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.