Note 132 — Chapter XXIII · THE REUNION AND FINAL EXODUS.

Vide opinions of the Attorney Generals, from 1838 to 1851, page 1944, Senate Doc. 55. It is a singular fact that, in the whole of this elaborate opinion, no allusion is made to the real condition of the Exiles; nor would any person suspect, from reading it, that the Attorney General had any knowledge of the claim which the Creeks preferred. Although he quotes the clause in the articles of capitulation, which expressly and emphatically declares that “Major General Jessup, in behalf of the United States, agrees that the Seminoles and their allies, who come in and emigrate, shall be protected in their lives and property;” yet he appears never to have conceived the idea that such a stipulation could impose any duties upon our Government in favor of negroes; nor does he attempt to define the meaning of this most explicit covenant.