Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1830-01-05

One law has already been enacted. with
the direct view of extending the jurisdic-
ton OF Georgia over the Cherokees. Il
was approved December 90, 1928, and
deserves particular consideration.
| The first five sections divide that part
OF the Cherokee country which falls with
IN the chartered limits of Georgia, into
nve portions, attaching each one Of these
portions to contiguous county of Geor-
ga. The sixth section extends the laws
OF Georgia over white residents within
the limits aforementioned; and the sew
enth declares, that, after June l, 1890,
all Indians residing in said territory,
and within any one Of the counties as
aforesaid, shall be liable and subject to
such laws and regulations, as the Lepisla-
ture may hereafter prescribe"
SEC. s. That all laws, usages, and
customs, made, established, and in force
IN the said territory, by the said Chero-
kee Indians, be, and the same are hereby,
ION and after the first day of June, 1880,
declared null and void.
] SEC. 9. That no Indian, or descend
ant OF Indian, residing within the Creek
or Cherokee nations of Indians, shall be
deemed competent witness, or party
to any suit, in any court created by the
Constitution or laws of this State, to which
white man may be party"
I Under the administration of this law. a
white man might rob Or murder Chero-
kee, In the presence of many Indians, and
descendants Of Indians, and yet the Of
fence could not be proved. That crimes
of this malignant character would be COM
mitted is by no means improbable but
assaults, abuses, and vexations, of a far
lnferiour stamp, would render the servi-
tude of the Cherokees intolerable. The
plan Of Georgia is, as explained by her
Senate, to seize five-sixths of the territory
In question, and distribute it among her
citizens. If Cherokee head of family
chooses to remain, he may possibly have
his house and little farm assigned to
him. This is the most favourable suppo-
sition. But his rights are not acknowl-
edged. He does not keep the land be-
cause it is his own, but receives it as a
boon from Georgia. He will be surround
ed by five white neighbours. These set
tiers will not be from the more sober, tenn
perate, and orderly citizens Of Georgia,
but from the idle, the dissolute, the quar-
relsome. Many of them will hate Indi-
ans, and take every opportunity of insult
ing and abusing them. If the cattle of a
Cherokee are driven away in his presence !;
if his fences are thrown down and his
crops destroyed if his children are beat
en-, and his domestick sanctuary invaded !;
whatever outrage, and whatever injury he
may experience, he cannot even seek a
legal remedy. He can neither be a paity,
nor witness. He has no friend who
can be heard in his behalf Not an indi-
vidual can be found who has any interest
in seeing justice done him, and who, at
the same time, has any power to serve him.
Even the slaves of his new neighbours are
defended by the selfinterest of their mas
ters. But he has not even this consola-
ton. He is exposed to the greatest evils
of slavery, without any Of its alterations.
Every body is let loose upon him; and it
is neither the interest, nor the inclination,
nor the official duty of the white settlers
to defend him. Every body may destroy
his property but nobody is bound to
keep hitl from starving when his proper
ty is gone. How long could Cherokee
live under such treatment as this
Accustomed from his birth to feelings
of entire equality and independence, he
would find himself, at single stroke,
smitten to the earth, and there held till
manacles of most degrading yassalage
were fastened upon him. As soon as the
net of Georgia Legislation is sprung over
him, he is equally and instantly exposed
to publick persecution and private indigni-
ty. He feels himself to be vagabond,
even while standing upon the very acres
which his own hands have laboriously SUBJ
dued and tilled-an outlaw in the house
which he has erected and made comforta-
bic for himself, and which to white man,
would be castle--a trespasser, for inno-
Gently treading the soil Of his native for
ests-an intruder, for drinking the pure
water of his native springs, or breathing
the air of his native mountains-a stran-
ger among his neighbours-an alien on
the spot where he was born.
Who are the human beings thus sud-
denly brought into SO deplorable and alb
iect condition Are they Caffres and
Hottentots, skulking through the woods,
in state of nudity, or covered only by
a few shfeds of tattered sheep skin? Are
they runaway slaves, pursued by the VEN
geance of exasperated masters? Are
they Ishmaelites, waylaying the path of in
offensive travellers, and their hands reek-
ing with the blood of recent murders :
Are they bands of ruffiaps, collected from
the worst among the discharged tenants of
our penitentiaries Have they invaded
our settlements, driven offthe inhabitants,