ating
with the tyrannical and iniquitous statute of Georgia, strikes a
formidable blow at the reputation of the United States, in
respect to their faith, pledged in almost innumerable instances,
in the most solemn treaties and compacts."

There were many objects of much interest shewn us at this Indian
bureau; but, from the peculiar circumstances of this most unhappy
and ill-used people, it was a very painful interest.

The dresses worn by the chiefs when their portraits were taken,
are many of them splendid, from the embroidery of beads and other
ornaments: and the room contains many specimens of their
ingenuity, and even of their taste. There is a glass case in the
room, wherein are arranged specimens of worked muslin, and other
needlework, some very excellent handwriting, and many other
little productions of male and female Indians, all proving
clearly that they are perfectly capable of civilization. Indeed,
the circumstance which renders their expulsion from their own,
their native lands, so peculiarly lamentable, is, that they were
yielding rapidly to the force of example; their lives were no
longer those of wandering hunters, but they were becoming
agriculturists, and the tyrannical arm of brutal power has not
now driven them, as formerly, only from their hunting grounds,
their favourite springs, and the sacred bones of their fathers,
but it has chased them from the dwellings their advancing
knowledge had taught them to make comfortable; from the
newly-ploughed fields of their pride; and from the crops their
sweat had watered. And for what? to add some thousand acres of
territory to the half-peopled wilderness which borders them.

The Potomac, on arriving at Washington, makes a beautiful sweep,
which forms a sort of bay, round which the city is built. Just
where it makes the turn, a wooden bridge is thrown across,
connecting the shores of Maryland and Virginia. This bridge is
a mile and a quarter in length, and is ugly enough. [It has
since been washed away by the breaking up of the frost of
February, 1831.] The navy-yard, and arsenal, are just above it,
on the Maryland side, and make a handsome appearance on the edge
of the river, following the sweep above mentioned. Near the
arsenal (much too near) is the penitentiary, which, as it was
just finished, and not inhabited, we examined in every part. It
is built for the purpose of solitary confinement for life. A
gallows is a much less nerve-shaking