impracticable, and it is advisable to make a temporary arrangement with the Seminoles, by which the safety of the settlements and the posts will be secured throughout the summer, you are at liberty to do so. In that event you will establish posts at Tampa, and on the eastern shore, and wherever else they are, in your opinion, necessary to preserve the peace of the country; and I would suggest the propriety of leaving Colonel Zadock Taylor, of the First Infantry, in command of them.

"In moving north with your forces, you may make similar arrangements with the other bands. I deem it, however, of great importance that every exertion should be made to chastise the marauding Indians, who have committed depredations upon the habitations of the people of Middle Florida. I beg you will address yourself to Colonel James Gadsden for information on this subject; and you may, if you think proper, yield to his suggestion of leaving a battalion for the protection of the people of that neighbourhood. It is hoped, however, that you will be able to put it out of the power of these Indians to do any farther mischief. They ought to be captured or destroyed. As soon as, in your opinion, it can be done with safety, you will reduce your force of mounted men from Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee.

"Very respectfully, your most obedient servant,

J. R. POINSETT."

Your Lordship will find in the Appendix a variety of other extracts from public documents and newspapers relative to the Indians and their treatment. You have seen, from the foregoing, that the Cherokees had in a great measure entirely shaken off their habits as aborigines, and that they exhibited to the world perhaps the only example of a savage race which ever attained a state of civilization. Alas! they exist no more as a civilized people. The Cherokees, as your Lordship knows, had the printing-press in full operation among them—that a native of that nation had discovered that the "talking leaf" was not a gift of the "Great Spirit" to white men alone-that the same individual had invented an alphabet of the Cherokee language, in which their newspapers and other works were printed, and that alphabet is, as I am informed, the most perfect in the world.

With the most profound respect, I have the honour to subscribe myself,

Your lordship's most obedient, and most humble servant,

THOMAS BROTHERS.

ON NULLIFICATION.

To Matthew Devenport Hill, Esq., Q. C., Recorder of the Borough of Birmingham, &c. &c.

SIR,

Bishop's Itchington, September 12, 1839.

As a gentleman eminent in your profession;-as a person of irreproachable private character;-and as a liberal in politics, I take the liberty of addressing this letter to you, Sir, in order that it may draw your attention to the fallacy of the doctrine of self-government, and to the inherent defects of a national polity founded upon what is called the pure democratic or representative system. You will perceive that I write this letter as though I was in America, where I in fact was when it was composed.

The first newspaper that I saw in the United States had for its motto the following words, taken from Washington's valedictory address,"Whatever measures have a tendency to dissolve the Union, or contribute to violate or lessen the sovereign authority, ought to be considered as hostile to the liberty and independence of America." At that time it struck me as something remarkable that this motto should be so well adhered to, for there never came under my notice a single word in opposition to public authority, or to the principles of the Union. I know now that there had been out-breakings and disorder in America at earlier periods of its government, but about the time I arrived everything seemed to go smooth and agreeable; and this pleasant state of things was first disturbed by news from Georgia of the proceedings of Governor Troup in relation to the Indians' land; and from that time every kind of Lynching and disorder have been increasing.

That threat, to dissolve the Union, was soon followed by another which at first seemed to be of still greater importance,—it was what was termed the South Carolina Nullification; that is, the state of South Carolina refused to pay any more taxes to the general government, unless the general government would alter the laws, and make them agreeable to their wish. These high-minded, gallant, and honourable men, ever true to their purpose, made a protestation that they would perish to a man before they would longer submit to the tariff; and it was more to be expected, as they wished us to believe, for the sun to stand still upon the top of the mountain, than that South Carolinians should undertake

that which they would not carry into effect. All this great nation, therefore, was made to fear and tremble at the Proclamation by the Governor of South Carolina, in opposition to one issued by the President of the United States, setting forth that the tariff laws, so obnoxious to the Southern states, should, at all hazards, be carried into effect. The Carolinian proclamation is too long for me to give the whole, and a few extracts will be sufficient for my purpose, which is to show the narrow escapes the Union has already had from dissolution; and that these dangers were all occasioned by paper money. The said proclamation commences as follows:

"Proclamation by the Governor of South Carolina.

"Whereas, the President of the United States has issued his Proclamation concerning an Ordinance of the people of South Carolina, to nullify certain acts of Congress of the United States,' laying 'duties and imposts for the protection of domestic manufactures.'

"And whereas, the Legislature of South Carolina, now in session, taking into consideration the matters contained in the said proclamation of the President, have adopted a preamble and resolution to the following effect, viz. :

"Whereas, the President of the United States has issued his proclamation, denouncing the proceedings of this State; calling upon the citizens thereof to renounce their primary allegiance, and threatening them with military coercion, unwarranted by the constitution, and utterly inconsistent with the existence of a free state; be it therefore

"Resolved, that his Excellency the Governor be requested forthwith to issue his proclamation, warning the good people of this State against the attempt of the President of the United States to seduce them from their allegiance, exhorting them to disregard his vain menaces, and to be prepared to sustain the dignity and protect the liberty of the State against the arbitrary measures proposed by the President.'

"Now, I, Robert Y. Hayne, governor of South Carolina, in obedience to the said resolution, do hereby issue this my proclamation, solemnly warning the good people of this State against the dangerous and pernicious doctrines promulgated in the said proclamation of the President, as calculated to mislead their judgments as to the true character of the government under which they live, and the paramount obligation which they owe to the State, and manifestly intended to seduce them from their allegiance; and, by drawing them to the support of the violent and unlawful measures contemplated by the President to involve them in the guilt of rebellion. I would earnestly admonish them to beware of the specious but false doctrines by which it is now

a compact between sovesecede ;'—in a word, that

attempted to be shown that the several States have not retained their entire sovereignty; 'that the allegiance of their citizens was transferred, in the first instance, to the government of the United States;' that a state cannot be said to be sovereign and independent whose citizens owe obedience to laws not made by it;' that even under the royal government, we had no separate character;' that the constitution has created a national government, which is not reign states'—' that a state has no right to 'ours is a national government, in which the people of all the States are represented, and by which we are constituted 'ONE PEOPLE;' and that our representatives in Congress are all representatives of the United States, and not of the particular States from which they come'-doctrines which uproot the very foundation of our political system; annihilate the rights of the States, and utterly destroy the liberties of the citizen.

*

*

"South Carolina has not assumed' what could be considered at all doubtful, when she asserts that the acts in question were, in reality, intended for the protection of manufactures; ' 'that their operation is unequal;' that the amount received by them. is greater than is required by the wants of the government; and, finally, ⚫ that the proceeds are to be applied to objects unauthorized by the constitution.' These facts are notorious,-these objects openly avowed. The President, without instituting any inquisition into motives, has himself discovered, and publicly denounced them, and his officer of finance is even now devising measures intended, as we are told, to correct these acknowledged abuses.

*

*

* “The brave men, who have thrown themselves into the breach in defence of the rights and liberties of their country, are not to be driven from their holy purposes by such means (as those expressed in the President's proclamation). Even unmerited obloquy and death itself have no terrors for him who feels and knows that he is engaged in the performance of a sacred duty.' The people of South Carolina are well aware that, however passion and prejudice may obtain for a season the mastery of the public mind,-reason and justice must sooner or later reassert their empire: and that whatever may be the events of this contest, posterity will do justice to their motives, and to the spotless purity and devoted patriotism with which they have entered into an arduous and most unequal conflict, and the unfaltering courage with which, by the blessings of heaven, they will maintain it

"The whole argument, so far as it is designed at this time to enter into it, is now disposed of; and it is necessary to advert to some passages in the proclamation which cannot be passed over in silence. The President distinctly intimates that it is his determination to exert the right of

putting down the opposition of South Carolina to the tariff by force of arms. He believes himself invested with power to do this, under the provision of the constitution which directs him to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.' Now, if by this it was only meant to be asserted that, under the law of Congress now in force, the President would feel himself bound to aid the civil tribunals in the manner therein prescribed, supposing such law to be constitutional, no just exception could be taken to this assertion of executive duty. But if as, manifestly intended, the President sets up the claim to judge for himself in what manner the laws are to be enforced, and feels himself at liberty to call forth the militia, and even the military and naval forces of the union, against the state of South Carolina, her constituted authorities and citizens, then it is clear that he assumes a power not only not conferred on the executive by the constitution, but which belongs to no despot upon earth exercising a less unlimited authority than the autocrat of all the Russias; an authority which, if submitted to, would at once reduce the free people of the United States to a state of the most abject and degraded slavery."

* * "Here then it is seen, that, unless the President is resolved to disregard all constitutional obligations, and to trample the laws of his country under his feet, he has no authority whatever to use force against the state of South Carolina and should he attempt to do so, the patriotic citizens of this state know too well their own rights, and have too sacred a regard to their duties, to hesitate one moment in repelling invasion, come from what quarter it may."

* * * "We will stand upon the soil of South Carolina, and maintain the sovereign authority of the state, or be buried beneath its ruins. As unhappy Poland fell before the power of the autocrat, so may Carolina be crushed by the power of her enemies."

* * * "The President has intimated in his proclamation, that a 'standing army is about to be raised to carry secession into effect. South Carolina desires that her true position should be clearly understood both at home and abroad. Her object is not disunion,—she has raised no 'standing army,' and if driven to repel invasion or resist aggression, she will do so by the strong arms and stout hearts of her citizens. South Carolina has solemnly proclaimed her purpose; that purpose is the vindication of her rights. Above all, she esti

mates, as beyond all price, her liberty, which she is unalterably determined never to surrender while she has the power to maintain it." "The President denies, in the most positive terms, the right of a state under any circumstances to secede from the Union, and puts this denial on the ground, that from the time the states parted with so many powers as to constitute jointly with the other states a single nation, they