.MTA1OA.NzEzNTI

296 went. The upper lower towns as they were then called, were divided;- the latter were in favor of removing & following the chase in the wilds of the west; and the former, concluded to adopt the habits of civilized life & continue where they were. In this state of agitation of the people, and for fear least they should lose their country & while their passions & prejudices were excited, they were led to the adoption of the above articles.

  By these means you perceive the designing few wrested the whole power & authority out of the hands of the chiefs & warriors who had hitherto constituted the council of the nation; & placed it in the hands of a committee of thirteen. Even the annuity which had always been paid to the chiefs who distributed it among the people, was now placed in the hands of this Committee; & as far as I can learn from that day to this, there has been no more division of the annuity among the people, except what little was taken after Gen: Jackson ordered it to be paid out to the heads of families. In consequence of the address & management of this same set of men, however, but few were brave enough to receive this money. Some were induced to believe it was a mere trick of the President to get their names, in order that they might be claimed as enrolled emigrants & forced off to the west, while others were prevented from receiving it for fear of being punished with one hundred stripes on their bare backs. Until the passage of an act by congress in 1834 directing the voice of the nation in Council assembled to be taken whether their annuity should be paid to the heads of families,- to the chiefs,- or in what manner it should be disposed of, the Cherokee annuity accumulated & continued on hand; and at last the people voted it by an almost unanimous voice into the hands of these same men. This National Committee, for their services & for the offices they created, had absorbed, not only the whole annuity, but $20,000, paid them in the year 1819, for the four mile purchase, & have now brought the nation several thousand dollars in debt. These Articles provide also for amendments & additions, from time to time, which we will hereafter show this Committee have