Small parties of Indians and negroes occasionally came in at different posts, and surrendered under the articles of capitulation of March, 1837; and, on the twenty-fifth of February, one hundred and ninety-six Indians and _negroes_ were embarked at Tampa Bay for the Western Country. But the proportion of negroes, compared with the whole number, is not stated in any official report. General Taylor, in his communications, speaks of them as _prisoners_, and occasionally uses the terms "Indians and negroes". Thus, in less than a year, General Taylor shipped more than four hundred prisoners for the Western Country without bloodshed. These prisoners were also delivered over to the Indian Agent of the Western Country, and immediately reunited with their brethren already located on the Cherokee lands. There were, at that time, a colony of more than sixteen hundred of these people living upon the territory assigned to the Cherokees. They were without homes, or a country of their own: whereas the Government had constantly held out to them the assurance that, if they emigrated West, they should have a country assigned to their _separate use_, on which they could repose in safety. At this point in our history, Mr. Van Buren's administration exhibited its deepest depravity. Since the ratification of the supplemental treaty of 1833, the Executive, through all its officers, had assured the Indians and Exiles that they should enjoy its full benefits, by having a territory set off to their separate use, where they could live independent of Creek laws. Under these assurances they had received the pledged faith of the nation, that they should be _protected_ by the United States in their persons and property. With these pledges, and with these expectations, a weak and friendless people had emigrated to that western region; and when thus separated from their friends and country, with the slave-catching vultures of the Creek Nation watching and intending to make them their future victims, the President deliberately refused to abide by either the treaty or the articles of capitulation. He left them unprotected, without homes, and without a country which they could call their own. True, many of them had been betrayed, treacherously seized and compelled to emigrate; but this was done in violation of the existing treaty and pledged faith of the nation, which they were constantly assured should be faithfully observed; and these circumstances enhanced the guilt of those who wielded the Executive power to oppress them.