habits and their property, with this exception in their
favor, beyond all other tribes but the Cherokees,--they have the right,
if they wish to sell, to sell to individuals, at their own prices, but
are not bound to treat with the republic at a settled rate,--which last
mode of doing business they rather properly looked upon as giving them
the appearance of a vanquished race, and subject to the dictation of
conquerors. So, what the diplomatists could not achieve was forthwith
attempted by speculators;--and among those the everlasting Yankee began
to appear, and the Indian independence straightway began to disappear.
Certain forms were required by government to give Americans a claim to
these Creek lands. The purchaser was to bring the Indian before a
government agent;--in the agent's presence, the Indian was to declare
what his possessions were, and for how much he would sell them;--the
money was paid in presence of the agent, who gave a certificate, which,
when countersigned by the President, authorized the purchaser to demand
protection from the national arms, if molested. All this was well
enough; but it was soon discovered that the speculators would hire
miscreants and drunken Indians to personate the real possessors of
lands, and, having paid them the money, would take it back as soon as
the purchase was completed, give the Indian a jug of whiskey, or a small
bag of silver, for the fraud, and so become lords of the soil. Great
dissatisfaction arose, and lives were lost. An anonymous letter opened
the eyes of government. The white speculators were so desperate and
dangerous that any other mode of information was unsafe. Investigators
were appointed to examine into the validity of Creek sales, and the
examiners met at the time I went to witness a great Indian religious
festival, concerning which I will inform you presently; for it was by my
curiosity to view this relic of their remotest times that the visit
among the Indians, alluded to in the beginning of my letter, was
prompted. It has been necessary for me to be thus prolix, to make you
understand the nature of the society--and a sort of danger too--by
which we were surrounded. On one side, white rogues--border
cutthroats--contending, through corrupted red men, for the possessions
of those among them, who, though honest, are unwary. On another side,
the cheated Indian-robber of his brethren, wheedled by some fresh white
cheat into a promise to sell (payable in over-