.MTA1MA.NzAxOTk

                                                                                                       212

was not named, although easily conjectured. The substance of this strikeout was that unfair means had been used in the procurement of signatures to the protest & order; but be that ads it may, observed Lieut Bateman, the number, however honestly obtained, bears but a very small proportion to the population of the whole country; and as the War Department is informed that a Council will take place at Ridge's on the 20th of July, it has been ordered that the money then shall be paid over to whomsoever the majority of votes may designate, even if there should not be strikeout: several words more than the persons present. The object of choosing strikeout Ridge's for the meeting was now palpable. It was within the bounds usurped by Georgia, within which any exercise of Indian power had been made subject to heavy punishment. It was within the range of the Georgia Guard, who towards the Cherokees, bore? a hatred, which the Cherokees well know did not stop for evidence to seize & punish them for imputed crimes. The Chiefs could not attend without exposing themselves to the arrest which had been threatened in whispers from Georgia, for having exercised authority which she strikeout denounced. These considerations might