norcr.] TREATY OF DECEMBER 29, 1835. 289 
Superintendent Currey having died, General Nathan Smith was ap- 
pointed ! to succeed him as superintendent of emigration. 
Census of Cherokee Nation.—lt appears from a statement about this 
time,” made by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that from a census 
of the Cherokees, taken in the year 1835, the number residing in the 
States of Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Tennessee was 16,542, 
exclusive of slaves and of whites intermarried with Cherokees.’ 
In May, 1837,‘ General Wool was relieved from command at his own 
request, and his successor, Col. William Lindsay, was instructed to ar- 
rest John Ross and turn him over to the civil authorities in case he did 
anything further calculated to excite a spirit of hostility among the 
Cherokees on the subject of removal. This threat, however, seemed to 
have little effect, for we find Mr. Ross presiding over a general council, 
convened at his instigation, on the 3lst of July, to attend which the 
Government hastily dispatched Mr. John Mason, jr., with instructions 
to traverse and correct any misstatements of the position of the United 
States authorities that might be set forth by Ross and his followers. 
An extract from Mr. Mason’s report has already been given. 
Cherokee memorial in Congress.—Again, in the spring of 1838 Ross 
laid before Congress a protest and memorial for the redress of griey- 
ances, which, in the Senate, was laid upon the table® by a vote of 36 
to 10, and a memorial from citizens of New York involving an in- 
quiry into the validity of the treaty of 1835 shared a similar fate in the 
House of Representatives two days later by a vote of 102 to 75. 
Speech of Henry A. Wise—The discussion of these memorials in 
Congress took a wide range and excited the warmest interest, not only 
in that body, but throughout the country. The speeches were charac- 
terized by a depth and bitterness of feeling such as had never been ex- 
ceeded even on the slavery question. Hon. Henry A. Wise, of Vir- 
ginia, who was then a member of the House of Representatives from 
that State, was especially earnest in his denunciation of the treaty of 
1835 and of the administration that had coneluded it. He looked 

1 January 3, 1837. 
2 December 1, 1836. 
* This census showed a distribution of the Cherokee population, according to State 
boundaries, as follows: 




Whites in- 
States. Cherokees.) Slaves. | tetmarried 
| with 
Cherokegs. 
LURES en aan ae OR oor os esecony aceon eacgdo encase 8, 946 776 68 
In North Carolina... 3, 644 37 22 
In Tennessee...---. 2, 528 480 79 
rea BAM dense ns sooner oe ceetarrns cee mete ems oohebeca meee: 1, 424 299 32 
POUR mecca smo in eae onans-lstanes se scome~arassepaneseesecs 16, 542 1, 592 201 

*Secretary of War to Col. William Lindsay, May 8, 1837. 
® March 26, 1838. 
5 ETH——19 
