The nation was reorganized in 1820, and by a resolve on

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cil, divided into eight districts, each of which had the privilege of sending

CHAPTER XIII.

HISTORY OF THE EXPATRIATION OF THE CHEROKEES.

Some entertain, that the history of these present times must not be written by any one alive; which, in my opinion, is disgraceful to an historian, and very prejudicial to posterity; as if they were to write at a distance, that obscurity might protect their mistakes from discovery. Others also say the truth is not ripe enough to be writ in the age we live in: So politicians would not have the historian to tread on the heels of the times, lest the times tread on his heels." WINSTANLY.

"Still to the white man's wants there is no end:

He said, 'beyond those hills he would not come.'
But to the western seas his hands extend,

Ere yet his promise dies upon his tongue."-UNPUBLISHED POEM.

WHILE the war is progressing in Florida, we will proceed to lay open a few pages of Cherokee history, praying, in the mean time, for its speedy conclusion.

The situation of the Cherokee country is most delightful; it is every thing that heart could wish, whether actuated by the best or worst of motives. It lies in about thirty-five degrees of northern latitude, bounded north and west by Tennessee, on the south by Alabama, and easterly by Georgia and North Carolina, comprising about 8,000 square miles. In 1802 it contained 11,175; the difference having been sold to the United States for the use of Georgia.

That country is well watered by living springs, in every part, whose fountains are like reservoirs raised to a great height by the art of man; they having the superior advantage of being natural reservoirs, raised by springs in their lofty range of mountains which stretch across the whole nation. In the north it is hilly; but in the south are numerous fertile plains, in part covered with tall trees, through which beautiful streams of water glide. Here cattle, in vast herds, roam, and horses are plenty, and in all the ordinary uses among the Indians. Flocks of sheep, goats, and swine, live on the slopes of the hills. On their navigable rivers the Cherokees have vessels engaged in commerce. Their spring opens in great beauty; the soil is excellent for corn, cotton, tobacco, wheat, oats, indigo, sweet and Irish potatoes; and the people had, in 1825, begun to export cotton to New Orleans in their own vessels.

They have public roads, and taverns with good accommodations, and butter and cheese are common upon the ordinary tables of the Indian inhabitants. Neat and flourishing villages have already sprung into being. Cotton and woollen cloths are manufactured, and by native Indian hands. There is scarcely a family which does not raise cotton sufficient for its own use. Their trade is almost wholly carried on by native Cherokees. The mechanic arts are considerably cultivated, although agriculture chiefly engages the attention of the inhabitants.

In 1819, there were about 10,000 inhabitants, and in 1825 they had increased to 13,563, all natives; there were, in addition, 147 white men married in the nation, and 73 white women. Of slaves there were 1,277. Hence it is plain that the Cherokees do not decrease, but have, in about five years, increased over 3,500. This is equal, at least, to the increase of white population under similar circumstances.

By the laws of the nation, the whites are allowed the privileges of natives, except that of suffrage, together with their ineligibility to hold offices. Some of the Cherokees, following the example of their southern neighbors, have become slave-holders; buying their negroes of white men who bring them into the nation. And here the reflection naturally arises in the inquiry upon the relative barbarity of the white and red men. It was strongly urged by some southern statesmen, that the Indians were such barbarous wretches that they could not think of living beside them; and yet poor Africans are sold by them to these barbarians! But, unlike the whites in one particular, they will not mix with their slaves.

The nation was reorganized in 1820, and by a resolve of its national council, divided into eight districts, each of which had the privilege of sending

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HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEES.

[BOOK IV. four members to the legislature The pay of members was established at one dollar per day; that of the speaker being fixed at one and a half dollars, and the principal chiefs were to receive 150 dollars a year. Some of their principal laws and regulations were-a prohibition of spirituous liquors being brought into the nation by white men. If a white man took a Cherokee wife, he must marry her according to their laws; but her property was not affected by such union. No man was allowed but one wife. A judge, marshal, sheriff and deputy, and two constables, were commissioned in each district. Embezzlement, intercepting and opening sealed letters, was punished by a fine of 100 dollars, and 100 lashes on the bare back. No business was allowed on Sundays; and fences were regulated by statute. They also had a statute of limitations, which, however, did not affect notes or settled accounts. A will was valid, if found, on the decease of its maker, to have been written by him, and witnessed by two creditable persons. A man leaving no will, all his children shared equal, and his wife as one of them; if he left no children, then the widow to have a fourth part of all property; the other three fourths to go to his nearest relations. And so if the wife died, leaving property. Before the division of the nation into districts, and the appointment of the above-named civil officers, there was an organized company of light-horse, which executed the orders of the chiefs, searched out offenders, and brought them to justice. It was a fundamental law, that no land should be sold to the white people, without the authority of a majority of the nation. Transgressors of this law were punished with death.

The Cherokees were similarly situated to the Creeks, in respect to the United States. They had been treated with from the earliest days of the republic, as an independent nation, with only this difference-the United States regarding treaty stipulations with them without any regard to their weakness, or inability to defend themselves against unjust intrusions. And thus were they considered through the early administrations of this government; until political intrigue had become the order of the day, and to strengthen a party by the accession of a state, it was found necessary to disregard sacred treaties, not at first by an open denial of obligations, but by a perversion of language, authorizing any means to encompass the end." And like the Creek nation, the Cherokees were tampered with, and eventually divided and ruined; thus verifying that remarkable passage of Scripture, namely, "a house divided against itself cannot stand."

The consequences which, by every thinking mind, were considered sure to follow, did follow; but not so immediately as had been anticipated, reasoning from the summary course which the Creeks had pursued in executing vengeance upon the heads of a similar faction, for a precisely similar outrage upon the will and the laws of that nation. But the day of retribution was at hand, and the heads of the Cherokee faction have met a like fate in the distant land to which they had forced their despairing executioners. The history of the fate of Ridge and his associates will go down upon the same page of history with that of Mackintosh; over which the philanthropist of succeeding ages will mourn, and the philosopher will frown with just indig nation, as he contemplates the source of guilt whence the stream flowed.

But the bare recital of the events in the history of the Cherokees is sufficient to create the deepest feelings of commiseration in every breast, without any reflections from the historian.

Georgia, finding she could not drive the United States government into her measures for the forcible possession of the Cherokee country, resolved to do so on her own account; but not having the courage to go sword in hand, and do it at a blow, she resorted to the equally condemnable course of management, which was to seize upon the country under color of law. And those laws, made for the very occasion, were so exceedingly oppressive that the Indians could not live under them.

The laws alluded to were passed on the 20th of December, 1829, by the legislature of the state of Georgia, and were of this complexion: "It is hereby ordained that all the laws of Georgia are extended over the Cherokee country. That after the 1st day of June, 1830, all Indians then and at that time residing in said territory, shall be liable and subject to such laws and

regulations as the legislature may hereafter prescribe. That all laws, usages, and customs, made and established, and enforced in the said territory, by the said Cherokee Indians, be, and the same are hereby, on and after the 1st day of June, 1830, declared null and void; and no Indian, or descendant of an Indian, residing within the Creek or Cherokee nations of Indians, shall be deemed a competent witness, or party to any suit in any court, where a white man is a defendant." Such is a specimen of the laws alluded to; framed to throw the Indians into entire confusion, that they might be the more easily oyercome, destroyed, or forced from the land or their nativity.

That the Cherokees could not live under the laws of Georgia is most manifest, and it is equally manifest that said laws were never made in expectation that they could be submitted to. Thus the constitution of the United States was trampled on with impunity, by an utter disregard of one of its express provisions, "That no state shall pass any law or laws going to impair the obligation of contracts." Now, how could a Cherokee compel a Georgian to perform a contract? Thus was the axe not only laid at the foot of the tree of Cherokee liberty, but it was shortly to be wielded by the strong arm of power with deadly effect.

Alarm now, as well it might, was seen perched upon the brow of every true Cherokee, and they began to revolve in their minds the nature of their condition, and to inquire of one another what they were to do. They remonstrated, but remonstrance was met with contumely, and all the haughtiness that characterizes the triumph of might over right.

Though conscious of the rectitude of their intentions, the Cherokees were determined not to persist in any course, however just it might appear to them, without first consulting some of the ablest jurists and best men, as well as the most devoted to the good of their country, among the eminent men of the Enited States. There was but one opinion among them. Chief Justice Marshall, Chancellor Kent, William Wirt, Mr. Justice M'Lane, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay, are names carrying authority with them; an array of talent which other nations may equal, but not surpass.

Accordingly the Indians brought their case before the supreme court of the United States, where it was argued with fidelity and ability by Mr. Sargent and Mr. Wirt, and finally and clearly given in favor of the Cherokees. Mr. Wirt happily adverted, in his argument, to the past and present conduct of Georgia; reminded her that, with the other states, she had cooperated with the most Christian assiduity and perseverance to bring about a change in the intellectual and moral condition of that people; and having completely effected the purpose, she found in this very change a ground of quarrel with them, as well as with her sister states, her auxiliaries in the laudable work; accusing these of hypocrisy and an affected benevolence, by which they were violating Georgia's sovereignty in bringing up an independent government within her chartered limits; that so long as they were savages and barbarians, Georgia had no objection to their governing themselves, but having now become civilized, and consequently capable of governing themselves, their right of self-government must cease. "Hence we ask," says Mr. Wirt, "what can this unfortunate people do?"

"The existence of this remnant of a once great and mighty nation," added Mr. Wirt, "is at stake, and it is for this court to say whether they shall be blotted out from creation, in utter disregard of all our treaties. They are here in the last extremity, and with them must perish forever the honor of the American name. The faith of our nation is fatally linked with their existence, and the blow which destroys them quenches forever our own glory; for what glory can there be of which a patriot can be proud, after the good name of his country shall have departed? We may gather laurels on the field of battle, and trophies on the ocean, but they will never hide this foul blot upon our escutcheon. Remember the Cherokee nation,' will be answer enough to the proudest boasts that we can ever make. Such, it is possible, there may be who are willing to glory in their own shame, but thank Heaven, they are comparatively few. The great majority of the American people see this subject in its true light. And I cannot believe that this honorable court, possessing the power of preservation, will stand by and see these