It is at best an
inference only, in respect to the truth of which the Senate can alone
speak with certainty, and which could not with propriety be regarded
as justifying the desired action in relation to the execution of the
treaty.
This measure is further objected to on the ground of improper
inducements held out to the assenting chiefs by the agents of the
proprietors of the lands, which, it is insisted, ought to invalidate
the treaty if even the requirement that the assent of the chiefs should
be given in council was dispensed with. Documentary evidence upon
this subject was laid before you at the last session, and is again
communicated, with additional evidence upon the same point. The charge
appears by the proceedings of the Senate to have been investigated by
your committee, but no conclusion upon the subject formed other than
that which is contained in the extract from the report of the committee
I have referred to, and which asserts that at least in one instance the
charge of bribery has been clearly made out.
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