Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 2).djvu/69

Rh by the greed of the white man from their lands and churches and schools, Clay received a memorial praying Congress to aid them in emigrating from Georgia to the Indian Territory. Clay, in presenting the memorial to the Senate, told in burning words the story of the wrongs the Cherokees had to suffer, and then uttered these sentiments: —

“Shall I be told that the condition of the African slave is worse? No, sir, it is not worse. The interest of the master makes it at once his duty and his inclination to provide for the comfort and the health of his slave. But who, what human being, stands in the relation of master, or in any other relation which makes him interested in the preservation and protection of the poor Indian thus degraded and miserable? It is said that annihilation is the destiny of the Indian race. Perhaps it is, judging from the past. But shall we therefore hasten it? Death is the irreversible decree pronounced against the human race. Shall we accelerate its approach because it is inevitable? No, sir. Let us treat with the utmost kindness and the most perfect justice the aborigines whom Providence has committed to our guardianship. Let us confer upon them, if we can, the inestimable blessings of Christianity and civilization; and then, if they must sink beneath the progressive wave, we are free from all reproach, and stand acquitted in the sight of God and man.”

With such remarks he introduced resolutions contemplating further provision by law to enable Indian tribes to defend and maintain in the courts of the United States their rights to lands secured