pal
interpreter of the nation, a very influential black chief by the name of
Abraham, of several hundred dollars, by getting a receipt from him
without paying the money, under the plea that it was necessary to send
the receipt to Washington, where it was filed to the credit of the
agent. Several other Indians of influence were robbed in a similar
manner; and when they demanded the money from the succeeding agent, they
were told that the government would not pay them. Is not this an
unsound principle to adopt in our intercourse with the Indians? Is it
just or honourable for us to send our own agents among them, without
their approval, and not hold ourselves responsible for their conduct?
If we were indebted to a nation, and the funds are sent through an agent
to pay over, and he neglects to do so, are we not still liable, and
would not a civilised power still hold us responsible?"

I have mentioned these facts to show that the Indians were justified in
their want of faith in the white men: they were robbed and pillaged and
had no redress; nay, they were imprisoned as thieves for taking away
their own cattle which had been stolen from them, although they showed
their own marks and brands upon them. Whether the American Government
suffered all this spoliation with a view to disgust the Indians and
incline them to remove to the westward, the reader will be better able
to judge for himself when he has read a few pages more.

The Florida people were now subjected to retaliation, on the part of the
Indians, who, finding that they could obtain no redress, naturally took
the law into their own hands, and loss of life on both sides was the
consequence. This produced petition after petition from the Florida
white population to the government, requesting that the Indians might be
moved west prior to 1843, the period agreed upon by the treaty of Camp
Moultrie. Colonel Gadsden, a citizen of Florida, was appointed
commissioner to treat with the Indians, and on the 8th of April 1832,
had an interview with Mic-e-no-pah, and a few other chiefs. The Indians
requested thirty days to collect the opinions of the absent chiefs, and
on the 8th of May 1832, they met the commissioner, according to
appointment, at Payne's Landing. The commissioner had a great deal of
difficulty in obtaining their consent to the removal, which was
ultimately given upon certain conditions.

By this treaty, the Indians agreed to remove west upon being paid