Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1830-01-12

~ sneiter themselves, while plotting
against our peace, and where fugitiyes
rom justice could find a refuge, there
might be some reason for apprehension
'hough even these circumstances, would
never excuse violation of treaties. But
the Cherokees can never have any inter-
ests adverse to our national prosperity.
lhey have solemnly agreed to live under
our protection, and to deliver up fugtives
from justice. We have by treaty a free
navigation of their waters, and a free pas
sage through their country. What more
can we reasonably desire :?
But if there were an Inconvenience IN
u.s. as consequence of there having been
aboriginal inhabitants on this continent
how are these inhabitants to blame /? IF
we are incommoded, by having little
Indian community in the mids, Of us. we
brought the evil upon ourselves BY push
ing our settlements into the wilderness.
IN such manner as to surround our red
brethren. They did not compel us. nor
allure us, nor invite US, to such a course Of
proceeding; and they are not nnder the
siightest obligation to give up their ma
tlonal existence to save US from this sup
posed inconvenience, though it were MANY
times greater than it has ever been alleg-
ed to be.
The dangers from an imperium in i'm
perao are, in the case before us, altogeth-
er chimerical. Among our own citizens
we have governments within governments
OF all sizes, from school district up
wards, and all sorts of corporations with
limited powers. In Great Britain, there
is vast diversity of customs, rights,
franchises, an exemptions, peculiar to diff
ferent towns, boroughs, cities, and coun-
ties, and to the larger divisions of the
realm. Germany is almost wholly COM
posed OF smaller communities, each pos
sesslng limited sovereignty and many
OF them conducting their municipal affairs
according to their own discretion. But,
winch is more Immediately to the pur.
pose) there have been separate commune
ties OF Indians, in most of the older mem
bers of our Confederacy, from the first
settlement OF the country; and no disas-
trous consequences have followed. At
the present day. there are, in the State Of
New York, several small tribes of Indians,
living under their own laws, and not par
taking in the rights of the citizens of the
United States. They have been declared,
by the highest legal tribunal in that State,
to be not citizens, but distinct tribes or
nations, living under the protection of the
Government" The opinion of Chancel-
or Kent, which l never saw till all the
preceding numbers were ia the printers
hands. supports the positions which I en-
deavonred to establish, in the examination
OF treaties. Yet the State of New York
does not appear to suffer from having per-
mItted these tribes to remain on their own
land to hold it in common; to remain
exempt from taxes, militia duty, and every
kind of publick burden and to sustain a
qualified sovereignty, though surrounded
by white neighbours.
If the time shall ever arrive. when
these sovereignties may becomee extinct,
to the mutual advantage of the Indians
and whites, the manner of bringing about
such change will demand the efforts of
the most disinterested men in our country.
and the counsels of the wisest. In the
mean time, let us hear the advice of Chan
celior Kent on the subject -
When the time shall arrive for US to
break down the partition wall between us
and them, and to annihiate the political
existence of the Indians as nations and
tribes, trust we shall act fairly and ex-
plicitly, and endeavour to effect it with the
full knowledge and assent of the Indians
themselves, and with the most scrupulous
regard to their weaknesses and prejudices,
and with the entire appreciation of the
government of the United States. am
satisfied that such course would be re.
quired by prudence, and would become
necessary, not only for conscience sake,
but for the reputation of our justice"
Johnson's Reports, rol 20, p. III.
The learned jurist was speaking of the
small tribes in the State of New-York,
whose domains are now restricted by their
own consent to tracts ofa few miles square,
and whose numbers are reduced to few
hundreds. These tribes having resigned
many attributes of sovereignty which the
Cherokees still retain, and living in the
midst of a crowded population, may posi-
bly, find it for their interest to abdicate the
sovereignty which still remains to them.
In such an event, the Chancellor lays it
down as indispensable that the Govern
ment of New-York should endeavour to
effect the change with the full knowledge
and assent of the Indians themselves This
is, indeed, one of the first dictates which
would be obeyed by an upright and hon.
durable mind; but how much more inn
perative is it in the case of the Cherokees,
who number thousands for the hundreds
of Oneidas and Senecas who have
sufficient territory, in which they can Sc
cure themselves, under the protecting
laus of the limited States. from molesta.