272 • GILMER COUNTY. 



jfluence to prevent your clients, the Indians, from committing 

 violence upon the people of Georgia, is very kind, coming as 

 it does from a private citizen of another State, and will with- 

 out doubt create an obligation upon the people whose safety is 

 intended, commensurate with the favour to be received. There 

 are no fears felt in Georgia from Indian violence, although it 

 is highly probable that your efforts will be productive of some 

 mischief. It is believed that the Cherokees in Georgia had de- 

 termined to unite with that portion of their tribe who had 

 removed to the West of the Mississippi, if the policy of the 

 President were sustained by Congress. To prevent this result, 

 as soon as it became highly probable that the Indian bill would 

 pass, the Cherokees were persuaded that the right of self-gov- 

 ernment would be secured to them by the power of the Su- 

 preme Court, in defiance of the legislation of the General and 

 State Governments. It was not known, however, until the 

 receipt of your letter, that the spirit of resistance to the laws 

 of the State, and views of the United States, which of late 

 has been evident among the Indians, had, in any manner, 

 been occasioned by your advice. Although insurrection 

 among the Indian people of Georgia may be the consequence 

 of your proceedings, and those who act in unison with you, 

 the constituted authorities of the State disclaim all right to 

 interfere with you in any manner, so long as you keep your- 

 self beyond the jurisdiction of the State. You have thought 

 proper to give the Governor of Georgia an account of the civil- 

 ization of the Cherokees, describing those whom you have 

 known to be polished gentlemen, and those whom you do not 

 know to have ceased to be savages. What you say of the intelli- 

 gence of the members of the Cherokee tribe who were in Wash- 

 ington City last winter, is partly true, and equally descriptive of 

 many others. They are not Indians, however, but the children 

 of white men, whose corrupt habits or vile passions led them 

 into connection with the Cherokee tribe. It is not surprising 

 that the white men, and the children of white men, have avail- 

 ed themselves of the easy means of acquiring wealth which 

 the Cherokee territory has presented for thirty or forty years, 

 nor that intelligence and spirited activity should increase with 

 their increase of wealth ; nor that when wealth, intelligence. 



