amount of land held by the several tribes within each; of the state of the country lying northward and westward thereof, within our acknowledged boundaries; of the parts to which the Indian title has been extinguished; and of the conditions. on which other parts, in an amount which may be adequate to the objects contemplated, may be obtained. By this report, it appears that the Indian title has already been extinguished to extensive tracts in that quarter, and that other portions may be acquired, to the extent desired, on very moderate conditions. Satisfied, I also am, that the removal proposed, is not only practicable, but that the advantages attending it, to the Indians, may be made so apparent that all the tribes, even the most opposed, may be induced to accede to it.

"The digest of a government, with the consent of the Indians, which should be endowed with sufficient power to meet all the objections contemplated, to collect the several tribes together in a bond of unity, and preserve order in each; to prevent intrusions on their property; to teach them, by regular instruction, the arts of civilized life; and make them a civilized people, is an object of very high importance. It is the powerful consideration which we have to offer to these tribes, as an inducement to relinquish the lands on which they now reside, and to remove to those which are designated. It is not doubted that this arrangement will present considerations of sufficient force to surmount all their prejudices in favor of the soil of their nativity, however strong they may be. Their elders have sufficient intelligence to discern the certain progress of events, in the present train, and sufficient virtue, by yielding to momentary sacrifices, to protect their families and posterity from inevitable destruction. They will also perceive that they may thus attain an elevation, to which, as communities, they could not otherwise aspire.

To the United States the arrangement offers many important advantages, in addition to those which have been enumerated. By the establishment of such a government over these tribes, with their consent, we become, in reality, their benefactors. The relation of conflicting interests, which has heretofore existed between them and our frontier settle

ments, will cease. There will be no more wars between them and the United States. Adopting such a government, their movement will be in harmony with us, and its good effect be felt throughout the whole extent of our territory, to the Pacific. It may fairly be presumed, that, through the agency of such a government, the condition of all the tribes inhabiting that vast region may be eventually improved; that permanent peace may be preserved with them, and our commerce be much extended. With a view to this important object, I recommend it to Congress to adopt, by solemn declaration, certain fundamental principles, in accord with those suggested, as the basis of such arrangements as may be entered into with the several tribes, to the strict observance of which the faith of the nation shall be pledged. I recommend it also to Congress, to provide, by law, for the appointment of a suitable number of commissioners, who shall, under the direction of the president, be authorized to visit, and explain to the several tribes the objects of the government, and to make with them, according to instructions, such arrangements as shall be best calculated to carry these objects into effect."

The

The report of the secretary of war, which accompanied this message, stated that the number of Indians contemplated. to be transplanted by the scheme was about ninety-seven thousand, who then resided in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, New York, and the territories of Arkansas and Michigan, and where located occupied about seventy-seven million of acres of land. secretary thought that the Indians in New York, the Ottawas of Ohio, and those in Indiana and Illinois, and the peninsula of Michigan, might be removed to the country west of Lake Michigan and north of Illinois. He also thought that the Indians in Florida need not go west, since they had ceded to the United States all the northern part of the territory, and were residing out of the way in the southern part of the peninsula, and thus reduced the number to be provided for west of Missouri and the Territory of Arkansas to about eighty thousand.

The secretary said that no arrangement for their removal

ought to be made which did not regard the interests of the Indians as well as our own; that almost all of the tribes proposed to be afflicted by the arrangement were more or less advanced in the arts of civilized life, there being scarcely one of them which has not the establishment of schools in the nation, affording at once the means of moral, religious, and intellectual improvement. He added, that there was another point which it was indispensable should be guarded, in order to render the condition of the Indians less afflicting: "One of the greatest evils to which they are subject (said the secretary) is that incessant pressure of our population, which forces them from seat to seat, without allowing time for that moral and intellectual improvement for which they appear to be naturally eminently susceptible. To guard against this evil, so fatal to the race, there ought to be the strongest and most solemn assurance that the country given them should be theirs, as a permanent home, for themselves and their posterity, without being disturbed by the encroachments of our citizens." The secretary made many suggestions as to a system of government and laws that should be provided for them in their new home, which he thought would prove to the Indians and their posterity a permanent blessing. He said they should have a permanent and solemn guaranty for their possessions, and receive the countenance and aid of the government for the gradual extension of its privileges to them, in which event there would be among all the tribes a disposition to accord with the views of the government, and great confidence was felt that the basis of a system might be laid which, in a few years, would entirely effect the object in view, to the mutual benefit of the government and the Indians, " and which, in its operation, would effectually arrest the calamitous course of events to which they must be subjected without a radical change in the present system." The subject-matter contained in the message of the president, and the report of his secretary, were laid before Congress, but no action was at that time. taken.

In January, 1826, Hon. John Cocke, the chairman of the Indian committee in the House of Representatives, inclosed a prepared "bill for the preservation and civilization of the

Indian tribes within the United States," to the Hon. James Barbour, then secretary of war, for such suggestions, or the forming of another bill for the same purpose, as to the secretary might seem proper. Mr. Barbour framed a new bill, and sent it with a report in "elucidation of its purposes" to Mr. Cocke, on the 3d of February, 1826. In his report, Mr. Barbour said: "The condition of the aborigines of this country, and their future destiny, have long engaged the attention of the philosopher and statesman, inspiring an interest correspondent to the importance of the subject. The history of the past presents but little on which recollection lingers with satisfaction. The future is not more cheering, unless resort be speedily had to other counsels than those by which we have heretofore been governed. From the first discovery of America to the present time one master passion, common to all mankind, that of acquiring land, has driven, in ceaseless succession, the white man on the Indian. The latter, reluctantly yielding to a force he could not resist, has retired from the ocean to the mountains, and from the mountains to more inhospitable recesses, wasting away by sufferings and wars, foreign and intestine, till a wretched fragment only survives of the numerous hordes once inhabiting this country, whose portion it is to brood in grief over their past misfortunes, or to look in despair on the approaching catastrophe of their impending doom. It were now an unprofitable task to inquire on what principle the nations of Europe were justified in dispossessing the native proprietor of his birthright. They brought with them their own maxims, which recognized power as the only standard of right, and fraud and force as perfectly legitimate in the acquisition of territory. It has been done, and time has confirmed the act.

"In the contest for dominion the milder qualities of justice and clemency were disregarded. But that contest has long since ceased in the United States, where, on the one side, are seen a great people, familiar with arts and arms, whose energies are increased by union, and directed by an efficient government; on the other, a few ignorant and divided tribes of barbarians. It is necessary for the former only to express its will, to receive or enforce immediate submission from the lat

ter. The suggestions of policy should no longer stifle the claims of justice and humanity. It is now, therefore, that a most solemn question addresses itself to the American people, and whose answer is full of responsibility. Shall we go on quietly in a course, which, judging from the past, threatens their extinction, while their past sufferings and future prospects so pathetically appeal to our compassion? The responsibility to which I refer, is what a nation owes to itself, to its future character in all time to come. For next to the means of self-defense and the blessings of free government, stands in point of importance the character of a nation. Its distinguishing characteristics should be justice and moderation. To spare the weak is its brightest ornament. It is, therefore, a source of the highest gratification that an opportunity is now offered the people of the United States to practice these maxims, and give an example of the triumph of liberal principles, over that sordid selfishness which has been the fruitful spring of human calamity.

"It is the province of history to commit to its pages the transactions of nations. Posterity look to this depository with the most intense interest. The fair fame of their ancestors, a most precious inheritage, is to them equally a source of pride and a motive of continued good action. But she performs her province with impartiality. The authority she exercises in the absence of others, is a check on bad rule. The tyrant and the oppressor see in the character of their prototypes, the sentence posterity is preparing for them. Which side of the picture shall we elect? For the decision is left to ourselves. Shall the record transmit the present race to future generations, as standing by, insensible to the progress of desolation which threatens the remnant of this people; or shall these unfriendly characters give place to a generous effort which shall have been made to save them from destruction? While deliberating on this solemn question, I would appeal to that high Providence, whose delight is justice and mercy, and take counsel from the oracles of his will, revealed to man, in his terrible denunciation against the oppressor.

"In reviewing the past, justice requires that the humane