WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1830
162 .
McKinny is the officer, to whom directly all the censure for with- holding the funds should be attached. Instead of sending to the Creek Agency, on Arkansas, the annuities due to the McIntosh party, he either retains them at the City, or has sent them to Col. Crowell, in the old nation-where they will be kept safely!!! The contingent fund due to Creeks on Arkansas, amounting to upwards of twenty thousand dollars, was, by the influence of Col. McKinny, placed in the hands of Colonel Crowel\.° and sent to his brother, Mr. Thomas Crowell, to the old nation. This will be denied! Why is this the case, when Colonel Crowell has noth- ing to do with the Creeks, after they leave the old nation? Why can it be necessary to send the money that route, to reach its destination on Arkansas? At : a time, too, when the Indians on the Arkansas have received no money for three years; nor is there any looked for, by th~ most knowing of the Agents, who reside here! It is neverthelE:ss a fact, that the man employed by the Agent, as a striker to the public Blacksmith for the Creeks, has never received one cent of pay for his labor, al- though he has been employed for three years! He has the conso- lation left to him, of living by the "sweat of his brow." As Agents are bound to make semi-annual returns of their accounts, can any one believe that the astute Colonel McKinny does not know where there are delinquencies? No: it is impos- sible. And it was but recently, that an Agent was removed from office, who had withheld his accounts for fourteen months from the Government, and who, no doubt, found, in Col. McKinny, a ready spokesman to the last!-There is much to commend in the Colonel!- He exhibits, in his gallery, many specimens of the Fine Arts. He is an able negociator. He is a good patron of Indian missions. He sometimes writes books, and charges for constructive journies, which he is sure not to have performed. "Can such things be; And overcome us like a summer's cloud, Without one special wonder?" The United States owe the Creeks money. They have paid them none in three yea1·s. The money has been appropriated by Congress. It is withhe!d by the Agents. The Indians are desti- tute of almost every comfort for the want of what is due to them. If it is longer withheld from them, it can only be so, upon the grounds, that the poor Indian, who is unable to compel the United States to a compliance with solemn treaties, must linger
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