“ The Secretary did not recall the account; the United States never rendered another, and the utmost authority which Congress could have exercised, if any, was, at the same session, or certainly within the prescribed 'twelve months,' to have directed the Secretary to withdraw the account and notify the Cherokee Nation that another would be rendered. The action of the Secretary of the Interior, combined with the inaction of Congress to direct anything to the contrary, makes this provision of the agreement final and conclusive. ”

“ And, if said accounting is satisfactory, Congress shall make the necessary appropriation to pay the same. But if the accounting is not satisfactory, then the Cherokees to have the right to institute suit in the court of claims against the United States for the claimed amount, and Congress is to make the necessary appropriation to pay the judgment, if any, recovered. ”

“ We agree that the United States were liable, and think the liability might well be rested on both grounds,-that is, that failing one, it could be sustained on the other; but we do not deem it necessary to set forth in our own language what has already been so well stated by Chief Justice Nott and Judges Weldon and Peelle.
2. Recovery of the item of $1,111,284.70 was adjudged with interest thereon at the rate of 5 per cent from June 12, 1838, to date of payment,' and it is contended that the court of claims erred in this allowance of interest. ”

“ That certain citizens of the Cherokee Nation should have the right to select lands as homesteads under certain conditions; and
Sixth. In addition to all of the foregoing enumerated considerations for the cession and relinquishment of title to the described lands, the United States shall pay to the Cherokee Nation, at such times and in such manner as the Cherokee national council shall determine, the sum of $8,595,736.12 in excess of the sum of $728,389.46, the aggregate of amounts heretofore appropriated by Congress and charged against the lands of the Cherokees west of the Arkansas river. ”

“ When the account was thus received by the Cherokee Nation (May 21, 1894) , the 'twelve months' of the agreement, within which the nation must consider it and enter suit against the other party in the court of claims, began to run, and with the nation's acceptance of the account (December 1, 1894) the session of Congress at which an appropriation should be made became fixed and certain. ”

“ If this has been done properly, no harm can come from restating the account. If it has not been done properly, no possible reason can exist why the error should not be corrected. It creates no new obligations against the government, but only provides for legal discharge of the old ones.'
'This seems to me to be a reasonable view to take of this provision, and I do not see that any valid objection could be advanced against it. ”

“ But they, as communal owners of the lands east of the Mississippi, at the time of the treaty of 1835, were equally interested, with the communal owners who were carried to the West, in the $5,000,000 fund which was the consideration of the cession, so far as it was to be distributed per capita. ”

“ Nevertheless, taking the entire record together, the various treaties and acts of Congress, and of the Cherokee councils, and the language of the jurisdictional acts of 1902 and 1903, we leave the decree as it is in respect to counsel fees and costs. ”

“ Congress, on September 30, 1850, in appropriating the amount of the per capita, then conceded to be due the Old Settlers, provided:
'That interest be allowed and paid upon the above sums due respectively to the Cherokees and 'Old Settlers,' in pursuance of the above-mentioned award of the Senate under the reference contained in the said 11th article of the treaty of sixth August, eighteen hundred and forty-six.' 9 Stat. at L. 556, chap. 91. ”

“ February 20, 1903, the Cherokee Nation filed a petition in the court of claims asking judgment on an account rendered by Slade & Bender, pursuant to the treaty of March 3, 1893 (27 Stat. at L. 640, chap. 209) , with interest. ”

“ The remainder to be distributed directly to the Eastern and Western Cherokees, who were parties either to the treaty of New Echota, as proclaimed May 23, 1836, or the treaty of Washington of August 6, 1846, as individuals, whether east or west of the Mississippi river, or to the legal representatives of such individuals. ”

“ Interest on the above sum of $914,026.13 at 5 per cent from June 12, 1838, was also appropriated by Congress and distributed per capita to said Eastern Cherokees in the same payment. The balance to be distributed per capita according to the above report and which was not distributed, to wit, $1,111,284.70, is the sum of which the Eastern Cherokees complain they were deprived in the settlement of 1852 ”

“ For debts and claims upon the Cherokee Nation.................... 101,348 For the additional quantity of land ceded to the nation........... 500,000
For amount invested as the general fund of the nation......... 500,880 For subsistence furnished after expiration of one year, under agreement that it should be charged to treaty fund............. 172,316 --------- 4,621,756 For lands and possessions......... 5,000,000 For spoliations..................... 264,894 Balance of $600,000 applicable to removal........................ $335,105 Appropriation of June 12, 1838.... ”