ROYCE. | TREATY OF DECEMBER 29, 1835. 291 
secure the removal of the Cherokees at the earliest day practicable, and 
he made no doubt it could be effected the present season.! 
GENERAL SCOTT ORDERED TO COMMAND TROOPS IN THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY. 
The executive machinery under the treaty had in the mean time been 
placed in operation, and at the beginning of the year 1838, 2,103 Cher- 
okees had been removed, of whom 1,282 had been permitted to remove 
themselves.” 
Intelligence having reached the President, however, causing appre- 
hension that the mass of the nation did not intend to remove as required 
by the treaty General Winfield Scott was ordered? to assume command 
of the troops already in the nation, and to collect an increased force, com- 
prising aregiment of artillery, aregiment of infantry, and six companies 
of dragoons. He was further authorized, if deemed necessary, to call 
upon the governors of Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama 
for militia and volunteers, not exceeding four thousand in n umber, and to 
put the Indians in motion for the West at the earliest moment possible, 
following the expiration of the two years specified in the treaty. 
Proclamation of General Scott.—On reaching the scene of operations 
General Scott issued‘ a proclamation to the Cherokees in which he 
announced that — 
The President of the United States has sent me with a powerful army to cause you, 
in obedience to the treaty of 1835, to join that part of your people who are already 
established in prosperity on the other side of the Mississippi. Unhappily the two 
years *~ * * allowed for that purpose you have suffered to pass away * * * 
without making any preparation to follow, and now * * * the emigration must 
be commenced in haste. * * * The full moon of May isalready on the wane, and 
before another shall have passed away every Cherokee, man, woman, and child * 
* * must be in motion to join their brethren in the far West. * * * This is no 
sudden determination on the part of the President. * * * Ihave come to carry out 
that determination. My troops already occupy many positions, * * * and thou- 
Sands and thousands are approaching from every quarter to render resistance and 
escape alike hopeless. * * * Will you then by resistance compel us to resort to 
arms? * * * Or will you by flight seek to hide yourselves in mountains and forests 
and thus oblige us to hunt you down? Remember that in pursuit it may be impos- 
sible to avoid conflicts. The blood of the white man or the blood of the red man 
may be spilt, and if spilt, however accidentally, it may be impossible for the discreet 
and humane among you, or among us, to prevent a general war and carnage. 
JOHN ROSS PROPOSES A NEW TREATY. 
John Ross, finding no signof wavering in the determination of the Pres- 
ident to promptly execute the treaty, then submitted® a project for the 
negotiation of a new treaty as a substitute for that of 1835, and differing 

' National Intelligencer, June 8, 1838. 
*Secretary of War to James K. Polk, Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
January 8, 1838. 
* General Macomb to General Scott, April 6, 1838. 
‘May 10, 1838. 
* May, 18, 1838. 
