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Show LVIII REPORT OF THE CO~IMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. are hemby declared to be a+llapterl iu eonfurnlity with the third 'article of the t,reaty of 1866, between the Choctar~sC, hickasaws, aud the Uuited States: Proaided, howere?, That the proportioual part of t,he @00,000, apeeified iu artiole third of t,he said treaty, with the accn~edi nterest thereon, shall be paid to the Cl~ieesawN atiun for its sole use and benetit: And yrorided further, The said adopted nagroea of the Chickasaw Nation shall not participate in any part of the aaid proportional part of the said $300,000, nor be eutitled to soy benefit from tho principal and interest on our invested funds or olsirns arisiug therefrom, uor to any part of our oornmun doulnin, or t,he profit8 arising tlrerefrom (esoept the forty aores per capita provided for in the t.hird article of tho treaty of 1866), nor to auy pririlcgea or rights not a.~~tboriaebdy treaty atipolations: And proaided furtl~e!; That the said a.clopted negroes, r~pouth e approral of this act, shall be subject to the jnrisdictiun nod lam of the Chiclia~~wNstion,aurl to trial and impriaoarnent for olfeuseu against them iu erery case just ax if the aaid negraes rere Chiekasn\~s. SEC. 2. l n d be it , f~o~l .hete,n~c terZ, That this aot shall be in full force and effect from and after its approral by the propel. authority of ths United States. Ancl all laws, or parts of lam, ia canfliot with this act, are hereby repealed. In transmitti~~thgi s act to Congress, Secretary Delauo, under date of Febrnary 10, 18i3, recommended that such legisk~tionb e bail by Con-gress as would extend the time iy all respects for the execution of the provisions of the third art'icle of the treaty of 1866 for the term of two Fears from the 1st of July following. This subject was referred to the Committee on Freedmen's Affairs, February 13,1873: and ordered to be printed, and there legislation ceased. (See H. R. Ex. Doc. No. 207, Fortx-seoo~~Cclo ngress, third session.) Srtbsequent,l~re solutions in relation to the freedmen and their de. scendants in the Choctaw and Chickasaw Xations were adopted by the legislature of the Chickasaw Nation, which were approved October 18, 18iG, authorizing the election by the legislature of four co~nmissioners, one fkom each county in the nation, to visit the capital of the Choctaw Nation during its next regular session, with instructions to confer with commissioners from the Choctaw Nation, and agree upon some plan wherebx the freeclmeu formerly slaves of t,he two nations and their descendants shonld be removed from and kept out of the liniits of the Ohootaw and Chickasaw countr~. (See Chickasaw laws, p. 145, edition 7878.) And, a.gain, thelegislature of said nation passed an act, approved &Iilarch 17, 1879?a uthori~inga nd directing the governor to appoint five commissioners to meet like co~ninisnionersf rom the Choctaw~to confer on the freedmen question, a i ~ dal l questions that might affect the joint interest of the Choctaws and Chickasaws, au4report in writing to the governor, said report to be laid before the next meeting of t,he legisla-ture, and to be approved by them before it should be binding on thc Chickasaw people. (See page 6 of Pamphlet Laws, 1878-'81.) While the act of 1873 contemplated the adoption of their colored people into the nation, that opportunity was lost by the failure of Congress at the time to take definite action thereon, and all subsequent action has shown a tendency on the part of the Chickasaws to effect a removal of all freed. men from their country. |
