The Arkansas banner., 1844-05-08

The Committee on Public Lands, to whom was referred bill No 5, Jbeing a bill ill re- ation to land claims iii Arkansas have con- sidered the same. and directed me to report 1 it back 10 the House without amendment; and for the reasons in support of the bill, the committee refer to tho letter of the Hon. l Edward Cross, herewith submitted, and made part of this report
 HoUsE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 January 29, 1843,
 sIR-I beg leave to submit, through you, 1 to the Committee on Public Lands, brlet statement of facts, with the reasons relied upon to secure favorable action upon bill ..supplementary to an act entitled An act to settle the title to certain tracts of land Ill the State of Arkansas,' approved the l1th of August, 1872 referred to that committee few days since.
 It will be seen on examination of the act 10 which the bill in question is therein refer red to, which had haan located and alter wards set asidaz1 allowed a preference in entering tha upon which such claims had been E, by paying for il the usual price abiic. lands subject to entry. q eiHa 55tance merely, not having the
 
 fully, the character aad history of
 aach and Spanish land s, embraced in the bill, become matefia. y the 3d ar ticle of the treaty of 1903, tween France and the United States, under which the pro- vince of Louisiana, was acquired, (noW com prisng the States of Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri 1t was stipulated that the iahabit- ants of the ceded country should be main tained and protected in the enjoyment oftheir property. Sc; and by the 8lh article of the treaty of amily, settlement and limits, con eluded in ISIS, between Spain and the tni- fed States, that all grants of land, &c. by his Catholic Majesty, or by his lawful an hority, in the ccded territories, should be lied and confirmed by the United State the persons in possession of the lands, SS5= See Eiliot's American Diplomatic Code, 42l4 In pursuance of these treat. .stipuIations, Congress passed the act of 1891, entitled An act enabling the claimants 10 lands within the limits of the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas to institute proceedings 10 try the validity of their claims. - See Laws United States, vol. z, p. 300.) This act pro vides, amongst other things, in substance, that any person or persons, or then. legal representatives, claiming lands, &c., in that part of the late province of Louisiana incli- ded within the limits of the State of Missou- Ii or the Territory of Arkansas, in virtue of any French or Spanish grant, concession, sc, which might have been perfected under the laws of the government from which the same originated, shall be permitted to present ! such claim to the district court of the United States for the said State of Missouri, or the superior court of the State of Arkansas, (as the case might be, for confirmation, Slc. A subsequent act, approved May 24, 1928, (which will be found at p. l07, vol. s, Laws U S., continues in force the provisions Of the act of l824. Under the authority thus conferred, the superior court of the Territo- rv of Arkansas dec d upon and confirmed number of valid ms, based upon genu- | inc grants or conce $ emanating from the Spanish authorities. hose in whose favor these combinations made, or their legal represcri iatiyes, haye .ng since located them in conformity to the laws of the U. Statc by wi such locations were governed, obtair patents for the lands they embrac Abou SC, there never has been any dla- cult4 atthere was another class of claims, purr 2 to be founded on grants or con sessions from the authorities of Spain, for mally proved, and confirmed by the same court, or board of commissioners, which were subsequently, ascertained to be iraudu- lent, and to have been established by false testimony. This latter class (amounting, probably, to two or three hundred claims, of four hundred arpens each) were presented mainly by a single individual residing in Lou ,r,,iegorioe and T,nrtYor- in the fraud After confirmation of these claims, and after the time Gone year, within which the Government or individual con cerned was authorized, by the provisions of the act of 1924, to take an appeal from the judgment or decree of the court by which it had been entered, had elapsed, they were bought (and, in most cases, paid for at the time) by those who desired to secure lands for settlement, and located under Q firm con yiction that the title so acquired was of un- doubted validity. The purchasers of these claims, who are generally settled upon the lands on which they have been located, are i the persons embraced in the proposed bill, and that to which it Is a supplement- Some bought the entire claim, and took regular transfer from the confmce; others only so or l60 acrcs-paying for ii in part, and talk ing no regular transfer of the interest pur- chased In such cases,= "a mere verbal agree ment was entered into, that the person hold ing the legal title to the entire claim should, on the receipt of the patent, convey the quan- tum of land purchased, by deed in due form. Under such circumstances, it will be readily perceived that the act to which the bill be- fore your committee is supplementary, does not provide for, or include them; nor does it provide for or include those who took reg ular transfers of a portion of an entire claim. To embrace these, the more megitorious class of settlers upon lands located with fraudu- lent Spanish claims, by guarding them against competition in buying the small tracts upon which they reside, andupon which they have