Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 7.djvu/416

 406 TREATY WITH THE MENOMONIES. 1832. tribes on the east side of the Fox river, which said lands are to be relinquished shall, after being valued by a commissioner to be appointed by the President of the United States, be paid for by the Government: Provided, however, that the valuation of such improvements shall not exceed the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars. And that there shall be one township of land adjoining the foregoing, equal to twenty-three thousand and forty acres laid off and granted for the use of the Brothertown Indians, who are to be paid by the Government the sum of one thousand six hundred dollars for the improvements on the lands now in their possession, on the east side of Fox river, and which lands are to be relinquished by said Indians: also that a new line shall be run, parallel to the southwestern boundary line or course of the tract of five hundred thousand acres, described in the first article of this treaty, and set apart for the New York Indians, to commence at a point on the west side of the Fox river, and one mile above the Grand Shute, on Fox river, and at a sudicient distance from the said boundary line as established by the said first article, as shall comprehend the additional quantity of two hundred thousand acres of land on and along the west side of Fox river, without including any of the confirmed private land claims on the Fox river; and which two hundred thousand acres shall be a part of the five hundred thousand acres, intended to be set apart for the Six Nations of the New York Indians and the St. Regis tribe; and that an equal quantity to that which is added to the southwestern side shall be taken off from the northeastern side of the said tract described in that article, on the Oconto creek, to be determined by a commissioner to be appointed by the President of the United States; so that the whole number of acres to be granted to the Six Nations, and St. Regis tribe of Indians, shall not exceed the quantity originally stipulated by the treaty."And whereas, before the treaty aforesaid, conditionally ratified, according to the proviso to the resolution of the Senate, above recited, could be obligatory upon the said Menominee nation, their assent to the same must be had and obtained. And whereas the honorable Lewis Cass, Secretary of the Department of lVar, by his letter of instructions of the eleventh day of September, A. D. 1832, did authorize and request George B. Porter, Governor of the Territory of Michigan, to proceed to Green Bay, and endeavor to procure the assent of the Menominees to the change proposed by the Senate, as above set forth; urging the necessity of directing his first efforts to an attempt to procure the unconditional assent of the Menominees to the said treaty, as ratified by the Senate. But should he fail in this object that he would then endeavor to procure their assent to the best practicable terms, short of those proposed by the Senate; giving them to understand that he merely received such proposition as they might make, with a view to transmit it for the consideration of the President and Senate of the United States. And if this course became necessary that it would be very desirable that the New York Indians should also signify their acceptance of the modifications required by the Menominees. And whereas, in pursuance of the said instructions the said George B. Porter proceeded to Green Bay and having assembled all the chiefs and headmen of the Menominee nation, in council, submitted to them, on the twenty-second day of October A. D, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, the said proviso annexed to the resolution aforesaid of the Senate of the United States, for the ratification of the said treaty: and advised and urged on them the propriety of giving their assent to the same. And the said chiefs and headmen having taken time to de— liberate and reflect on the proposition so submitted to them, and which they had been urged to assent to, did in the most positive and decided manner, refuse to give their assent to the same. (The many reasons