The second makes the violator of the law amenable
only after his offense has been consummated, and when he has returned
within the civil jurisdiction of the Union. This process, in the first
instance, is merely of a civil character, but may in like manner be
enforced by calling in, if necessary, the aid of the military force.
Entertaining no doubt that in the present case the resort to either of
these modes of process, or to both, was within the discretion of the
Executive authority, and penetrated with the duty of maintaining the
rights of the Indians as secured both by the treaty and the law, I
concluded, after full deliberation, to have recourse on this occasion,
in the first instance, only to the civil process. Instructions have
accordingly been given by the Secretary of War to the attorney and
marshal of the United States in the district of Georgia to commence
prosecutions against the surveyors complained of as having violated the
law, while orders have at the same time been forwarded to the agent of
the United States at once to assure the Indians that their rights
founded upon the treaty and the law are recognized by this Government
and will be faithfully protected, and earnestly to exhort them, by the
forbearance of every act of hostility on their part, to preserve
unimpaired that right to protection secured to them by the sacred pledge
of the good faith of this nation.
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