Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1871-01-04
sAoDAK OF FAsE1NG AND PRAYER.


To the People Of the Cherokee Nation. :,
tits proper ana Becoming. for all peo-
pie at all times, to d humble themselves
before Almighty God, and to ieonfess
their sins, and to implore his forgiveness
guidance and protection, through Jesus,
Christ, but the necessity of so doing is
especially apparent and urgent, when
people and Nations are in circumstances
of distress and danger and when threat
ened with public calamity. la7 '<ii Cd
y As an encouragement to prayer and
supplicatiOn, under such circumstances,
we have only to turn to the promises of
God, that when his creatures cry to him
for succOr in distress, OEafOr protection
in weakness, that His ear. will be ever
open to hear the prayers of sincere and
earnest men. We can turn, also, to the
repeated instances in which God has
heard the prayers Of distressed Nations,
and listened to their confessions of sins
and protected them by His power, and
waFded of fcalamities. .aall euar- -r. g.
-rNineYeh, when the edict of the AL
mighty had been issued for her destruc-
tiOn, proclaimed a fast, and all the peO-
pie from the King to the beggeF, pros
trated themselves in humiliation, and
lifted up to God the cry for deliYerance.
The heart of Jehovah was moved to
pity, and the. decree was tannulled, and
he repented him of the evil that he had
determined against that city. Thus God
by both word and action, has declared
Himself to be a prayeF-hearing God.
To-day, the CherOkees and the whole
Indian race, are in distress and danger.
.P0wefless, we lie in the hands Of the
Government and people of the United
States, as did the Jews in the hands of
Ahasuerus and the Persians. The Uni
ted States can bring the weight of forty
millions of people, and untold wealth,
and skill to crush US in our weakness.
Not only have they the power thus to
cFush+Is, but with very many the dispO-
sitiOn isnot wanting. Already the cry
for the eXtermination of Indians is heard
from quarters so high and influential as
to give alarm to the whole Indian race.
Especially are we alarmed, when we
read in the short history of the United
States name after name of mighty ma
tions Of red men, who once occupied
this vast continent, but who are now
swept from the face of the earth before
the white man. --.- I'D I'm
Amid the general decay of the Indian
Nations and the annihilation of the vast
majority, the five nations of the Indian
Territory have not only survived, but
increased in numbers, accumulated pro-
perty, advanced in civilization, and
adopted the Christian religion, and are
now building churches and school
houses, establishing printing presses
and agricultural societies, and making
more rapid strides in civilization than
ever before. .gU.af 6 ssffsiETaa sfzal1 q
All this prosperity under God and His
gospel We owe to our separate national
existence, and the protection and secu-
rity afforded by our treaties with the
United States. Although their treaties
have been frequently violated, protec-
ton has been but partial, still they have
served to prevent the tide of immigra-
ton from flooding our country, and to
thwaTt the rapaeious land grabbers and
liquor sellers, and to check Injurious
legislation by Congress. But ayarieious
men, and the enemies of the Indian,
have. opened their batteries on Indian
treaties and threaten their annihilation.
Efforts are being made to annul and
destroy all of our treaties, and thus tear
away our only human defence, and leave
us to be the sport of eapricious legisia-
tiOn and unjust administration, and the
victims of unscrupulOus Spectators. 81 j
Even now, before these treaties are
annulled, the sacred obligations Of the
United States, TO protect us, are 20 q
great extent rendered nugatOry by un-
just Judicial decisions, and UnWarTauted
official rulings. -.
Our adopted citizens have had their
business houses closed by order of the
United States Officials, to the great in
jury of our community, and are COM
PEELED to obtain in Washington license
to transact business. -aIs -- .. frt !
The taX-gatherer stands ready to en-
ter our country and wrench from us our
scanty earnings. Already the manu-
factories of our citizens have been seiz-
ed and sold, under the operation Of tax
laws from which the United States are
sacredly pledged to exempt US. /
Now the organization over us by force
of Territorial or State Government is
urged. Our title to our lands, and In
vested funds, has been questioned. The
very foundations of our National and
individual existence are threatened,
The demand is made in influential
quarters, that the government of the
Omitted States shall disregard sacred
pledges, and raise the fioOd-gates, and
let in upon us a stream of immigration
to OveFwhelm us. ht'
Our rights and liberties are tranpled
into the dust; our citizens are arrested
by United State mRrshals, contrary to
Law, dragged to a prison in foreign
State, arraigned & before foreign
court, and acquitted or condemned ca
price of Judge and jurors of strange
tongue, in a foreign land, who have no
sympathy with us, aud no regard for
our rights or liberties. .rr-
Viewed in eveay light aud from every
stand point, our situation is alarming.
The vortex of ruin that has swallowed