The weekly Placer herald., 1853-10-01
For the Weekly Placer Herald
Political Essay,
The right Of The Slate to the Lands in
the Bay of San Franctsc0.

which the interests of this State in certain
lands in the harbor of San Francisco,
figured as an exciting topic. now pro-
pose to examine the subject, calmly, just
Iy, and rs intellgibIe rs the means at
hand will admit. By streaty of peace.
friendship, limits, and settlement" dated
at Guada upe Hidalgo, Cd Feb, 1848,
"between the u. S. of America and the
Mexican Republic." the former acquired
that territory previously within the boun
daries Of the latter, and known as Alta
California. "ln consideration of the ex
tension acquired by the boundaries of the
U. S." by that treaty, the general gov
ernment agreed to pay to the Mexican
Republic the sum of fifteen mi lions of
dollars Part of this amount was paid
down and the alance was to have been
paid IN 1852 presume the deI't has
been fu " canceled-and the government
of the u. S. entered at once into the full
Possession of the acquired territory, and
through our military Officers then in the
country, exercised the rights and ,prive
legeS of soyereignty--coilec revenues,
appointed Judges and established courts,
and did such other acts as they cOnstitu-
tonaly might and the neces sSities of the
times demanded. By the purchase, the
U. S. obtained the rights of Mexico,
which was the public lands and the polti
cal sovereignty. lne rights of the Mex
lcan citizens residing within Alta CaIifor-
MA, were carefully provided for in this
same treaty, and if they had not mention
ell them at all, by the law of nations, no
Change of sovereignty divests the citizen
Of his title in lands-po itical supremacy
does not demand such n sacrifice. Goa
gress has since established Comu;ssjon.
who are empowered to sly Whit was pri
vate property in lands within the mean
ing of the treaty, and me balance, it wi |
he admitted Was TIE United States. Let
us now enquire what is the legal drfiui
t'on or the Term land how is it under
stooc and interpreted in courts of law.
eiack:.tone says" Land comprehends al
th.hgS of a permanent, substantial nature; !;
heing a word of very extensive significn
ton" Sir Edward Coke says "Laad
comprehenhs in its legal signification any
ground, soil, or earth whatsoever, AS
arabic, meadows, pastures, woods, moors,
,caters, marshes, turZeS, heath" and the
former author tells us, that one "cannot
bring an action to recover possession of Il
pool or other piece of water, by the name
of water only, either by calculating its
capacity; as for so many cubic yards; or,
by superficial measure, for twenty acres
of water, or by general description, as
for a pond, watercourse, or rivulet
hut must bring my action for the land
that lies at the bottom, and must ca | it
twenty acres of land corere9 ,ciM ayater."
"W ater," he says, "is movable, wan
der ng thing, and must of necessity con-
tinue common by the law of nature" but
"Land includes not only the face of the
earth, hut every thing under or over it.
And therefore, if a man grants all his
lands, he grants thereby all his mines Of
metals, and other fossils, his woods. his
tcaterS, and his houses as well rs his Fl lis
and meadows" He further saws that.
"by the name of land. which Is ,,omen
generahsssmurn, everything TERRESTRIAL will
pass " This is the common law view of
it and the Interpretation given TO the
term throughout the courts OF the United
States. id not the boundaries of Alta
California include the bay Of San Fran
cisc"' and if so, is that hav not land
covered with water? The Golden Gate
sewers 1t from the main ocean, and GER
tainly no one will assert that the bottom
has fallen out
Are not the lakes and rivers within
the boundaries of this acquired territory,
in the same situation with regard to the
proprietary right? ?-Congress in making
laws to provide for and facilitate the sale
of public lands in the Northwest T.. rri-
tory by several acts reserved the beds Of
rivers both above and below navigation,
from Ie, and declared that the waters
Of the streams Shoukf he continued com
mon property. Blu, this never hns been
the case with the old thirteen States who
fnrmed the Confederation, and WHY? be-
cause the people of those States were tn.
owners of all the lands within their bonn
darieS, and the United States never as
sumed any Interference with the dispos,
tion of their public lands. Hence we
find Virginia and Kentucky claiming title
in the soil of the Ohio river up to low
water mark on the Ohio and Indiana side
including the Islands, and the courts of
the land sustaining them in their position
When the United States desired lands in
any of those States, i, was obtained, by
purchase or grant, from the State govern
ments, or the citiZens thereof and pre-
sumo the government foes own hands in
every one of them. If a town or city
found it essential 70 the necessities of
commerce to extend it's front into lake,
harhor or sea, the right to do so was oh
tnined from their respective States, who
were entitled to grant such privi eyes