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Show 75 G36 INDIAN LAND CESSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES [BTH.ANN.IS the English they were come down to help ine against the Spaniards and that if I wanted them thoy would bring down four score more of their warriors who should stay with me a whole year. You see how God baffles the attempts of wicked men.' In another letter, July 26, 1736, incidental mention is made of a cession of land by Opayhatchoo and his tribe. At this time the cessions he had obtained did not reach to the upper Allamaha, as he remarks: " The opposition from Carolina forced me to give the Indians large presents to procure their confirmation of the cession of the Islands; and they have refused as yet to give leave to settle the inland parts up the Alatamaha." On the 21st of August, 1739, another treaty was entered into at Coweta with the Creeks, Cherokee, and Chickasaw. Iu this treaty the Indians declare- . . . t h a t a l l t h e dominions, territories and lands between the Savannah and St. John's Rivers, including all the islands, and from the St John's River to the Apalachie Bay and thence to the mountains, do, by aucient right belong to the Creek Nation, and •that they would not suffer either the Spaniards or any other people excepting the trustees of the Colony of Georgia, to settle their lands. They also acknowledge the grant which they formerly made to the Trustees of all the lands on Savannah River as far as the river Ogeechee, and all the lands along the seaeoast as far as St John's River, and as high as the tide flowed, aud all the islands, particularly St Simon's, Cumberland, and Amelia, etc.5 It would appear from these facts that the policy adopted by this colony at the outset in dealing with the Indians was a kind and just one. Moreover, it was correct in method, as the grants from Indians were not obtained by or on behalf of individuals, but by the properly constituted authority for and ou behalf of the " trustees," who were the proprietors of this colony. Happily for the welfare of the settlers, the active control had been placed in the hands of Oglethorpe, who was unquestionably one of the most just, kind, and truly worthy governors who ever ruled over an American colony. Yet, as history testifies, though strictly just and prompt to repair or amend an injury, he was watchful and prompt to resent an invasion of or trespass on the rights of the colonists, whether by the natives or by the whites from other settlements. A letter to the trustees dated September 5, 1739, which refers to the treaty of 1739, above mentioned, gives some additional evidence of the just policy Oglethorpe had adopted iu treating with the Indians: I am just arrived at this Place from the Assembled Estates of the Creek Nation. They have very fully declared their rights to and possession of all the Land as far as the River Saint Johns and their Concession of the Sea Coast, Islands and other Lands to the Trustees, of which they have made a regular act. If I had not gone up the misunderstandings between them and the Carolina Traders fomented by our two neiohborino- Nations would probably have occasioned their beginning,a war, which Tbelieve might have been the result of this general meeting; but as their complaints were reasonable, I gave them satisfaction in all of them, and everything l Georgia Historical Society Collections, vol. ill, pp. 35-36. = Wbite, Historical Collections of Georgia (1S55), p. 121. |