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Show -- REPORT 01' TEE COMMI88IOliER OF lNDIAN AFFAIRS. ip not a citizen of the United States. He cannot sue or be sued under the judiciary act of 1759, and only gets into Federal court?. as a civil litigant, in occasional iustanoes, by favor i ~ sfp ecial law, and in many of the States and Territories he has no standing at all in conrt. The evils resulting from this state of ailairs are forcibly desrribed by Bishop Hare in his anut~arle port, dated September 11,1877. He says: Civilizat,iou has loosened, in sonle places broken, the bonds which regulate and hold together Indim society in its wild state, and hsu failed to give the peopla law and ofioers of justice in their place. This evil still oonti~luea nuahatcd. \Vomeu am brutally beaten and nntrsged; me,, are rnnrrlered in cold blood; the Indians who are friendly to sel>aolaa nd eht~reheua re intimidated aod preyed oponhy the evil-diapoacd; children are molested on their rray to school, and schools are diriprraed by bnn<lu of vagabonds; kxt there is no redress. This accursed contlilition of things is sn ontri~ge upon tho One Lawgiver. I t is a disgraoe to our land. It should make cx7ery Inan ~ ~ sbits oin the i?zlionul hall8 of legislation blush. And, wish well t,o the Indinus ss i ma m:q, and do for them what we mill, the efforts of oirll agents, teachers, and nlis- I aiouuries are like thestruggles of rlromnifigmen weighted with lead, as long es by tbo absenoe of I a n Indian aooiet~is left without a base. No action has been taken by Congress on repeated reco~nmendations from this office and numberless petitions f'om Government offida,ls, ilistitutions, religious sodeties, missionaries, and other philanthropists, asking for the enactment of a general statute putting Indians under the restraints and protection of law. It has occurred to me that, pentling the long delay in the enactment of a general law on the sulgect, a con-siderable body of Indians might soon be brought witllir~ the jnrisdic-tion of courts in another way. In Dakota and New Mexico are nearly 60,000 Indians. If, when those Territories become States, it sbalk be pro~icled that the respective State courts shall have jurisdiction over I~ltlianre servations withill the boundaries of those St,ates,t ile cot~di t io~~ of the Indians residing therein will be'vastly improved.. And I would particularly recomtneud that hereafter, whenever a State is admitted into the Union, theact of admission shall contain a provision giving to Iii(lians within its limits all the rights, privileges, and immu~~ities joyed by the citizens thereof, and subjecting them to like penalties, lia-bilities, rest.rict,ions, &c., except in cases specially otherwise provided for by treaty or act of Congress. In my opinion, Congress slioulrl confer both civil and crimiual jrrris-diction on t l ~ ese veral States and Territories over all Indian reserva-tions within their respective limits, and make the person and property of the Indian amenable to the laws of the State or Territory iu whiolt he inay reside (except ill cases where such property is expressly ex. emptecl by treats or act of Congress), and give him all the lights in thtr courts enjo~eclb j o ther persons. As demonstrating the incongruity of existing statutes in relation to crimes com~uitted bj- Iildians, and the nrgent necessity for a radical an~endmentth ereof, I desire to invite specinl attention to au occurrence which has been brought promiuerrtly before this office during the cnr- |
