OCR Text |
Show 98 REPORT OF THE OOMNIISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIBS. removal west of the Mississippi, and that they have since had no sep-arate political organization; and though fostered and encouraged, they have not been recognized by the United States as a nation, in whole or ' in part, and as now organized are not the successor of any organization recognized by any treaty or law of the United States. The claim of the Cherokees of North Carolina to a share of the commuted annuity fund of $214,000, and of the fund created by sales of lands west of the Mississippi ceded by the Cherokee Nation, has no substantial foundation; those funds and that property being dedicated by the constitutiouof the Cherokees, andintendedby their treaties with the United States for the benefit of the united nation, and not in any respect for those who had separated from it and become aliens to their nation. If Indians in that State, or in any other State east of the Mississippi, wish to enjoy the benefits of the common property of the Cherokee Nation, in whatever form it may exist, they must, aa held by the Court of Claims, comply with the constitution and laws of the Cherokee Nation and be readmitted to citizenship as there provided. They cannot live out of its territory, evade the obligations and bur-dens of citiuenship, and at the same time enjoy the benefits of the funds and common property of the nation. (Cherokee Trust Funds, 117 U. S., 288.) In a suit brought in the circuit court, western district of North Car-olina, against D. T. Boyd and others, to set aside a contract made by the Indian council, decided June 17,1895 (68 Fed. Rep., p. 579), it was held that the lndian belonging to the Eastern Band of Cherokees in the State of North Carolina have never become citizens of the United States, and the Federal courts have jurisdiction to entertain a suit brought by the United States, as guardian of such Indians, for the protection of their interests. In delivering the opinion of the court, Circuit Judge Simonton, presiding, stated: By the treaty of New Eehata, individuals and families who were averse to removal with the nation were wffered to remain in the States in which they were living, if they were qualified to take care of themselves and their property, and were desirous of becomin~ citizens of theunited States. Those who exercised this privilege termi-nated their connection with the Cherokee Xation f.i bid.,). Did this make them citi-zens of the United States? The alien and de~endenct ondition of the members of the Indian tribes could not 1 be put off at their awn will without the action or assent of the United States. They were never deemed citizens of the United States except under explicit provisions of treaty or statute to that effect, either declaring a certain tribe or such members of it as chose to remain behind on the removal of the tribe westward to be citizens or authorizing individuals of particn1a1 tribes to become citizens on application to an United States court for naturalization and satisfactory proof of fitness for civilized life. (Elk v.Wilkins, 112 U. S., 100. 5 Sup. Ct., 41.) There is nothing in the record going to show that these Indians were ever natural- |