The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-01-27
General 1pteiiigeqce.

General 1qteHigeqce.
From the Parkrille Luminary.
Rights of Settlers.
KANSAS TERRITORY, Jan. s, 1856.
EDrToRs LUMINARY Il notice in the
/" Herald of Freedom " of the 9Th inst,
extracts from letters written by Gov.
Reeder and Chief Justice Lecompte, and
remarks thereon by some other person /;
all in reference to the rights of settlers on
unsurYeyed lands in Kansas Territory.
am somewhat surprised at some of
the positions taken in that discussion !;
and if those of us who have settled in
good faith on the unsurveyed lands have
no rights that can be protected, the
sooner the fact is known the better-that
those at distance, who are now making
arrangements, at a great sacrifice, to seek
new homes in this central garden of
America, may act accordingly. On the
other hand, if we have any legal rights,
and do not understand their nature and
extent, it is due to us. as pioneers of the
country, that the Commissioner of the
General Land Office should Immediately
issue circular clearly defining those
rights in plain and simple language, that
we can all understand. In the mean time,
if you see fit to publish my views on the
subject, as contained in the following pa
per, your readers can take them at what
they are worth.
The instructions from the Commissioner
of the General Land Office, dated Sept
Is, 184l, saying that "no pre-emption
right exists by reason of a settlement on,
and inhabitancy of tract, unless at the
date of such settlement the Indian title
thereto had been extinguished, and the
land surveyed by the United States" do
not now apply to Kansas Territory. They
are superseded by law of Congress,
dated July "a, 1854, which provides
that uasureeyed lands may be claimed
by pre-emption, by filing notice of the
specific tract claimed with the Surveyor
General, within three months after the
survey has been made in the field, and
by paying for the tract claimed before
the day fixed for the public sale of the
lands by the proclamation of the Presi-
dent of the United States. 1t certainly
seems to me, that if the act of 1854, re-
ferred to, means anything, it gives the
citizens of Kansas similar right, now,
to claim ansuroeyed land by pre-emption,
as formerly existed in reference to sur-
geyed lands. If it is not the intent of the
law to lay uasurveyed lands open for pre-
emption, what sense is there In provid-
ing, "when uasuryeyed lands are claim
ed by pre-emption,' that specifications
must be fled and payment made, if a
claim by pre-emption did not attach to
unsurveyed lands @
But without prolonging this article by
quoting statutes, it appears to me that, if
all the laws and the instructions from the
General Land Office, bearing on this
point, are carefully compared and analy-
zed, they amount to simple contract be-
tween the government on the one side,
and the settler on the other. Each party
is to perform certain conditions specified
in the contract This contract requires,
on the part of the settler, that he shall be
the first actual occupant of the unappro-
priated and uasuroeyed tract of land
claimed--tflat he shall continue his res
idence thereon, whilst he is fulfilling the
conditions of the contrae:-that he shall
file with the Surveyor General a specif-
cation of the land claimed, within three
months after the survey has been made in
the field-that he shall pay the Receiver
of the Land Office 81 25 per acre for the
land claimed, prior to the day of public
sale, as fixed by the proclamation of the
President of the United States. Such
are the conditions required ON the part of
the settler. In consideration of the full
| fillment of these conditions, the govern
ment agrees to give him good and valid
title to certain tract of land, in one COM
pact body, amounting to l60 acres, to be
the land on which his dwelling g-house is
located, and that next adjacent thereto,
embracing either one entire quarter Sec
ton, or legal subdivision taken from two
or more quarter sections.
This contract is deduced, as l have be-
fore nntimated, from the several pre-emp-
ton acts, and the instructions from the
General Land Office thereon and, if /
have not mistaken the correct analysis OF
these documents, the conditions of the
contract stand substantially as | have
stated them. This contract was sign
ed by the government at the time the
/ statutes were issued. 1t was signed
lby the settler at the time he made his
residence on the unsuryeyed and uneccu-
pied tract of land. Here, then, ne have
an agreement signed by the two contract
ling parties, with specific conditions en-
Joined on each and it is quite evident
that, in making this contract, the govern
ment intended to sell the Iti1 acres oi
soil. with all the natural appendages. such
as timber, stones, and grass, with il.
| This seems to me like real transac-
ton, made in good faith on the part O
the government and that it confers OF
the settler an absolute, positive propert,
right to the full amount that the specifs
tract OF land claimed is worth TO him
over and above 81 90 per acre that j
also confers on him the right to have
and to hold, in preference 70 any othel
person, the said tract of land, with al
the timber. grass. and rocks belonging
thereto and also the right to obtain, i
preference TO any one else, good title t.
said land, by paying 81 25 per acre be
fore specified time. And furthermore
these rights begin at the time the settler
Icommences his residence on the land, and
REMAIN permanent If he performs his par