They represent themselves, indeed, to be
far more numerous, but whatever their number may be their interests have
been provided for in the treaty now submitted. Their subscriptions to it
would also have been received but for unreasonable pretensions raised by
them after all the arrangements of the treaty had been agreed upon and
it was actually signed. Whatever their merits may have been in the
facility with which they ceded all the lands of their nation within the
State of Georgia, their utter inability to perform the engagements which
they so readily contracted and the exorbitancy of their demands when
compared with the inefficiency of their own means of performance leave
them with no claims upon the United States other than of impartial and
rigorous justice.
In referring to the impressions under which I ratified the treaty of the
12th of February last, I do not deem it necessary to decide upon the
propriety of the manner in which it was negotiated. Deeply regretting
the recriminations and recriminations to which these events have given
rise, I believe the public interest will best be consulted by discarding
them altogether from the discussion of the subject.
Pages:
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99