344 CHEROKEE NATION OF INDIANS. 
tion of the nation for the office claimed by him, an office which by the 
Cherokee law the commissioners believed he did not in fact hold. They 
therefore refused, as commissioners representing the interests of the 
United States, to recognize Ross in any manner as the chief of the 
Cherokee Nation. 
Loyal Cherokees will sign treaty conditionally.—At the same sitting of 
the council, Colonel Reese, of the loyal Cherokee delegation, declared 
that they were willing to sign the proposed treaty, but in so doing 
would not acknowledge that they had forfeited their rights and _ privi- 
leges to annuities and lands as set forth in the preamble, but that their 
signatures must be made under the following statement, viz: ‘“‘ We, the 
loyal delegation, acknowledge the execution of the treaty of October 7, 
1861, but we solemnly declare that the execution was procured by the 
coercion of the rebel army.” 
Southern Cherokees will sign treaty conditionally—On the following 
day | the credentials of the Southern Cherokees were presented by E. 
©. Boudinot, accompanied by the statement that they cordially acceded 
to the Ist, 2d, 4th, 5th, and 7th propositions of the commissioners with- 
out qualification; that they accepted the abolition of slavery as an ac- 
complished fact, and were willing to give such fact legal significance 
by appropriate acts of council. They insisted, however, that it would 
neither be for the benefit of the emancipated negro nor for that of the 
Indian to incorporate the former into the tribe on an equal footing with 
its original members. They were also opposed to the policy of consoli- 
dating all the tribes in the Indian Territory under one government, 
because of the many incongruous and irreconcilable elements which no 
power could bring into a semblance ef assimilation.? 
Southern Cherokees want a division of territory—They had already 
proffered and were willing again to proffer the olive-branch of peace and 
reconciliation to their brethren of the so called loyal portion of the nation, 
but respectfully urged that after all the blood that had been shed and 
the intense bitterness that seemed to fill the bosoms of their brethren 
they ought not to be expected to live in an undivided country. They 
wished peace, and they believed they could have it in no other way than 
by an equitable division of the Cherokee country in such manner as 
should seem most appropriate to the United States. 
Statement by John Ross.—The delegation of loyal Cherokees at the 
next session of the council® presented their exceptions to the action of 
the commissioners in declining to recognize John Ross and that gentle- 
man was permitted to make a statement in his own behalf. The con- 
stantly accumulating evidence against him was such, however, as to 
more fully confirm the commissioners in the propriety of their previous 
action. 
1 September 16, 1865. 
? This objection to consolidation was afterwards withdrawn, and, based upon fuller 
information of the proposed plan, was most fully concurred in, 
8 September 18, 1865. 
