Arizona republican., 1894-04-01
LAND GRANT& Effect of the Decisions
 of Friday. Peralta-ReaViS Spanish
 Castles. Another and Different Problem
 to Be Solved. A Question to Be Solved by the Records of Another Century
 and Continent.

The decision Ot the land court Tn the San Rafael, Nogales, Barbacomarl and Sonoita grant cases was the subject of much comment and perhaps a little surprise yesterday as there had been an opinion not we'll founded however that the court had been created for the con- firmation of these grants.
 General Churchill who returned from Tucson yesterday was seen by REPUB- L1cAN reporter with reference to the de- cision. Before passing to it the general alluding to the court said:
 "I am very much pleased with the court; it is body of the greatest dig nity and the judges are men of deep learning, long experience and are labor ing industriously to discharge their duties faithfully.
 "Of course in rendering their decision in the cases brought before them their action was necessarily based on the evidence adduced and the law applica- ble to the facts presented to the court in each particular case and hence the rejection of the claims presented to 1t in the cases decided yesterday cannot be taken as foreshadowing that the court will in any future case decide in similar way unless the evidence presented in such future case shall be the same in all respects as that in the cases before referred to.
 ''It will be very erroneous for people to assume that because certain claims have been rejected that the court has acted from any sentiment or prejudice against this class of private claims to private lands, but solely upon the evidence or lack of evidence introduced to support the petitions of claimants"
 "Do you think" asked the reporter, "that the decisions in the cases already passed upon indicate in any manner what the court will do in reference to the Peralta-Reavis claim ?''
 'No, do not" replied the general, "except in so far as the decision already rendered clearly shows that the court is fully competent to grasp the situation and will diligently and fearlessly per form it's duty without fear or favor. The pretended Peralta grant is alleged by the present claimants to have been made by the king of Spain prior to the Mexican revolution and at time when the public lands lying within the ter ritory covered by the claim were the property of the crown and the king had power to sell and dispose of the lands {; but those who contest the case will con- tend that no such grant was ever made by the king, and that the papers which the claimants pretend constitute their evidence that such grant was made are not genuine and were never executed by the king--mere fabricat1ons without any authority from the crown of Spain :; hence the issue in the Peralta case will be one of facts in the first instance, viz whether these papers are genuine or forgeries. and also if it should appear that the papers were really genuine and issued by the crown as alleged, whether the lands granted were actually located prior to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidal- go and the treaty known as the Gadsden purchase; because even if the formal grant shall be shown to have been made to Peralta in 1746 as alleged by the petitioners, that fact wouldn't en- title the grantee and his successors in interest to have his claim confirmed by this land court unless it should appear to the court that the lands in question were located prior to the date of those treaties whereby these lands were ceded by the government of Mexico to the United States.
 "You will therefor see that there will be quite difference between the issues to be tried in the Peralta case and that in the cases of the San Rafael del Valle, the Sonoita grants and the others dis posed of yesterday. The papers of fered by the clients in these latter cases