Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1828-1831, 1830-08-20
or Mr. STORRs OF N. 7
fc~oNrINUEp.]

||~A1 ~ - 0rCa osH0t W 9oS0<E y taO I'LL "
lndisns, that We hold our sovereignty over then
and ekeir lnnds - conquest. ~ we'll a. discovery :
! shall say but littie ss to that proteusion. Whey
= may have beeu defeated 10 battles. Their country
have been overrun by our armies. We may
y 1Saled them aud sometimes burnt their towns and
law driven them into paceso of onceolment But II Is
essential to title by conquest that we shouid have ex-
sseissd ihc right which the laws of war allow to .he
y touquerof. lave We taken away their lands, aool'
ished their governments and put them IN subsection
TO our lswsi IF this has not been done. land history
shovs that it has not, it 10 too hate nov TO soy that
= there has been q time when We might have done It.
So far from claiming TO exercise this right, we have
closed our hostilities by treaties ever since we be-
came an independent government, and both parties
were restored to their original condition., except on
points which the treaties provided for II must be
considored too, that when we set up the title of con-
quest, We seem to feel that discovery alone would
hot have reached the rights of soil against the native
Inhabitants, and l thought the gentleman from Pen
nessee felt pressed in making out his case, when he
assumed that discovery gave us the right 10 follow it
: up by conquest. The war must at least be awful to
sustity that title IN any case on the score of morality.
l do not think that the position can be sustained that
because We have discovered any new country, we
havcthe right TO conquer it. If we choose to put 1t
on the ground of mere force. | will not say that It'll.
by conquest may be densed, though the war may have
been unlawful. But | do not agree that this was
done on the discovery Of America Oar history does
not show il.
I forbear to take up more OF your time on this par
ofthc question, for l fear that I Ia We already wearied
your patience. But, before l leave It, l beg leave to
call your attention TO one OF the many luminous pa
per, waich have issued upon this subject, from the
Department of War. We have found a pamphlet
on our tables containing a letter OF the e5tli August
last, TO the Rev. Eli Baldwin, Secretary of a Board
formed in the city OF New York, for the salvation
of the Indians" This Board is pledged IN its con
sttution to cooperate with the Federal Government
in it's Operations on Indian Affairs" But this arti-
Gle has fortunately restricted that has'y pledge by
an express condition sat no time to violate the laws"
~ of the tniOn OF thpsa IuWs.lhe Intercnursa Acls
andtrenties are certainly the most sacred in right Il
morals. In replying to q letter communicating 20
the President q copy of the constitution OF this De-
Ifcvclent association, the Secretary of War availsd
= himself OF the occasion TO take il upon himself to in
struct the Board IN that casulstry bv which The faith
of our treaties might be impaired successfully. The
argument is very brief lad the process quite summa-
nv, by which he accomplished this political absolu-
ton in our behalf. I do not feel al liberty to hazard
the omission of a single word that might impair It's
merit or obscure its clearness by undertaking 10 re-
peat it from memory
.How can the United States Government contest
with Georgia IN authority tn regulate her own inter
nal affairs. Ifthe doctrine every where maintained
be true, that q State is sovereign. 80 far as BY the
Constitution adopted. il has not been parted with to
the General Government, then 1t must follow as mat
ter of certainty, that WIthin The limits of a State
ehere can BIO none others, than her own sovereign
power that can claim to exercise The functions of
Government. It's certainly contrary to every idea
of an Indep endsnt. government for any other 10 as
sert adverse DOMINION and authority within her ju.
risdictional Limits; they are things that cannot exis,
together. Between the State OF Georgia and the
Indiau tribes wl,hia her limits, no compact or agree
ment was evsr entered into; who then is 10 yields for
itIs cey1ainl "a ID, ordinary course of exercised ,u-
thority that one or the other must. phe answer
heretofors presented from the government, and
winch you, by your adoption. have sanctioned as cor
rect, Is tho only one that can be sfered. GEORGIA,
by her acknowledge csnfeaerstive authority, NAV
legally and r~ghtfuIly govern and control throughout
her own limits, or else our knowledge of the science
and principle of government, as they rotate to our
forms, are wrong and have been wholly misunder-
stood"
Nov, sir, all this may seem TO be very clear de-
pnonstration to its author. I do not doubt that be
honestly thought u must prove qui'e convincing to
oil who should have the good fortune to meet with it.
With your leave sir,
.srhtsik a word 10 this same learned Tbeban"
7 sboald like TO know whether it ever occurred to
him, IN the course Of his profound Investigations,
thab the question to be examined was whether this
was really The internal nfair of Georgia ONLY. or not!
It would have been better1o have proved thru conclu.
sion, than TO have assumed it. He began to reason
at the wrong end Of the matter, and that is the mus
fortune of his whole argument 1t must strike the
mind of others, too, if the Secretary himself failed
to discover 1t, that the powers which Georgia has, in
fact, parted with TO the General Government, must
BE- exercised within the States, or they cannot be ex
escised any where Yet Georgia remains an indie
pendent government as To all the sovereignty she has
reserved. What more 8 there in that paper but a
jargon Of wordsS Adverse authority esercised ou-
tnorty-coniederhte autnotiJyI 1 Wish TO hold the
government of NY country IN some respect If / can,
but I was ashamed to find the justification of one of
its measures put forth 70 such a paper as this from
one Of the Executive Departments. I trust that ne
answers for himself only, when he speaks of our
knowledge of the principles of our own govnrnmeBt,
and then ! viii agree, that if we are 10 Judge from
this paper. he knows very little about them
Weare less ~justiGable in applying the principles
which have been ASSERTED " the Indian nations IN
Alabama and Mississippi. Before th"se s. ates were
erected, they were the territory Of the Unued s. ates.
Tho jurisdiction was in The General Government
There were no State rights in existence there. We
bad solemnly guaranteed TO he Geek nation all their
Ionds, and recognized their sovereignty under various
treaties. These States have but recently been ad-
mitted into the Union. Yet the President has SAID
II hDs Message. 1t ia too late to inquire whether It
vas just IN the United States TO include them 1.-THE
Indian natlons0 and their territory within the bounds
of new States, whose limits they could control
That step cannot BE- reiraced. a State cannot be
~dismembered by Congress, or restricted in the OK
etcise OF her constitutional power" II is not denied
here, nor could ~ have been, that while this vas the
territory of the United Statos. IL Uns cntnnaton, g.