WASHINGTON, January 31, 1843.

To the House of Representatives: 

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th instant, requesting me to communicate answers to certain queries therein contained respecting instructions given to the commissioners appointed to adjudicate claims arising under the Cherokee treaty of 1835, I transmit herewith a report from the War Department, accompanied by a copy of the instructions referred to.

JOHN TYLER.

WASHINGTON, January 31, 1843.

To the House of Representatives: 

At the last session of Congress a resolution was passed by the House of Representatives requesting me to cause to be communicated to the House “the several reports made to the Department of War by Lieutenant-Colonel Hitchcock relative to the affairs of the Cherokee Indians, together with all information communicated by him concerning the frauds he was charged to investigate; also all facts in the possession of the Executive relating to the subject.”

A resolution of the same import had been passed by the House of Representatives on the 18th of May last, requiring the Secretary of War to communicate to the House the same reports and matters.  After consultation with me and under my directions, the Secretary of War informed the House that the reports referred to relative to the affairs of the Cherokees contained information and suggestions in reference to the matters which it was supposed would become the subject of a negotiation between that Department and the delegates of the Cherokee Nation.  It was stated by him that the nature and subject of the report, in the opinion of the President and the Department, rendered its publication at that time inconsistent with the public interest.  The negotiation referred to subsequently took place, and embraced the matters upon which Lieutenant-Colonel Hitchcock had communicated his views.  That negotiation terminated without the conclusion of any arrangement.  It may, and in all probability will, be renewed.  All the information communicated by Lieutenant-Colonel Hitchcock respecting the Cherokees—­their condition as a nation and their relations to other tribes—­is herewith transmitted.  But his suggestions and projects respecting the anticipated propositions of the delegates and his views of their personal characters can not in any event aid the legislation of Congress, and in my opinion the promulgation of them would be unfair and unjust to him and inconsistent with the public interest, and they are therefore not transmitted.