ain mitigate the hardships of their lot; and, with this
intention, proposals have been made to transport them into more remote
regions at the public cost.

Between the thirty-third and thirty-seventh degrees of north latitude,
a vast tract of country lies, which has taken the name of Arkansas, from
the principal river that waters its extent. It is bounded on the
one side by the confines of Mexico, on the other by the Mississippi.
Numberless streams cross it in every direction; the climate is mild, and
the soil productive, but it is only inhabited by a few wandering hordes
of savages. The government of the Union wishes to transport the broken
remnants of the indigenous population of the South to the portion of
this country which is nearest to Mexico, and at a great distance from
the American settlements.

We were assured, towards the end of the year 1831, that 10,000
Indians had already gone down to the shores of the Arkansas; and fresh
detachments were constantly following them; but Congress has been unable
to excite a unanimous determination in those whom it is disposed to
protect. Some, indeed, are willing to quit the seat of oppression, but
the most enlightened members of the community refuse to abandon their
recent dwellings and their springing crops; they are of opinion that the
work of civilization, once interrupted, will never be resumed; they fear
that those domestic habits which have been so recently contracted, may
be irrevocably lost in the midst of a country which is still barbarous,
and where nothing is prepared for the subsistence of an agricultural
people; they know that their entrance into those wilds will be opposed
by inimical hordes, and that they have lost the energy of barbarians,
without acquiring the resources of civilization to resist their attacks.
Moreover, the Indians readily discover that the settlement which is
proposed to them is merely a temporary expedient. Who can assure them
that they will at length be allowed to dwell in peace in their new
retreat? The United States pledge themselves to the observance of the
obligation; but the territory which they at present occupy was formerly
secured to them by the most solemn oaths of Anglo-American faith. *x
The American government does not indeed rob them of their lands, but it
allows perpetual incursions to be made on them. In a few years the same
white population which now flocks around them, will track them to the
solitudes of the Arkansas; t