The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-07-29


freely told to his associates
At the same time, Mr. Mathpr was unwilling
to make an Improbable journey to Minnesota.
1t somehow happened, as can be best explained
by the Secretary of War; that that officer was sud-
denly struck with the rare merits of Mr.. Mather
and that Mather received from him a commits
sion, first to make an examination of Fort Rips
ley, with a view of bringing it to sale, and then
commission to sell it; his first commission
being dated just one day after the commission to
Heiskell and Eastman Thus Fort Smelling was
/ thrown in the way of Mr. Mather's duties He
| was, accordingly, present with Graham and
Steele when this important reservation was
silently sold, himself preparing the first written
| agreement for the sale. 1t was not used, how
ever, for Heiskell testifes that he afterwards
used nearly quire of paper in getting it into
proper form. At the time of the sale the survey
was incomplete. This important public duty
was dashed off in two or three days after Mr..
| Helskell met Major Eastman. The progress of
1t was unknown to everybody. The transaction
was complete, without the knowledge of any off,
Ger at the post, or of any person of the neigh
borhood, except Mr.. Rice, in the midst Of that
populous community, feverish vita speculation,
and anxious for an interest in the rich lands
surrounding Fort Smelling. The transaction was
extraordinary and shameless. Mather returned,
and soon after obtained, from the Department
| information that the sale had been confirmed
and telegraphed so to Steele. The manner and
circumstances of sale are the more remarkable
| from the attention of the Secretary of War hav-
ing been frequently called by letters to the great
| value of the reservation, and the general inter-
| est to buy in it. 1t is not known that any an
swers to these various letters were received from
| the War Department These facts have been re-
| ferred to, because they have been deemed neces-
| sary as means of explaining the conclusions to
which the committee has come.
From what has already been said it is plain
| that under the acts of Congress of 1919 and
1857, which have been referred to- the sale of this
reservation was utterly without authority of law
But, in the judgment of the committee, it has
| been deemed no less a fault-indeed has been
regarded by the committee as a grave official
| fault-that the Secretary of War should have
attempted the sale without first consulting with
| persons in superior military command and con-
nected with the defence of this most dangerous
| frontier, and one that so freshly had been the
scene of Indian atrocities unknown in the recent
settlement of any part of the West But yet it
was unknown to any officer of the whole service,
until Fort Smelling had been silently sod in this
manner, from under their very feet. The COM
| mittee does not attempt to bring in question his
superior authority all matters in his Depart
ment, but yet his duties are esteemed principally
| administrative, and rather civil than military.
| The arrangement of the public defences must be
| made and kept up on system, and the details of
| defence must be supervised by persons in actual
military service. The carelessness of the Secre-
| tary of War, in this instance, is shown in the
fact, that while under his authority the sale OF
Fort Smelling and the reservation was being
made, under the same authority, by his own
authority, the first officer in command under Gen.
Scott was at the same time in Minnesota in
the midst of thousands of unfriendly Indians,
reinforcing one post re-establishing another, and
/ L..
on Fort Smelling But this subject has already
been examined by the committee, in its views
already submitted, and shall not press it further
The next subject is the fitness and competency
of the commissioners appointed to make the sale.
The gentleman from Kentucky Mr.. BURNETT has
done the committee injustice in supposing it in
tended to wrong the good name of Major East
man. Nothing of the kind has been meant or
said. The utmost complaint against him was
his extreme unfitness for the particular duty he
was acting in, in no manner questioning his good
conduct and ability in his proper province of
duty But he was out of place. He confessed
it and the objection is not to Major Eastman
for performing duty to which he had been COM
manded by his superior, but against the Secre-
tary OF War for not selecting agents qualified for
this particular office, and having the rare ability
under the necessities of the occasion of provi-
ding that the public interest should not suffer
Perhaps, as much might be said of the merit of
Mr.. Heiskell, though he seems to have acted
without any definite purposes of good or evil.
1t was a weakness in Major Eastman after hav-
ing stated in his official report that the over
flowed lands along the rivers were of no value
to wish to buy afterwards, on the same river
shore, city blocks of half dozen acres at thou
sands of dollars. But the committee has ingen-
uously allowed for the contagious speculation
that afterwards caught him, and does not in any
manner ascribe this act to considerations affect
ing the propriety of his conduct at the time of
the sale. Mr.. Heskell is not to be described
1t is true, as shown by the evidence, that the
Secretary of War appointed, to make sale of
valuable public property, worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars, two commissioners, who
did not even know the law under which they
acted, the manner of subdividing and making
sales of public lands, and the minutie of bust
ness in this department, indispensable to rea-
sonable performance of their duty. They accord
ingly first sold the Fort Smelling reservation, of
several thousand acres in bulk, when they were
only authorized to sell in the well-known legal
subdivisions of forties, eighties, and quarters.
They made this extraordinary sale on time, and
reported to the Secretary of War the ability of
Mr.. Steele to give security, when the law allowed
the sale to be made for cash only.
The law demanded publicity as first cond-
ton of the sale but they sold secretly and with
out advertising, and, with studied purpose, hid
the transaction for weeks from the community
living in the neighborhood, most anxious and
most interested and altogether unknown, until
the meritorous Mather telegraphed the confrma-
ton of it by the Secretary of War to Steele, to
the establishment of Minneapolis, st. Paul and
st. Anthony. They sold with the agreement that
the Government should make deed " on the
payment of the first instalment, when the law
expressly forbade it, except the full and final
payment of the purchase-money. Steele dis
claimed that he had any claim as presumption
err legal or equitable but the commissioners
had extraordinary reasons for treating him as
such, and for that cause preferred him as the
purchaser of the whole reservation. The pre-
emption law forfeits every pre-emption right
where settlement on the land ceases, or where
it has been sold But the commissioners wit
messed a pretended transaction, in violation of
this lust law between Mckenzie and Steele, and
reported the fact to the Secretary of War as
consideration for confirming the sale, because
Mckenzie would then have no claim upon the
Government when, in fact, Mckenzie was with
out such claim, and when, in fact, no such
arrangement as had been reported had been
made They even innocently believed that
presumption right lawfully extended over thou
sand acres, and perhaps indefinitely. The gentle
man from Kentucky Mr.. BURNETT says no" to
this, and quotes the statement of the committee
as one of two blunders he has been pleased to
impute to me as the organ of the committee in
expressing its opinions in the report. l respect
fully submit that that usually cautious gentle
man is himself mistaken, and in proof of it
quote confidently from the report of the sale made
| by the commissioners to the Secretary of War
upon questioning Mr.. Steele, he very frankly
said that he did not go on the reservation,
neither did he make or purchase improvements
upon the same, with the expectation of having
| the presumption right extended to him and we