“ART 2. The Seminoles agree that those of their tribe who have not done so before the ratification of this treaty, shall immediately thereafter remove to, and permanently settle in, the Creek Country.”
“ART. 3. It is mutually agreed by the Creeks and Seminoles that all contested cases between the two tribes, concerning the right of property growing out of sales or transactions that may have occurred previous to the ratification of this treaty, shall be subject to the decision of the President of the United States.”
The leading feature of this treaty, is a studied effort to make no allusion to the Exiles, or to recognize their existence in any way. General Jessup, in the articles of capitulation, had expressly stipulated for the protection of the persons and property of the “allies” of the Seminoles; but for half a century efforts had been made to exclude them from the page of our national history, and never was that policy more strikingly illustrated than in this treaty.
As heretofore stated, the Seminoles were said to own some forty slaves; but the Author has been unable to find any hint or intimation that any one of those slaves was claimed by the Creeks: yet efforts were made to falsify the truth of history by representing the four or five hundred Exiles now living with the Seminoles to be slaves to their friends and “allies.”
The next extraordinary feature of the treaty, is the recital of the Creek treaty as binding upon the Seminoles, when they had been no party to it, nor even had knowledge of its existence.
But the third article is that on which both Exiles and Seminoles appear to have relied. Thinking the President would do justice; feeling themselves subject to the power of the Executive, and pressed on all sides to accede to terms of pacification, they signed the treaty as the best alternative that lay before them.
In accordance with the past policy of the Administration, this treaty was withheld from publication. It was of course submitted to the Senate in secret session for approval. It was then amended, and still kept from the public for nearly two years after its negotiation.
NOTE—At the session of Congress, 1845-6, a bill containing, among many other things, an appropriation to carry out this treaty, was reported by the committee on Ways and Means, of the House of Representatives. The treaty itself yet lay concealed in the office of the Secretary of the Senate, where it had been ratified in secret session, and not a member of the House of Representatives had seen it, unless it was the Chairman of the committee of Ways and Means, or other confidential friends of the Executive, to whom it was given for personal examination.
The bill was printed, and the Author seeing this provision, determined to know something of the treaty, before voting money to carry it into effect. For this purpose, he called on one of the Senators from Ohio (Hon. Thomas Corwin), to get a copy of the treaty. Mr. Corwin went with him to the office of the Secretary of the Senate, and after much inquiry, and passing from one clerk to another, a copy was obtained.
When the bill came up for discussion, inquiry was made as to the treaty, its character and object. No member appeared to have any knowledge of it, save the Chairman of the committee of Ways and Means, (Mr. McKay of North Carolina). The Author of this work endeavored to give the House some idea of its origin, and, in the course of his remarks, referred to the manner in which the State of Georgia had been implicated in the persecution of the Exiles. This reference to the State of Georgia awakened the ire of Mr. Black, a Representative from that State, who advanced toward the Author with uplifted cane, as if to inflict personal chastisement, and quite a scène followed, which at the time created some sensation in the country.