.MTA1OA.NzEzNDA

had given them to understand, that he had nothing to submit before the Senate on the subject;- that, whenever he effected a treaty with the Cherokees, he would then call upon the Senate to notify it. Having been this greatly disappointed in their reasonable expectations in reference to their subjection of their propositions before the Senate by the President, the delegation at and late hour on the night of the 30th of March last, presented and memorial to the Senate, together with a copy of their correspondence with the Executive Department, and appealing to the honor, magnanimity and justice of the American government, to determine whether their propositions might not be met;- and, if not, whether the rights of their nation, under existing treaties, ought not to be enforced;- on, whether the Cherokee people ought to force to abandon their country by the force of unprovoked oppressions, under the exercise of state authority (unclear). From the facts herein stated, you will readily receive that the Senate was greatly Template:Camped? in activity upon this delicate question, in consequence of the President; refusal to advise with that Honorable body upon it. The action of the Senate upon the subject, under these circumstances, is nothing more than a mere expression of opinion, which cannot be obligatory on the President; but, had the whole subject bee constitutionally referred by him, for the advice of the Senate, then the act would have been viewed in a different light. The resolution of the Senate, therefore, which was adopted on the report of the Committee on Indian affairs, respecting the amount which ought to be given to the Cherokees for their land, is merely an opinion, it is not an "award"; the President had no agency in the mater, and the Senate did not sit on the propositions of the delegation as Template:Arbitrations?: there is no committal on the part of the delegation in reference to the propositions submitted by them to the President, nor is the nation in any degree Template:Entrammelled? by them. The voice of the nation having sustained the revolution adopted by you at the