311
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
according to the best of my recollection in the absence of .all Docu- mentary evidence, promising that if an[y] erreros should occur I shall beg leave to correct them upon reference to the papers in my possession in Nacogdoches- As early as some time in the years 182). or 2 - a delegation from the Cherokees then residing on Red River in Texas was sent by them to the city of Mexico for the purpose of obtaining from the existing Government the right of sitting in the country where they then were located-In reply to their solicitation the Government replied that unless they would •renounce their nationality and profess the Christian religion conforming in all things to the laws of the country they could not be permitted to stay in the country- The Indians not feeling disposed to .acceded to these conditions &c were given to understand that they would not be permitted to remain; they then stated that they had been much persecuted in the United States and were afraid to return; they were told that they would not be permitted to stay where they then were unle [ss they] could make peace with the United States which [they] have- The civil desensions in Mexico, prevented [the Govern] ment from paying any attention to the affairs [there] for several years after. In the the [sic] year 18(25] Hayden Edwards obtained from • the Govt. a contract for colonizing the country now occupied by [them] subsequent to which say in 1826 the same land from Red River to their present residence without [the] knowledge or con- sent of the Government of Me[xico]. About this period Edward's Grant was [surveyed] and shortly after granted to David G. Burnet. In the year 1833 I became the agent of [Mr.] Burnett for the purpose of carreing out the [r-egulations set] forth in his contract: To wit: to settle the land [within] a short time subsequent to my receving this [commission. It] became necessary for me to repair to the seat [of government] for the purpose of transacting business for my [employer], the P'rincipal object of which was to induce the [Government to] remove the Indians who had settled within the [limits of] our grant, and by so doing had to a very considerable extent impeded the settling of the land- I [ received] assurance from the Govermnt that they should [do so] immediately; but that promise was not realized [on account] of the increased internal difficulties of the country- In the early part of 1835 I entered into a correspondence with the Govt. of the State of Coahuila and Texas upon the subject of remov- ing the Indians representing the extreme difficulty we had in obtaing colonists who were willing to settle in the vicinity of such dan- gerous neighbors .as the cherokees had allways proved themselves to be in the United States, In answer to which the Governor informed me that he was very sensible of the difficulties u~der which I was labouring, but that the finances of the State were m such a state of exhaustion that it was extremely doubtfull that they would be able to do any thing untill the ensuing year, whereupon I offered in behalf of my principals to advance the means necessa-ry for removing if the Government would affO"rd its countenance and .authority to the undertaking, and the corresponding ~rder was sent t~ the_ then political Chief of Nacogdoches for their removal ~ome time m the spring of 1835 which order was never executed but suppressed at
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