Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1805-04-06

~ ~ sp~ VI WIZ oitd' u III TIC ot1ot "Cts
indicted, but still enjoy the confidence a.
: much as they otherwise would have done
OF that State. Not one OF them were re-
; moved from Office, or in any official man
: n-r consigned TO iniamy, b. the courts of
: that respectable state, or by impeachment
= The LANDS sold at Boston were yet IN
/. possession OF The Indian tribes, ana me IN
. .,.ian war bat lately eX,inguished' whiie a.
. the same time the lands IN fennsyNaHia
were sold. the first rate at one shining
s;xpencc, the reputcd second rate, but IN
cct equal ifnot superior in quality and ST.
tuation, at one shilling the acre, and what
remained unsold in the old settlements,
at sixpence, and in New-York, still chea.
ger the acre, while the Georgia purchase
with all it's disadvantages is stated and adj
mi;ted to have been sold rough s. smooth,
good and bad, and OF which large pro-
portion is allowed to be bad. at something
above fifteen pence an acre on the amount
reserved. Certainly such n speculation
il it was one, was such as he would not
have had any share in, and therefore no
proof of the superior cunning ascribed to
them by his colleague and otheis.
MIR. +. said that so far the bargain and
sale were fair aud legal, whether it was
good bargain or bad one was the look
out of the purchasers, if it was bad one,
government would have given them no re.
lief. Had nothing extraordinary or out
of the common road taken place, lie be.
lieved the attention of Congress would ne.
yer have been called 10 the subject. Soon.
however, after this contract was made, the
legislature OF Georgia declared the con-
tract & the law under which it was made,
to be void or annuled and in a short
tTme after a convention of that respecta.
BILE state disapproved oflhe constitutional
act OF the legislature but as long as we
pay respect to constitutional obligati-
ons aud the distribution of the powers of
government, and as long as we respect
the federal constitution which expressly
asserts that no expost faeto law or Laws
impairing the obligation of contracts shall
be made, we must agree that one session
of legislature cannot annul the contracts
made by the preceding session. If that
could be done the patent FOR his own plan
tation might also be set aside, for he ac-
knowledged it is worth more now than
the price he paid for it. This doctrine
had never been entertained even in the
revolutionary period. AT that solsmn pc
Rod all contracts were proceeded,
Mr.. rindley said that he cheerfuliy &C
knowIedgcd that The amount of land sold
under the law o! Georgia, Of 1895, was SO
enormous as that If that state had been a
| separate and wholly independents govern
menl would have justified in some degree
| an agrarian law, and II the fraud and cor
rup,ion attes,ed by OK par,e testimony was
true, would have justified The most exem-
plary punishment OF those who aulfered
themselves TO be corrupted or who de-
frauded the com nonwea lth, and this would
: have proved a defect itself in the con
: traGi ; but no such thing appears TO hav,
S taken place. The Judge who is said Il
/ have received $4,000 dollars for his vote.
f was not impcached, nor the members VIII,
= are said to have given or received bribe
n indicted. 1T appears to have been so con
n trived that the state citizens ofGeorg,s
= should suffer no loss the loss and re.
C proach should be transferred TO people al
{ the greatest possible distance. He gave
4 credit, however, to the leg stature of Geor.
: gia, which met in the year 1896, for ma
2 king an extraordinary exertion to free
! iiCtUSIiNCN iIOii evil. III
t was alaudablete against corruption
: and fraud, but no court OF Justice had yet
, by deciding on il, acknowledged il 10 b,
: law, and it was too slow for warning other
. at distance against titles originating un
. der the law of 1895.
The annullng law of 1875 had all tn,
cffeGl that any citizen at that period coul,
, have wished. Congress took possession
of the government Of the western part
of Georgia--the parts in which the land
in question lay, and erected territoria
government, without the consent of tina
state, and passed law authorizing tn
President TO enter into negotiation wit
: Georgia, OH the principles Of compromise
Tor the right of soil. The compromis
; eventually succeeded, and an act of cessi
: on took place between the United State
l and the state Of Georgia. In this aet o
cession or convention, it was provided tina
r the claims in the county of Bourbon an
: Washington. bordering on the Mississippi
: river, &c. should be protected, and tha
: FIVE millions of acres or part thereof
: should by the United States be applied 4