h are embraced in the limits of any of the present States
of the Union except California and Nevada."--_Report on Indian
Affairs_, 1872, pp. 83, 84.

In 1871, however, the insolence of conscious strength, and the growing
jealousy of the House of Representatives towards the prerogative--arrogated
by the Senate--of determining, in connection with the executive, all
questions of Indian right and title, and of committing the United States
incidentally to pecuniary obligations limited only by its own discretion,
for which the House should be bound to make provision without inquiry, led
to the adoption, after several severe parliamentary struggles, of the
declaration which stands at the head of this paper.

In abruptly terminating thus the long series of Indian treaties, and
forever closing the only course of procedure known for the adjustment of
difficulties, and even for the administration of ordinary business, with
Indian tribes, Congress provided no substitute, and up to the present
time has neglected to prescribe the methods by which, after the
abrogation of the national character of the Indians, either their
internal matters or their relations with the general government are to
be regulated. The Indian-Intercourse Act of 1834, though still nominally
in force, is so largely predicated upon the tribal constitution, and
assumes so uniformly the national sufficiency of the tribe, that all the
life and virtue are taken out of it by the Act of 1871 just cited; and
the country is, in effect, left without rule or prescription for the
government of Indian affairs. It is sufferance, not law, which enables
the Indian Office to-day to administer its charge. While the Act of 1871
strikes down at a blow the hereditary authority of the chiefs, no
legislation has invested Indian agents with magisterial powers, or
provided for the assembling of the Indian _demos_. There is at this time
no semblance of authority for the punishment of any crime which one
Indian may commit against another, nor any mode of procedure, recognized
by treaty or statute, for the regulation of matters between the
government and the several tribes. So far as the law is concerned,
complete anarchy exists in Indian affairs; and nothing but the singular
homogeneity of Indian communities, and the almost unaccountable
spontaneity and unanimity of public sentiment within them, has thus far
prevented the attention of Congress and the country being called most