.MTA1OA.NzEzMzQ

Now, what meaneth all this? If we had sinned against the laws of the State, was not the civil authority fully competent to bring us to justice? Had we ever defied or resisted a civil process? - No. - Why, then, should the civil authority be superceded by the military? And why were we marched off, in great military parade, about 56 miles from the county in which it is pretended we had rebelled? And, again, why keep us in lawless and false imprisonment 10 or 12 days, and trail & dodge about through the forests and swamps of the surrounding country, in order to deceive and triumph over the civil officers of the country? But this is not all. Is it fair & honorable that we should be compelled to give bonds for our appearance at court, previous to an investigation of the matter? Strange, indeed, that we should be compelled to submit to a government & then be denied the most common privileges of that government! We ask, again, what meaneth all this? Having been for some time past, an eye witness of the strange manoeuvring and crooked course of certain dear creatures in this country, I will attempt an explanation of this marvellous affair. Be it known, then, that the Cherokees, under existing circumstances, are capable of committing three kinds of sins; namely, legal sins, party sins and policy sins; or, in other words, sins against the law, sins against the party, and sins against the darling policy. Sinners of the first class, in many instances, obtain forgiveness by submitting to the party or policy, but it seems there is no mercy for the two latter, neither in his Excellency at Milledgeville nor in his Majesty at the White House. Now, although it is very difficult for a Cherokee to breathe in this country without transgressing one or other of the many exterminating laws of 1831-2-3- or 4, yet, every body knows that we have not violated any law in this matter. What, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter? This great military outrage was committed upon our characters, our persons & our property, and upon the civil authorities of the country, too, at the instance and for the gratification of a few very conspicuous gentlemen of a certain party, and that, in subserviency to a beloved policy.