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line, from the lake of the woods to the Mississipi, as erroneously defined by the treaty of 1783. Reflecting since on this subject we find that our commissioners have acted very wisely by their omission of this line. The truth is the erroneous definition of its direction was not the only error made by Mr. Oswald in 1783, by giving that line to the Americans, it being such a line as he had no right to give, as he thereby took upon him to concede territory to the United States, which did not belong to either Great Britain, or them, but to the Indians; this bar then to claims, as far as it might have served as a plea against them, however unjust, is now removed, which is gaining a point for them.'

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MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS AND OTHER PAPERS.

EXHIBIT 165.

Indian Pacification.2

September 29th.-As I was sitting at my writing-table this morning before eight o'clock, one of the servants in the house opened my door, and my brother-in-law, Mr. George Boyd, of Washington City, came in quite unexpectedly. * His dis

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patches and newspapers are to the 12th of August. the National Intelligencers of the 6th and 9th [8th] of August there were unofficial articles purporting that the United States had made a treaty at Greenville, 16th July, with almost all the Indians who have been such a stumbling-block in the way of our negotiations.

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CINCINNATI, July 23.

By verbal accounts from Greenville we learn that the treaty closed on Saturday last; that all the Indians had agreed to enter actively into the service of the United States. The Pottawatomies and Miamies refused for sometime to comply with the terms offered by the Commissioners, and proposed to remain neutral; but when they were told we would have no neutrals, that those who were not for us were against us: they agreed to take up arms against our enemies. Spy.3

'Quebec Mercury, March 7, 1815.

"Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, Vol. III, p. 43. National Intelligencer, 6th August, 1814.

Indian Treaty.1

CINCINNATI, July 26.

By a gentleman from Greenville, we learn that the Indian Treaty was concluded on Saturday the 16th Inst. [22]. There were present the whole of the Shawanoese, Delawares, Miamies and Weeas, and about three-fourths of the Wyandots and fragments of the Potowatamies, Kickapoos, Ottoways, Nanticokes, Muncees, Mingoes, and Senecas, making in the whole, as estimated by the Agents, four thousand souls. None of the Winnebagoes or Chippeways attended. Of those which were present, the Miamies only objected to join in the war. Some of their principal chiefs proposed to remain neutral. They were reminded by the Commissioners that our government, at the beginning of the war, had earnestly enjoined neutrality on them; but as they thought. proper to become parties in the contest, they must now continue such.-When the council opened the next day, that tribe, except the two chiefs alluded to, came forward and received the tomahawk. The treaty was terminated the same evening by a war dance in the usual style. An express has been despatched to the President, and the agents intend keeping the Indians emboated till the expected orders of the President for organizing the warriors, arrive. They will form a corps of 800 or 1,000 effective men.

EXHIBIT 166.

President Madison to Governor Tompkins.2

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 1814.

SIR,-I have received your letter of the 5th instant, covering a unanimous Resolution of the two Houses of the Legislature of N. York, expressing the emotions with which they view the terms of peace proposed by the British Commissioners at Ghent, and recommending the most vigorous measures for bringing the war to an honorable termination.

This language does great honor to the patriotism and just sentiments of the State by whose Councils it has been adopted. And the Resolution derives additional value from the unanimity stamped upon it.

'National Intelligencer, of 8th August, 1814.

"Writings of James Madison (Cong. Ed.), Vol. II, p. 593.

Such a devotion every where to the rights and dignity of our Country is alone necessary to a speedy triumph over the obstacles to an honorable peace. And such an example could proceed from no source more entitled or more conducive to patriotic emulations. Accept, Sir, assurances of my high esteem and my friendly respects.

EXHIBIT 167.

President Madison to Governor Early, of Georgia.1

Dec. 18, 1814.

peace

SIR, I have duly received your letter of the 2d instant, with the Resolutions of the Legislature of Georgia, expressing unanimously the sentiments inspired by the extravagant terms of demanded by the enemy, and the readiness of that State to make any sacrifice necessary to a vigorous prosecution of the war, till it can be brought to an honorable termination.

Resolutions of such a character are worthy of the real and public spirit of which so many other proofs have been given by the State of Georgia; and they have the greater merit as proceeding from a part of the Nation which presents so disproportionate an extent of frontier to the pressures of the war, with the other disadvantages incident to their situation in sustaining them.

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President Madison to the Republican Members of the Legislature of Massachusetts.2

March 7, 1815.

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The firm and persevering resistance which has been made to violations of our national rights and of our essential interests, and the signal valour and patriotism displayed by every variety

'Writings of James Madison (Cong. Ed.), Vol. II, p. 597. 2Writings of James Madison (Cong. Ed.) Vol. II, p. 599.

of our arms, both on the water and on the land, whilst they cannot fail to do justice to the American name, will be among the best guardians of our future peace and safety.

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EXHIBIT 169.

Rejection of Indian Sovereignty.'

Intelligence of this event [signing of the Treaty of Ghent] was received in the United States in the month of February, and communicated to Congress officially, by the President, on the 20th inst. The British commissioners had at one time assumed a highly offensive and arrogant tone; but the victories of Brown and Scott, the defeat of Commodore Downie, and the inglorious retreat of Sir George Prevost, soon moderated their demands. They at first insisted that the Indian tribes within the limits of the union should forever enjoy a separate and independent sovereignty. This was instantly rejected by the American commissioners.

"Life of Madison," by John Quincy Adams, p. 185.

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