nvestigate; also all facts in the possession of the Executive
relating to the subject."

A resolution of the same import had been passed by the House of
Representatives on the 18th of May last, requiring the Secretary of
War to communicate to the House the same reports and matters. After
consultation with me and under my directions, the Secretary of War
informed the House that the reports referred to relative to the affairs
of the Cherokees contained information and suggestions in reference
to the matters which it was supposed would become the subject of a
negotiation between that Department and the delegates of the Cherokee
Nation. It was stated by him that the nature and subject of the report,
in the opinion of the President and the Department, rendered its
publication at that time inconsistent with the public interest. The
negotiation referred to subsequently took place, and embraced the
matters upon which Lieutenant-Colonel Hitchcock had communicated his
views. That negotiation terminated without the conclusion of any
arrangement. It may, and in all probability will, be renewed. All the
information communicated by Lieutenant-Colonel Hitchcock respecting the
Cherokees--their condition as a nation and their relations to other
tribes--is herewith transmitted. But his suggestions and projects
respecting the anticipated propositions of the delegates and his views
of their personal characters can not in any event aid the legislation of
Congress, and in my opinion the promulgation of them would be unfair and
unjust to him and inconsistent with the public interest, and they are
therefore not transmitted.

The Secretary of War further stated in his answer to the resolution that
the other report referred to in it, relating to the alleged frauds which
Lieutenant-Colonel Hitchcock was charged to investigate, contained such
information as he (Colonel Hitchcock) was enabled to obtain by _ex
parte_ inquiries of various persons whose statements were necessarily
without the sanction of an oath, and which the persons implicated had
had no opportunity to contradict or explain. He expressed the opinion
that to promulgate those statements at that time would be grossly unjust
to those persons and would be calculated to defeat rather than promote
the objects of the inquiry, and he remarked that sufficient opportunity
had not been given to the Department to pursue the investigation or to
call upon the parties affected for explanations or