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Show REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. XLV aqiudioation aa provided by the Choctaw laws; that failing to do so they will be dee~led intruders and removed from the Territnry; and that any party feeling aggrieved by the decision of the Chaotav tribunal will he allowed thirty days in which to appeal to you, a t the expiration of that time to be deemed an intruder, if no appeal be taken. This notice you will serve upon the psstia~e, ither by ci~usingy olrr police to deliver a arit,ten or printed copy, with your signature attached, to the person interested, or to leave the same &t the usual plaoe of abode of such person, at least sixty days prior to the first day of the session of the ooonoil before whioh he is summoned to appear, or by sending the Hame throngh the mails so that sixty days may elapse between the receipt of tho notice and the commencement of said session. You will hear all cases of appeal fiam the decision of the Choetaw authorities, giv-ing proper notice to the principal chief of the time and place of hazring, receiving and oonsidering sueh proper evidence, without distinction as to the race of witnesses, . . aa may be preseuterl. You will allow the claimants to be represented by counsel, if they so desire, as well as the nation. You will hear all cases of appeal aes promptly as passible, and submit the evidence in eaoh case, vith your finding thereon, to this cffioe fur find adjndication. A l l person8 finally adjudged to he intruders will be allowed a reasonable time in whioh to diapose of their improvements end property before being removed. Subjeot to this qualification, all parties, properly notified, failing to appear at the session of the oaunoil for which they are sumrnone&, should at the expiration of said I aeasion 1,n Isron,lnls rcrnorrd ; snJ any ~ R D ) o I Ii adj~tdpedv u 11" nn iurl.l~dor1 J~rllnClroo-taw autl~oritirmfu iltng ru appeal aitllin rhe tin!* prchcrib..d nl~onklu lno be i~rowpllg removed. In oarrying out these instructions you are expected to co-operat,e with the Choctav anthoritieq under the Choctaw law of October 21,1882, so far as the same is not mod-ified bv the decision of the Seoretarv. Very reap0etfully, &c., H. PRICE, Commissioner. I PREED3ZEN IN THE INDIAN TERRITORY. Since the date of my last annual report the act of the Choctaw Council, approved May 21,1883, therein referred to, has been held by you to be a substar~tiacl ompliance with the terms of the third articlo of the treaty of 1866 (14 Stat., 770), an11 three-fourths of the sum of $10,000 appropriated for the education of freedlnen in the Choctaw and Chickasav Nations by tho act of May 17, 1882 (22 Stat., 72), has been paid over to the Choctaw authorities. Tliis question, therefore, may be regarded as settled, so far as the ChoEtaw Nation is concerned, while in the other iiations it remaids in the couditiou presented in my last report. The following is the act of the Choctaw Connoil referred to: I AN ACT entitled "Jnaot to adopt tile freedmenof the Chooto*w Nation." Whereas by t.he third end fourth articles of the treaty between the United States oud the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, concluded April 28, 1866, provision was . made for the adoption of Inwa, rnlas, aud regulations neoossrwry to give all persons of African descent re~ideuitn said nations at the dstc of the treaty of Fort Smith, Sep-tember 13, 1865, and their deseendsots, formerly held in slavery among saidnations, all the rights, privileges, and immunities, inaludiug the right of suffrage, of citizens of said nation& except in tho annuities, moneys, and public domain claimed by or |