.MTA2NA.NzIyOTI

Department of War, June 18, 1838. Gentlemen, I have received your communication of the 15th, instant, and in reply to your interrogatories beg leave to state that the Executive, having submitted the propositions and the whole matter of the removal of the Cherokees to Congress, will be governed entirely by the provisions of the law lately passed, which are clear, explicit & intelligible. No delay in the removal can be granted to the nation without the consent of the States interested; nor would the President desire that any delay should be conceded, other than such as may be absolutely necessary to the health and comfort of your people. No part of the recent appropriations are considered by the Executive as applicable to a further indemnification for the Cherokee country. That was amply provided for by former arrangements. The sums now granted, with the exception of one hundred thousand dollars, are intended to carry out what is supposed to have been the original intention of the Executive in the treaty of 1835, namely, to defray the expences of the removal, and of one year's subsistence of the Cherokees, at that time resident east of the Mississippi. With respect to the appointment of Commissioners and agents other than those now employed to adjust the claims under the Treaty, the President does not think proper to remove the present Commissioners at the request of the delegation. Such a measure would not only occassin very great delay in the adjustment of the claims, but be an act of injustice to those officers,