A few gentlemen of distinction, who, with their families, had been driven from the Territory, were residing at Charleston, South Carolina. Having learned the character of the capitulation from private sources, without waiting for its publication, they at once addressed the Secretary of War, stating they had casually learned from a gentleman who was present, that a treaty of peace had been concluded with the Seminole Indians which contained "no stipulation for _indemnity, on the part of the Indians, for such property of the inhabitants as had been captured by said Indians_, and destroyed. Nor (say they) is it, we are told, exacted from them that they should even _make restitution of such stolen and other property, to wit_, NEGROES, _etc._, _as they now have in possession_, or as has been invited into their country and allowed refuge from its owners. We respectfully conceive, that the termination of the war on such terms, anxiously as we desire peace, would be a sacrifice of the national dignity, and an absolute and clear triumph on the part of the Indians, who cannot fail to view the proposition made to them, to close hostilities, followed up by a treaty permitting to them such extraordinary terms, as a virtual suing for peace on the part of the United States, and evidencing a want of confidence in their ability to conclude the war through the means of their belligerent and physical strength."[94] But the most singular portion of this memorial is the reference to the treaty of Camp Moultrie, by which the Indians agreed to arrest and return fugitives; and the memorialists insisted that unless the Indians be compelled to perform this stipulation the owners "_may never regain their slaves_." The gentlemen who thus attempted to control the action of our National Government appear to have forgotten that the treaty of Camp Moultrie had been abrogated by that of Payne's Landing, which our Government was now professing to enforce. By this latter treaty, the Indians agreed to pay seven thousand dollars as an indemnity for all slaves then in their territory. This was accepted as a full indemnity, and the slaves then resident with the Indians became free in law.