property of the State; and they were now cast entirely upon their own resources, reposing their last hopes in the legislative and judicial branches of the Government.

This delegation from the Cherokee tribe-or nation, as they are commonly called from their numbers and respectability *-was composed of three of their principal men, or chiefs:-Messrs. Taylor, Ridge, and Coody. Mr. Taylor is a plain, practical, common-sense man, of good manners, of unbending integrity, a professor of the Christian religion, speaks English with purity, and but for the cast of his countenance, might be taken any where, as a branch of English lineage. Messrs. Ridge and Coody are both men of a liberal education, polished in their manners, and worthy of any society. The propriety and dignity of their demeanour are not simply unexceptionable, but commanding, prepossessing, and attractive. They enforce respect and esteem. Though young, both under thirty, yet the necessities of their life—having been for years, in conjunction with other chiefs of their tribe, engaged in this public controversy against Georgia, and in correspondence with the authorities of the General Government and other public men,

* About 20,000 in all-6000 having already removed into the Arkansas, west of the Mississippi.

members of both Houses of Congress-have compelled them to be acquainted with affairs of State; and they actually know more of the institutions, laws, and government of the United States, and are better qualified to sit as members of Congress, than a large fraction of those, who occupy a seat in the House of Representatives; and this may be said without dishonouring that body. And yet these men are parts of that race, of whom it has been gravely asked:-"What tribe has been civilized by all this expenditure of treasure, and labour, and care? Where is the tribe, who have changed their manners who have exhibited any just estimate of the improvements around them, or any desire to participate in them? They stand alone among the great family of man... a distinct variety of the human race wild, and fierce, and irreclaimable, as the animals, their co-tenants of the forest." And of whom also the late Secretary at War of the United States, who retired from that office in the spring of 1831, had the generosity to say: "It is an utopian plan to think of civilizing the Indians. Nature must first change,"

• ...

CHAPTER XI.

THE RESULT OF THE MISSION OF THE INDIANS FROM GREEN BAY TO WASHINGTON.

It will have been seen, that I have taken no pains to conceal the true character of the wild Indian. Perhaps it will even be thought by some, that I have awarded to him more of savage merit, than he is entitled to. It must also have been noticed, that I have incidentally and expressly adduced sufficient testimony of facts, to demonstrate the Indian's susceptibilities of improvement. I confess, that I have no patience, nor can I make any terms of peace with those, who seem to be taking pains to find an apology far abandoning the Indian to perdition, temporal and eternal, for the incorrigibleness of his disposition. Much more unbecoming-much more inexcusable and cruel, does it seem, when high official stations, which hold the destiny of the

Indians in their hands, can stoop to traduce their nature, and thus abate and check the sympathies of mankind for this afflicted peoplesympathies, which are few and small and inoperative enough, without these apologies. All sense of propriety and delicacy, even where a holier principle might be wanting, would seem to demand and impose at least the appearance of tenderness in such a quarter. When I speak of the Indian as he is, uncultivated, it is my object to represent him in the light of historical fact. And if I have sometimes appeared to be amused, for the sake of amusing my readers, in descriptions of his native costume, habits, and manners, let it not for a moment be thought I would treat these subjects with unfeeling levity; or that I desire any other, than first to awaken an interest, that I may challenge and call into action a sympathy, for his condition.

In the last chapter I indulged a little in a notice of the general appearance and manners of the wild Indians from Green Bay, who came, or rather were brought to Washington, in the winter of 1830-31. It may be proper, and to the point of our general aim, here to say a word in explanation of the reason of their mission.

The reader has before been made acquainted with the controversy at Green Bay,

ostensibly between the New York and native tribes, but really between the former and the General Government or mediately, in the place of the Government, those who were interested in destroying the title of the New York Indians, acquired in that quarter, that the way might be open for the erection of a new State. It has also been fully developed, that the wild tribes of Green Bay, or of the North-West Territory, had been persuaded to a rupture of the peace with their brethren, who came from the State of New York, and who had purchased territory of them, and settled down by their side on terms of amity, and with every prospect of mutual advantage; the New York Indians being civilized, and promising to render all their influence and assistance to improve the condition of their new neighbours, and reduce them to habits of civilization; that all might march forward together in the way to the proper dignities and higher states of human society.

It is also suitable here to revive the recollection of facts, before recognized, that the title acquired by the New York Indians in that quarter, covered the key to the country, without

the possession of which, the

project of a new

State could never be executed. In pursuance of the object, vital and important, of obtaining