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Show ~ REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XIX tain qnestions propounded by the Department at the request ~f this office, touching the legality of the leases, rendered his opinion that un- ' der existing statutes of the United States (twelfth section of the trade .and interconrse act of June 30,1834, 4 Statutes at Large, p. 730, repro-duced in section 2116 of the Revised Statutes) the several Indian ua-tions or tribes, regardless of the character of the title b . ~wh ich they hold their lands, whether the same be a fee simple or a right of oocu-pancy only, are precluded by the force and eEect of the statute from either, alienating or leasing any part of their several reservations, or impacting any interest or claim in or to the same, without the consent of the Government of the United States, and that a lease of land for grazing purposes is as clearly within the statutes as a, lease for any other or for general purposes, t.he duration of the term being immaterial. ' The Attorney-General further- holds that in the absence of any treaty or statutor:F provisions to that effect, neither the Presideut, Secretary of the ~nteriorn, or any other officur of the Governmeut has power to make, authorize, or approre any leases of lauds held b,v Iiidian tribes; instaucing .the act of Congress of February 19,1875 (18 Stat. at ~arge, p. 530), '' authorizing the Seneca Nation of New York Indians to lease lands within the Oattaraugus and Alleghauy Reservations, ancl to con-firm existing leases," as significant that, in the views of Congress, In-dian tribes cannot lease their reservations without the authority of some law of the United States. I cannot too strongly impress upon the Department the importance of an early disposition of this much vexed question. The leasing system should either be legalized, with proper restrictions, or it should be abolished altogether. In it's present loose and indefinite shape it is a , source of the greatest embarritssmeut to this office, and a hindrauce to the proper and effective administration of Indian affairs. It is to be hoped that the experiel~ce and deliberations of the Senate committee charged with the investigation of the general subject will result in some practical conolusiot~sth at will tend to pot the matter on an intelligible basis, one way or the other. I JURISDICTION OF CRIMES COMXITTED BY INDIANS. The ninth section of the act making appropriations for the cnrrent and cont,ingent expenses of the Iildian Department, &c., approved Mareh 3,1885 (23 Stats., 386), provides : Thatimmediately upon and after the date of the psssage of this.ect all lnd~sns committingagainstthepe~aonor property of another Indian or otherperson any of the following mimes, namely, murder, rnccnalaughter, rap0,'asnanlt with intent to kill, sraon, burglary, end larceny within any Territory of the United Stateq and either withiu or without an Ihdian reservation, shall be e~ibjecttherefor to the laws of such Territory relating to said crimes, and shall be tried therofor in the same oourts and in the aeukemanner and shall he subject to the same penalties ss are 811 other persona charged with the commission of said orimea, respectively; and the said courts sro |