An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, vol 2 | Page 5

that brings him shall receive a gun and a watch-coat: and if by any accident it shall happen, that an Englishman shall kill a Cherokee, the King or chief of the nation shall first complain to the English Governor, and the man who did the harm shall be punished by the English laws as if he had killed an Englishman; and in like manner, if any Indian happens to kill an Englishman, the Indian shall be delivered up to the Governor, to be punished by the same English laws as if he were an Englishman."
This was the substance of the first treaty between the King and the Cherokees, every article of which was accompanied with presents of different kinds, such as cloth, guns, shot, vermilion, flints, hatchets, knives. The Indians were given to understand, "That these were the words of the great King, whom they had seen, and as a token that his heart was open and true to his children the Cherokees, and to all their people, a belt was given the warriors, which they were told the King desired them to keep, and shew to all their people, to their children, and children's children, to confirm what was now spoken, and to bind this agreement of peace and friendship between the English and Cherokees, as long as the rivers shall run, the mountains shall last, or the sun shall shine."
[Sidenote] Speech of a Cherokee warrior.
This treaty, that it might be the easier understood, was drawn up in language as similar as possible to that of the Indians, which at this time was very little known in England, and given to them, certified and approved by Sir Alexander Cumming. In answer to which, Skijagustah, in name of the rest, made a speech to the following effect:--"We are come hither from a mountainous place, where nothing but darkness is to be found--but we are now in a place where there is light.--There was a person in our country--he gave us a yellow token of warlike honour, which is left with Moytoy of Telliquo,--and as warriors we received it.--He came to us like a warrior from you.--A man he is;--his talk is upright--and the token he left preserves his memory among us.--We look upon you as if the great King were present;--we love you as representing the great King;--we shall die in the same way of thinking.--The crown of our nation is different from that which the great King George wears, and from that we saw in the tower.--But to us it is all one.--The chain of friendship shall be carried to our people.--We look upon the great King George as the Sun, and as our father, and upon ourselves as his children.--For though we are red, and you are white, yet our hands and hearts are joined together.--When we shall have acquainted our people with what we have seen, our children from generation to generation will always remember it.--In war we shall always be one with you. The enemies of the great King shall be our enemies;--his people and ours shall be one, and shall die together.--We came hither naked and poor as the worms of the earth, but you have every thing,--and we that have nothing must love you, and will never break the chain of friendship which is between us.--Here stands the Governor of Carolina, whom we know.--This small rope we show you is all that we have to bind our slaves with, and it may be broken.--But you have iron chains for yours.--However, if we catch your slaves, we will bind them as well as we can, and deliver them to our friends, and take no pay for it.--We have looked round for the person that was in our country--he is not here;--however, we must say he talked uprightly to us, and we shall never forget him.--Your white people may very safely build houses near us;--we shall hurt nothing that belongs to them, for we are children of one father, the great King, and shall live and die together." Then laying down his feathers upon the table he added: "This is our way of talking, which is the same thing to us as your letters in the book are to you, and to you beloved men we deliver these feathers in confirmation of all we have said."
The Cherokees, however barbarous, were a free and independent people; and this method of obtaining a share of their lands by the general consent, was fair and honourable in itself, and most agreeable to the general principles of equity, and the English constitution. An agreement is made with them, in consequence of which the King could not only give a just title to Indian lands; but, by Indians becoming his voluntary subjects, the colonists obtained peaceable possession. The Cherokees held abundance