The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-07-28
Gov. Reeders Letter to Secretary
SHAWNEE MISSION, <. T..l

Hon. ". Marcy, Secretary OF STATE
Washiagton-SIR :-As promised in M
brief note of the 18th inst. from New
York. avail myself of the first opportu
lnay to reply to your letter of the l2th
That letter mentions, as causes of com
plant against me. in the opinion of The
President, purchases of Kansas hal
breed reservations, made by me in tht
Territory of Kansas, ''sand also '.othel
speculations in lands of the Territory o
Kansas, apparently in violation of acts o
Congress and of regulations of the de
partments;;" :" and at the same time invite:
any explanation which may desire te
give in regard TO the character and ex
! tent of the transactions above referred TO-
and particularly the matters spoken o
in the letter of G. w. CLARKE, lndiar
agent. dated May 8th, 1855"
/ lam thus put upon my defence to tive
separate charges; first, the purchase o.
Ihfif fbreed, Kansas lands, and secondly,
other speeulations in lands sof the Terrific
Try, apparently in violation of acts oi
Congress and regulations of the depart
ments.
/ The very general manner IN which
these charges are stated, the entire ab-
sence of any specification on which to
make point or raise an issue, and the
lomission to state in what particular the
President sees any wrong to have been
committed, and what act of Congress OF
regulation of the department has been
violated. are matters of regret and en-
/ barrassment to me because they pre-
clude confidence in the pertinence OF my
reply. | need not inform SO eminent a
iurist as yourself. how impossible 1t Is,
| in matters of elimination and defence,
to attain justice and truth without a dis
tinct and unequiyocal specification OF
| the charge on the one side, and direct,
full and pointed answer 10 it, on the 9th
er. In the absence of these, parties may
wander in side-issues, departures, eva
sions and uncertainties, without ever
reaching conclusion and l, therefore,
with the highest respect, take the liberty
of calling your attention to this feature
of your letter as a full apology for my
self, in case | shall engage in, the discus
sion of matters which the President may
not consider in issue, orshall not be sui
fciently full aud certain in speaking of
the point in which he thinks he sees the
wrong.
In relation to the first charge of pur-
chase of half breed Kansas lands. / have
to say that | have purchased no such
lands at all. With others, l have only
agreed to purchase them in case the con-
templated purchase shall receive. the
sanction and appreciation of the Presi-
dent; and this. IN nay opinion, is ma
terial and substantial difference. Until
the President. by his appreciation, and
the vendors by the execution of their
deeds consummate the contract, it pre-
cludes US from amy interest in the land,
and even the privilege of entering upon,
or possessing it. Vendors and yendees,
until then. preserve all their rights un-
changed and unaffected and if the Pres
ident shall not assent to the contracts, it
viii be the same as though they had
never been made. If there is any wrong
in the mater, it is not wrong commit
ted, but at most only wrong attempted,
and in the face of all probability, awrong
which we expected to be sanctioned by
the President.
The papers were submitted by us to
the President, OH the - day of Janu-
ary last for his approval, and as the gov
ernment have been, for years past, in The
habit of approving similar contracts, We
did not apprehend any difficulty what
ever. They were referred to the Indian
Bureau, and the commissioner reported
adversely to the confirmation, alleging
that the vendors had no right to SELL
that there was no evidence of their COM
potency 10 manage their own affairs
that there was no evidence produced by
US of the value of the land-that the
transaction had not been brought to the
notice of the Indian agent-that no certi-
ficate was presented to the President to
prove the official character of an officer
whom the President himself had appoint
ed-andthat the purchase money which
was to b. paid in cash when the deed was
made had not been sufficiently secured
and that, in the opinion of the COM
missioner, the contract was demoralizing
and disgraceful. Whether the last rea-
son was based upon the assumption Of
actual fraud in the contract or upon the
commissioners idea that public officers
had noright TO purchase. confess have
never been able, after careful examina-
ton of the report, to discover.
Upon receiving this report, the Presi-
dent on the - day of January, with
out rejection or approval, ordered the
papers to be returned, doubtless with
view to enable US to supply the formal
deficiencies demanded by business regu-
lations of the department, of which we
had been ignorant. We inferred, of
course, that the last reason above was
not concurred in by the President. or he
would at once have disapproved the con-
tracts and terminated the whole proceed
ing.
We proceeded to supply the formal
Deficiencies, and in the beginning Of May
last, again laid the papers before the
President, with an argument and brief
from myself, 10 prove from the opinions
of Attorneys General, and the decisions
of the Supreme Court, that the vendors
had a right to sell, depositions proving /
their identity, their competency to man
age their own affairs, and the value of
the land-proof that the matter had been
brought 10 the notice of the Indian
Agent, and that he had made no objec-
tion; to which l add now my own asser-
ton, that l distinctly stated to him that
we had agreed topurchsse one tract, and
would endeayor to contract for others; /
and although Mr.. Clarke denies. in a
general way, that the matter was brought
before him, he is contradicied by my al
legation aud the deposition of disinier-
ested witness.
These papers were not acted on By the
President up to the 25th May, and have
no knovledge that they have been acted /