Iowa news. [volume] (Dubuque, Upper Mississippi Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1837-1841, 1838-04-21
From the Charleston Courier. Feb lG

we Introduce cur readers TO an eIoouent cham
plon OF the South, who suffers neither red nor
sable sympathles to interfere with his sense Of
constitutional and patriotic duty. His conduct
contrasts nobly with that Of the unrulv and
unr'se vlrginlan, who, in the INSCRIPTIONS
gratlhcatlon OF party feeling, would Weld IN
Florida anew 10 the horrors Of Indian warfare,
We are sure that every Southern reader will
heartily unite with Mr.. Thompson, in award.
ing the jus, need to the member from Maine
for his gallant and timely succor TO the South
"Mr. Cillcy, of Maine, said he had risen 10
say but few words on the question under dis.
cussion, as but very few could be necessary
after the very able manner in which the bill
had been supported before the committee, by
the Delegate from Florida. But he was i'm.
PEELED to say something when he heard the A.
merican citizen held up TO the world in the loht
OF savage. and the harbarous and cruel Indi-.
ans OF the Southwest described as heroes and
martyrs. The committee had been asked in
tones of sympathetic feeling for the Semnoles,
what was to become Of the poor Indians! God
knows, said Mr. CiIey: but it was more i'm
porsant question for him to consider, wla, was
to become Of the whites. He knew something
OF the indian character, from perusal of Tie
history OF those who formerly inhabited the
North. When the cattle of his people have
been driven OIL their houses burnt ,othe ground.
md their wives aud .hiid,rn eo.n,,r,, o,aus,,
tered, his fathers and the fathers of his people
had hunted them to the wilderness. and pur-
sued them even to determination. This SYM
pa,hy for tho dark red man, seemed TO Mr..
Cilley TO be akin to that expressed in some
quarters for the man Of a yet darker hue. The
gentleman from Virginia had dwelt on the pet
~ details OF the war with animadversion; but
he would ask, is there not wal! That was
the main the lnomenons question. And when
our common mctl,cr calls upon us to defend
her against the hostile invasions of a savage
foe, shall we not rally at her call, and at the
call of those who have been, and still are fight
ing for their native soil!
''Mr. Cilley asked gentlemen TO examine
the origin and causes Of this war-..,he mode
in which it has been carried oll---and see what
can be found to allege against either. He con-
coded that the humane but mistaken policy Of
Gen. Jesnp had cost The country millions. He
mir. &. had ever said. and now repeated, that
had Inc been in that officers place, when at
Tampa. and had got his hands upon those Sc
minoe chiefs. he would have hanged them all
and never have permitted them to escape TO
their swamps again. But what has become
and is to become Of '.the poor Indians?" He
repeated that he could not say; it was for his
own species that he felt iaore apprehension
and anxiety. As to the Indians, il would still
be as il had been for centuries past, that they
must disappear before the face of the whites.
IL they shall, indeed, become like the whites,
and plant and cultivate their farms, and be-
come, in every respect, good and quiet citizens,
then would no one upon that floor desire to
modest them. As to John Ross, who had been
SD often alluded to by gentlemen, he did not
know the man personally; a white man had
been pointed out to him as an Indian---perhaps
that was he---and perhaps it was part Of his
policy to hold up, for selfish purposes, this
idea TO the Cherokecs, that they were being
wronged by this Government. Mr.. G. hoped
gentlemen would read the early history Of their
own States, before they too warmly interested
their sensibilities in the condition of other
States; they had better peruse the early histo-
~ Of Maine, and Massachusetts. and Vermont;
and they would find that in order to carry out
their own doctrine with consistency, they must
resign all the soil they now possess. They
would there read the policy Of their fathers to-
wards the red man; and how they tracked him
through the winter SHOWS to his wgwam a
moue the hills, and slaughtered him on its
threshold. They will see that it has ever been
a principle of this country's history that these
two currents could not run together, but that
the weaker must give way to the stronger.
"Mr G.. was in favor Of the proposed APP
preparation, TO pay the men who had been brave
" fighting for their fresides and their homes,
in the defence Of the frontier against the mer-
CHESS savages; and he recommended 10 such
gentlemen as wished to attack the policy Of
the Administration, to seek some other and
more appropriate subject upon which to base
their denunciations."
"Mr. Thompson, Of South Carolina, regret
ted that such discussion had arisen at this
time, and upon this subject. He should but
inadeguately express his feeling did he say
that he had listened with deep pain to all that
had been said by the gentleman from Virgin
ia upon this question. The first relief, 10
would say, be had felt, came from tho quarter