them, will relieve the State, in some measure, from the embarrassment caused by such large reservations as they possess, embracing a most valuable part of the country, and interrupting the settlements and communication. Instructions were given, immediately after the last session of Congress, for purchasing from the Wyandots in Ohio, if they were disposed to sell, the reservation secured to them in that State, and for their removal to the west. The commissioner, Governor Lucas, conducted the negotiation with great fairness and propriety, fully explaining to the Indians their own position, the wishes of the government, and the course of circumstances, urging their removal. The matter is not yet terminated, the Indians having requested time for further consideration. The necessary appropriations will be asked for the removal of the Seminoles, agreeably to the treaty formed with them; and arrangements have been made for the emigration of the Creeks, as fast as they are prepared for a change of residence. There has not yet been sufficient time to ascertain the result of these measures. I am not able to submit to you any more favorable views of the condition of the Cherokees, than were embraced in my last annnal report. While every dictate of prudence, and, in fact, of self preservation, urges their removal, unhappy councils and internal divisions prevent the adoption of that course. Where they are, they are declining, and must decline, while that portion of the tribe, which is established in the west, is realizing the benefits which were expected to result from a change of position. The system of removal, however, by enrolment, is going on, and during this season about one thousand persons have passed to the west. The treaty concluded the 24th of May last, with the Chickasaws, has altered the relations in which they were placed with the United States. The proceeds derivable from a portion of their present possessions have been assigned to them, and reservations have also been provided for such as choose to become citizens of the United States. Their future condition now depends upon their own views and experience, as they have a right to remain or remove, in conformity with their own judgment. The means placed at their disposal are fully adequate to their permanent comfortable establishment, and it is to be sincerely hoped that they will apply them wisely. The acts of the last session of Congress, on the subject of Indian af fairs, have introduced important changes into those relations. Many of the provisions of former laws had become inappropriate, or inadequate, and not suited to the changes which time and circumstances had made. In the act regulating the intercourse with the various tribes, the principles of intercommunication with them are laid down, and the necessary details provided. In that for the re-organization of the department, the number of officers employed has been much reduced, and the current expenses diminished. Any changes which experience may show to be necessary in these acts, cau from time to time be provided, until they shall become fully adapted to the situation and condition of the Indians, and to the intercourse, both commercial and political, which ought to exist between them and our government and citizens. The system of removal has changed essentially the prospects of the emigrants, and has imposed new obligations upon the United States. A vast tract of country, containing much more than one hundred millions of acres, has been set apart for the permanent residence of these Indians, and already about thirty thousand have been removed to it. The government is under treaty stipulations to remove nearly fifty thousand others to the same region, including the Illinois and Lake Michigan Indians, with whom a conditional arrangement has been made. This extensive district, embracing a great variety of soil and climate, has been divided among the several tribes, and definite boundaries assigned to each. They will there be brought into juxtaposition with one another, and also into contact, and possibly into collision with the native tribes of that country; and it seems highly desirable that some plan should be adopted for the regulation of the intercourse among these divided communities, and for the exercise of a general power of supervision over them, so far as these objects can be effected consistently with the power of Congress, and with the various treaty stipulations existing with them. It is difficult, indeed, to conceive how peace can be preserved, and the guaranty of protection held out to the eastern Indians, fulfilled, without some legislative provision upon this subject. It will be seen, by adverting to the estimates, that the ordinary expenditures of the Indian Department have been reduced to the sum of fiftynine thousand eight hundred dollars, a material diminution, which the provisions of the law of the last session, organizing that department, has rendered practicable, and which brings down its expenditures to a sum less by one half than the average annual amount for some years past. The appropriations for anuuities, being fixed and depending upon treaty stipulations, cannot be reduced by administration. The resolution of the Senate, of December 23, 1833, requiring the correspondence of the Indian Department, together with a detailed statement of expenditures for some years past, has been cemplied with. These documents will enable Congress to judge of the operations of this branch of the public service, both in its administrative and fiscal concerns. I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant, LEW: CASS. CONDITION OF THE ARMY. Extract from the report of the Major General of the Army, Nov. 1834. Since my last annual report, the five companies of the regiment of dragoons, which remained to be raised, have been recruited; and, after having been organized at Jefferson barracks, they took up their march to Fort Gibson, where the head-quarters of the regiment were established, preparatory to entering the Indian country, in conformity to your instructions. In consequence of the lateness of the arrival of these companies at Fort Gibson, and a variety of unforeseen difficulties in obtaining the proper arms and equipments for the regiment, the movement to the west was delayed until the 15th of June. In the meantime, General Leavenworth, who had been appointed to the command of the troops on the western frontier, south of the northern boundary of the State of Missouri, detached one company of that regiment as an escort to the caravan of traders to Santa Fe, in Mexico. He also employed detachments of the third and seventh regiments of infantry in opening roads between the posts on the Arkansas and Red rivers, and in establishing new posts beyond the settlements of the emigrated Indians, for the purpose of facilitating the movements of the expedition, and covering the country occupied by those Indians, in the event of a failure to secure a friendly intercourse with the wild tribes Inhabiting the country beyond them. These arrangements having been made, the expedition, consisting of nine companies, under Colonel Dodge,* was put in motion, accompanied by a deputation from the several tribes of friendly Indians, to act as guides and interpreters, and to aid in bringing about a general good understanding between the several nations; and in order that the friendly intercourse might be further promoted, two Indian girls, the one a Pawnee, and the other a Kiowa, who had been captured by the Osages, also accompanied the expedition for the purpose of being delivered to their friends. Owing to the sickness which prevailed among the troops, the command, on reaching the river Washita, about one hundred and eighty miles west of Fort Gibson, was so much reduced, as to render a re-organization of the companies necessary. Colonel Dodge accordingly, out of the effective force, formed six companies, each forty-two strong, and, under instructions from General Leavenworth, continued his march to the Pawnee village, situated on a branch of the Red river. Here Colonel Dodge held a council with the Camanches, the Pawnees, (or Toyaslas,) the Kiowas, and the deputation of Indians which accompanied him, amounting in all to about two thousand persons. He explained the object of the expedition, and was instrumental in bringing about a friendly intercourse between several hostile tribes. He also obtained the surren der of the son of a Mr. Martin, an American citizen, who had beem murdered by the Indians, and of a black boy captured by them A more particular account of the interview between Colonel Dodge and the assembled tribes, will be found in the journal of the expedition, annexed to this report. The nine companies destined for the campaign, (Captain Wharton's, company "A" marched in May, to escort a body of traders to Santa Fe,) began their movement from Camp Jackson on the 15th of June, and, under the direction of the field and company officers, encamped on the west bank of the Arkansas, three miles from Fort Gibson; thence moved eighteen miles westwardly, to Camp Rendezvous. Strength of the regi ment about five hundred. Arrangement of Officers for the campaign. Colonel-Henry Dodge. Lt. Colonel-S. W. Kearney. Major-R. B. Mason. Staff. Adjutant-1st Lt. J. W. Hamilton. Ordnance officer, &c.-1st Lt. T. B. Wheelock. Acting Assistant Quartermaster-1st Lt. Thomas Swords. Acting Assistant Commissary of Subsistence-2d Lt. John S. Van Deveer. Company Officers: Company "B"-Capt. Sumner, 2d Lt. Burgwin, Bt. 2d Lt. McClure. Company "C"-Capt. Duncan, Bt. 2d Lt. Bowman. Company "D"-Capt. Hunter, 1st. Lt. Moore, 2d Lt. Steen. Company "E"-Capt. Perkins, Bt. 2d Lt. Kingsbury. Company "F"-1st Lt. Davis, Bt. 3d Lt. Eastman, 2d Infantry. Company "G"-1st Lt. Cooke, 2d Lt. Territt. Company "H"-Capt. Boone, Bt. 2d Lt. Ury. Company "I"-Capt. Brown, Bt. 2d Lt. Edwards. Company "K"-1st Lt. Izard, 2d Lt. Shaumburgh. After delivering the two ludian girls to their parents, Colonel Dodge, accompanied by several of the chiefs of the Camanches, Pawnees, and Kiowas, returned with his command to Fort Gibson, whence the regiment proceeded to take up the positions previously fixed on. Four companies, under Colonel Dodge, marched to Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri; three companies, under Lieutenant Colonel Kearney, to the Des Moines; and three, under Major Mason, to a point on the Arkansas, about eighty miles above Fort Gibson. These companies have arrived at their destinations, and are engaged in preparing their winter quarters. The reports of the Inspectors General, as to the condition of the army, are highly favorable. The dispersed state of the troops prevents any great improvement in extended evolutions; but the police and administration are, in every respect, creditable to the officers in command. The character of the soldiery is evidently improving. The law for bettering the condition of the rank and file seems to have already produced the most beneficial results The vice of drunkenness has diminished,| and, with it, desertion and other crimes; while, at the same time, better men enlist. The services performed by the officers of the line are diversified and extensive. Besides the duties in camp and quarters, they furnish assistance to the various branches of the Staff and the Military Academy, in all of which the number of officers authorized by law is insufficient for the performance of the multiplied duties imposed on them beyond their ordinary service. RECRUITING. Number of recruits enlisted in the army, from the 1st of January to the 30th of September, 1834, according to the latest returns. EASTERN DEPARTMENT.-Lt Col. J. B. Crane, 2d Artillery, Superintendent. At Albany, NY 108; Boston, Mass. 47; Baltimore, Md. 84; Easton, Pa. 33; Fredericktown, Md. 109; Fredericksburg, Va. 4; Ithaca, N. Y. 1; Lancaster, Pa. 30; Lynchburg, Va. 5; New York, N. Y 172; Philadelphia, Pa. 121; Plattsburg, Pa. 14; Port Deposite, Md. 3; Rochester, N. Y 50: Sackett's Harbor, N. Y. 32; Utica, N. Y. 93; Whitehall, N. Y. 30; York, Pa. 2;-938 WESTERN DEPARTMENT-Lt. Col. W S. Foster, 4th Infantry, Superintendent. At Cincinnati, Ohio, 62; Chillicothe, Ohio, 20; Cleaveland, Ohio, 3; Louisville, Ky. 46; Nashville, Ten. 38; New Orleans, La. 24; Pittsburg, Pa. 46; Wheeling, Va. 29; Zanesville, O. 17;—285. REGIMENTS. In the Dragoons, 280 In the 1st Artillery, 81; 2d Artillery, 32; 3d Artillery, 64; 4th Artillery, 98;-275. In the 1st Infantry, 37; 2d Infantry, 32; 3d Infantry, 47; 4th Infantry, 44; 5th Infantry, 3; 6th Infantry, 30; 7th Infantry, 31;—224. In the Detachment at West Point, Band at West Point, 16. 15. Detachment of Orderlies, at Washington, 3. 7. 68. For the Hospital Department, At Ordnance Depôts, Total number enlisted from the 1st of January to the 30th of September, 1834, was two thousand eleven hundred and eleven. Position and Distribution of the Troops....1834. 151 Eastern Department, under the command of Brevet Major General Winfield Scott. Right b'k of Miss M T.Lt. co. Kearney Drag's 3 173 296 ، 3d 155 155 94 801 66 4.5 41 99 34 Western Department, under the command of Brevet Major General Edmund P. Gaines. Fort Snelling Fort Crawford Upper Mississip Captain Stuart Near Natchitoches La. Colone! Many Baton Rouge, Louisiana Bt major Glassell 4th "4 Bt. maj Mountfort 2d |