CHEROKEE PHOENIX.

NEW ECHOTA, MAY 28, 1831

THE LATE JEREMIAH EVARTS ESQ.

In another part of our paper we have copied from the Charleston Observer an account of the death and last moments of this truly worthy man. Mr. Evarts was well known in this nation as an able and persevering advocate of the Indians. His Essays on 'The Present Crisis in the Condition of the American Indians' are a sufficient evidence of the ability with which he defended the injured rights of the Cherokees. He is now gone to receive the reward reserved for the righteous. He died as he had lived, a truly great and good man.

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POST OFFICE REFORM.

Who would have thought?--but so it is--The searching operation of the Government has penetrated into the wilderness! New Echota has fall (sic) under the proscription of Major Barry, the Post Master General. On last Monday our worthy P. Master, Rev. S. A. Worcester, who has given general satisfaction for the faithful and able manner in which he has discharged the duties of his office, was turned out, to make way for Wm. J. Tarvin, a trader who came into the nation under a license from the United States' Agent, according to the law of 1802, regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, but who has since taken the oath of allegiance to Georgia, and is now selling spirituous liquor to the Indians against the express injunction of the law referred to above. The present administration must be Lynx-eyed if they can see from Washington 'public interest' suffering in these woods, and if they can 'promote' it in this manner. If the Post Master General had inquired of those who are interested in the management of the Post Office in this place, he would have learnt that they had a perfect confidence in the Gentleman whom he has turned out, and that the present incumbent would not have been recommended by them to that station. But no, it is the 'public interest' he is promoting, and he is doing it in a fine way.

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'In local appointments, it will be readily admitted, that public opinion in the particular town or district of country chiefly and directly concerned, ought to be consulted. As in the case of Post Masters for instance.'

This is a doctrine which the Nashville Republican, a leading supporter in Tennessee, of the present administration, admits to be correct; and it is unquestionably correct. But has it been observed? So far as one appointment has come under our immediate notice, it has been most palpably violated. In the case of the Post Office at this place the opinion of those chiefly and directly concerned has been most shamefully disregarded. We can think of no individual within twenty miles round who would have desired the change which has taken place, much less asked for it. We are even told that the place has not been solicited by Mr. Tarvin. If it is so, we presume we are indebted to our friends in Georgia, who live a hundred miles off, for this striking evidence of the tender regard which the present reforming administration entertains towards us.

It is surmised by some that the object in removing Mr. Worcester from the Post Office is to make way for his arrest. This we think is not at all improbable. We shall however, soon know the true state of the case.

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It may not be known to our readers that there are many white families in the nation especially along the frontier, who have been authorized to reside in it if on taking the oath of allegiance to Georgia. They are admitted in the same manner as those who have Cherokee families, through the Governor's agent. This is what we would call legalized intrusion, ' perhaps it may in some measure assist the reader to understand the expression of the President, 'Intruders SHALL be turned out.' What protection have the Cherokees from intrusion if it is to be systematically and legally conducted? None at all. If Georgia has a right to bring in one family, she has an equal right to bring in enough to fill the whole country. All these proceedings sufficiently prove that notwithstanding the former declarations of the President, he has given the reins to Georgia, and that he is prepared to let her go all lengths. It is generally understood in Georgia, on the subject of taxing possessions of the Cherokee country, that he will make no opposition, but permit the state to do as she pleases. It is said by some that this understanding is derived directly from him, and a great confidence is _____ upon this that the next legislature will forcibly possess the country.

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A few days ago three Cherokees were arrested by the Georgia Guard in Hightower on the charge of digging gold. Some say that they were taken only upon suspicion, the guard having found them selling some of the glittering stuff in a store.

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The following resolutions were adopted at a meeting held last Saturday at this place for the purpose of signing a protest against the distribution of the annuity as contemplated by the President. By the by, this project of paying the nation's money to individuals will cost the government no small trouble, and we seriously question whether President Jackson will succeed in this as well as he has in other Indian matters. Of this he may be sure, a vast majority of the Cherokee people will not touch a cent of this money when offered to them according to the proposed plan. All the heads of families have protested against it and requested the Agent to pay to the Treasurer as usual. The President had better abandon the project-it is but a little business for him. But to the resolutions.

Whereas, it is incumbent upon us, as citizens of the Cherokee Nation, individually and collectively, to express to the people o f the United States our views in relation to the proceedings of the executive of the General Government towards our people, and the arbitrary course of the state of Georgia in its assumption of jurisdiction over the Cherokees, having for its primary object, the extinction of the Cherokee Nation as a distinct political community, it is therefore resolved by this meeting-

1. That in recurrence to numerous treaties into which the United States have entered with the Cherokees, the United States, by treating with them in their Nations capacity have recognized the right of the Cherokee Nation to 'Govern itself,' 'to manage its own affairs' and to exercise powers as a sovereign state-consequently, Georgia, being a component part of the United States, exercising jurisdiction over the Cherokees for the purpose of Governing them with its laws is a flagrant violation of, and in direct opposition to the promises for our protection stipulated in said treaties.

2. That the Cherokees possess a two-fold right to this territory, natural and conventional- the former by immemorial occupancy-the latter, by treaty guaranties of the United States; and that the establishment of a military station by the state of Georgia within our acknowledged boundaries, for the purpose of arresting our civil officers, confining them in jails, and for the purpose of forcibly taking possession of our gold mines, is an invasion upon our territory; which the treaty of the 27th Feb. 1819 had secured and reserved to the Cherokees.

3. That the survey of our territory, authorized by the late law, of Georgia, into sectional districts, and now on the eve of completion, is a violation of law of the U. States, enacted in 1802, forbidding citizens of the United States, under severe penalties, from entering into the Indian territories for the purpose of surveying or marking trees; That this law, being incorporated into the treaty of 1819, in order to afford to the Cherokees permanent protection as intended by the parties to said treaty, has been unconstitutionally and to the injury of the people of this Nation suspended by the present Chief Magistrate.

4. That although the Supreme Court of the United States has refused to grant a bill of injunction as prayed for by the Cherokee Nation, and although it cannot redress the past or future wrongs of the Cherokee Nation, yet, it is the opinion of this meeting; that so much of the opinion of said Court, as has touched upon the great point of controversy between the state of Georgia and the Cherokee Nation, is in favor of the latter; that if the Cherokees are a state, a distinct political society, separated from others capable of managing its own affairs and Governing itself, it follows that they are not subject to the laws of Georgia, and that the assumption of jurisdiction by that state over the Cherokee territory is an exercise of arbitrary power, in open violation of the supreme law of the land, interpreted ' pronounced by the highest Judicial tribunal of the Union.

5. That the above decision of the Supreme Court, namely, 'that the Cherokees are a state' 'c is binding on the President, who is to 'take care that the laws be faithfully executed' and on the people of the United States; therefore we claim, as a state, the protection of this great Republic, and call upon the good citizens thereof to use every lawful and constitutional effort, through their representatives and Chief Magistrate, to give effect to the points decided by the Supreme Court, to revive the force of treaties, to protect the liberties of the Cherokee people, and to save them from intolerable oppression.

6. That we cordially approve of the resolution, adopted at a large meeting of Cherokee Citizens at Running Waters, of which Thomas Woodard was president and Andrew Adair and S. Watie Secretaries.

Resolved, that the foregoing resolutions be presented to the Editor of the Cherokee Phoenix for publication, and that editors friendly to the cause of the Cherokees be respectfully requested to copy them into their papers.

Resolved, that the proceedings of this meeting abe signed by the President and Vice Presidents, and attested by the Secretaries.

A. MC.COY President

GEORGE HICKS, }

KAETEHEE, } Vice

THOS. MURPHY, } Presidents.

TEKINY MURPHY }

PIGEON, }

JNO. CANDY, } Secretaries

ELIJAH HICKS, }

New Echota, Cherokee Nation May 21, 1831.

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CHEROKEE NATION,

18th May, 1831

MR. BOUDINOTT,

Sir,-- A Cherokee of respectability and veracity, has recently returned from Arkansas, and from the Cherokee Nation, west of the Mississippi. Elections for members of the Cherokee Legislature had taken place, which resulted in the election of Joseph Vann, President of the Committee,--Andrew Vann, Alexander Sanders, members of Committee,--Richard Rowe of the House of Representatives, and Edward Hicks clerk of the Committee. You will perceive that the above are all late emigrants from this nation. The civilization and degree of improvement in that tribe, who have taken their abode in that distant country must certainly not be as far advanced as the advocates of Indian emigration would have us to believe, if those who came from the east are considered by them more capable of managing their affairs. The famous Governor Samuel Houston, late of Tennessee, who deserted an amiable and accomplished lady of that state to associate with the Indians, in the wilds of the west, was also a candidate for a seat in the Indian Council, but was defeated and lost his election, which exasperated him so much, that he has abandoned his Indian wife, among them, and has signified his intention to banish himself to the Choctaw nation. This Gentleman, who traces his way to darker shades of the wilderness and paganism, had the assurance to deliver a speech in the City of New York before the Indian Board, against the civilization of our Nation, and was also active before the Congress which passed the Indian Bill in his misrepresenting our conditions, and declared this opinion that nothing could save our Nation from (his asserted) moral degradation but an emigration to the west. How soon false witnesses fall even in their chosen retreats, for 'truth is mighty and will prevail'!

I. S.