Extract from a Communication made by a Cherokee Chief.
"A company of whites was in this neighbourhood, with forged notes and false accounts to a very considerable amount upon the Indians, and forcibly drove off the property of several families. This, Sir, is the cause of our misery, poverty, and degradation, for which we have been so much reproached. This is what makes us poor devils. If we fail to make good crops, some of the white neighbours must starve, for many of them are dependent upon us for support, either by fair or foul means. Some of the poor creatures are now travelling among us, almost starved, begging for something to eat—they are actually worse than Indians. If they can't get by begging, they steal. To make us clear of these evils, and make us happy for ever, the unabating avarice of some of the Georgians, by their repeated acts of cruelty, point us to homes in the west—but as long as we have a pony or a hog to spare them, we will never go, and not then. This land is heaven's gift to us—it is the birthright of our fathers: as long as these mountains lift their lofty summits to heaven, and these beautiful rivers roll their tides to the mighty ocean, so long we will remain. May heaven pity and save our distressed country!
"VALLEY TOWNS."
The following Extracts may serve to show the state of the country to which the Indians are compelled to emigrate:
[FROM THE KENTUCKY INTELLIGENCER.]
Extract of a Letter, dated Prairie du Chien.
"January 15, 1830.