.MTA1Ng.NzEwMzA

[In left margin] 1839. Nov 4, continued.

on this occasion, to participate in sharing the responsibility of the execution of "orders" which he has never seen, if not wholly assume it, he must be excused for waiving entirely all right or [unclear] to such honor. He knows his duty to his own people, and their obligations to the United States, and while he shall not shrink from the performance of the one, he shall ever [refund?] the other with scrupulous attention. The Principal Chief ^is^ charged by the General with a failure to comply with his duty in this respect; but this is merely his opinion and the Principal Chief claims the equal privelege of exercising his own judgment in reference to subjects calling for his action; and if, perchance, it should please the General to overstep the proper bounds of official propriety to indulge in invective, or decide questions not at all within the scope of his duties, it will not change the Principal Chief's course, nor cause him to forget the respect due to an officer of the United States, whose [unclear], to some extent, connect him with this nation. -- The Principal Chief again assures The General, that, whatever result may emanate from his views in relation to these arrests, the Principal Chief cannot yield to share any portion of the