TROUP COUNTY. 559 



had been appointed in 1825. In July, 1826, the Governor 

 had commanded the District Surveyors to commence opera- 

 tions on the first of September. The vi^ork was done with no 

 resistance from Washington until February, 1827, and none 

 of moment from the Indians. Upon their complaint, the Pre- 

 sident then ordered those surveyors who laboured in that part of 

 the territory left out by the new treaty to be arrested, and caused 

 the Governor to be informed, through Lieut. Vinton of the army, 

 that he would employ " all the means under his control to 

 maintain the faith of the nation," by carrying that treaty into 

 effect. The Governor, without the loss of a day on his part, 

 directed the Attorney and Solicitors General of Georgia " to 

 bring to justice, by indictment or otherwise, the officers or 

 parties concerned" in arresting the surveyors ; and sent ge- 

 neral orders to the Major Generals of the 6th and 7th divisions 

 of militia, " to hold their commands in readiness to repel any 

 hostile invasion of the State." On the same day, he wrote to 

 the Secretary of War, " that he should resist to the utmost, any 

 military attack, which the government of the United States 

 should think proper to make on the territory, the people, or the 

 sovereignty of Georgia." You, said he, from the first decisive 

 act of hostility, " will be considered and treated as a public 

 enemy, and with the less repugnance, because you, to whom 

 we might constitutionally have appealed for our defence 

 against invasion, are yourselves the invaders; and, what is 

 more, the unblushing advocates of the savages whose cause 

 you have adopted. You have referred me for my conduct to 

 the treaty at Washington. In turn I take the liberty to re- 

 fer you to a treaty of prior date, and prior ratification, con- 

 cluded at the Indian Springs, which I have the honour to en- 

 close." Lieutenant Vinton having been instructed, as neces- 

 sary to his personal safety, to preserve a profound secrecy in 

 the execution of his mission, the Governor tells the Secretary, 

 that "he mistakes the character of the people of Georgia. 

 Officers of the General Government engaged in the perform- 

 ance of lawful duties, have only to deport themselves as gen- 

 tlemen to find the same security and protection in Georgia, as 

 under the ^Egis of the government at Washington." The sur- 

 veyors were not arrested, the surveys were completed, and the 



