122 MYTHS OF THE CHEKOKEE [f.th.ann.19 



the Cherokee nation in full eouneil a.ssembled before being eonsidercd 

 of any liinding- force. This much accomplished, Mr. Sehermerhorn 

 departed for the Cherokee country, armed with an address from 

 President Jackson in which the great benefits of removal were .set 

 forth to the Cherokee. Having exhausted the summer and fall in 

 fruitless effort to secure favorable action, the reverend gentleman 

 notified the President, proposing either to obtain the signatures of 

 the leading Cherokee l)y promising them payment for their impi'ove- 

 ments at their own valuation, if in any degree reasonable, or to con- 

 clude a treaty with a part of the Nation and compel its acceptance 

 hy the rest. He was pi'omptly informed by the Secretary of War, 

 Lewis Cass, on behalf of the President, that the treaty, if concluded 

 at all, must be procured upon fair and open terms, with no particular 

 promise to any individual, high or low, to gain his aid or infiuence, 

 and without sacrificing the interest of the whole to the cupidity of a 

 few. He was also informed that, as it would probably be contrary to 

 his wish, his letter would not be put on file.' 



In October, 1835, the Ridge treaty was rejected by the Cherokee 

 Nation in full council at Red Clay, even its main supporters, Ridge 

 himself and Elias Boudinot, going over to the majority, most unex- 

 pectedly to Sehermerhorn, who reports the result, piously adding, 

 "but the Lord is able to overrule all things for good." During the 

 session of this council notice was served on the Cherokee to meet 

 commissioners at New Echota in December following for the purpose 

 of negotiating a treaty. The notice was also printed in the Cherokee 

 language and circulated throughout the Nation, with a statement that 

 those who failed to attend would be counted as assenting to any treaty 

 that might be made." 



The council had authorized the regular delegation, headed by John 

 Ross, to conclude a treaty either there or at Washington, but, finding 

 that Sehermerhorn had no authority to treat on an_v other basis than 

 the one rejected liy the Nation, the delegates proceeded to Washing- 

 ton.' Before their departure John Ross, who had removed to Ten- 

 nessee to escape persecution in his own state, was arrested at his home 

 by the Georgia guard, all his private papers and the proceedings of 

 the council being taken at the same time, and conveyed across the line 

 into Georgia, where he was held for some time without charge against 

 him, and at last released without apology or explanation. The poet, 

 John Howard Payne, who was then stopping with Ross, engaged in 

 the work of collecting historical and ethnologic material relating to the 

 Cherokee, was seized at the .same time, with all his letters and scien- 



1 Royce, Cherokee Nation, Fifth Ann. Rep. Bureau of Ethnologj'. pp. 278-280, 1888; Everett speech 

 in House of Representatives, May 31, 1838, pp. 28,29, 1S39, iii wliioh the Secretary's reply is given in 

 full. 



'Royce, op. cit.i pp. 280-281. Hbid., p. 281. 



