Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1841-07-07

well situated for agricultural pursuits, as any
we shall get by removal The graves OF our
fathers and mothers and kin are here, and about
them still cling our affections and memories.
Here is the theatre on which our tribe has thus
far acted its parts in the drama OF It's existence,
and about il are wreathed the associations which
ever bind the human affections 10 the SOIL
whereon ones nation, and kindred, and SELF
have arisen and acted. We are here situated
in the midst Of facilities for physical, intellec
tual and moral improvement: we are in the midst
Of the enlightened; we see their ways and their
works, and can thus profit by their example.
! We can avail ourselves of their implements and
wares and merchandise, and once having learn
ed the convenience of using them, we shall be
led to deem them indispensable; we here are
more in the way of instruction from teachers,
having greater facilities for getting up and sus-
tanning schools, and as we, in the progress Of
our improvement, may come to feel the want
and the usefulness of books and prints, so we
shall be able readily and cheaply TO get what
ever we may choose. In this view of facts,
surely there is no inducemen! for removing
But let lis look at the other side of the ques-
tion. In the first place, the white man wants
our land; in the next place, it is said that the
offer for It is LIBERAL in the next place, that we
shall be better off 10 remove from the vicinity
of the whites, and settle in the eighbOurhoOd
of our fellow red men, where the woods flock
with game, and the streams abound with fishes.
These are the reasons offered and urged in ia
vour Of our removal.
Let US consider each Of these reasons little
in detail The fact that the whites want our
land imposes no obligation on us to sell It, nor
does it hold forth an inducement 10 do So unless
il leads them TO offer price equal lis value TO
US We neither know nor feel any debt of graf
iiude which we owe 10 them in consequence OF
their loving kindness or tender mercies to-
wards us. that should cause us to make a sacri-
fee of our property or our interest TO their won't
ed avaTice, which, like the mother Of the horse
leech. cries give. give, and is never sated.
And is the offer liberal! OF that who but
ourselves are 10 be the final Judges? If we do
not deem one or two dollars an acre liberal for
the land. which will 10 the white mans pocket
bring fifteen TO fifty, dontt know that we can
be held heinously criminal for our opinion. II
is we'll known that those who are anxious 10
purchase our reservations, calculate safely on
fifteen dollars the acre for the poorest, and by
qualities By what mode of calculation or rule
of Judgment is one or two dollars liberal offer
to us, when many times that sum would be on
w fair 10 the avarice Of the land speculator
Since in US is vested a perfect title TO the land
/ know not why we may not, when we wish
dispose of il at such prices as we may see fit &c
, agree upon.
"But the land company have the right fpur
chase" il is said-granled; but they have no.
/ the right, nor, we trust in God the power, tC
force us to accept of their offers. And wher
that company finds that whistle or a rattle, o.
, one dollar or two per acre, will not induce us Il
part with our lands, is il not in the nature o
: things tha; they should offer better and more
attractive terms? If they could not make forty
] nine dollars on an acre of land, know no rea
son why they would fail Of trying to make for
. iv-Gve, or thirty, or ten. SO see no obsiacl,
to our selling. when, and at such reasonable
prices as we may wish in the fact that the lanc
s company have the right of purchase: nor do
] see anv thing extorionate in us, in an unwilling
ness TO part with our soil on the terms ofieret
nor even in the desire, If oar lands are sold, O
: putting into our o1vn pockets due portion o
their value.
;. But the point of chief importance is shall w
: be better of? flour object was 10 return to tn
e manners and pursuits of life which character
ised our ancestors, and we could be put in safe
: unmoiested and durable possession of wilder
ness Of game. whose streams abound in fish, W
uight be better off; bu, though that were our oh
:cct, | deny that we could possess such terri
. tOrv this side Of the shores of the Pacific, witt
: Sofety free Of mOIestatiOn, and in perpetuity
/ Westward The star of empire takes its way,
h and whenever that empire is held by the whit
man. nothing is safe or unmolested or endurn
: against his ayidity for gain. Population Is wit
, rapid strides going beyond the Mississippi, an
- even easing Its eye with longing gaze for III
y woody peaks Of the Rocky mountains
J even for he surf-beaten shore of the western
ocean. And in process Of time, will not ou
: territory there be as subject TO the wants of tn
, whites as that which we now occupy is? Shal
: we not then be as strongly solicited, and by th
same arguments, 10 remove still farther west
But there is one condition of removal which
9 must certainly render it hazardous in the ex
L. r Il