Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-12-31

right infringements on the rights Of the Indians and
rogatory alike to the honor and humanity of those who
negotiated and the power that ratified them There
would be exception, at least so far as the
treaty Of the Indian Springs is concerned"
Gen. JAMES GApspEN, Of South Carolina the present
Minister Plcnipotenary Of the United States to the Re-
public Of Mexico, was the commissioner who, on the
9th of May, 1892 negotiated the "treaty Of Paynes
Landing" 1t was ratified the 18th Of April, 1884,
am informed, by the unanimous vote Of the Senate.
had the honor of acting the secretary of the commits
sion in the . negotiation" and my will be found
signed to the treaty attesting witness 70 its e1sc
tion by the head chiefs OF the Seminoles II that treaty
was an :. enormi.y H II q uss q Dsekednes" II 1t
was " an iYtous outrage" can exonerate myself from
the charge Of being accessory before the fact in the
perpetration of this crime only by pleading that my
son entirely subordinate and irresponsible that
capar doll. win not consent that such defences
be made in my behalf Long resident citizen Of FLORIDA
and occupying positions that enabled me to know the
of the Federal and Territorial Governments and Of
the people of Florida towards the Semnoes up to the
period when that treaty concluded and ratified de-
ny the truth of the accusations made in the quotation
above given from Mr.. McKenney's publication would
not willingly participate in downright infringement
of the rights of any, whether g indian white man,
and claim to have aided actively, though in subaltern
capacity, in the "ngoaiion of that treaty. If "dis
honor and " inhunaanty justly be imputed to any
account thereof also guilty Ii is perhaps
true that in this case respects my humble SELF might
be content with the consideration that Mr. Mckenney
wolves in his accusations Of turptude wickedness nhu
mapity and aishonor the entire body OF the United
States Senate Of April 1884, when the treaty of Paynes
Landing ratified; and more than two-thirds OF the
Senate of May 1885, when the Cherokee treaty of p
Ecota ratified and also than two thirds of the
Senate of March, 1925, when the treaty of g Indan
Springs ratified and likewise Presidents Monroe and
jackson, and Secretaries Calhoun and Cass, well as
Gen. Gadsden and ether gentlemen of high character
But scorn in behalf of my absent friend Gen. Gadsden
impr hlp
be- against the assaults of the dvant Chief Of the
Indian Bureau at Washington, holding that it is due to
the country and to its reputation that such calumnious
accusations should be met by prompt exposure and refu
tation.
AS the inhumanity imputed, Mr. McKenney is pecu-
iary unfortunate in having selected the Seminole nation
and the treaty of Payne's Landing to sustain Euch
charge reference TO acts, recorded in the national
statute book and in printed documents of Congress, will
abundantly prove.
In the year 1881 the Peninsuar Semnoles were scourg
ed with pestence and famine The crops failed
from unprecedented droughts in the spring and
of that year Superadded to this calamity, the smallpox
broke out among them carrying off hundreds Of their
men, women and children. An endemic malignant fever
followed these msfortunes and the effects of hurricanes
and floods of unparalleled violence and extent in the
known history of the peninsula reduced them to utter
destituton. Many of the white settlers near to them
contributed to their relief by liberal donations of
and meat to avert absolute starvation The punder Of
the frontier settlements by the Indians obtain food did
take place only because the warriors of the nation
enfeebed by disease and suffering engage in
snch Tho sad tale Of the suffering Of the Sc
mnoes reached the Of Congress- and by the act Of
5th of May, 1892 the War Department directed to
furnish them medicine, and especially by vaccination to
arrest their annihilaon by smallpox, disease, with the
Indians and negroes, in six cases out of ten fatal
Do these acts display inhumanity y Were they deeds
of wickedness p? Congress- by the act of 3st of May
1892 appropriated several thousand dollars for the pur
chase Of and other provisions for them in conse
quence as is especially reeted in the ae of the failure
fba,rc of tha Was nj
nhGaity," "piehedness," Of ''dishonore" Nor
it be truly nsnuated that these things done to
induce Tor brbe) the Semnoes to agree the treaty OF
Paynes Landing The respective dates of the treaty and
of the cited concusivey dispose of any such nsnu
alton 1t is proper also to notice that the treaty contains
stipulation whatever by the United States to render
such assistance. II was entirely gratuitous.
The council with the Semnoes at Paynes Landing was
neld between the 1st and 9th Of May 1892 and
convened at instance and request of the Semi
mole nation Not only the princpahead chiefs pre-
that council but the of the nation attend
ed it. Few absent except those who too
feebled by disease to travel The Indians had become
dsheartened by their condition. The white settlements
in Florida made under the treaty Of Camp Moultre, ne
gotiated in September 1922 (while Mr.. McKenney was
sChief of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Washington
had restricted their hunting privileges and their in
teigent and sagscious chiefs appalled, at the pros
pec before them and freely admitted that the only
sure the speedy extinction Of the nation their
emigration TO the reserved Indian territory west Of the
State of Arkansas Serious difficulties, however existed
between Of the Seminoes and the Georgia Creeks
who had previously emigrated west then about
to remove. Not few Of the elder Seminole warriors
we're fugves from the Greek Nation for offences
mitted years before against the Indian laws by which
their lives had been forfeited The Indian code is
entless Sentences under ii die. There is lm
taon of time to their execution. As readily be
imagined some Of these Indians entertained apprehen-
sions that the Creeks upon the opportunity being afford
ed by the suggested union Of the Semnoes with them in
the west would vigorously enforce the punishments for
all unatoned crimes. Arpiaka, or " Sam Jones"
one OF these fugves for crime and indeed the may
be said with truth of nearly every Of the prominent
first oblectants to emigration There also many
settled differences between Creeks and Seminoes to
rights of descent in respect of cheanshp rank and
as to property especially to slaves then in the
Seminole nation claimed by Creeks. Some of the Semi
mole claimants and ase Of the negro slaves did from
the outset express apprehensons Of trouble with the
Creeks this score though il not till at least year
after the conclusion Of the treaty Of Paynes Landing in
May 1892 that the influence thereby created against
emigration became formidable. Those considerations
however, constituted then, they have ever snce and
at this time they constitute the real obstacles to the emf
grafton of the entire Seminole nation west Sam
Joness" ancipations Of punishment by the Creeks for
the crimes Of ancient days for which he fed from them
and Billy Bowegs' fears Of "Wild Cat and another
rival for supremacy in the Seminole nation are the true
difficulties preventing the removal west Of the
eight hundred of their fellows yet in the Everglades
At the council Of Payne Landing the influence Of the
wsest patriotic and disnterested counselors OF
the nation prevailed. That influence had not become
weakened by the unceang and nsdious efforts against
removal used by the fugitive Creeks and by the claimants
Of disputed property, and for contested precedence art
fully directed the young Seminole warriors and to the
negro slaves But these efforts, aided by ill-advised
of the Federal Government and of it's agents
in 1885, 34, and 35, ultimately resulted in open hostile
resistance to emigration by the Of the nation and in
the war that the end Of tho last year
nau cd which Ia vet To he final liz