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The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: Miscellanies
The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson Miscellanies Author:Ralph Waldo Emerson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Ill LETTER TO MARTIN VAN BUREN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES A PROTEST AGAINST THE REMOVAL OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS FROM THE STATE OF GEORGIA ... more »"'say, what is Honour ? 'T is the finest sense Of justice which the human mind can frame, Intent each lurking frailty to disclaim, And guard the way of life from all offence, Suffered or done." Wordsw0rth. TO MARTIN VAN BUREN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES Concord, Mass., April zj, 1838. SIR: The seat you fill places you in a relation of credit and nearness to every citizen. By right and natural position, every citizen is your friend. Before any acts contrary to his own judgment or interest have repelled the affections of any man, each may look with trust and living anticipation to your government. Each has the highest right to call your attention to such subjects as are of a public nature, and properly belong to the chief magistrate ; and the good magistrate will feel a joy in meeting such confidence. In this belief and at the instance of a few of my friends and neighbors, I crave of your patience a short hearing for their sentiments and my own : and the circumstance that my name will be utterly unknown to you will only give the fairer chance to your equitable construction of what I have to say. Sir, my communication respects the sinister rumors that fill this part of the country concerning the Cherokee people. The interestalways felt in the aboriginal population — an interest naturally growing as that decays — has been heightened in regard to this tribe. Even in our distant State some good rumor of their worth and civility has arrived. We have learned with joy their improvement in the social arts. We have read their newspapers. We have seen some of them in our schools and colleges. In common with the gre...« less