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Show 68 SECOND DAY-!IIORNINO SESSJO.'f, representatives of the nation,-thc outrages which haYe been eudured, aud the wasting of tribe ::tfter tribe, until of the muhi;udes who onrc peopled our f(lrests, or rather of their Uescendants, bnt a very small remnant now remains, he alluded to the old men-the <~geJ hemlocks nmong whose limbs the winds of many winter~ had whistled-the chiefs of the tribes. 'l'hey stretch out their ha.nt.l~ to us in supplication for a delay of their removal. Shall those hands, now tremblin!{ in dif!:solution, be stretched in \'ain? Shall T ask you to listen only to the 8lory of their wrongs, and not.t~ act?. After a powerful appeal to the audience to do all they had 1t tn the1r power to do, the orator continued: \ ·Vc may go on growing in strength, <H1d pritle, and oppression, until the last red man has ceased to 1rcad our soil, am\ the last vestige of the ahorogincs of this country has tlis:1ppcared; but a day of retribution is coming. Let us remember the account that we will be obliged to render. Bluod crieth. \Ve now see the lntlians weak, and feel that our· st:lve$ arc strong,-aml therefore, Oisbelieve tlwt any reverse may take place in our conLiition. \Ye suppose it impossible that we shall be placed in their stead, and they become the executioners of Divine vengeance. Out He who rcgardeth the oppressed has ways and means at his command wherewith to punish the oppressor. 1 am appealing, however, more to your fe<~r and selfishness, than to your justice and humanity. Such <!ppeals arc nn· worthy of those who are prepared to listen to appeals on better grounds. In the name of justice and humanity, then, lif't up your voi~es against the cruel banishment which is now contemplated, a11tl speak fcarle~sly and unequivocally, so that our legislators will hear, and understand, and not Uare to disobey. G ratitutle alone should unite us as one man in behalf of this people. \Vhere would our republics have been, if they had not been cherished by the Indian~ ?-if the red man had exhibited toward our nation in its infancy, the same exterminating spirit which we now manifest toward him. While trave.Jling, lately, in a loreign land, I often s:Hv in its wild forests, trees of a per.uliar form, holding within the coils of their slr<~ngely twisted trunks, small fragments of decaying wood. These, a near examination dis· covered to be the relics of some former forest-giant, around which a feeble v~ne h<Jd wound itself, and, clinging to it for !:lupport, had increased in mag· mtude , till, towering above the topmost bough of its supporter, it had iu:;elf become a tall, thiek tree, standing on the spot where its predecessor had perished in its fatal embrace. As I looked, I could not repress the sad thought-this is but too faithful an emblem of our own proud republic, in her treatment of the native tribes. 'Vhole nations have been destroyed-none remaining even to be looked at as specimens of wh~t they were. \Vhere are the warriors who shouted, in their war-song, the fl'ar~ i nspiring name of Sassacus ?-where they who ru!lhed to the deadly stri fe, when the ball\e-cry of Metacom broke on the midnight silence of Montaup ?-where the hrave followers of Miantonirno and CanoniclJ!I?-where the wiley men of Uncas 1 The P equot! fort went down in blood and ashes; the people of Philip have been :5Cattered ami de· stroyed i the name of the Narraganset lives but in the appellation of that lovely bay, whose waters his ranoe once ploug hed; the u[asl of the Mohe· ga,ns" has long been familiarly known as the title of a popnl:u novel; and even the kindness of Pocahnntas could not avert the ruin of her trib~. He then albded to our disregard of treaties with the Indians, and after showing how our plighted faith had heen broken, lv~ asked : 'Vhat can we ex pect from other nations, save the same fraud which we ourselves hare practised-the same injustice which we have measured out to them? The ~;peaker then stated that he had in hi~ hand a leuer from Jous Ross, liPt:ECH OF C, C. BURLJo.;lOll. 69 principal chief of lhe Cherokee nation, which he would hantl to the Secretary to be read. The lcller W:lS then read as follows: \\'.A.Slll/'00'1'0!"1 1\lay S1l, 1838. Gentlem.tn: I owe yon nn cxpbnntion fot• having so long 1klnyt•d to !IllS Wei· you t• kiud lellct•of tl~c l!.tth ol lac;t month. Bclicl'c me, yout· invitation touched mo..: lie£· ply; it is :mot her c1 idl'IICC ot tltc .sympathy of the lii.'Sccullnllt!l of \Villium l'enn, with the wmn~;.cd l'ell m:m, of wltich Peun· ~yhm11a.l.':~s so often, nml.cijJll.'ci:~lly of .lute, llfli11·•lt'd l1&lc&timoni:•h, tl t:~ l we shou ld ln. .: llng:nltl.'l"ul, IIIIICcll, 1i we COI~Id Cl'et• toq,;el. I 01\UIIl'll tn l"l..:JIIJ tO it, oul): bt.~IISC I w:.•s waiting to IISCet·tuin whctl.tct·th.:Te mtghtu?l be:~ hop~ that our :•f!lurs ~ould h_e 111 such a JIOSttiuu 111 the ti111c you mcnttou, ns to t•cmlcr 1t JIOSStble 1m· me to v •~•t Plnlullt•lplun o11thc day im lic:~tcd. But 1 lan.ent tos:u·, t~•at nc:~•·ly c1·ery pmbabi.lity of un CI'CIIl&O dcsin•bll!, is now cxtiuct. The tw~lll)'·thi1·d of i\l:~y IS the lata I day t.lccn..:cll tm· the rcmo• ul of 0111· people l.ty the 111'11\CI\ JlOII'Cl. of tl1e Uuited ~tntcs. As this will come within a wct'k of the day you appoint, I need not at.ld tlmt, Cl'cn Wt"t'e 11 not my 1luty ~o rcm11in hen:, cflgcd y w:~rchi.ng lOt· e''c1·y chance o~· :'II'CI'tiug 0 1· mitigating tl1e &lot·m, no~ knOWII•g_•~lmt a momc."t ~my hl'lug tm:th; Cl'en wcr:c no~ tlus my duty! I could sc<~n::ely, 1lt!dmps11t;d mysclt 111 :l state ol mmd to go lu.;lurc the public WJth n stm·y ol sorTows so often t~ld, au1l fr·om w hicl~ I should _he mot·c couscious_thcu.' than nt auy Jli'C\'ious time, that possiiJility ol rescue was I;(}IIC lore vet•. It, lll•wcvct·, I can tind t11nc to maku) ou H writlcn comnmuicution 1 will cm·•·y iu it au c~planation, ~rmcwh;:tl full~·~·_, :111d ."hidllll:l)' hcllcl· satisfy yout· nsscmhly. 1 d~ ~~~ ~;.~~;vca\',~~~~ :~~· ~~~,.~,· :~~;~,1~g~~~ ~~;' ~~::{;~;~~~~::~:': ~~~:~~-tf;~c~·,·,~~tc!;~~-1~.:~~~e :~~~~~~~~sy ~~ ~~~Y r~~~~i\~~ fm· )OUI' good \1 ill to•1anls the Chcrokct's, f•·om, Gcn~lcmcn, your mmt obligc1l, :md !'aith!nl luunl.tle &CI'\':tnt, Jon~ Rou. To .\fcssn. Santucl \V~,;bb mul Jos. ).1. T•·um:m-Cammittee. C. C. BunLEIOII again ro!:le and urged, as another consideration which should enlist us in the red man's behalf, the gratitude, as evinced in the letter just read, with which he requites even the slightcstexhibilion of li: indne!:ls toward him, however far short it falls of the pa)'ment of his just dues . H e concluded by exhor·ting the audience-not to meri~ the character of deliverers of the Cherokee from banishment, for that he fcar('d they could not do i the fterce spiri~ of avarice and dominion had been suffered to reign too long and go too far lor that-but to do all they could towards meriting that character; so that when the last Indian s it all have been dri\•en to the \'cry shore of the Pacific, and the wave s hall have washed out the trace of his last footstep, you may be able to say, my hand d itl it not-my heart had no sympathy with the cruel work-my voice was lifted in remonstmnce against it. Here it was intended by the Managers of the H all, that the exercises for the morning should have closed; but ALvAN STEWART, of Utica, rose, and requested lcav~ to say a few words about the Seminoles. H e then pro· ceeded to descrrbe the character of that tribe-their number-the number 1:1\ain in the late war-the mean and cruel means adopted to overcome them · and al.s?, cnle red into some deta.ils with regard to the origin of the war. H~ traeed It <1\l to slavery--:-the desue which th~ slaveholders feel that the poor slaves may have no. c1ty of refuge-no fncnds near them to whom they may escape from their masters. H e told of a largt: number of runaway slaves that were hubored by the Seminoles and other Indians. \VtLLJAi'tt LI.OYD GARRISON, who was s itting in the back part of the gallery as. a ~pectator, w:ls then loudly called for from all parts of the house. Fmdtng the audtence. would not be satisfied, he stepped to the front p:trt of the gallery, and, 111 a modest and respectful manner reque3tcd to be exeused from speaking on account of the state of his health1 , To this reason:1ble request the audience did not consent. |