The first messenger dispatched on this service was one of the Exiles, or, as General Jessup called him, a "Seminole negro." This man soon returned with several Indians, among whom was a sub-chief named "Hallec Hajo," who was willing to hold a conference, and expressed a desire to remain in the country; but said, if compelled, they must go West.
General Jessup insisted that "Toshkogee," the principal chief in that neighborhood, should attend, and hold a Council the next day; and that the Indians should give up their arms. Hallec Hajo at once refused to comply with such condition. He would meet in Council, but would never surrender his arms.
On the morning of the eighth of February, Toshkogee and Hallec Hajo met General Jessup agreeably to appointment. An interchange of opinions and views took place, and the General agreed to recommend the conclusion of a peace upon the _basis of allowing the allies to remain in the country_, and occupy a suitable portion of the southern part of the Territory. It was also agreed that a certain territory, near the place of negotiation, should be occupied by the Indians and their families, where they should be safe, and might remain until the views of the Executive should be ascertained.[111]
In pursuance of this arrangement of treating upon the basis of permitting the allies to remain in the country, many of the Seminoles and Exiles collected with the expectation that the agreement was to be carried out in good faith.
On the next day, General Jessup addressed a long communication to the Secretary of War, in which he gives his views upon the policy of immediate emigration somewhat at length, and advises its abandonment in the following language:
"In regard to the Seminoles, we have committed the error of attempting to remove them when their lands were not required for agricultural purposes; when they were not in the way of the white inhabitants, and when the greater portion of their country was an unexplored wilderness, of the interior of which we were as ignorant as of the interior of China. We exhibit in our present contest the first instance, perhaps, since the commencement of authentic history, of a nation employing an army to explore a country, (for we can do little more than explore it,) or attempting to remove a band of savages from one unexplored wilderness to another."