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Show FSPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. SLV On the 1st of March, 1886, the Supreme Court, in the oase of The Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians v. The United Stabs and the Cherokee Nation, rendered the following dedision: If Indiana in that St& (North ~amlina),o r in ang other State east of the Miasia-aippi, wish to enjoy the benefits of the oommon property of the Cherokee Nation, in whatever form it may exist, they mnat, as held by the Court of Claims, oomply with the oonstitntion and laws of the Cherokee N&lion and be readmitted to oitizenahip sa there provided. . In view of this decision, and with the approval of the Department, Agent Owen was instructed, under date of August 11, 1886, to issue no further oertificates to claimants to citizenship in the Cherokee Na-tion entitling them to remain in the Cherokee wuntry. Hereafter, all persons who enter that country without the consent of the Cherokee authorities will be deemed intruders and treated accordingly. So far as relates to the large class of persons denominated "doubtful citizens" already in the Cherokee Nation, no basis of settlement has been determined upon, although a plan wa submitted to the Depmt-ment with report of June 22, 1886. This question of determining who are justly entitled to citizenship and who are not is still under the con-sideration of the Department and the Indian authorities, and I hope that a j u ~atn d satisfactory conclusiou will be reached, which, without the intervention of Congress, will quiet all apprehensiou on this subjeot in future: EICKAPOO ALLOTTEES. For the last flve years attention has been called to the condition of affairs relative to the estates of deeeaaed and female allottees nnder the provisions of the Kiokapoo treaty of June 28,1862 (13 Stata., 623). I am now able to report that the bill for their relief has finally become a law, and that this subject can now be dropped from the annual reports. ATTEIYIPTED SETTLEMENTS BY UNITED STATES UITIZENS IN INDIAN TEEEITORY. In the latter part of October and beginning of November, 1885, a large body of intruders, nnder the leadership of Couch, again entered the Ter-ritory, witch the avowed object of settlement on thecoveted lands, camp-ing on the banks of the Canadian, near Council Grove, whence, upon the representations of the Department, they were again removed across the line by the military, nnder the President's proclamation of March 13, 1885. The President having on July 23,1885,'issued a proclamation declaring the leases made by the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians void, and direct-ing the removal of the alleged lessees, their cattle, and their employ& from the reservation within a specified time, thousands of cattle were driven to graze on the Oklahoma lands. Upon the recommendation of the Department (December 3,1885,) measures were at once taken by |