Cherokee Phoenix

NEW ECHOTA

Published March, 11, 1829

Page 3 Column 1b

NEW ECHOTA:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1829.

We are extremely sorry to inform our patrons that our last papers, a few hours after leaving this place, were nearly lost. It appears that the post rider, in attempting to cross the Holly Creek, fell from his horse and dropt the mail bag. The rider escaped with difficulty, and the bags were not obtained until seven hours after. The postmaster of Springplace writes, that 'the papers are all injured, and the directions on the bundles which held together are defaced. -- In short the whole mail is in a miserable situation. I will however open and dry them as well as I can, and send them on.' We regret that this unhappy circumstance has happened.

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The number closes our first volume. We tender our thanks to our patrons for their good wishes and assistance, and we hope these will be continued during the ensuing year. We cannot do more than wish ' pray that a full reward may be meted out to all friends of Indians. May they enjoy that peace of mind which always accompanies benevolent labors, and may their sympathy for the poor aborigines increase and become stronger and stronger. We are thankful that our past labors have been received with indulgence. We will still use efforts to render the Phoenix interesting to our readers.

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We are informed that Col. Williams, who as was stated in our paper, was despatched to the frontier or Georgia, for the purpose of removing intruders, has not been successful. He has requested that a military force may be sent to his assistance.

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We present to our readers, in our present number, letters from the War Department, to Col. H. Montgomery, on the subject of emigration. We do not consider it necessary for us to make a long comment on these letters, as our readers will understand them enough without our aid. We cannot, however, withhold a word or two. What was the object of appointing a secret agent? Was it to take us in? Why not act ingeniously? Col. McKenney says, that the object of Capt. Rogers is to explain to the Cherokees the nature of the soil, climate, 'c. of the country to which they are invited. Now was it necessary that this should be done in the dark? If the sod and climate were good and the country 'fine', was it necessary to employ secret measures to explain them? The fact seems to be that Capt. Rogers and Mr. Maw came to tell us a wrong story; (we do not say that they were so instructed) to say in secret that the country was 'fine', when it was not; that the land was good, when it was not; and that the climate was healthy, when it was to the contrary. Probably the Secretary of War did not know, but certainly Rogers ' Maw ought to have known, that there were men in this Nation who are acquainted with the country-men who would be believed in preference to these secret agents. We are told by these men that the country is poor, that the soil is not good, and in spite of their agency, Rogers and Maw have corroborated the statement, by declaring to individuals that the country ceded to the Arkansas Cherokees is poor, and is greatly inferior in point of excellence, to this. Thus they acquitted themselves as secret agents.

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INDIAN POETRY.

We did not consider the lines inserted in our fourth page, under the above title, as being the composition of an Indian. We admitted them, simply because the subject of them was an Indian. We have conversed with a friend who informs us that he saw them, he believes, in print a number of year-ago; he thinks they were composed by lady in Charleston. Mr. Brown, the brother and the subject of the poetry, probably communicated the name of the Supreme Being to the writer, who, mistaking the letter e for c wrote galvlatichi, instead galvlatiehi.

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FOR THE CHEROKEE PHOENIX.

MR. EDITOR -- In the 29th number of the Phoenix, under the title, 'True glory,' I observed a relation of an interview that took place between Ignatius and Havier. The arguments urged by the former to induce the latter to exert his powers in objects more rational and lasting, than the vain and empty things of time, I conceive to be very strong. And the sequel of Havier's history shews how fully he became convinced of the force and reality of the subject.

And really, Mr. Editor, if we pay that attention to the subject, which its merit demands, we shall irresistibly come to the same conclusion. We are born to die. The Christian religion is undeniable. If we have no hope of a blessed immortality, we ought not to postpone repentance: if we have, it is the part of wisdom to devote the best and noblest powers of our souls to the best of causes, the eternal well being of our fellow men. Many of the youth of our country, like Havier, exhibit marks of strong judgement and vigorous intellect. That it becomes them to aspire after the best and the greatest ends, they will readily admit. That aside from the glory of God and the duties we owe to Him, all else is vanity and vexation of spirit, they cannot deny: nay, they are sensible of the instability of all human affairs. 'For the fashion of the world passeth away,' and all its beauty and splendor leave but an aching void. 'Verily every man living is altogether vanity; for man walketh in a vain show.' 'He heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them.' What will it avail to have governed provinces and nations to have commanded victorious armies, and to have rolled in all the wealth, which the East and West can give, in the great day of final accounts?

Our actions, then, should have a wise reference to eternity. We should fulfil the great end of our existence, by devoting ourselves, our talents and our all, to God. This true and unfading glory. I have only to add, that Havier did well; may the youth of our country 'go and do likewise.'

A CHEROKEE FARMER

Willistown, Feb. 23, 1829.