OPENING OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTIETH CONGRESS,

1847....1848.

WASHINGTON:

WENDELL AND VAN BENTHUYSEN, PRINTERS.

1848.

War DEPARTMENT, OFFICE INDIAN AFFAIRS,

November 30, 1847. SIR: I have the honor to submit a general view of the condition and operations of this branch of the public service, during the past year.

Since my last annual report, nineteen Creeks, forty-four Chickasaws, and a few Cherokees--number not known-have emigrated themselves; and one thousand six hundred and twenty-three Choctaws, have been removed from east of the Mississippi to the country of their brethren, west of that river. A small number of Miamies, left behind when the great body of that tribe was removed from Indiana last year, chiefly to enable them to gather and dispose of their fall crops, are, it is believed, either now on the way, or are about starting for the west.

By the treaties of 1838 and 1840 with the Miamies, and by a joint resolution of Congress, approved March 3d, 1845, a portion of them, about one hundred and sixty-one in number, are permitted to receive their annuities, and, as they claim, to remain permanently in Indiana. It is regretted that they could not have been removed also, as it is believed that it would have been both better for themselves, and beneficial to their brethren who have emigrated. It is doubtful whether they can prosper and be happy where they are. They will, in a great measure, be compelled to give up their own peculiar customs and habits, without adequate previous preparation for the change; be under the operation of laws, the reasons for, and advantages of which, they do not understand; while they must soon be hemmed in by a thrifty white population, having in its superior resources, and greater energy and industry, every advantage over them; and with which, from their origin, peculiar tastes, and backwardness of improvement, they cannot coalesce nor be upon any footing of equality. With their brethren west, they could live as they have been accustomed; their peculiar social wants and sympathies could be gratified, and they would not, as among the whites, be discouraged, by great disparity in circumstances and civilization, from making proper exertions for improving their condition. From being now somewhat advanced in the elements of civilized life, they would serve as an example for the emulation of their brethren west, and as a guide to them in the brighter path upon which they themselves had entered. It is hoped that, even before they sufer in any material degree from the