It was always the declared intention of the Government to perfect the title to this land to the Cherokee nation, and to issue a patent therefor, so soon as that portion of them now east of the Mississippi had emigrated west, granting the nation the privilege of outlet and all other privileges secured to them by former arrangements. Nor will it object to grant them in perpetuity, if Congress should think proper to do so on their recommendation, under certain restrictions to which the delegation have assented. As the delegation expressed their fears that a form of government might be imposed which they were neither prepared for nor desirous of, the assurance is hereby repeated, that no form of government will be imposed upon the Cherokees without the consent of the whole nation, given in council, nor shall their country be erected into a territory without such previous concurrence.
