The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1858-04-03

final certified lists Of The Department AaOing the
force of patents etc." So that as far as the
same points have been presented to Attorney
Genl. BLACK and Commissioner HENDRl cKs,
they both concur .-h
The attempt to construe the opinion of At
General BLACK so as to cover point which
it does not decide, betrays a want of candor
and nervous desire to conceal the truth
from the public
Whilst the bungling attack on the deci
sion of a high and competent official, Mr..
HRNDaIcKs, is unfair and unmanly.
Mr.. HENDRICKS decision decides the point,
until his decision is reversed by higher au-
thority; and for the present must be deemed
the official construction of the law. The
boast that this point will be taken to the U.
S. Supreme Court, shows that this difficulty
has been well understood by the Companies,
and that this decision was known to them );
and they stand convicted of conceaIing the
truth from the people and the Legislature,
and asserting through their agents, that the
roads were entitled to l2O sections of land in
advance of construction, when they k',ep that
the General Land Office at Washington had
decided to the contrary.
A Law suit IN the Supreme Court is not the
SECURITY that the legislature bargained for,
nor what the people had u right to expect
from the assertions Of these companies.
The manner in which, and verbiage with
which the Pioneer and Democrat disposes of
Mr.. HENDRICKS stunning decision, is ludi-
crous.
A decision made in the discharge Of his
official duty in January, 1o57-upen the 4th
section of the Iowa land grant, which is pre-
csely, word for word, the same as the 4th
section of the Minnesota land grant acts
termed hasty note in which he "assumes, u
'thinks it PLAIN" that the lands authorized to
be sold, must be opposite the completed por-
ton" Here-say the learned editors of that
Journal or their locum tenens-Mr. HEN
BRICKS was in error and is fatty contra
dicted by newspaper statements" which they
had seen! Mr.. HENDRICKS should have con
suited these learned gentlemen and examined
these statements, before he ''assumed" to think
the act of Congress was plain, and to rashly
act upon his own Judgment
Having thus disposed of Mr.. HENDRICKS
and reduced him to his proper level, the Pho
neer and Democrat writer concludes by re.
marking, in the style of the celebrated coup
py'' in DICKENS novel of Bleak House
we'll, cts of no consequence" the security
is great deal better without the lands thar
with them! Whether we have got the lands
ornot lis not of much practical Importance,
-"the lands are locked up from sale much lon
ger than soe expected" $50 much the better tol
the State" "Ihey are conveyed aad held tt
prooide for the bonds when they mature yfftee'
or t,otaaty gears hence to secure sinking fu,ad.
DID it not occur to the learned jour- a
that if the road is not constructed, the land
rereH to the United States in ten years p
And what becomes of the foreclosure of tina
mortgage in case of default in payment of in
terest? What will the first mortgage bond
be worth, if the lands are locked up from sal
so much longer than aoe erpeeted? We arr
afraid, in the language of Guppy, we shall
have to fall back on the nett profits of thu
embankments which are soon to be construct
ed over our praires, and that the STAT
nc,-rs ill nr9ve the ;'!Sirhimn fund" tn whirl
we are referred to so clearly and satisfactorily