Arizona citizen., 1879-01-25
THE CITIZEN
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9. 1879.
land Grants.


 dressed the body in support of his
 memorial to Congress relative to Span.
 ish or Mexican land grants. Here is
 the speech as far as we are able to
 make room:
 1 come, Sir. from a section of cOun-
 try mure particularly affected by the
 pretended locations of such Grants
 than any other DOl ltion of our Terri
 tory It is a we'll known fact, that set
 tier. living on the Santa Cruz, have
 had their lands surveyed by authority
 of the Survey0r-General ol the Terri
 tory, and their claims passed through
 his office, aS beng on United States
 public lands, but, on application "f ihe
 settler for a Patent, through the United
 States Registry Office at Florence. he
 was refused because the Register said
 he was located on private land grant
 Now, Sir, what rlghI had the Register
 of Public Lands to refuse to pass the
 settlers claim when the maps and all
 the data in lhe Surveyor-General's Of
 flee showed the claim lu be on the
 public lands? This IS but one instance
 of this kind of hardship which the
 settler Is put Co OG account of the un
 settled titles to the public lands, and
 there will be many more. l have been
 told, Sir, by good authority, that the
 same Register of Public Lands has said that he will pass neither settlers nor miners applications for a Patent
 along ihe Santa Cruz Valley. nor m
 e1, .,,,. ,,F, h.. l.. s- Al
 vaca estate; and on the ground that he being an interested party, and claim
 ing iO own the 50 called Arivaca Grant, and interested in other pretended claims to lands whica lie In Ihe Santa CIuZ Valley. How he became interested in all these so-called grants, Is only eX- plained un the hypothesis that there Is ring formed to steal all the lands ls- jug along the Santa Cruz and other valuable localities, by plastering there on sume fraudulent grant, that is in reality not worth the paper it Is writ ten on It is the old California land stealing game over d ain. How such men are retained in office, Is tO me very strange in this age of reform, when thIir conduct makes them a burning shame and disgrace to the Ad- ministration and an insult Co the people of the Territory
 l will pass from this point tO an- other. and that is the validity of ihe so called grants. have investigated lhe titles tu nearly all of them, and In all my researches 1 have been unable [" ind a single valid claim among them hence, most emphatlcally declare that il is my firm and cuDscIentiuus belief that there ls not one foot of valid Span isr; or Mexican land grant in all the Territory acquired by the United States from Mexico, by what Is known as the Gadsden Treaty, ratified by the Presi- dent of the United States, June 29, 1851. In the sixth article Of that Treaty, it is expressly set forth that NOI grants of land ithin the territory, l ceded by the first Article of this Treaty, l bearing date subsequent tO the day S-l twenly-fiflh of eLtembeT-(when the l Minister, and subscriber this Treaty i on part of the United States, proposed | 10 the Government of Mexico, to terni- | nate the question of bOundarV) will De I considered valid or be iecOgnIZed by the United Stales, nor will any grants | made prevInusly be respected or con | sldered as obligatory, which have not 1 been located and duly recorded in the | archives of MeXico" That is the plain | language of the treaty made between | two friendly nations. Now, what was t meant by the phrase, which have not been located and duly recorded In | the archives of MeXicO:" IL admits of but one interpretation, and that is { such grants of lands must be located | and recorded in the archives of Mex ! ico m the manner prescribed hy law l. of the National Government of Ihe Republic of Mexico passed in 1922, f which declared all public lands with in the limits of the Republic tO be Ihe property of the Government, and d law which required all grants of lands made from the public dumain, either | by the General Government or by the | Governors of lhe different States, 10 be | filed fur record in the National archives | at the Capital within one year from the date of the gift: and the record had tn include the dls>uena, map and profile | drawing of the said grant; and if the | requirements of thls law were not com | piled with, all such grants or gif $ I were considered by the Mexican Gov | ernment to be aOS lu,elv worthless | Now, sir, 1t was with full understand I ing of the law which 1 have quoted ] that the sixth article Of the Gad,Grn | treaty was made. MT. Gadsdcn on the . part of lhe United States, and three distinguished legal gentlemen, citizens ! of Mexico. who negotiated the treaty, . all knew that Il Was necessary in order | for a grant or claim 10 be valid iti must be of record iu the National II archives of Mexico, and must be duly located. IL is asserted by some that IL means any record either of Sonora or Arizona If that be the case, why did l not the treaty say so? Sonora, where II is claimed there are sume records relative lo grants of land in Arizona, was not party to the treaty at all It was treaty between two Nations; and, sir, know of no higher law than Ii a treaty. Under our Constitution It is declared 10 be a part of the supreme law of the land, oyerrding Siale or Territorial legislation when in conflict with it. Now, sir. what Is the history 4. of the title 10 these so-called grants |? Let us look al that little. On the 3d day of February, 1873, the United States Senate passed resolution call ing upon the President of rhe United States to transmit to them all informa- , ton in the State Department at Wash ingion relative to the title of ihe SO- called Spanish and Mexican land grants. Acting upon a sirict con>truc- Il n of lhe Gsd>den treaty, he caused the Secretary of State to send a request 10 the American Minister in Mexico to request permission tO examine the J archives and ascertain if any such "a grants of land were of record Per was granted 10 search Ihe records, and Mir R c. Hopkins of San one of the best Spanish !