Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1830-09-09

be secured TO them BY the Supreme Court, IN de-
fiance of the General and State Governments
II was not known however, until the receipt of
YOUR letter. that the spirit OF resistance to the
laws of the State and views of the United States,
which have of late been evident among the Indi-
ans, had in any manner been occasloned by your
advice. Although instruction among the In
dian people of Georgia NAV be the consequence
of vour proceedings and those who act in unison
with you, the constituted authorities of the State
disclaim all right to interfere with you in any
manner, SO long as you keep yourself beyond the
jurisdiction of the State.
You have thought proper to give the Governor
Of Georgia an account of the civilization of the
Cherokees, describing those whom you have
known to be polished gentlemen, and those whom
you do not know to have ceased to be sayases.-
What do you say of the intelligence OF the mem
bers of the Cherokee tribe who were in Wash
ingtoh City last winter is partly true. and equal
ly descriptive of many others. They are not
Indians. however, but the children of white men,
whose corrupt habits or vile passions led them in-
to connexion with the Cherokee tribe. 1t is not
surprising that the white men and the children of
white men have avaed themselves OF the easy
means of acquiring wealth which the Cherokee
territory has presented for thirty or forty years;
nor that Intelligence and spirited activity should
increase with their increased wealth, not that
when wealth, intelligence and industry were con-
fined to the whites and the children OF the white
men that the power over the tribe should become
conferred in the same hands. But that these caus-
es were calculated TO produce similar effects up
on the indians, the real aborlslnes. is disproyed
by every example among the thousands which
the experience of the two last centuries has tur.
nished I'M every part of this continent. The Che
rokees have lost all that was valuable IN their In
dian character. have become spiritless, depend
ent and depraved, as the whites and their child
rem have become wealthy, intelligent and power
full. So long as the Cherokees retained their prl-
milive habits no disposition was shown by the
States under the protection OF whose Government
they resided, to make them subject to. their laws.
Such policy would have been cruel, because it
would nave interlered with their habits of life,
the enjoyments peculiar TO Indian people and the
kind OF government which accorded with those
habits and enjoymcnts. 1t was the power OF the
whites and their children among the Cherokees
that destroyed the ancient laws, customs, and
authority of the tribe, and subjected the natives
to the rule of that oppressive of governments
all Oligarchy. There is nothing surprising in
and the causes operating upon them it could not
have been otherwise. 1t was this state OF things
that rendered it obligatory upon the State OF
Georgia, to vindicate her rights of sovereignty
by abolisling all Cherokee Government within
its limits. Whether intelligent or ignorant, the
State of Georgia has passed no laws volative of
the liberty, personal security, or private proper
ty of any Indian. 1t has been the object of hu-
lima au1 tn 10 Tho tyn cIa
among them, giving the rights Of citizenship to
those who are capable of performing lis duties
and property estimating its privileges and increas-
ing the enj6wnent, and the probability of future
Improvement to the ignorant and idle, BY remov-
ing them to situation where the inducements to
action will b. more in accordance with the cha
racler of the Cherokee people.
Your suggestion that it would be convenient
and satisfactory, if YOURSELF the Indians. and
the Governor, would make up a law case to be
submitted to the Supreme Court for the determi
nation of the question whether the Legislature
of Georgia has competent authority 10 pass laws
for the Government of the Indians residing with
in its limits, however courteous the manner, and
conciliatory the phraseology, cannot but be con-
sidered exceedingly disrespectfu to the Govern
ment of the State. No one knows better than
Yourself that the Governor would grossly violate
his duty and exceed his authority by complying
with such suggestion, and that both the letter and
spirit of the powers conferred by the Constitution
upon the Supreme Court forbi its adjudging such a
case. Your suggestion but an evidence of the state
of that contest in which the advocates of power
are exerting themselves to increase the authority
of the Departments of the General Government.
whilst the friends of liberty and the rights of the
people are in opposition endeavoripg to sustain
the o,ereignty Of the States. 1t is hoped that
the efforts of the General Government to execute
its contract with Georgia. to secure the contnu-
ance and advance the happiness of the Indian
tribes. and to give quiet to the country, may be
so efectually successful as to prevent the neces-
sity ofany further intercourse upon this subject.
| Yours, &c. GEORGE r. GiLMER.
| WILLIAM WRIT, Esq.