Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-04-15
For the Yorkville Enquirer.
THE CATAwBA INDIANS.

Mr.. Editor 1t will perhaps furnish matter OF
interest to many of your readers to publish the
accompanying Report, submitted at the last seq
sion Of the Legislature, by EDWARD MOORE, Esq,
the Chairman of the Committee composed Of the
York and Lancaster delegations, on the report of
the Comptroller General in relation to the amount
duo the Catawba Indians, under the treaty of
1910. At the time it was made, the publication
of it in the ENQUIRER was, inadvertently, doubt,
less, omitted.
The Committee was appointed at the previous
session of the Legislature to ascertain the amount
due the Indians, with q view to their removal
from the State. The report very clearly points
out the errors of the Comptroller, and is m act of
substantial justice to these unfortunate children of
the forest, that the State was bound by every con-
sideration of honor and magnanimity to discharge,
considering the fact that they have ever been firm
friends of the whites. know that whatever per-
tains to this doomed people will be of interest to
the District.
The Committee, to whom was referred the Re-
port of the Comptroller General, showing the a
mount due the Catawba Indians under the treaty
Of 1910, made III pursuance of the resolutions of
this House passed in December, 1856, ask leave
to submit the following report: They have exam
ined the statement Of the Comptroller, and find
that he has not observed the mode of calculation
indicated by the resolutions passed on this subject
in 1849, which your Committee believe is the cor
rect one. They are of opinion, therefore, that the
result reported by him is incorrect, and they re-
commend that the report be not adopted. Accor-
ding to the resolutions alluded to-, the Comptroller
was required to state the amount due the Indians
under the treaty, allowing interest at 8 per cent.
on the amounts agreed to be paid, and giving credit
for payment, as upon individual bonds. On re-
ferring to the made by the Comptrol-
les, both in 1853 and 1856, it will appear that
they have not conformed to this rule of c~alcula-
ton. Instead of applyingthe payment made, first
to the extinguishment of the interests due. and
then deducting the balance of payment from the
principal, as is the correct method of calculating
''individual bonds" they have deducted the pay
ments as they were made from the principal only,
and left the interest due thereon, before the pay
ments were made, untouched. This departure of
the Comptrollers' from the mode of calculation
prescribed, has led them to results clearly errone-
Gus.
Upon examining the Report of the Comptroller
in 1853, your Committee have discovered that he
committed q very considerable error in not char.
ging the State with the sum of s.. 500 90, as pro-
vided for in the treaty, in consequence of which
omission his calculation then made has fallen far
short of the true result. By the treaty of 1910,
the State, in consideration of the Indians having
coded to her all their rightand title to their lands,
agreed to pay the sum of So. 900 90 for the pur.
chase of lands for them in North Carolina, and
-, 800 % for a suitable outfit for thei contem-
plated removal, and the sum Of 81. 800 90 annually
for the period of nine years, making in all when
paid, the sum of sd. 900 90. The State having
failed to appropriate the two first named sums for
the purposes mentioned in the treaty, the Comp
troller in his statement has very properly charged
the State With the sum of $500 90 as due at the
date of the treaty, and your Committee can see no
reason why the State should not have been charged
with the sum of 81, 500 90 rs also due the Indians
at the same time. They suppose the omission n
rose from the fact, that the treaty was incorrectly
printed.
In order to attain a correct statement of the
amount due the Catawba Indians under The treaty
of 1910, your Committee ask leave to report the
following resolution:
Resolved, That the Comptroller General make
up a statement of the amount due the Cata VIDA
Indians under the treaty of 1910; that in making
such statement, he charge the State with the sum
of 50, 500 90, as due the Indians at the date of
the treaty, in addition to the amounts charged by
the Comptroller in his statement made in 1853
That in computinginterest and crediting payments,
he adopt the ordinary method of calculating 'iu-
dividual bonds, " and that he conform in all other
respects to the directions contained in the Resolu-
ton of this House passed in lS49 OH this subject.
And further, that he report said statement to the
General Assembly.