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Show XLII REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. of the purchase and entered into possession. Until that event happens tbe United States is bound by the terms of the treaty to protect the Cherokees in their possessory rights to the lauds in question. So also in regard to the other unoccupied landi of the 1ndia.n Territory-nota-bly the so-called Oklahoma lands-which have from time to time been ceded to the United States by various Indian nations or tribes. Here, again, there is no general cession to the United States, but a cession for express purposes only, which are clearly limited and defined in the treaties with the nations or tribes from whom the United States acquired title, viz, for the settlement of other Indians and freedmen thereon. It is equally the dnt.y of the Government 60 maintain the status of these lands intact. At tbe first session of the present Oongress a bill (5.1545) to amend section 2148 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, in relation to trespassers on Indian lands," passed the Senate, but was not reached in the House. TLis bill prohibits ioy person from entering Indian lands, tribal reservations, of lands specially set apart for Indian purposes, with intent to occupy any such lands or reservation, under a penalty for the first offense of a fine of not more than $500, or imprisonment at hard labor for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court; and for every subsequent offense a fine is imposed of not more than $1,000, with imprisonment at hard labor for not more than t*o years. It also provide^ for confiscation and fbrfeiture of the wagons, teams, and outfit of the intruders, by process in the proper United States courts. It is manifest that without the passage of some stringent law of this kind intruders can only be kept out by the troops, and should they at any time be temporarily withdrawn for any purpose theTerritory would be rapidly overrun. The construction of the Southern Kansas Railway and the Gulf, Colo-rado and Santa FB Railway, both of which roads were authorized by the present Congress at its last session to be built throngh the Indian Territory, will doubtless bring with it a miscellanwus population, who, under cover of the railroads, will attempt to settle the country. In e recent comruunicatioll, dated September 8 last, I had the honor to draw the attention of the Department to this contingency, and to recommend that the War Department be requested to make such timely disposition of troops in the Territory as may avert the t,hreatened evil. It is to'be - hoped that Congress will not fail to recognize the importance of the preservation of peace, and the obligation of the Government to protect the Indians iu the Indian Territoryin the quiet enjoyment of their right of person and property, by the early passage at the. coming session of the bill referred to, or some equdlly comprehensive and efficient measure. Information reached this office in May last of an attempt by citi-zens of Texas to colonize the unoccupied lands in the southwest cor-ner of the Indian Territory, lying west of the Worth Fork of Red River, which lands are claimed by the State of Texas and are involved in the |
