On
meeting their chiefs, however, it was found that such was the attachment
of the nation to their lands on the Mississippi that their chiefs could
not undertake to cede them; but they offered all their lands south of
a line to be run from their and our boundary at the Omochita eastwardly
to their boundary with the Creeks, on the ridge between the Tombigbee
and Alabama, which would unite our possessions there from Natchez
to Tombigbee. A treaty to this effect was accordingly signed at
Pooshapekanuk on the 16th of November, 1805; but this being against
express instructions, and not according with the object then in view,
I was disinclined to its ratification, and therefore did not at the last
session of Congress lay it before the Senate for their advice, but have
suffered it to lie unacted on.
Progressive difficulties, however, in our foreign relations have brought
into view considerations other than those which then prevailed. It is
now, perhaps, become as interesting to obtain footing for a strong
settlement of militia along our southern frontier eastward of the
Mississippi as on the west of that river, and more so than higher up
the river itself. The consolidation of the Mississippi Territory and
the establishing a barrier of separation between the Indians and our
Southern neighbors are also important objects. The cession is supposed
to contain about 5,000,000 acres, of which the greater part is said to
be fit for cultivation, and no inconsiderable proportion of the first
quality, on the various waters it includes; and the Choctaws and their
creditors are still anxious for the sale.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216