The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-12-12


cccarod for the last two days 10 the
discussion Of q question of great interest
in itscif. sroHl the somewhat novel points
that are involved "a 1t Of the highest inte-
rec, to the people Of one Of the Ststcs Of this
Union, and Of considerable interest to the people
o. all the other States; because it, decision VIII
rtat ish precedent to cavern future cases Q,
The impeachment Of Ju igeA The question l.
vtcl er the Hon. John C W,%rous, Dl'Mlc'
Jud; of the United States for the District OF
Tcxss, shall or shall not be lmpeached o. high
crimes ard misdemeanorH The o,e will, very
riobal ly, come before th Senate tn United
States for trial, and WILL therefore, occupy cons d.
cradle public attention for some time TO come To
enable cur readers to understand its merits we
will lay before them brief statement OF the
case, as presented.
John C. Watr0us was the first United States
District Judge for the district of Texas. He was
appointed by President Polk Immediately after
he admission of that State into the Union. He
was originally from Alabama, and had been for
some time in the practice OF the law in Texas be-
ore her admission. Prior to his appointment as
Judge he had made some speculations in land
With those the present case has nothing to do;
but while he was on the bench he became inte-
rested, with a number Of persons in Texas and
Alabama, in large tract Of land lying to the
l.ft Of the DrazOs river. The mode of his becom-
ing interested was this
There was a certain Thomas NJ. League resid-
ing in Galveston, Texas. who had realized largely
by speculations in land, tho claims to which for
the most part were derived from Mexican grants.
These grants. or at least documents purporting
to be certificates of grants, could be had at
the time, on the most reasonable terms,
from Mexican dictionaries on the other side OF
the Rio Grande. A grant Of a league Of land
some marks Of authenticity, as far as seals and
signatures went-whether genuine OF not-were
sold by Mexican notares or regidors, and bought
up cheap by the early settlers and spectators.
This Thomas M. League mentioned on one Oc-
casion to Judge Watrous that he knew of spleIl-
did chance to make money in the purchase of a
tract of land eleven leagues square, and that the
only difficulty with him was the absence of ne
cessaiy funds In fact, he had already made
the purchase, but as tn terms were the payment,
within "A few weeks, OF some 81 900 in cash, he
was anxious to let others, who had that amount
of money to advance, share in the advantages of
The speculation. The Judge bethought himself
on the instant of certain moneyed friends of his,
who were living in Selma, Alabama, aud who he
supposed would be glad to go into that sort of a
speculation. They were communicated with, and
eagerly jumped at the offer; but 6rst they sent
one or two persons Of experience into Texas to
examine the land and to inquire into the title.
The report of these persons being satisfactory,
the business was closed. League and Watrous
proceeded TO Selma, where they met with their
friends, and League, who had already had the
title vested in him, conveyed it to John Lapsley,
OF Selma, in trust for all the partners The Ala
bama people furnished the purchase moaey,
which was paid over to one Mrs. st. John, by
whom the title was made to League. AZ to
League himself, and Judge Watrous, who were to
have an equal fhare In the property, their portion
of the consideration money was m In other
words, they gave their joint note for their share,
payable five years after date, and Of which not a
dollar has ever since been paid or asked. This
transaction took place in the month OF July,
1850.
The title under which Mrs. ST. John claimed to
hold this property was a deed or concession
made several years before by the government of
Coahuila and Texas to three persons, named re-
spectively Rafael de Agurre, Jose Maria de
Aguirre and Tomas dc la Vega. Each of them
received concession Of eleven Leagues Of land
the one document covering the whole thirty
three leagues. The grant in question in this
case was that made to La Vega
At the time this property, or the apparent
title to IL, passed into the hands Of LapsIey,
League, Watrous and their associates, there
were already some dozen or scores Of settlers
upon il who had located there, for the most part
under land warrants for military service. IL be-
came necessary to dispossess them or to get
them to acknowledge the Lapsley title. They re-
fised to give up possession, or TO recognize the
title Of Lapsley, asserting that this pretended
concession Of thirty-three leagues from the go
~
and that no such grant had ever been made.
Then suits were brought against them. Where
In Judge watsous' Court. Why theres Because
the person in whom the apparent title was vested
was not a citizen Of the State of Texas, and was
not, therefore, compelled to sue in the State
courts, but had right to sue in the federal
courts. This it will be seen, was very skilfully
arranged, and Is asserted to have been part of the
plot or conspiracy which was at the foundation
of the whole business At this time there was
such a prejudice in the minds Of the people OF
Texas against the swarm Of land grants purport.
ing to have been made by the old Mexican go
vernments that nothing but the very clearest
and most irrefragable testimony of their genuine.
ness would prevail with q Texas jury and
therefore II was Of the last Importance 10 have
the case tried elsewhere.