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Show 94 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. many years, and it was held that it would bein thelineof public policy to have a judicial determination thereof. The office thereupon urged that the Boyd suit be prosecuted to a final dec~sionf,o r when that judicial decision should be rendered the question of jurisdiction would receive its quietus and be respected by the Indians and by all parties, while the opmion of the Department of Justice could affect only the action of this office. The Department of Justice, on the 17th of November, 1894, notified the Secretary of the Interior that it would not take any further action in prosecutii~g the Boyd suit, and this office was so notified December 12,1894. Cutting began as soon as this action was known in North Carolina, and it mas continued until the Department itself took issue with the Department of Justice, and, as a result, in February the district attor-ney was directed by the Attorney-General to prosecute the suit against Boyd to a decision, and this office was notified thereof through .the Interior Department March 3,1895. Th-e matter lias since been vigorously and every inch of ground hotly contested by the Indians and their alleged attorneys,.but I am glad to know that a decision has finally been reached which settles the question of jurisdiction. Judge Charles H. Simonton, as circuit judge of the fourth circuit, delivered the following opinion: All that is decided ia that the Government of the United States has not yet ceased its guardian care over them nor released them from pupilage. Th- Federal courts can still, in the name of the United States, adjudicate their rights. * Their realty o m he alienated, but the contract is reviewable by the Government for one purpose only-to protect them from fraud or wrong. * * * The case of the Cherokee trust fun& (117 U. S., 288) does not conflict with these views. That case decides that this Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is not a part of the nation of Cherokees with which this Government treats, and that they have no reoogniaed seoarateoolitical existence. But at the same time their distinct unitv is reconnieed and ritefunterin:: care of the Govornruent over ilkem as auch discinrt u ~ a i t . This beinn- so., rh a llnited S ~ H ~~ :CI VHCth e ri~lB1i n tltcir own courrs 10 brin-e auch suits as may henecessary to protect these Indians. The motion to dismiss the bill on this ground isdis~llowed. The injunction here-tofore granted is continued until the further order of this court. Judge R. P. Dick, as United States judge, concurring, held that the action of the Secretary of the Interior, the Attorney-General, and the district attorney, in procuring, by procedure in that court, execution of the new deed under which the Easter11 Band of Cherokees now hold their lands in fee simple as a corporation, neither expressly nor by implication relieved the United States from any obligation of duty imposed or waived any power conferred by the Constitution, treaties, or acts of Congress. A subsequent decree or order was issued by Judge Simonton, and ooncurred in by Judge Dick, to the effect that the opinion heretofore rendered held that the United States could maintain in that jnnsdic-tion a suit for the protection of the Eastern Band of Cherokees; that they were the wards of the nation, recognized and protected as sneh by the exeoutive and legislative departments of the Government. |