The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1805-09-10
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY |,
DEBATE ON THE YAzoo CLAIMS,
(ContinHed.

! (ContinHed.)
Mr.. J. RANDOLPH faid, that, as u.eil as
his extreme ind;fpoliton and executive hoarii.-
| nsis would permit, he would Law before the
Houfc fome observations on the various Object
ons which had been urged aga;ah the amend
ment OF his worthy and Respectable colleague.
| (Mr. Clarke) for fuch he was in every point OF
view. He complained of difineenuous and m
| iair practices on the part of fome of his oppo-
nents. They had undertaken to arree n,on 2
| iuppofed admiiiion of his friend and hnfelf,
that the act OF 1895 created contract between
the fate of Georgia and the grantees therein
| named. This Qaid he) is nothing ieis than beg
gine, or rather, fragrant robbery OF the cuett-
| on. We deny that any contract has been, or
could be made under fuch OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
fraud rs bafs on which contra q can be erect
| ed. Gentlemen muft drive into this morals OF
| corruption, piles of froneer Argument & found
er reaioning, before they can build Stadt
Houie of conclnfon upon it. IT'S qIag-
| rnire over which they cannot pats and in their
| awkward attempts to get around it, they con-
feiS, even whit they ehr6f TO deny its exift-
snce. Fraud has rendered il without bottom.
The act OF 1896 is at once declaratory of that
fraud, and the highef poifiblc evidence of the
tact. The claimants and their advocates them
t-ives concede II, when thev cling to the report
or the commiiiioners, by which it is expressly
affirmed, and which explicitly declares, that
their title cannot be Imported. And when they
come into this Houfe with that report in their
hands, and whine and crnge' for our bounty. do
they not abandon all prcteniions to title, Yes,
the advocates of thefe claims are compelled to
acknowledge the fraud, and Weld the ground
OF contract. How ellie can they iuflify their
own fraud and injultice in Tripping fair con-
tractors with good title, of feven eighths of
the'r rehtiul and bona fide purchafc? This
point cannot he kept too much in fight, nor too
fronpIy Unified on.
The venerable gentleman from PennfyIvania,
(Mr. Findley) when he gave in his recantation
OF his lait years opinions on this fubiecf, fold
you that General Wahngton's Mellage had no
reference to the frauduIency of the act of 1895.
lie con':dered it as CAvEAT on behalf of the
United States, who claimed great part of the
territory in queftion. Be it 70. Was that no.
tee to fnbfequent purchaferq, or not ? How
VIII the gentlemen reconcile this inconfifency
Within the difputed limits between the federal
government and Georgia, five-fixths of this very
New-England coInpany's purchafe were COM
prlied, beiIdes that valuable part of the Georgia
comPany's grant, contained in the fork of the
Albania and Tombigbee. The United States
commended that the country wet of the Chata-
houchee, and fouth of parallel of latitude
which fhould interfcct the mouth of the Yazoo
river, never contributed part of Gcorga-that
1t was within the limits of the province of Welt
Florida, from which being fevered, by the peace
OF 1888, Vt became vefted in the confederacy,
and not in the fate to which il happened TO be
contiguous. The far greater part of the grant
to the Georgia Mifiiliipp company is embraced
within theie limits: the purchafe of the New
England company is nated, by themfelves, TO
nave oeen mace from that company, twelve
months after the Prefiient's meffage the gen.
tIPman
this meflage as formal annunciation of the adj
verfe claim of the United States to the land in
queft'on, and, in the fame breath, AYERS that the
rIew-England company, fubfequent purchafers
OF that very land, were ignorant of any defeet
OF title in the fate of Georgia, or the grantees
under her. How will he reconcile this?
The fame gentleman has introduced into this
debate, the names of two perfons one of them.
at that time, \ judge of the Supreme court of
the United States, the other Senator from the
tate OF Georgia who he tells us, were deeDIv
concerned in the tranfa6lion of 1895. Both
theie gentlemen are more. Private character.
always dear, always to be refpeeted, feems al
mott canonized Ivy the grave. when men go
hence their evil deeds Aiould follow them, and.
tor me, might ileep Obvious in their tomb. But
IT the mouldering aihes Of the dead are 10 bt
raked up, let it not be for The fuftherance of in.
inftice. In every fage ofthis dicu1ion, whi,n
have kept my eye Readily fixed on the enor-
nifty of the ACT Of 1895, have loa eight of the
agents. Since, however, fome of them have
been mentioned. it may not be immaierial TO
notice the intereft which they took in this buff
neis. 1t is too true, fir, that the Senator in duef
ton was one of the fathers Of the act of I7os.
BY the afiembly which pafied il he was, at the
flme FELTON,, reelected TO the Senate OF the u
nited States for fix years thereafter. Ills equal
ly true, Mr.. Speaker, that the notorious Britinl
treaty was ratified by that Senator's eating vote.
And as the Yazoo fpecuation then carried thro'
the Britiih treaty, now it feems, the adherents
of that treaty are to drag the Yazoo speculation
cot OF the mire. The connection Of the two
queftions at that day is too notorious TO be de-
med. That very fenator, were he now here,
would diidain to deny it. With al his faults,
nc was man of fomc noble qualities. Hypo-
criiy, n leait, was not the catalogue Of his vi
ces. The coupling together of the Britilh trea-
~ and the Yazoo bpfinefs, cannot fuieiy be un-
known to the gcntiemso from Pennfyiyaois. He