to tell you, that you must go; and
if not willingly, you will be compelled to go. I should have told you
that no more annuity will be paid to you here. [_Asseola_ replied, that
he did not care whether any more was ever paid.] I hope you will, on
more mature reflection, act like honest men, and not compel me to report
you to your father, the President, as faithless to your engagements."

"_Asseola_ said, the decision of the chiefs was given; that they did not
intend to give any other answer.

"_Miconopy_ said--`I do not intend to remove.'

"_The Agent_.--`I am now fully satisfied that you are wilfully disposed
to be entirely dishonest in regard to your engagements with the
President, and regret that I must so report you. The talk which I have
made to you must and will stand.'"

Thus, indeed, the council and the parties separated. The American
government was supine, thinking, probably, that the Indians would not
resist much longer; but the Indians, on the other hand, laid up large
stores of powder and lead. Six months elapsed, and then the Indians
were informed that they were to hear the _last_ talk of the father, the
President on _this side_ of the Mississippi. On the 22nd of April,
1835, the Indians assembled, and had the following communication from
General Jackson:--

"_To the Chiefs and Warriors of the Seminole Indians in Florida_.

"My Children: I am sorry to have heard that you have been listening to
bad counsels. You know me, and you know that I would not deceive, nor
advise you to do any thing that was unjust or injurious. Open your ears
and attend to what I shall now say to you. They are the words of a
friend, and the words of truth.

"The white people are settling around you. The game has disappeared
from your country. Your people are poor and hungry. All this you have
perceived for some time. And nearly three years ago, you made an
agreement with your friend, Colonel Gadsden, acting on the part of the
United States, by which you agreed to cede your lands in Florida, and to
remove and join your brothers, the Creeks, in the country west of the
Mississippi. You annexed a condition to this agreement, that certain
chiefs, named therein, in whom you placed confidence, should proceed to
the western country, and examine whether it was suitable to your wants
and habits; and whether the Creeks residing there were willing to permit
you to unite with them as one people, and if the persons thus sent,