ian laws they will generally, if not always, be
permitted to escape with impunity. This has been the case in repeated
instances among the Cherokees. For years unprovoked murders have been
committed, and yet no effort has been made to bring the offenders to
punishment. Should this state of things continue, it is not difficult to
foresee that the weaker party will be finally destroyed. As the guardian
of the Indian tribes, the Government of the United States is bound by
every consideration of duty and humanity to interpose to prevent such
a disaster.

From the examination which I have made into the actual state of things
in the Cherokee Nation I am satisfied that there is no probability that
the different bands or parties into which it is divided can ever again
live together in peace and harmony, and that the well-being of the whole
requires that they should be separated and live under separate
governments as distinct tribes.

That portion who emigrated to the west of the Mississippi prior to the
year 1819, commonly called the "Old Settlers," and that portion who made
the treaty of 1835, known as the "treaty party," it is believed would
willingly unite, and could live together in harmony. The number of
these, as nearly as can be estimated, is about one-third of the tribe.
The whole number of all the bands or parties does not probably exceed
20,000. The country which they occupy embraces 7,000,000 acres of land,
with the privilege of an outlet to the western limits of the United
States. This country is susceptible of division, and is large enough for
all.

I submit to Congress the propriety of either dividing the country which
they at present occupy or of providing by law a new home for the one or
the other of the bands or parties now in hostile array against each
other, as the most effectual, if not the only, means of preserving the
weaker party from massacre and total extermination. Should Congress
favor the division of the country as suggested, and the separation of
the Cherokees into two distinct tribes, justice will require that the
annuities and funds belonging to the whole, now held in trust for them
by the United States, should be equitably distributed among the parties,
according to their respective claims and numbers.

There is still a small number of the Cherokee tribe remaining within the
State of North Carolina, who, according to the stipulations of the
treaty of 1835, should have emigrated with their bret