POST OFFICE Department,

February 20, 1824.

SIR: In obedience to the 9th section of the act of Congress, "to 'egulate and fix the compensation of Clerks in the different Offices," pproved April 20th, 1818, I have the honor to submit the accompaying statement of the number of Clerks employed in this Departnent, during the year 1823, with their names and salaries.

I have the honor to be, with great respect,

Your obedient humble servant,

The Hon. HENRY CLAY,

JOHN M LEAN.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

STATEMENT of the number of Clerks employed in the Post Of Department, during the year 1823, with their names and salaries

MESSAGE

FROM THE

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

TRANSMITTING

CERTAIN PAPERS RELATING

TO THE

Compact between the U. States & the State of Georgia,

OF 1802, &c.

APRIL 2, 1824.

Printed by order of the House of Representatives.

WASHINGTON:

PRINTED BY GALES & SEATON.

1

MESSAGE.

To the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

I transmit to Congress certain papers enumerated in a report from the Secretary of War, relating to the compact between the United States and the state of Georgia, entered into in 1802, whereby the latter ceded to the former a portion of the territory then within its limits, on the conditions therein specified. By the 4th article of that compact, it was stipulated that the United States should, at their own expense, extinguish, for the use of Georgia, the Indian title to all the lands within the state, as soon as it might be done peaceably and on reasonable conditions. These papers shew the measures adopted by the Executive of the United States, in fulfilment of the several conditions of the compact, from its date to the present time, and particularly the negotiations and treaties with the Indian tribes for the extinguishment of their title, with an estimate of the number of acres purchased, and sums paid for the lands they acquired. They show, also, the state in which this interesting concern now rests with the Cherokees, one of the tribes within the state, and the inability of the Executive to make any further movement with this tribe, without the special sanction of Congress.

I have full confidence that my predecessors exerted their best endeavors to execute this compact in all its parts, of which, indeed, the sums paid, and the lands acquired during their respective terms, in fulfilment of its several stipulations, are a full proof. I have also been animated, since I came into this office, with the same zeal, from an anxious desire to meet the wishes of the state, and in the hope that, by the establishment of these tribes beyond the Mississippi, their improvement in civilization, their security, and happiness, would be promoted. By the paper bearing date on the 30th of January last, which was communicated to the Chiefs of the Cherokee nation in this city, who came to protest against any further appropriations of money for holding treaties with them, the obligation imposed on the United States, by the compact with Georgia, to extinguish the Indian title to the right of soil within the state, and the incompatibility with our system, of their existence as a distinct community within any state, were pressed with the utmost earnestness. It was proposed to them, at the same time, to procure and convey to them territory, beyond the Mississippi, in exchange for that which they hold, within the limits of Georgia, or to pay them for it its value in money. To this proposal, their answer, which bears date 11th of February following, gives an unqualified refusal. By this it is manifest that, at the present time, and in their present temper, they can be removed only by force, to which, should it be deemed proper, the power of the Executive is incompetent.

I have no hesitation, however, to declare it as my opinion, that the Indian title was not affected in the slightest circumstance by the