nd retire
from Texas.

To this order the Cherokees did not deign to give an answer, and, aware
of the character of the Texans, they never attempted to appeal for
justice; but, on the contrary, prepared themselves to defend their
property from any invasion. Seeing them so determined, the Texans'
ardour cooled a little, and they offered the Indians twelve cents an
acre for their land, which proposition was not attended to; and probably
the Cherokees, from the fear which they inspired, would never have been
molested had it not been for an act of the greatest cowardice on the
part of the Texan government, and a most guilty indifference on that of
the United States.

In Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas, labour had fallen so low, that
thousands of individuals had abandoned their farms to become
horse-thieves and negro smugglers. Many among them had gone to sell the
produce of their depredations to the Cherokees, who not only did not
condescend to deal with them, but punished them with rigour, subjecting
them to their own code of laws. These ruffians nurtured plans of
vengeance which they dared not themselves execute, but, knowing the
greedy spirit of their countrymen, they spread the most incredible
stories of Cherokee wealth and comforts. The plan succeeded well, for as
soon as the altercation between the Texans and Cherokee Indians was made
known to the Western States, several bands were immediately formed, who,
in the expectation of a rich booty, entered Texas, and offered the
Congress to drive away the Cherokees. As soon as this was known,
representations were made by honourable men to the government of the
United States, but no notice was taken, and the Western States, probably
to get rid at once of the scum of their population, gave every
encouragement to the expedition.

For a few months the Cherokees invariably discomfited their invaders,
destroying their bands as soon as they were newly formed, and treating
them as common robbers; but, being farmers, they could not fight and
cultivate their ground at the same time, and they now thought of
abandoning so unhospitable a land; the more so as, discovering that the
Cherokees were more than a match for them in the field, a system of
incendiarism and plunder was resorted to, which proved more disastrous
to the Cherokees than the previous open warfare.

The Cherokees wisely reflected, that as long as the inhabitants of the
Western States would entertain the hope of plund