n. _Oka-na-sto-ta_, one of their distinguished
chiefs, visited England during the reign of George the Second. From
his time they date the declension of their nation. His place of
residence was at _Echota_, one of the Over-Hill Towns. Of the
_tumuli_, or mounds scattered through the country, and other ancient
remains, they know nothing, and considered them, when they took
possession of the country, as vestiges of a more numerous population
than themselves, and farther advanced in the arts of civilization. The
several Indian tribes in America have been compared to the fragments
of a vast ruin. And though these vestiges of a remote period in the
past may not awaken the same grand associations in the mind of the
beholder as the majestic ruins of Greece and Rome, yet they cannot
fail to excite feelings of veneration for the memory of a numerous
people, whose lingering signs of greatness are widely visible from the
western borders of North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico, and
throughout the Mississippi valley.

As early as the year 1806, two Deputations attended Washington City
from the Cherokee nation; one from the lower towns, to make known to
the President their desire to remove west of the Mississippi, and
pursue the hunter's life; the other Deputation, representing in part
the Cherokees belonging to the above settlement, to make known their
desire to remain in the lands of their fathers, and become cultivators
of the soil. The President answered their petitions as follows:

"The United States, my children, are the friends of both
parties. As far as can be reasonably asked, they are willing
to satisfy the wishes of both. Those who remain may be
assured of our patronage, our aid, and good neighborhood."

The treaties formed between the United States and the Cherokee Nation,
in the years 1817 and 1819, made provision for those desiring to
remain, agreeably to the promise of the President; and they thus
became citizens of the United States, each family being allowed a
reservation of six hundred and forty acres of land. The whites claimed
the same lands under a purchase made of the State. Suits were
instituted in favor of the Indians, and by our Courts were decided in
their favor. Afterward they sold their reservations to the
Commissioners of the State, and purchased lands in the white
settlement, and in the neighborhood of the hunting grounds reserved
for them by treaties concluded with the Cherokee nat