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Show REPORT OF THE COXMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. LIII teo thoosaod dollar8 shall be deducted in like proportion from any moneys in this act appropriated to ha paid said Chootawa and Chickasaws; And provided further, that either of aaid tribea may, before such expenditore, adopt and provide for the fmd-men in said tribe ir! accordance with said third article, and in such Ca80 the money herein provided for such edoeation iu said tribe shall be paid over to said tribe, to he taker, from the unpaid balance of the three hundred thonsanddollars due said tribe. In accordance therewith the Choctaw Council passed an act provid-ing forthe adoption of their freedmen; but on examination it appeared that the act was not such as was calculated and necessary to give all freedmen of Afiican desceut, residents in the Choctaw Nation at the date of the treaty of Fort Smith, and their descendants, heretofore held iu slavery, all the rights, privileges and immunities of citizens of the Choctaw Nation, as provide11 in the third article of the treaty of 18GG. The office was therefore obliged to withhold approval of the act, and to refuse to pa.y orer to the Choctaw Nation any portion of the $10,000 appropriated by the item above referred to. The Chickasaws have not, through their Council, taken any action, favorable or otherwise, respecting their freedmen since my last report. The Cherokees have also failed to take any action in regard to their freedmen. The freedmen themselves have held conventions and sent delegates to Washington, asking the protection and assistance of the Government in securing all the rights in the respective nations to which they are entitled b ~tr.e aty. There being no doubt as to the right of the Unitrd States to settle the freedmen of t,he civilized tribes in the LLOklahoma district," report was made on the 25th of February, 1853, favoring such settlement, and submitting a draft of an item to be in-serted in the deficiency bill appropriating funds to enable the Secretary of the Interior to carry out said design, with authority to assign land to such as might be found to be entitled. 30 action was taken by Con-gress; but the exigencies of these freedmen demand attention, and I reuomulend t.hat legislation be asked authorizing their settlement in the Oklahoma district, nuder some well-defined jurisdiction aud form of government, with power to t.he Secretary of the Interior to determine what freedmen should be allowed to settle therein; or else that such stringent laws be passed as will compel the respective tribes to adopt the freedmen as provided in their treat,ies. INTRUDERS AND DISPUTED CITIZENSHIP IN FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES OF THE INDIAN TERRITORY. The several civilized tnhes of Indians in Indian Territory, especially the Cherokees and Choctaws, claim to have the exclusive right to de-termine who are intruders in the tribes and who are entitled to Indian citizenship therein, and claim that this Government is bound to remove all persona adjudged b ~t-h en1 to be intruders. As theDepartment held opposite views, the matter was submitted to the Hon. Attorney-Gen-eral, and in his opinion of December 12,1879 (16 Opinions, 4(34), he s t a h |