Year: 1879

|.

 the following terms:

 An Indian is a person within tn

 meaning of the habeaS corpus act, ant

 as such Is entitled to sue out writ O habeas corpus in Federal Courts, whel

 It k shown that petitioner is deprived

 of liberty under color of authority O

 the United States, or is in custody O

 an officer in violation of the COnstitu

 ton or law of the United States. or il

 violation of treaty made in pursu

 ance thereof. The right of eXpatria ton k natural, inherent and inalien

 able right, and extends to the Indian

 as well aS the more fortunate race

 The Commissioner of Indian Affair.

 has ample authority for removing from an Indian reservation all person. found thereon without authority Oi

 law or whose presence may be detri mental to the peace and welfare of the

 Indians The military power of the Government may be employed to effect such removal, but when the removal is

 effected it is the duty of the troops to convey the persons so removed by the most convenient and safe route to the civil authorities of the judicial district

 in which the otfense may be commit. ted, to be proceeded against in due course of law. In time of peace no authority, civil or military, exists for

 transporting Indians from one section of the country to another without con- sent of the Indians, nor to confine them

 on any particular reservation against their will; and where officers of the Government attempt to do this. and arrest and hold Indians who are at

 peace with the Government. for the purpose Of removing them to and con-

 nnlng them on a reservation in Indian Territory, they will be released on

 habeas corpus. Being restrained Of

 liberty under color of authority of the

 United States, and in violation of the

 laws thereof, the relators must be dis charged from custody, and it is so or dered"

 From an exchange we obtain the facts connected with this henceforth to he leading case, as follows:

 " The case that has resulted in this decision was in every way interesting. and in many of its features quite with out precedent in judicial annals. The Ponca Indians concluded a treaty with the Government in 1858 by which q section of land in Dakota, at the june. tlon of the Missouri and NiObrara riv- CTS, Was reserved for the future home of said Indians. and seven years later q supplemental treaty was made. by which they relinquished part of the tract north of the NiObrara in consid. eratiOn of receiving some land south of the river On this reservation the Poncas lived peaceably, behaving themselves generally like civilized people. Everything was going well with them when, couple of years ago, they were notified that the Gov ernment had assigned this tract, which had been by treaty expressly reserved for them, to the Sioux, and that the POncas must leave the homes they had and go to the Indian Terri tory. They may be presumed to have been indignant, but they submitted to the mandate and went uncomplaining ly. The change from the cool climate to which they had always been accus- toned to the warmer country whitherl they had been transported was disas- -rous, and within few months no less than l5S of the zoo who made the four | ley had perished-a rate of mortality 1 hardly exceeded in the worst prison pens of the war or in the severeSt ray lgeS of yellow fever At last Standing Bear, one of their chiefs, made des- Derate by the death of his favorite son. resolved to leave this prison house. md with about thirty of the tribe ,tarted back toward the land of his athcrS. The party made their way to Northeastern Nebraska, where the Omaha tribe bade them welcome and rave them some land. The wanderers cttled down again to work. and had planted quite a crop of wheat, when hey were suddenly seized bv the United States forces under Gen. Crook. vhO had orders from the Indian Blu eau to take them back to the Indian Territory. As there was much sick less among them they were allowed to top at Fort Omaha, and while there i publication was made for a writ of Iabeas corpus, tO compel the Govern lent to show by what right it was olding these people in custody.

 Able lawyers volunteered tO argue ; he case for the Indians, and the Gov $ rnment utterly failed to present any !, ratification for ifs arbitrary cOurSe absolutely no authority for the origi- al breaking of the treaty was ad- { uced, save provision of an appro- a riation bill, which of course could |, ot override a solemn obligation of the !, Government. Standing Bear himself losed the argument for his race in an ddresS most powerful in its simple $ ecital of the outrages heaped upon i, is tribe"