of March, 1839, to waive so much of the requirement of that
of the 11th of June, 1838, as made it necessary that the assent of
the different tribes should be given in council. This assumption is
understood to be founded upon the circumstances that the fact that
only sixteen of the chiefs had given their assent in that form had
been distinctly communicated to the Senate before the passage of the
resolution of the 2d of March, and that instead of being a majority that
number constituted scarcely one-fifth of the whole number of chiefs, and
it is hence insisted that unless the Senate had so intended there would
have been no use in sending the amended treaty to the President with the
advice contained in that resolution. This has not appeared to me to be
a necessary deduction from the foregoing facts, as the Senate may have
contemplated that the assent of the tribe in the form first required
should be thereafter obtained, and before the treaty was executed, and
the phraseology of the resolution, viz, "that whenever the President
shall be satisfied," etc., goes far to sustain this construction. The
interpretation of the acts of the Senate set up by the advocates for the
treaty is, moreover, in direct opposition to the disclaimer contained in
the report of the committee which has been adverted to. It is at best an
inference only, in respect to the truth of which the Senate can alone
speak with certainty, and which could not with propriety be regarded
as justifying the desired action in relation to the execution of the
treaty.

This measure is further objected to on the ground of improper
inducements held out to the assenting chiefs by the agents of the
proprietors of the lands, which, it is insisted, ought to invalidate
the treaty if even the requirement that the assent of the chiefs should
be given in council was dispensed with. Documentary evidence upon
this subject was laid before you at the last session, and is again
communicated, with additional evidence upon the same point. The charge
appears by the proceedings of the Senate to have been investigated by
your committee, but no conclusion upon the subject formed other than
that which is contained in the extract from the report of the committee
I have referred to, and which asserts that at least in one instance the
charge of bribery has been clearly made out. That improper means have
been employed to obtain the assent of the Seneca chiefs there is every
reason to believe, a