In this situation of affairs Col. John Lowry was appointed[365] a
special commissioner to visit the Cherokee Nation and again lay before
them a formal proposition for their removal west. The substance of Mr.
Lowry's proposal as communicated by him to their national council[366]
was: (1) To give to the Cherokees a country west of the Mississippi,
equal in value to the country they would leave; (2) each warrior and
widow living within the limits of Alabama or Tennessee was to be
permitted, if so desiring, to select a reservation of 200 acres, which,
if subsequently abandoned, was to be sold for the reservee's benefit;
(3) each Indian desiring to become a citizen of the United States was
to have a reservation in fee-simple; (4) all emigrants were to be
removed and fed one year at the expense of the United States, and to be
compensated for all property, except horses, they should leave behind
them, and, (5) the nation was to be provided with a liberal school fund.
Again the result was an emphatic refusal[367] on the part of the
Cherokees to enter into negotiations on the subject. Other special
commissioners and emissaries, of whom several were appointed in the
next few months, met with the same reception.