Such an appeal must be successful.
However much we may sympathize with the poetic view of the subject, and
admire that spirit of the human heart which loves to linger about its
ancient seats and homes, the question in this case has assumed a purely
practical aspect founded on public transactions, which cannot be
recalled. The inaptitude of the Indian tribes generally, for conducting
the business of self-government, and their want of a wise foresight in
anticipating the relative power and position of the two great opposing
races in America, namely, the white and red, has been the primary cause
of all their treaty difficulties. The treaties themselves are not
violated in any respect, but being written by lawyers and legalists, the
true intent of some of these provisions, or the relative condition of
the parties at a given time, are not sometimes fully appreciated; and at
other times, the Indian chiefs exercise diplomatic functions which their
nation has not restored, as in the case of the Creeks of Georgia, or to
the exercise of which the majority are actually opposed, as in the
treaty of New Echota with the Cherokees.
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