But SO long as it has distinct rig hts and inter
ests, and manages its own concerns it is a sub
such. Any other rule of Interpretation would
make force the only arbter. st. Marine, in
Italy, is described in our best gaLetteers as '
small but independent republics" and vet it has
not half SO many people, nor the three hun.
dreth part much land as the Cherokee ma
ton now has
1t has been sad indeed, that ths Indians,
being an uncivilized people, are not to be rank
I ed among nations. But this is said gratutous-
| IL, onl fbo L.. =
How many treaties did Julius Cesar make with
savage tribes, who were greatly inferior, in cv-
cry intellectual and moral respect, to the Cher
okees of the present day There is as little
reason as truth in the objection. Has not God
endowed every community with some rights?
and are not these rights to be regarded by ev-
cry honest man, and by every fair minded and
| honorable ruler.
But, above all, the objection comes too late
| The United States are, as lawyer would say,
eStopPed. Gen. Washington, with his Cabinet
and the Senate, pronounced the Cherokees to
be nation. 1t docs not appear that doubt
! ever crossed the mind of single Individual,
for nearly forty years, whether this admission
was not perfectly correct. President Adams,
(the eder) Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe,
all admitted the Cherokees to be nation, and
treated with them such. The Secretary of
war, (now Vice President ofthe United States,)
negotiated the last treaty with the Cherokces,
and affixed his signature to it. In this treaty,
as in every preceding one, the Chsrokees are
admitted to be a 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 was bound to
France, or England, by any stipulation, how
ever Notifying to our pride, or disadvanta-
geous to our interest, and the meaning Of the
obnoxious clause were supported by one.ffli-
eth part of the evidence by which it can be
proved that the United States have recognized
the national character of the CAerokces, no
Statesman would risk his reputation by at
tempting to dispute or evade the meaning