204 CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS. 
United States authorities were not as yet prepared to defray the pe- 
euniary expense of so large a migration. The agent was therefore di- 
rected to discourage for the present anything except the removal of 
individual families.’ The situation remained unchanged until the 
spring of 1811,? when the Secretary of War informed Agent Meigs that 
time and circumstances had rendered it expedient to revive the subject 
of a general removal and exchange of lands. The latter was advised- 
that it was very desirable to secure a cession of the Cherokee lands ly- 
ing within the States of Tennessee and South Carolina, and that in case 
the whole nation could be brought to agree to the proposition of ceding 
these tracts, as the proportionate share of the ‘‘ emigrant party,” in 
exchange for lands to be assigned such party on White and Arkansas 
Rivers, he would be authorized and directed to negotiate a treaty with 
the Cherokee Nation for that purpose. From this time the subject re- 
mained in statu quo for several years, except that small parties of Cher- 
okees, consisting of a few individuals or families, continued to emi- 
grate to the “‘ promised land.” It is perhaps interesting to state, in con- 
nection with this emigration movement of the Cherokees, that it was 
primarily inaugurated shortly after the treaty of 1785, at Hopewell, 
when a few of those dissatisfied with the terms of that instrument em- 
barked in pirogues, and, descending the Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi 
Rivers, reached and ascended the Saint Francis, then in the Spanish 
province of Louisiana, where they formed a settlement, from whence in 
a few years they removed toa more satisfactory location on White 
tiver. Here they were joined from time to time by their dissatisfied 
eastern brethren, in familiesand small parties, until they numbered, 
prior to the treaty of 1817, between two and three thousand souls. 
EFFORTS OF SOUTIL CAROLINA TO EXTINGUISIT CHEROKEE TITLE. 
On the 31st of December, 1810, the governor of South Carolina trans- 
mitted to the President a resolution of the legislature of that State 
urging an extinguishment of the Cherokee Indian title to lands within 
her State limits.’ The Secretary of War, in his letter of acknowledg- 
ment, assured the governor that measures would soon be taken to 
bring about the desired cession if possible. Nothing of importance 
seems, however, to have been done until the winter of 1514, when Agent 
Meigs was appointed® a commissioner for the purpose of negotiating a 
treaty with this end in view. He was instructed that the State of 
South Carolina would have an agent present, authorized to defray the 
expenses of the treaty and to adjust the compensation that should be 
agreed upon in consideration of the proposed cession, agreeably to the 

‘Letter of Secretary of War to Col. R. J. Meigs, November 1, 1809. 
?March 27, 13811. 
* Indian Office files. 
4March 28, 1811. 
5 December 26. 
