Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 9.djvu/925

 TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEES. AUG. 6, 1846. 873 okees themselves, that under the provisions of the treaty of 1828, as ceded b>’_ the well as in conformity with the general policy of the United States in mary °H828' relation to the Indian tribes, and the Cherokee nation in particular, that that portion of the Cherokee people known as the "Old Settlers," or “Western Cherokees,” had no exclusive title to the territory ceded in that treaty, but that the same was intended for the use of, and to be the home for, the whole nation, including as well that portion then east as that portion then west of the Mississippi; and whereas the said board of commissioners further decided that, inasmuch as the territory before mentioned became the common property of the whole Cherokee nation by the operation of the treaty of 1828, the Cherokees then west of the Mississippi, by the equitable operation of the same treaty, acquired a common interest in the lands occupied by the Ch_erokees east of the Mississippi River, as well as in those occupied by themselves west of that river, which interest should have been provided for in the treaty of 1835, but which was not, except in so far as they, as a constituent portion of the nation, retained, in proportion to their numbers, a common interest in the country west of the Mississippi, and in the general funds of the nation; and therefore they have an equitable claim upon the United States for the value of that interest,·whatever it may be. Now, in order to ascertain the How me ,,],,6 value ofthat interest, 1t is agreed that the following principle shall be of said interest adopted, viz.: all the investments and expenditures which are properly :;‘i‘§;db° ‘*S°°" chargeable upon the sums granted in the treaty of 1835, amounting in ;,,d_i]·,.,m_,v,,;_ the whole to five millions six hundred thousand dollars, (which in- LP-478- vestments and expenditures are particularly enumerated in the 15th article of the treaty of 1835,) to be first deducted from said aggregate sum, thus ascertaining the residuum or amount which would, under such marshalling of accounts, be left for per capita distribution among the Cherokees emigrating under the treaty of 1835, excluding all extravagant and improper expenditures, and then allow to the Old Settlers (or Western Cherokees) a sum equai to one third part of said residuum, to be distributed per capita to each individual of said party of “Old Settlers," or “Western Cherokees." It is further agreed that, so far as the 1`Vestern Cherokees are concerned, in estimating the expense of removal and subsistence of an Eastern Cherokee, to be charged to the aggregate fund of five million six hundred thousand dollars above mentioned, the sums for removal and subsistence stipulated in the_8th article of the treaty of 1835, as commutation money in those cases in which the parties entitled to it removed themselves, shall be adopted. And as it affects the settlement with the Western Cherokees, there shall be no deduction from the fund before mentioned in consideration of any payments which may hereafter be made out of said fund; and it is hereby further understood and agreed, that the principle above defined shall embrace all those Cherokees west of the Mississippi, who emigrated prior to the treaty of 1835. In the consideration of the foregoing stipulation on the part of the Release by the United States, the “Western Cherokees, " or “Old Settlers, " hereby W°$*;’";hCQ,°’g‘ release and quit claim to the United States all right, title, interest, or xiii?;-,,,§,_,Q,,,;Q claim, they may have to a common property in the Cherokee lands 1, p.416. east of the Mississippi River, and to exclusive ownership to the lands ceded to them by the treaty of 1833 west of the Mississippi, including the outlet west, consenting and agreeing that the said lands, together with the eight hundred thousand acres ceded to the Cherokees by the treaty of 1835, shall be and remain the common property of the whole Cherokee people, themselges included.