Another circumstance had induced the Creeks to remain silent in regard to the Exiles. By the treaty of Indian Spring, they had placed at the President's disposal $250,000, out of which the slaveholders of Georgia were to be paid for slaves and property lost prior to 1802. The commissioners appointed to make the examination found but $109,000 due the claimants under this stipulation, leaving in the hands of the President $141,000 belonging to the Creeks. This, however, was claimed by the slaveholders, in addition to the amount allowed by the treaty. To obtain this money the slaveholders sent their petition to Congress. The subject was referred to a committee, of which Mr. Gilmer, of Georgia, was Chairman. The committee made a very elaborate report, setting forth that the claimants had an equitable right to this money as an indemnity "_for the loss of the offspring which the Exiles would have borne to their masters had they remained in bondage_," and it is among the inexplicable transactions of that day, that the bill passed, giving the money to those claimants without the uttering of a protest, or the statement of an objection, by any Northern representative or senator. The Creeks now having paid the full amount stipulated in the treaty, and being robbed of the $141,000, to compensate the slaveholders for children who had never been born, were excited to madness. They believed themselves to hold the beneficial interest in the bodies of the Exiles, and determined to obtain possession of them.[71] They immediately sent a delegation to the Seminoles to demand possession of the Exiles as their slaves. While the Creeks were thus demanding possession of the refugees, the Executive of the United States and his officers were endeavoring to compel them to go West, where the Creeks could, without opposition, lay hands upon them and enslave them. The six Seminole chiefs holding reservations upon the Appalachicola River owned some slaves, and with those slaves some of the Exiles had intermarried. Each chief, by the terms of the treaty of Camp Moultrie, was permitted to name the _men_ who were to reside with him, and such chief became responsible for the conduct of the persons thus named; while the United States stipulated to "afford the chiefs and their people _protection against all persons whatsoever_." The white settlements had extended to the vicinity of these reservations, and the Exiles and Seminole slaves living on them were more immediately exposed to the rapacity of the whites than were those in the interior of the territory. [Sidenote: 1835.]