In further testimony concerning the situation of affairs in the
Cherokee Nation at this period, may be cited the report of John Mason,
Jr., who was in the summer of 1837[430] sent as the confidential
agent of the War Department to make observations and report. In the
autumn[431] of that year he reported that--
The chiefs and better informed part of the nation are convinced
that they cannot retain the country. But the opposition to the
treaty is unanimous and irreconcilable. They say it cannot bind
them because they did not make it; that it was made by a few
unauthorized individuals; that the nation is not a party to it. *
* * They retain the forms of their government in their proceedings
among themselves, though they have had no election since 1830; the
chiefs and headmen then in power having been authorized to act
until their government shall again be regularly constituted. Under
this arrangement John Ross retains the post of principal chief. *
* * The influence of this chief is unbounded and unquestioned. The
whole nation of eighteen thousand persons is with him, the few,
about three hundred, who made the treaty having left the country.
It is evident, therefore, that Ross and his party are in fact the
Cherokee Nation. * * * Many who were opposed to the treaty have
emigrated to secure the rations, or because of fear of an outbreak.
* * * The officers say that, with all his power, Ross cannot, if
he would, change the course he has heretofore pursued and to which
he is held by the fixed determination of his people. He dislikes
being seen in conversation with white men, and particularly with
agents of the Government. Were he, as matters now stand, to advise
the Indians to acknowledge the treaty, he would at once forfeit
their confidence and probably his life. Yet though unwavering in
his opposition to the treaty, Ross's influence has constantly been
exerted to preserve the peace of the country, and Colonel Lindsay
says that he (Ross) alone stands at this time between the whites
and bloodshed. The opposition to the treaty on the part of the
Indians is unanimous and sincere, and it is not a mere political
game played by Ross for the maintenance of his ascendancy in the
tribe.