Daily national Republican. (Washington City [D.C.]) 1870-1872, 1870-03-25
RECEPTIONS.
Yrs. oRANT's RECEPTIONS.
TuR Rail TO CHEAr IIIE CHER
OHEE NATION-NENATE MI u No

run BILL TO CHRAr me CHER
aa OHEE NhTION-NENATED MI l. No,
.g JSI.
.Ba This extraordinary bill demands fur.
ther notice at our hands. We arc ad-
. vised that the Cherokee delegation have
presented protest against il in which
they point Out wherein Il violated their
treaties. This protest we shall give to
tho public as soon as il is published by
the Senate. In the meantime we deem
IL our duty to point out some further
provisions Of the bill which we regard as
very unjust, and fagrantly so.
The treaty Of 1866 provides that in
q the event Of the parties in interest fail.
ing to agree on tho price Of the lands
"the President shall fix the price" The
bill entirely ignores the Indians and
o President in this regard and fixes the
price, including the strip in Kansas
ID containing seven hundred and sixty-eight
thousand acres at two million dollars
We can well imagine how and why Mr..
Harlan should ignore the Indians, but
We are utterly at loss to understand
how he should 50 openly ignore the Pres.
ident, and by his bill usurp duty e1-
% pressly assigned him by law yet tho bill
does il.
Has the President called on Mr.. Har-
Ian to perform his duties. Has he asked
him to fiI the price "of the Cherokee
land when he (the Prssident) is required
10 do il, or is Mr.. Harlan volunteer in
the NATTER" The President has always
shown himself competent to perform his
own duty, and it is not likely he will now
ask another to perform it for him.
But the reason why Mr.. Harlan has
attempted to assume to perform the duty
Of the President is assigned in his bill.
He says: "And whereas the said Chero-
keo Indians have expressed a desire to
relinquish to the United States, for a
Just consideration, all their right, title,
claim, and interest in and to the whole
OF said lands (meaning the Cherokee
lands) situated in the so.caled Indian
country lying west Of the ninety.sixth
meridian Of west longitude, and also the
said Cherokee strip lying west Of the
south boundary OF the State Of Kansas "
Expressed desire" indeedl They
consented to part with them to the Uni
ted States to. settle friendly Indians
thereon" for 'just consideration" and
they fixed that consideration at 80, $780,.
900 in the treaty of July ., 1868, as q
'juSt consideration" in connection with
various other considerations expressed
in the treaty; but Mr.. Harlan, without
consulting them or giving the slightest
intimstion Of what his purpose was, in
PRODUCES bill to pay them $4,000, 900
for the strip in Kansas" and all their
lands west Of ninety.six degrees west
longitude. Upon this point the Chero-
KEGS claim they have a right to be con-
suited, and assert they never did or
never will agree TO any such q thing.
The act is that Of Mr.. Harlan's alone.
Upon reading Il the uninitiRted would
suppose that the Indians regard the
100000 as a "just equivalent for
their lands, and that they had requested
Mr.. Harlan to introduce just the bill he
did "to carry out" the treaty Of 1866,
when the fact is they were never con.
suited in regard to said bill or allowed
IrtO see it until it was printed by the
Senate, and as soon as they did sec il,
uttefly repudiated every part and parcel
oft as not only violation of the treaty
Of 1866, but two other treaties, ..
The bill provides that the $4,000. 900
shall be placed to the credit Of the said
Cherokee Nation OF Indians on the books
OF the Treasury Of the United States,
and that they shall be entitled to receive
r"nve per cent. interest thereon per an
mum" The Cherokee Nation Of Indians
are intelligent men. At least three OF
their delegates here are Mr.. HarIan's
peers in intellect and gentlemnnly bear
ing. These men know how to take care
OF their money just as well as Mr.. Har-
Ian knows how TO take caro- Of his, but he
excludes them, by his bill, from the use
Of a dollar Of it to build railroads, or for
any other purpose. Query What have
other railroad companies had to do with
fixing this arrangement for their own In
terest When 1t comes to the North
Carolina Cherokees-a poor miserable,
ignorant race Of beings, Mr.. Harlan's
tone is entirely changed, lie has great
sympathy for them he thinks them very
poor, and he provides in his bill for taking
the money OF the Cherokee Nation"
who made tho treaty, and proposes to
give it to them. How beneYolent-with
other peoples money. But this is not the
worst. He provides in his bill that the
proportion belonging (how belOngingH)
to the Oherokees residing east OF the
Mississippi river SHALL DE- PAID DIRECT
LY TO THEIR RECOGNIZED AUTHORITIES, or
TO INDIVIDUALS PER CAPTTA, As THR PREsI.
DENT OF rHE UNITED Stairs SHALL DIRECr."
So the North Carolina Cherokees"
have RECOGNIZED AUrHoRITIEs." How
then, II they have separate and indie
pendent organization, as Mr.. Harlan
admits, and as the fact Is, can he treat
them as part Of the Cherokee Nation
Of Indians" Consistency thou art a
jewel AL treaties are made with the
Cherokee Nation Of Indians" and the
land which the Government desired to
possess itself Of belongs to them, and
not to another tribe living in North
Carolina, with their separate chief, who
have lived there for tho last two hun.