OCR Text |
Show LIT REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. that in executing treaties the United States is not bound to regard Cllerokee law and its construction by the Cooncil of the nation, but that any Department required to remove alleged iutrnders must determine for itself, under the general lawof theland, the existence and exteut o£ the exigency upon which such req~~isitioilsl founded. By the Cherokee c e~~souf s1 850 it appears that there mere 521 claims to citizen8hip rejected, 265 claimspending, and 1,821 cases of iuwuders. Governor J. P. McCurtain, under date of December 22,1882, submitted a list of 2,847 intruders in the Choctaw Nation, of which 2,200 were whites and 557 were freedmen from the States, who were settled in nine districts of the nation, leaving seven districts not reported. There are four classes of persons involved in this issue: (1) White persons who hare married into one of the several tribes; (2) persons with an ad-mixture of Indiau blood, through either father or mother; (3) adopted persons; (4) persons of African descent who claim rights under the treaties of 1866. Instructions were issued Agent Tufts July 20, 1880, not to permit the removal of any of these four classes of claimants when, after a careful examination, he mas satisfied a primafacie just claim to citizenship existed, until their cases had been disposed of nnder such rules as the Department should adopt or approve. With a view to the adjustment of this intrjcate question, and the adop-tion of rules by tbeDel>artment ancl said tribes gorerningits settlement, Indian Inspector Henry Ward and Special Agent Gyms Beede were in-structed on the 9th of May last to visit the Indian Territor,~c, onsult Agent Tufts and the files of his office, aud t l~usfa miliarize themselves with the question in all its details and ramificationn; then to visit and consult the executive officers of the several l~ationsa nd endeavor to arrive at some ullderst,anding with tbzm in the adoption of some rules of procedure, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, under which all questions of disputed citizenship and intr~~siomni ght be determined satisfactory to said nations and the Department; a11 cases where a satisfactory understa~lding conld not be reached, to be submitted, with a full statement of disputed points. These gentlemen submitted a report on the 2d of Jnne last, but.they failed to accom-plish the object desired. In view of the ma,gnitude of the interests involved and the unsettled condition of these nations consequent upou the presence of this unrecog-nized populatio~i, and its rapid increase among them, I respectfully recommend that Congress authorize the appointment, and provide for * the payment of t.he expenses, of a commission, whose dut.y it shall be to visit these nations, consider the points of ~lifferenceb etween the Indians a.nd the alleged intruders or nou-citizens, and, after determining upon .rules of procedure for the final acljustment of the question, attend the oouncils of said natioas and submit said rules for their consideration and action, which, when adopted by them and approved by the Depart ment. shall be final and conclusive. |