ington negotiated, in 1791, the treaty of Holston with these same Indians. This was, like the former, a treaty of peace and friendship. It was also a treaty of limits and cession. It, more explicitly than the former treaty, bound the Government to the duty of protection and guardianship over these primitive people. It announced the strong desire of the Government to see them advance in civilization,— "to become herdsmen and cultivators, instead of remaining in the state of hunters," and engaged to furnish them implements of husbandry. An important article of this treaty "solemnly guaranteed to the Cherokee nation all their lands not therein ceded."

In due succession, in a course of more than thirty years from the date of this treaty, thirteen other treaties have been ratified by the Federal Government with the same tribe. They exhibit frequent cessions of territory by the Indians, and contain repeated recognitions of the obligations of the treaty of Holston and renewals of the guarantee. The cessions of land made by these treaties, have generally enured to the special benefit of Georgia. From time to time, she has found portions of her chartered domain thus disembarrassed of her Indian population.

Georgia originally comprehended within the limits of her charter, all that tract of country which now constitutes the states of Alabama and Mississippi. This territory the State ceded to the United States in the year 1802. The cession was made, amongst others, upon two conditions. The first, that the United States should, at their own expense, extinguish, for the use of Georgia, the Indian title to her lands, within the remaining limits, " as soon as it could be done peaceably and on reasonable terms." The other condition was, that the states to be formed out of the ceded territory should conform to all the articles of the ordinance of 1787, excepting that one relating to slavery. The third article of this ordinance enacts, "that the utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent; and, in their property, rights and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress : but laws, founded in justice, shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them."

We may pause in this narrative to remark that, up to this stage the case discloses the following points as settled between the parties to these transactions:

1st. That Georgia, in 1777, regarded the Cherokees so far an independent tribe, as to open treaty negotiations with them for the cession of territory which the State then occupied by military force and claimed by right of conquest.

2d. That, in 1785, the State objected to the right of the old Confederation to treat with Indians within her chartered limits, claiming that to be her own exclusive prerogative;--which objection was overruled by Congress, and the decision acquiesced in by Georgia.

3d. That from this date, and after the Constitution was adopted, treaties manifold were made with this tribe of Indians by the General Government, without dissent or protest from Georgia. Which treaties mainly enured to the benefit of Georgia; guaranteed full protection to the Indians, in the enjoyment of their lands; were made, in part, with the agency of Georgia in the national Senate; and were, by the Constitution, the Supreme law of the land.

4th. That Georgia, in 1802, surrendered to the United States a large tract of country on which these Indians resided, with an express and careful provision, in their behalf, that the utmost good faith should be observed towards them, and that neither their lands nor property should be taken from them without their own consent, nor their rights be ever invaded or disturbed.

5th. That the United States and Georgia agreed by formal compact, at this date, that the former should extinguish the Indian title in the lands of the latter, as soon as it could peaceably be done on reasonable terms, thus pointedly stipulating for the exercise of the treaty power of the Union with the tribe.

These proceedings would seem to establish conclusively the two great principles which were to control the decision of the controversy. The one, that the right of occupancy belonged to the Indians, and never could be terminated without their consent. The other, that the Federal Government alone had control over the subject.

So far, the case may be said to present no difficulty. Its embarrassments arose in the subsequent stages of its history.

The Government had undertaken, by the compact of 1802, to ex

tinguish the Indian title for the benefit of Georgia. To the performance of this stipulation there was no limit of time, but there was a clear obligation to use all proper and reasonable exertions to that end, and, particularly to abstain from doing anything that might impede or frustrate it.

From an early period after this compact, the scheme of providing a new territory beyond the limits of the states, for the final settlement of the Indian tribes, was more or less distinctly announced. In 1808-'9 Mr. Jefferson had this subject before him, in a proposition to establish a portion of this Cherokee tribe west of the Mississippi. This suggestion gradually expanded, and it finally assumed the shape of an organized and broad scheme of policy under the administration of Mr. Monroe. Large tracts were purchased, beyond the frontier of the states towards the borders of Mexico, and suitable provision was made for the transfer of the tribes to this region. In 1817, one-half of this tribe of Cherokees, induced by the persuasions and influence of the Government, emigrated beyond the Arkansas, and there established themselves upon a favourable location under circumstances altogether auspicious to their comfort and welfare.

This removal and settlement of the Indians, upon a territory adapted to their wants and free from the possibility of future annoyance from the claims of jurisdiction by the states, will always be regarded as a measure which reflects the highest honour upon the wisdom and humanity of the nation.

In the case of the Cherokee tribe residing within the limits of Georgia, we have to notice a very remarkable fact, to which we may trace all the difficulties which have beset that subject. Whilst the Government liberally and carefully pursued its policy of removal with nearly every other tribe of Indians in other states, it seemed to have almost entirely lost sight of its engagement with Georgia, and to have devoted itself with a somewhat conspicuous assiduity, to the labour of rendering the removal of those people from that state, almost an impossible achievement. A steady, and, in any other circumstances, it would be entitled to be called, a most laudable effort, was made to promote the civilization, and, with it, the permanent establishment of these Indians upon the soil which they now inhabited. They were encouraged to abandon their hunter state and to devote themselves to

tillage and husbandry. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, Mr. Monroe and Mr. Adams, have all left memorials of the solicitude they felt in this endeavour, and the favour with which they promoted it. Under this powerful patronage, the tribe rapidly advanced in acquiring the arts of agriculture. They established schools; adopted the social organization of the whites; assumed their costume, learnt their mechanical crafts; built villages, churches, court-houses;-in short, adopted the polity of civilization as far as their rude condition would allow. The Government licensed and encouraged the settlement amongst them of the Missionary clergy, who became honoured residents in the country, and who pursued their benign labours of moral and religious instruction with an industry and success which gave them almost unbounded control over the tribe. There is scarcely on record a more agreeable picture than that presented by the Cherokees, of savage life reformed and advanced within the confines of civilized man. We have an account of the condition of these people from the pen of one of their own children, an educated Indian, written in 1825; one who, seven years before, was a savage, and who, at the date of his letter, was engaged in translating the New Testament into the Cherokee language. Apple and peach orchards are quite common," he writes, "and gardens are cultivated. Butter and cheese are seen on the Cherokee tables. There are many public roads in the nation, and houses of entertainment kept by natives. Numerous and flourishing villages are seen in every section of the country. Cotton and woollen cloths are manufactured here. Almost every family in the nation grows cotton for its own consumption. Industry and commercial enterprise are extending themselves in every part. Nearly all the merchants are native Cherokees. The Christian religion is the religion of the nation. Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and Moravians are the most numerous sects. Some of the most influential characters are members of the church, and live consistently with their professions. The whole nation is penetrated with gratitude for the aid it has received from the United States Government, and from different religious societies. Schools are increasing every year: learning is encouraged and rewarded. The female character is elevated and duly respected. Our system of government, founded on republican principles, secures the respect of the people. New Town, pleasantly situated in the centre

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of the nation, is the seat of government. A printing-press is soon to be established; also a national library and museum."

These are some lineaments taken from this picture. We cannot contemplate such a portraiture of an aboriginal tribe, thus breaking through the crust of savage life, without many pleasant speculations upon its future destiny. But in this instance of the Cherokees, a shadow is thrown across the cheerful face of the picture by the more prominent figure which stands beside it, the figure of that jealous State sovereignty which holds the bond of the poor Indian's fate, and whose features are darkened with an ominous frown, engendered by

the very prosperity which attracts us. It is hard to say of the generous impulse which prompted this benevolent care of the Cherokees by the Federal Government, that it was a mistaken kindness, which, more wisely, should have taken another direction. But, still, it must be said. It may even be added, that it was a fatal error, on the part of the Government, to allow a race of people with such capabilities, to plant themselves so firmly upon a base so unstable. Georgia could not but regard with disfavour and jealousy the increasing permanency of a tribe within her borders, who claimed and exercised a totally independent government-exempt, in every respect, from her jurisdiction. It was a mischievous political anomaly, and precisely in that unhappy category, in which the mischief became the greater in proportion as the tribe advanced in cultivation and knowledge. Every new acquisition in moral or political virtue became a new motive for distrust, and even hostility. A tribe of Gypsies, settled under such circumstances, within the confines of a European government, would give but an inadequate idea of the embarrassments which Georgia suffered in this relation. The Indian is shut out from assimilation with his white neighbour, by prejudices which are altogether insurmountable. A thousand bloody feuds have separated them. The hate of more than a century is incorporated in the hearts of both, along the whole frontier which divides them. If we add to these provocatives, the ill-will which was certain to be engendered by the conflict of jurisdiction of two communities, each claiming exclusive control over the same soil, it will be readily understood how much it was to the advantage of the weaker, to be transplanted to a region remote from all the accidents of such a condition.