Washington telegraph., 1853-06-08

not true that these lands could not be; and were
not, lost to the State by delaying to call an extra
session OF the Legislature As we have already
shown, the very issue of the order OF reservations
and more especially the terms in which it is
made, reject Internationally the Governors in.
depreciation of the law, and repudiate the whole
claim be based upon it; and his recognition of it
as proper and necessary, and his exultation over
1t as satisfactory, are confessions as strong he
can make, that he was wrong before, ard his
whole CLAIM was ridiculous and absurd in itself.
For the good of the State, it were well indeed,
and the Just ground of much rejoicing, if such
claim as the Governor set up, and the policy he
connected with it, had resulted only in making
htm ridiculous. and proving him to be absurd
But also, it has gone much further and done much
worse than this. 1t has, in opinion, brought
evils upon the State disastrous, indeed in kind
and degree, alike present and prospective; and
which, either to avoid, or remedy, seems to us
difficult IN the extreme, il not impossible. Some
OF these evils are upon now, and the State will
grow old, indeed, before she will cease to suffer
from them. Shall she honor or repudiate, the
hand which has inflicted those evils upon her?
What are those evils. and their extenta
As preliminary remark, here, we would say
that we are not prepared to admit, as an opinion
of our own, that the order of reservation issued
from the General Land office to the land-ofces of
this State, of which we have been speaking has
any legal force or validity for we are not aware
of any power, short of act of Congress, to re-
serve the public lands from sale or pre-emption.
after they have been surveyed, and once pro-
claimed for sale We will not so far presume up
on cur slender knowledge Of the law which go
verns such question, to deny that any such
power resides in the President. or any other ex-
ecutIve officer. But we have found no lawyer
here who recognizes any such power, or who hes
itates to express the opinion that the order OF
servaon, in this case, is without authority of law
and therefore void, or at least voidable, should
Stirp hafs ,pii
cia tribunal. So far, then, as the ultimate legal
question is concerned, and the extent to which it
may affect in future, the titles to land, we refrain
from expressing our own opinion. Nor is it, for
any practical purpose before us, at all necessary
to express opinion upon this point. The pre-
sent, practical question to be considered is what
is the practical character and practical operation
of this order of reservation? FoE whether it
really be- or shall hereafter be decided to be- legal
or illegal, valid void its present effect and ope.
ration are TO withhold the lands from sale, as the
land officers recognize it order binding and
controlling them that, upon all those lands the
land offices closed, and all sales and settle
ments suspended.
Whether this order be legal or not. right wise
polite not its present practical effect upon the
interest of the State and people is the same-and
that is, TO withhold all their lands from SALE from
the 9th and 18th May until the 9th of Oct. and
there is avoiding counteracting this effect
This effect too is claimed for it. by the Governor;
and not only So but is also fully approved OF. and
greatly applauded, by him. To this position the
Governor is fixed, and he can't escape from it. or
from its consequences 1t is to this order then,
and to it alone that this reservation is due: and
consequently, the character and extent OF the re-
servaton are fixed and determined by the terms
of the order itself, and by other authority and
in no other way. What then are the terms of
the order? By reference to it. as published in an
other column, and in connexion with the plats
which accompanied it and in the Registers
offices, it will be found, as we have already said
that in the Helena land district the reservation
takes effect from the 18th of May, and in the other
districts from the 9th of Nav. and extends in ALL
to the 9th OF October This being so. we ask the
Governor what becomes of all the land which was
sold, pre-emptioned from the 3rd of Feb. the
date of the grant, to the 18th of May, in the Hell
land district, and to the 9th of May, in the
rest of the State-a period of some three months,
when the reservation took effect? Is not that lost
to the Statea And would not much of it have
been saved, if the Legislature had been convened
as soon as the grant was known and prompt
measures been taken to definitely fix the route
of the road? So much, at any rate would have
been saved. as has been sold from the time at
which the Legislature might have fixed" the
route, and thereby perfected the States title to
the land, to the 9th, aud 18th OF May. So much
is certain.
AT what time, then, could the Gov. have con.
vernor's organ of TIE 18th Feb, we find that it
was then known here, and published in that paper
upon the authority of Hon r. w. JOHNSON. that
the bill. making this grant, had become a law
The terms of the Bill had been known from the
preceding session of Congress. Three davs after
wards, on the 18th of Feb, the Gazette and DEM
ocrat then edited by Mr.. Woodruff appealed to
the Governor to convene the Legislature in extra
session, so as to avail at once OF the grant so far
as it might be beneficial to the State, and thus
avoid loss of both time and land. II the Governor
had needed that appeal. which has been seconded
by the voice of the people, without distinction of
party: from every part of the State, the Legisla-
tnre might have been convened by the goth of
March, at farthest. and all necessary legislation
on that subject, been completed by the lst of April
On the lst of April then, begun the responsibility
of the Governor for the delay of the great work of
railroads IN oar State and for the loss of all the
land subject to the grant, which was sold from
that time until the 18th of May in the Helena
district and until the 9th of May in the rest of
the State. How much that may be- we of course.
have no means of ascertzining with any precision
even approximation; but all who know how
active has been the demand for lands especially
along contemplated railroad routes. for the last
six months or more, need not to be told that the
quantity thus sold must have been considerable
To the extent, then. of that loss of time and land
be it great small, the Governor is responsible
-cupably so--and justly chargeable with injury
inflicted upon State and people who generously
ntrrsted him with their in.erests-interests
which, no longer ago than last November, he So
lennly swore to cherish and protect He may
try to skulk from this as much he will; but he
cannot escape from the position in which his own
act for rather his own noy,-ccfionl has fixed him;
nor will the just and nte figent self interest Of the
people permit him to avoid the responsibilities of
! that position. i'd
We find that this article has, already grown
longer than we intended at first and want of
space in our columns compels us to close it, here,
for the present. So far, however, it is only the
beginning of the examination we propose giving
Gov, Conway's policy, in connection with this
land grant, and touches only two points of the
particular matter under consideration The
other points hong to be HE xar,I,e 9th