The true Democrat., 1854-06-20

1 y and allotted to the persons properly entitled tc the same, in fee simple, in such manner anC under such rules and regulations as he ma, prescribe; and to defray the expenses of the same, there be, and is hereby, appropriated the sum of $1O,922 29.
 The object of this amendment, MT. President is simply to carry into effect the stipulations o the ninth and tenth articles of the treaty ot lS3O made with some five or six different bands of Indians, among whom were the Sioux and other tribes, which have never yet been fulfil led. The purport of those articles requires the setting apart by the United States of re- serves, one upon the Missouri and the other up- on the Mississippi river in the ordinary form of Indian reservations, for the use of their nations. 1t was stipulated that the President, at any fu- ture tune, might survey off the country, and allot Tn severalty to the half breeds reserva- tons not exceeding six hundred and forty acres each. Circumstances have heretofore prevent ed the carrying into effect of that stipulation. In the mean time the land which was regard ed as fixed by the reservation, has been settled upon by large numbers ot white settlers from the States, who are occupying the best lands, and all the most valuable sites, commercial and otherwise, in the territory, until the Indians themselves have become alarmed, and justly alarmed, at the prospect that the usurpaton, by settlement of the lands by the white popula- tion, will soon leave them nothing out of which the treaty stipulations can be performed.
 The period of the fulflment of this treaty has been postponed until the very last moment. and the Indians now urge, and I think with very great justice, that the treaty stipulations should be performed. If we concur in the amendment of the committed it will be the duty of the President to survey the country, and allot off the reservations according to the stipulations of the treaty, and dispose of the residue of the land according to the existing laws. The estimate of the amount necessary for this purpose has been made upon basis suggested by the land office, and is in strict &C., cordance with the views of the Indian depart ment.
 The amendment was agreed to.
 Tuesday, May ?, 1854
 Mir. SEBASTIAN; from the committee on Indian affairs, to whom were referred the memo rial of the Legislature of the territory of New Mexico, respecting Indian depredations in that territory, and the petition of ohn B. Chapman and Clarinda F. Chapman, praying that steps may be taken to civilize the Indians at Puget's Sound, in Washington territory, asked to be dis charged from their further consideration: which was agreed to.
 Wednesday, May 3, 1854.
 MASON ROGUE GRANT.
 The Senate proceeded to consider the motion April 27, to reconsider the vote by which the bill to amend an act entitled An act to grant the right of pre- emption to certain purchasers and settlers on the Maison Rogue grant, in the event of the final adjudication of the title in favor of the United States" approved January 27, 1851, was passed.
 Mr. JOHNSON. will explain the object of my motion to reconsider There was mis- take in the bill as passed, which it is very ne- cessary to correct. Inconsequence of that mis- take, the wrong act was extended. 1 will read to the Senate so much of the act which should be extended as applies to the case The title of the act which 1 wish to have extended is, "An act to extend pre-emption rights to certain lands therein mentloned;" and the portion of 1t which is material to this case, is in these words:
 :" A,M procided .turther That any settler who has settled or may hereafter settle, on lands heretofore reserved on account of claims under French, Spanish or other grants, which have been, or shall be hereafter declared by the su- preme court of the United States to be invalid, shall be entitled to all the rights of pre-emption granted by this act, and the act of 4th of Sep tember, 1841, entitled An act to appropr:at the proceeds of the public lands, and to grant pre- emption rights after the lands shall have been released from reservation in the same manner as if no reservation existed"
 Thus that act which was passed on the Sd of March last, gave right of pre.emption to all settlers on French or Spanish grants, the title to which had been, or might thereafter become invalid by the decision of the supreme court of the United States. The object which have in view is simply to extend the pre-e -emptior right which was granted under that act of the last Congress, so as to embrace the actual i'm provements of the settlers. It may, perhaps be as we'll to state now, though it was explained before, that under the terms of that act, any man who had any description of improvement on one of these grants, though 1t were but an acre, would, upon proving that fact, and com plying with the terms of the act, be entitled to pre-emption to one hundred and sixty acres.- Still, at the same time, man might have eX- pended his whole fortune upon tract of land and might have made improvements to the ex- tent of three hundred, or four hundred, or five hundred acres, and yet, under the provisions oi the act, he would only be entitled to pre-emp- ton for one hundred and sixty acres
 The object is to remedy this evil, and to give the United States exactly the amount at which they value their lands, $1 p an acre for all which one of these settlers may have improved though ihmay be more than one hundred and sixty acres. That will be effected by the amend ment which l shall propose to the Senate This was the object of the bill as proposed the other day, but, as l stated before, there was mistake in that bill in regard to the act proposed to be extended, and therefore it is that I have moved the reconsideration.
 The motion to reconsider was agreed to; and the Senate again proceeded to consider the bill
 Mir. JOHNSON. I move to amend the bill by striking out all after the enacting clause, and inserting the following:
 That the right of pre-emption, granted by the act of the Sd of March, 1853, entitled "An act to extend pre-emption rights to certain lands therein mentioned" shall be, and the same is hereby, extended, so that the settler or occu- pant on the Maison Rouge grant, entitled to the benefits of said act shall be entitled to enter at the minimum price every quarter subdivision on which he has made improvements: PyOUided