approve the principles upon which the argument was bascd. The atiorncy-general consented to instruct the district-attorney ac cordingly, and thus Judge Dundy's decision stands without fur ther question on tho part of the Government. Had an appea! been prosecuted, and had Judgo Dnndy's decision been sustained by the court above, the general principles involved in it would simply have been affirmed without any othor practical cffeet thn that alrcady obtained. This matter is tlierefore cndcd.

As to the right of the Poncns to their old reservation on the Missouri, the Supreme Conrt has repeatedly decided that an In dian tribe cannot sue the United States or a State in the federal conrts. The decisions are clear and uniform on this point Among lawyers with who I liscussed this matter, I have not found a single one who entertained a different view; but I did find among them scrious doubts as to wlhether a decision, even if the Poncas could bring suits, would be in their favor, considering the facts in the case, But, inasmuch as such a suit cannot be brought at all, this is not the question. It is evidently idle to collect moncy and to fee attoricys for the purpose of doing a thing which cannot be done. Had the disinterested fricnds of the Indians who are engaged in tlis work first consulted lawyers on the question of possibility, they would no doubt ave come to the same conclusion

The study I hare given to the Indian question in its various aspects, past and present, has produced in my mind the firm cou viction that the only certain way to secure the Indians in their possessions, and to prevent them from becoming forever a race of homcless paupers and vagabonds, is to transform their tribal title into individual title, inalienable for a certain period; in other words, to settle them in severalty, and give them by patent an individual fee-simple in their lands. lands by the same title by which white men hold thecirs, and they will, as a matter of course, have the samc standing in the courts, and the same legal protection of their property. As long as they hold large tracts in the shape of reservations, only small parts of which they can make useful to thenselves and to others, tlie whole being hcld by the tribe in common, their tenure will al ways be insccure. It will grow more and morc so as onr popula tion increases, and tho quantity of available land diminishes. We may call this an ugly and deplorable fact, but it is a fhct for all that. Long cxperience sbows that the protests of good pcople in the name of justice and humanity have availcd but very liltle Then they witl hold their