Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1841-05-28

cured TO them by different treaties, and as interest
upon money stipulated by treaty to be permanently
invested, and not yet invested, as shown by state
ment in his hand carefully prepared at the Indian
Office, is Sol|,i9o w
The actual pa yments from the Treasury
for Revolutionary pensions, for the
wear 1899 as shown by statement
from the office of the Second Comp
fore him, were 2,956,l35 rs
Making, together, an amount OF annul-
ties for Indian lands, and pensions TO
officers and soldiers ofthe Revolution,
payable annually from the National -,
Treasury, of So,"o,9so ID
The estimated receipts into the Treasury
from the sales of the public lands for
the present year are just about the
vear. and either sumis 3,5oo,o 90
This will leave an annual balance OF the
annuities and Revolutionary pensions,
over and above the whole current pro- -
ceeds of the lands, OF Ssao,,-' :.
This will be about the true state OF things Tor the last
and the present years is true that the LOT
Revolutionary pensions are now diminishing, rom TIC
death of the pensioners, more rapidly thah they Ile
increased by applications and admissions uhaef
the existing laws, and this diminuon wiii De annuaiy
more and more rapid if further legislation does not pre-
vent it. II is also that many OF the indian anhu-
ties e for terms Of years. and the expiration OF sucn
annuties may sink the amount OF payments unoer hat
head if new treaties do not make corresponding ad-
dtion So also the annual sales of lands may be ex-
tended in future years and thus this comparison be
changed But at present there are no nett proceeds
from the lands if these two sing items are made an
annual charge upon them Still there are constant an
nua charges of the highest necessity, which are not
included here, and which, by the admission OF all
should be deducted arrive the nett proceeds tor DIS
trbu,ion He referred to the ordinary expenses OF the
land system of the General Land Office here, OF the
various local land Offices, of surveys, and all those
classes of expenditures which paid by annual APP
propriatons from the Treasury, and not by comm's-
sons upon the money collected These expenses can
not fall short of and likely 10 exceed halt
million annually. He had caused them 10 be ascer,
tanned for the five years, commencing with 1865 ano
ENDING with 1897 to be used tor another purpose, ana
during that period they averaged more than one mn
lion per annum. Those however, were years, or al
least some Of them, when the surveys and sales were
unusually extensive. Sill half that average, he
thought could not be excessive for ordinary years IL
should not be forgotten that no mention IS here mace
of annual PAYNE for holding treaties, tor new
of land from the Indians and for the many
other constant but uncertain expenditures growing out
of the requirement Of title, management, and sale OF
these lands and nothing said OF the expenses OF the
frequent Indian which have attended the e1ecu
ton of the various treaties, and the clearing e Janus
from Indian possession.
He would pass to another part OF the argument.
He had already said that the right of the States to the
distribution proposed and the power and duty OF Con-
make II, haQ Deen 10 ue uPoh
the deeds of cesson from the States to the United
States and the alleged object and purpose of those ces
sions He had previously attempted TO show that mel
ther those deeds any of the proceedings, either on
the part Of the States, the United Staes presented
any resting place for the assumptions in question lie
mpht however, have been mistaken in his efforts to
accomplish that object and it would be too great an
exhibition of vanity his part to say he had accom-
pshed what he had hoped 10 accomplish upon those
points He must, therefore, pusue the argument fur
Their Suppose he had wholly failed 10 estaoish those
positions, a consequence followed from which there
was no escape, and that he would now state.
No right Of the States, or power or duty OF Con-
gress based upon the deeds of cesson could apply to
any other than the coded territory. This must be
admitted for whether the cessons contained upon their
face reversonary rights to the cedng States remain
ders to all the States such rights could attach
be Valid either in law or equity, beyond the limits
and interests of the estate covered by the deeds-the
estate 10 which the granors in the deeds claimed title
or interest He would not for ment presume that
any Senator would attempt 10 push the right OF tho
Stat. 10 distribution of the proceeds Of the public
lands upon such grounds beyond this limit, ana ne
would the reore proceed to show how far short OF the
ground covered by the proposition before the senate
this justification or lts PrnciPe anu equity "ouiu oe
found to :,
The boundaries Of the cessions were, inVaraoy, all
the lands situated without and beyond certain dehned
limits Northerly, Westerly, or Southeriy, ana WIN
out any prescribed extent, specified limit, North'
West, or South The limits of the ceding States in
those directions fixed and defued and the grants
were of all the lands belonging to the granting State
without and beyond its boundaries. The most which
can be asked therefore, the outer limits OF the ceded
lands the outer limits of the United States as esta-
blished by the de6ntve treaty of peace Of 1888 This
must follow from the fact that the lands, whether in
fact the property of the OF States, or OF
the seven cedng States, were held by conquest IN the
war Of the Revolution, and cannot be supposed to
tend beyend the boundaries fixed in the treaty which
oil. and fred the limits territory
for the beligerent parties The Western and South
ern of these boundaries alone material, as the
Northern and Northwestern is the present limit OF
British and American possessions. The western and
Southern of these boundaries, beginning upon the
Lake of the Woods, described in the treaty as fol-
lows:
nAnd from thence on river Mississp
liver Mississippi until Nohernmost part
the thirty degree Of North latitude; South by line to be
ed in the latitude Of thirty degrees North Equator
the middle of Apachcoa Catohouche thence along
the middle thereof to JUNCTION Flint river thence straight
10 st. Mays rivers and thence down along the mid
die Of 81. Mays river to the Atlantic Ocean,
Thus making the middle Of the Mississippi river the
western and the thirty degree OF North latitude
the Southern boundary Of these cesslons With these
boundaries the ceded lands do net include any OF the
territory West Of the Mississippi; and the Territory
of Iowa and the States of Missouri, Arkansas, and
Louisiana, and all the country West OF Them are free
from any claim of the States growing out Of the deeds
of cession. So, also those parts OF the States OF
Mississippi and Alabama South of the thirty. de-
gree Of North latitude and the whole of the Territory
of Florida, are equally untouched by these grants
1t may be we'll further to specify what the grants,
do not touch, before seeing what they did cover and
convey. They did not, then, touch any portion of
the old thirteen States, present bounded or any
portion of the present States Of Maine, Vermont and
Kentucky. very small portion of the State Of Ten
nessee was ceded by the deed of cesson of NJ Carroll.
ma; but the remnants of land scatered and SO
badly located that the Government hos never yet sup
posed it matter oEinterest to their survey
or TO open land Office and atempta sale of lands with
in that State Indeed it seems now certain that no.
thing is 10 come to the Treasury from the pub
lie lands in Tennessee; bill passed this body at its
last session, without dissenting vote, to cede the rem
nants of those lands to that State without compensaon
and similar bill has again passed by the same vote, at
the present session Thus the whole cession of North
Carolina disposed of without brng ing one dollar into
the Treasury for he found that the law for the adm'
son of the State of Tennessee described the State
u, tho terr;tory coded 10 The u 8. by the State of