Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. 2 (of 16)

by United States. Congress

Monday, December 31.

Several other members, viz: from Connecticut, John Allen; and from Virginia, Samuel J. Cabell and Thomas Claiborne, appeared, and took their seats in the House.

Remonstrance of Georgia.

RECLAMATION FOR SACRIFICED TERRITORY—COMPARATIVE EXPENDITURE IN DEFENDING NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN FRONTIERS FROM INDIAN DEPREDATIONS.

The House then resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole, on the report of a select committee on the representation and remonstrance of the State of Georgia; which was read as follows:

"Report of the committee to whom was referred the representation and remonstrance of the Legislature of the State of Georgia:

"That a certain tract of country, within the limits of Georgia, bounded by a line beginning at the fork of Oconee and Ocmulgee Rivers, and thence running in a south-west direction, until it intersects the most southern part of St. Mary's River, thence down the river to the old line, was ceded by the Creek nation of Indians, to the said State, by a treaty held between the Commissioner of said State, and the Creek Indians at Galphinton, on the 12th of November, 1785, which tract of country was, by the Legislature of said State, formed into a county, by the name of Talessee county; and the cession thereof was afterward confirmed, at a treaty held between the same parties, at Shoulderbone, on the 3d day of November, 1786.

"Your committee further report, that, by the treaty made at New York, between the United States and the Creek Indians, bearing date on the 7th day of August, 1790, a boundary line was established between the said nation of Indians and the United States, whereby the above described tract of country, named Talessee county, was declared to be within the Indian territory.

"The committee have not been able to discover upon what principles the relinquishment of the territory of the State of Georgia was acceded to on the part of the United States; it is therefore to be presumed that it was done upon principles of general policy, with the intention of establishing a permanent peace between the United States and the said nation. They are, therefore, of opinion that compensation ought to be made to the State of Georgia for the loss of this territory, and recommend to the House to adopt the following resolution:

"Resolved, That the United States will make compensation to the State of Georgia, for the loss and damage sustained by that State, in consequence of the cession of the county of Talessee, made to the Creek nation, by the Treaty of New York, unless it shall be deemed expedient to extinguish the Indian title to the said land."

Mr. Baldwin said, he should not call for the reading of the remonstrance, as it had already been twice read, and had also been published in the newspapers. The committee in their report have stated such parts of it as they thought necessary to lead the House to a decision. It is seen at once to relate to two objects: what they consider as a dismemberment of the State, by giving back to the Indians a district of country, called Talessee county, and the injurious operation of the act for regulating trade and intercourse with the Indians. He was himself at New York at the time when the treaty, called the Treaty of New York, was made; he knew well it was with great concern and reluctance that the Federal Government consented to an act which had so much the appearance of dismembering a State, as giving back Talessee county to the Indians; but that frontier was so extensive, the savages who border upon it were so much more numerous and hostile than any others in the United States, that they were induced to consent for a time to the relinquishment of that district to them, as the counterpart of all the other conditions which they obtained in that treaty. He was sure it was at that time their expectation and design to have before now peaceably repurchased it of the Indians. The act was not founded on any defect in the right of the State to that county; but a short time before, three Commissioners, viz: Gen. Lincoln, Judge Griffin, a former member of Congress, and Mr. Humphreys, who is now our Minister at Madrid, were sent to examine into the state of that frontier, and to form treaties with the neighboring tribes; they were unwearied in the execution of their trust, visited the frontier in person, collected the Indian chiefs to meet them there, to learn what information they could give; they afterwards returned to the seat of Government of Georgia, and examined the treaties, laws, and journals, and examined individuals on oath, so as to obtain all the information that it was possible to procure, on the spot. On their return they made a special and very full report, a copy of which is on the files of the House, and, without doubt, is to be regarded on those subjects as a document paramount to every thing else, at the time it was made. This document leaves no doubt of the fairness of the transaction in the treaties of 1785 and 1786, in which this Talessee county was purchased and contained, as stated by the committee. The giving it back, by the subsequent Treaty of New York, rested only on the importance and urgency of the case, as the only possible means of obtaining peace.

On the other point contained in the remonstrance, viz: the injurious operation of the law respecting trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, he did not think it necessary now to make many observations, the report of the committee was, that it should be revised and amended; as that law expires by its own limitation with this session, it is a subject that must be taken up, and at that time he should submit to the consideration of the House the various matters which seemed to impress themselves so strongly upon the minds of his constituents.

Mr. B. said, the report of the committee was peculiarly grateful to him, and he hoped the confirmation of it by Congress would be so to his constituents, because the individuals who composed the committee were so long and so well known in the United States, that their report will be likely to have a great effect in finally settling the minds of people on those old subjects of reproach and discord, especially as it is in direct conformity with the copious report of the three Commissioners who examined into the same subject on the spot, as he had before mentioned. This appeared to him to be a matter of great importance.

From the close of the Revolution to the present time, these reproaches have always been at the threshold, to encounter every thing that was proposed in behalf of that growing and important part of the United States. The Revolution had raged there to such a degree, and the minds of men were so embittered against each other, that it required more than the usual time for them to lay aside the fierceness of their hostility. Though their enemies were driven from them, yet they were not driven beyond the recoil of their resentment. This, joined to the disappointment of some pecuniary enterprises of individuals for gain, had been the cause of those malignant torrents of reproach which have but too long poured forth upon the greater part of their councils, and upon the most distinguished of their public servants.

It was well known to him, and to some who heard him, that their calls for protection on a very extensive and very turbulent frontier, had, till within these few years, always been repelled with reproaches, that they had never been any thing but an expense; were totally delinquent in bearing the burdens of the Revolution; that they had been carried through entirely at the expense of the other States; and that they ought not now to be protected any further till they were willing to pay requisitions. When this reproach was wiped off by the report of the General Board of Commissioners, on the settlement of the whole account of the old co-partnership of the Confederation, and the very small number there, at that time, appeared to have done the proportion of the whole number by the census which was the rule of the settlement, and to have reimbursed the great delinquency of the loan officers appointed by Congress, for which they were made accountable, still they were told they must protect themselves, for they wronged the Indians out of their lands, and this was the cause of their suffering. It appears now, in the result, that they have always discharged all their Federal obligations, and much more, and instead of getting away the lands from the Indians, the Indians have got away their lands, and they cannot get them back.

He believed there could not be much doubt left but that the principles contained in the report of the committee were just and proper. These had been to him for many years very sore objects; the position in which he considered them immovably fixed gave him great pleasure. His constituents had not sent him here to play the champion. He thought it could not be denied that there was some ground for them to triumph over those who had so long vilified and abused them. He begged leave still further to urge the measures recommended by the committee, from the consideration of the small expenditures which have been made on that frontier, in proportion to the others.

The accounts of the military expenditures on the northern frontiers, were now more than ten millions of dollars. This had been begun, and principally originated from a regular expedition to destroy a village of fugitive Indians, who committed depredations on the northern frontier; a similar village on the southern frontier, called the Chehaw, was also destined by the Government for a similar expedition; but the measure failed in the Legislature, and that frontier was left to protect themselves. This has been done; the fugitives in that village have been driven off by a party of volunteers. He believed the whole amount of military expenditures on that frontier, till the time of entire peace with the Indians, did not exceed a quarter of a million, and nearly one hundred thousand of that the militia had now been kept out of for four or five years; though he hoped and trusted they would not much longer have cause of complaint on that head. After the observations which he had made, he thought no apology was necessary for some apparent harshness in the language of the remonstrance.

As to the course which it is proper to pursue in granting relief on the subject, he had not much to say. He was confident the expectations of the State were not unreasonable; he was sure they would be satisfied with any result which could be considered as fair and honorable; and his confidence in the House forbade him to suppose for a moment that it could be brought to any other. The course recommended by the committee in their resolution now under consideration, is either to make compensation to the State for the land which has been relinquished, and for the damages which they have sustained, or else to repurchase that district or another district, on that frontier, of equal value. He said he had laid on the table a certificate from the Surveyor General of that State, taken at that time, as to the length of the lines enclosing that district, and the probable contents of it. If the report of the committee should be agreed to, a bill might be reported in conformity to one or the other, or all of those principles, as might be thought proper. He was contented in leaving it to the judgment of the House.

On the call of Mr. Brooks, the representation and remonstrance were read. After which,

Mr. Champlin moved that the committee might rise, with a view of postponing this subject till the next session of Congress. He thought the language of the remonstrance too violent and indecorous to claim attention from the House. This opinion was also supported by Mr. Dana. Messrs. Bayard and N. Smith wished this motion to prevail, because they doubted the propriety of the report, and supposed there would not be time thoroughly to investigate the business during this session.

On the other hand, Messrs. Pinckney, Rutledge, Harper, Gallatin, Venable, W. Claiborne, J. Parker, and Macon, were against the postponement. The objection to the language, it was said, was out of time. If made at all, it ought to have been made when the remonstrance was presented; that some allowance ought to be made for the language, as it appeared to have been drawn in a moment of passion; that if the claim was just, it ought not to be rejected because it was made in improper language, especially, since the Legislature of Georgia were not the only persons concerned, as the inhabitants on the frontier, while this subject is undecided, are suffering severely from Indian cruelties and depredations.

The question for leave to be given to the committee to sit again, was carried by 69 votes.