grant; it was only necessary to record "the orginal grant or patent, together with the warrant, or order of survey, and the plat. Their evidence or deeds were to be deposited with the register or recorder, to be laid before the board of commissioners, for the creation of which the act also provided. It declared that two persons, to be appointed by the president for each district of the territory of Orleans should, together with the register or recorder of the district, be commissioners for the purpose of ascertaining, within their respective districts, the rights of persons claiming under any French or Spanish grant, or by the incomplete titles mentioned. The board, or a majority of its members, was authorized to hear and decide, in a summary manner, all matters respecting the claims presented to them; to administer oaths, compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of the public records in which grants of land, warrants, or orders of survey, or other evidences of claims to land, derived from the French or Spanish governments were recorded; to take transcripts of them or any part of them, and to have access to all other records of a public nature, relating to the granting, sale, or transfer of land; and to decide, in a summary way, according to justice and equity, on all claims filed with the register or recorder, in conformity with the act, and on all complete French or Spanish grants, the evidence of which, though not thus filed, might be found on the public records of such grants; and that their decisions should be laid before congress, and be subject to its determination.

For this latter purpose the clerk of the commissioners was required to prepare two transcripts of the decisions in favor of the claimants, each to be signed by a majority of the commissioners, one of which was to be transmitted to the surveyor general of the district, and the other to the secretary of the treasury. And the commissioners were required to make to the secretary a report of the claims rejected, with the evidence offered in their support; and he was required to lay the transcripts and reports before congress at its next session. Under the act the claimants of the Houmas tract delivered to the register of the land-office at New Orleans notices of their respective claims to the land which they asserted was covered by the grant to Maurice Conway 'made by Gov. Galvez, June 21, 1777; Donaldson and Scott to the upper subdivision, Daniel Clark to the middle subdivision, and William Conway to the lower one. Each of these claimants deduced his title from Maurice Conway, and accompanied his notice with a plat of a survey by one Lafon, to whom reference is made above. These plats do not purport to have been prepared entirely from his own surveys, but chiefly by reliance upon the surveys of others. In the certificate given to Donaldson and Scott, which bears date December 28, 1804, he describes himself as a surveyor commissioned by Gov. Claiborne, though not for any particular survey, and certifies to the plat from a survey made by Marriner and from measurements by himself on the river Iberville. In the certificate given to Daniel Clark, which bears date September 25, 1805, he certifies from surveys of Marriner and measurements of his own on the river Amite and environs of Galveston, a village on that river. In the certificate to William Conway, which bears date February 20, 1806, he describes himself as deputized by one Isaac Briggs, surveyor general of lands south of Tennessee, and certifies to the plat from surveys executed by Andry in 1804, and by himself on the river Amite in 1803. These plats cover all the land embraced within the lines of the original purchase by Conway and Latil from the Indian tribes in 1774, extended back, not only so as include the additional arpents surveyed by Andry in 1776, and granted by Gov. Galvez in 1777, but all the lands beyond these to the limits of the Spanish possessions, several miles distant from the river, and embracing over 180,000 acres. They possess no official character, and have no greater effect as evidence than any private surveys made at the request of claimants. The notices of the claims thus delivered to the register of the land-office were by him laid before the board of commissioners. The board confirmed the claims, following in its de

cree the description of the land given by the claimants, but not referring to the plat of Lafon. The notice of the claim of William Conway was presented to the board February 28, 1806, and is as follows:

"Notice of the Claim of William Conway, of the County of Acadia, in the Eastern District of the Territory of Orleans.

"William Conway claims a tract of land situated in the county aforesaid, at the place called Houmas, on the left bank of the Mississippi, containing twenty-two and a half arpents in front on said river, with an opening towards the rear of 60 degrees and 45 minutes, the upper line running N. 9 deg. 15 E., three hundred and fifty-one arpents, and the lower line directed N. 70 deg. E., and measuring four hundred and fifty-five arpents; bounded on the upper side by Daniel Clark, and on the lower by Simon Laneau, as more fully described in the annexed plat, executed by Bartholomew Lafon, deputy surveyor, dated February 20, 1806.

"Part of said land, that is to say, seventeen arpents front, were originally granted with a greater quantity by the Spanish government to Maurice Conway, by virtue of a complete title issued on the twenty-first day of June, 1777, as per document No. 1, and the same conveyed to the claimant by the grantee aforesaid on the twenty-seventh day of October, 1786, as per document No. 2. "And the five and a half arpents remaining to the complement of the 221 aforesaid were transferred to the claimant on the twenty-seventh day of March, 1781, by Pierre Part, who had purchased the same at the public sale made before Louis Joudice, commandant of the parish of La Fourche, of the estate of the late Joachim Mire, (alias Belony,) on the seventh day of December, 1788, as it evidently appears by the authenticated document hereunto annexed, No. 3.'

"It is to be observed that, although the deed of conveyance of Maurice Conway aforesaid contains 27 arpents front, the claimant only possesses seventeen, having disposed of the other ten in favor of Daniel Clark.

"WILLIAM CONWAY."

The decree of confirmation was made by the board on the third of March, 1806, and is as follows:

"No. 125. W. CONWAY.

"MONDAY, March 3, 1806. "William Conway, aforesaid, claims a tract of land situated in the county of Acadia, aforesaid, at a place called Houmas, on the left bank of the Mississippi, containing twenty-two and a half arpents in front, with an opening towards the rear of sixty degrees, forty-five minutes, the upper line running N. 9 deg. 15 min. E., three hundred and fifty-one arpents, and the lower line directed N. 70 deg. E., and measuring four hundred and fifty-five arpents; bounded on the upper side by Daniel Clark's land, and on the lower side by land of Simon Laneau; it appearing to the board from a patent or complete title exhibited that seventeen arpents of front were, together with a greater quantity, granted by the Spanish government to Maurice Conway, June 21, 1777; and it appearing that the five and a half arpents of front remaining of the land aforesaid were purchased by Pierre Part at the public sale of the estate of the late Joachim Mire, (alias Belony,) on the seventh day of December, 1788; and it further appearing to the board from two several instruments of conveyance offered in testimony that the two tracts of land, aforesaid, have been conveyed to the present claimant, the board do hereby confirm his claim, aforesaid."

The confirmation of the claims of Donaldson and Scott and of Daniel Clark was substantially in the same form, differing only as to the lines withir which it was alleged the lands lay. The claims were respectively designated

as No. 133 and No. 127.

The decisions were made before one of the commissioners had become a member of the board, and as soon as he qualified he dissented from them. This fact will be important in considering the effect of legislative confirmation in 1858. As required by the act of 1805, a transcript of the favorable decisions rendered by the commissioners, including these three, was duly forwarded to the secretary, who, in January, 1812, transmitted the same to congress. The decisions themselves were merely an expression of opinion by the commissioners. They had no effect upon the title of the claimants until approved by congress. Until then they amounted only to a recommendation of their favorable consideration by the government. No recognition of them by congress was made until the passage of the act of June 2, 1858, of which we shall hereafter speak. In the mean time efforts were constantly made to procure a recognition of their validity by the officers of the land dapartment, but without success, except in one instance—that by Secretary Bibb, in 1844. With that exception, and the decision of the two land commissioners, no officer of the government has ever recognized the validity of the grant by Gov. Galvez to the extent claimed by Conway and parties deducing their interest from him.

On the fourteenth of January, 1829, the surveyor general of Mississippi, ex officio surveyor general of Louisiana, addressed a communication to the commissioner of the general land-office, inclosing a rough plat of the Houmas grant, showing its locality, the extent of land claimed, and its interference with other grants of the Spanish government. In it he stated that previously and subsequently to the date of the grant the Spanish authorities had made other grants to a number of individuals within the limits alleged to be covered by the claim of Conway, and that he believed no pretension to the present limits was made until after the right to the land had vested in the United States. He also stated as another reason why the grant could not be extended to the Amite river, that neither the petition of Conway, the decree of the governor, or the proceedings of the surveyor called for or exhibited any such boundaries; and that it was well known to be the custom of the Spanish surveyors, in all cases where a grant called for specific boundaries, to ex hibit them in a plat of survey. He then considered where the boundaries were to be established, and he suggested that if we were to be governed by the customs of the Spanish government, we should run off such a depth as would extend the upper line until it intercepted an older grant. This he was of opinion would strictly conform to the decree of the Spanish governor, although it would not give the claim a depth of 80 arpents, which he thought was designed, if the land was found to be vacant. He then asked instructions to guide him, as surveyors were engaged in the immediate vicinity of the grant.. To this communication the commissioner of the general landoffice replied, under date of February 17, 1829, expressing the opinion that the grant made by Galvez in 1777 was so vague in its terms, both as to boundary and quantity, that it would be indispensably necessary for courts of justice to interfere for the purpose of defining and designating both; that the claim set up to all the vacant land which might be embraced between the northern and southern boundary of the original grant, if it were extended in the course called for, led to such absurdities that he thought it impossible that the courts could sanction it; that the object for which the grant was asked and obtained would, therefore, be the leading consideration on which the courts would probably decide the question; and, in so deciding, they might possibly confine the grant either to the limits of the survey actually made by Andry, or to 80 arpents, the usual extent granted when the front grant was deficient in timber, or to the distance of one league and a half, as requested in the petition; and that, if this last limitation was adopted, full scope would be given to the court to exercise its discretion; and if the grant could be adjudged to exceed these limits, it must extend to the utmost boundary of

Louisiana. He therefore decided that a league and a half should not be open to entry, and gave instructions accordingly. Lands beyond that depth were therefore treated as public lands, and numerous entries of them were made at the district land-office.

Before this correspondence between the surveyor general and the land commissioner, Gen. Wade Hampton, of South Carolina, had acquired title to the claim made by Donaldson and Scott, and to that of Clarke; and, he having died, his heirs, through J. S. Preston, one of them, in June, 1836, applied to the land-office for a patent, and requested, if it could not be granted, that the land within the claims should be withheld from sale, and that patents should not be issued for the parcels already sold. To this application the commissioner, Mr. Ethan A. Brown, replied, addressing his communication to a senator from Louisiana, through whom the application was presented, stating that, inasmuch as he did not consider the claims, to the extent insisted on before the board of commissioners, recognized by the United States, the office could not issue a patent therefor; but as the law did not authorize the sale of any lands, the claim to which was filed with the commissioners for investigation, until the final action of congress thereon, he had directed the register of the land-office at New Orleans to withhold from entry all the lands within the limits of that claim, as described in the reports of the commissioners, and to report a list of all the lands sold within those limits, in order that patents might not be issued therefor. Notwithstanding this direction of the commissioner, it would seem that the land-officers at New Orleans approved of pre-emption settlements on the land claimed, and floats located there; and, in the following year, (1837,) complaints of these proceedings were made to the general land-office by Mr. Preston, on behalf of the heirs of Hampton. A communication from him on their behalf was also laid before the senate, in which he prayed that the commissioner should be directed to refuse titles to those who had purchased by pre-emption or otherwise, by refunding the money paid and taking up the certificates of entry as far as possible, and also that he should be directed forthwith to issue a patent for the whole claim. The memorial was presented and referred to the committee on private land claims, but nothing came from it. In the following year (1838) another effort was made to obtain the action of congress on the subject, which also failed. And from year to year afterwards communications were made by the claimants, or persons acting for them, to the land department to secure favorable action and a recognition of the validity of their claims, but always without success until 1844. It would serve no useful purpose to state with particularity the nature and contents of these communications. They are referred to now merely to show the general notoriety given to the pretensions of the claimants, and the princely domain which, under a grant of less than 4,000 acres on the river, was claimed by the grantee to enable him to obtain timber for his fences and fuel, and for other uses of his plantation. The general knowledge of the extravagant character of the claims, which may be inferred from these proceedings, may have had something to do with the phraseology used in the attempted confirmation in 1858, which we shall hereafter consider.

Sometime in the year 1841 a new idea as to their rights seems to have occurred to the claimants, namely, that the claims were confirmed by the act of congress of April 18, 1814, (3 St. 139.) Accordingly, in August, 1841, application was made to the commissioner of the general land-office, on behalf of Conway, for a patent of his claim, and in May, 1844, a similar application was made on behalf of Hampton's heirs for a patent of their claims. That act provided that certificates of confirmation to land lying in the land districts of Louisiana which had been issued under the act of March 3, 1807, and directed to be filed with the proper register of the land-office within 12 months after date, and certificates on claims included in the transcript of decisions made in favor of claimants and transmitted to the secretary of the treasury,

should be delivered where the lands had not been already previously surveyed, to the principal deputy surveyor of the district and be surveyed; and for the tracts surveyed patents should be issued by the commissioner of the general land-office. As the claims under the Houmas grant were included in the transcript of favorable decisions transmitted to the secretary of the treasury, and by him laid before congress, it was contended that they were thereby confirmed. Mr. Bibb, the secretary of the treasury, and head of the land department, under the then existing law, concurred in this view; and his opinion was presented in a communication to the commissioner of the general landoflice, under date of August 12, 1844. In accordance with his opinion patents were issued to the heirs of Hampton for the claims presented by Donaldson and Scott and by Daniel Clark. This action of the secretary and the issue of the patents gave rise to much unpleasant comment; and soon after the meeting of congress in December following a resolution was passed by the senate, calling upon the secretary to communicate a copy of his opinion directing such issue, and of opinions by other officers connected with the general landoffice in relation to the claims, and of the surveys and transcripts of confirmation.

As application had also been made for a patent of the Conway claim, the house of representatives, on the seventh of January, 1845, passed a joint resolution prohibiting the issue of patents or other evidences of title upon the Houmas grant until the further action of congress. The resolution, having been sent to the senate, was there amended; but upon being returned to the house on the last day of the session it was not taken up, and thus failed to become a law. The commissioners of the land-office, in view of this resolution, treated the application for a patent of the Conway claim as a suspended case. After the adjournment of congress applications for a patent were renewed; but the commissioner declined to act upon them, in face of the rese lution of the two houses, which failed to become a law only because of dis agreement as to its terms, but not as to its general purpose to suspend the issue of a patent. In June of the following year (1846) the two houses of congress, by a joint resolution, directed the attorney general to examine the evidences of title founded upon the Houmas claims, and to report to the president his conclusions; and requested him, if they were against the legality of the patent issued or to be issued, to bring suits to have the same judicially determined. In response to this resolution, the attorney general made an extended examination of the title, stating in his report all the various proceeedings that had been taken in respect to it, and giving as his conclusion that the Houmas grant passed a title only to a tract 42 arpents deep from the river, and that the claimants had no legal or equitable right to any land beyond that depth; and that the act of April 18, 1814, under which patents had been issued for two of the claims, authorized patents only in cases of confirmation under the act of 1807, which did not embrace more than one league square. In thus construing the terms of the grant, and limiting its extent, it is evident that the attorney general was governed by the rules of the common law, rather than by the usages of the Spanish government applicable to the case. Upon this report the president directed that suits in equity be brought in the circuit court of the United States to cancel the patents. In one of them a decree was rendered in 1856 declaring the patent upon the claim to David Clark void, on the ground that the case was not within the act of 1814, the court avoiding the expression of any opinion as to the validity or extent of the claim. By a decree rendered within the last few years the patent upon the claim of Donaldson and Scott was also adjudged invalid.

This narrative brings us to the act of the second of June, 1858, entitled "An act to provide for the location of certain confirmed private land claims in the state of Missouri, and for other purposes." Its second section enacted