Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 14.djvu/830

 800 TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEE INDIANS. JULY 19, 1866. nation from the national funds, the money paid for said property, and the cost of permanent improvements on such real estate, made thereon since I¤P¥‘°V°¤¤°¤*¤· the confiscation sale; the cost of such improvements to be fixed by a commission, to be composed of one person designated by the Secretary of the Interior and one by the principal chief of the nation, which two may appoint a. third in cases of disagreement, which cost so fixed shall be refunded to the national treasurer by the returning Cherokees within three years from the ratification hereotl Oherokees, Aizrrctu IV. All the Cherokees and freed persons who were formerly mirxfgggss slaves to any Cherokee, and all free negroes not having been such slaves, may mot bg re. who resided in the Cherokee nation prior to June first, eighteen hundred M6 Wh°¤'¤- and sixty-one, who may within two years elect not to reside northeast of the Arkansas river and southeast of Grand river, shall have the right to settle in and occupy the Canadian district southwest of the Arkansas. river, and also all that tractof country lying northwest of Grand river, and bounded on. the southeast by Grand river and west by the Creek reservation to the northeast corner thereof; from thence west on the north line 'of the Creek reservation to the ninety-sixth degree of west longitude ; and thence north on said line of longitude so far that a line due east to Grand river will include a. quantity of land equal to one hundred and sixty acres for each person who may so elect to reside in the territory above described P'°"l•°· in this article: Provided, That that part of said district north of the Arkansas river shall not be set apart until it shall be found that the Canadian district is not sufficiently large to allow one hundred and sixty acres to each person desiring to obtain settlement under the provisions of this article. in Ttl;°;;:§i:I¢°*· Artrrcrns V. The inhabitants electing to reside in the district described ,,,,%,.6 may elm in the preceding article shall have the right to elect all their local otiitoca.1 omeers, cers and judges, and the number of delegates to which by their numbers J"dg°°· &°· they may be entitled in any general council to be established in the Indian territory under the provisions of this treaty, as stated in Article XII.; and to control all their local affairs, and to establish all necessary police regulations and rules for the administration of justice in said district, not inconsistent with the constitution of the Cherokee nation or the Y'°'l’°· laws of the United States; Provided, The Cherokees residing in said district shall enjoy all the rights and privileges of other Cherokees who may elect to settle in said district as hereinbetbre provided, and shall hold the same rights and privileges and be subject to the same liabilities as those who elect to settle in said district under the provisions of this treaty; Y¤‘¤Vi¤¤· Provided also, That if any such police regulations or rules be adopted which, in the opinion of the President, bear oppressively on any citizen of the nation, he may suspend the same. And all rules or regulations in said district, or in any other district of the nation, discriminating against the citizens of other districts, are prohibited, and shall be void. Representation Anrrcnn VI. The inhabitants of the said district hereinbeforo de-
 * ',,_“"*‘°""1°°““' scribed shall be entitled to representation according to numbers in the

national council, and all laws of the Cherokee nation shall be uniform U¤°¤‘¤*l I""- throughout said nation. And should any such law, either in its provisions or in the manner of its enforcement, in the opinion of the President of the United States, operate unjustly or injuriously in said district, he is hereby authorized and empowered to correct such evil, and to adopt the means necessary to secure the impartial administration of justice, as well as a fair and equitable application and expenditure of the national funds as between the people of this and of every other district in said nation. U°¤¤•· Anrxomu VII. The United States court to be created in the Indian territory ; and until such court is created therein, the United States district court, the nearest to the Cherokee nation, shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all causes, civil and criminal, wherein an inhabitant of the district hereinbefore described shall be a party, and where an in-