Speech #510169316

Vram. to whom had been granted "n tract of land" Inalocality described by boundaries embraeinga verylargeara. They claimed the whole of the land within these boundaries. Butthe committee. finding that the grant itself did not purport to be for the whole. hut only for "a tract of land" somewhere within the boundaries. recommended confirmation to the extent of22 square leagues. or 11 leagues for each grantee.andit was confirmed so accordingly June 2i.1860. (11 Statutes at Large. 7172.) The report went on to say that"Under the Mexican colonization law of 1824 and the regulations of 1828 the extreme quantity allowed to be granted by the governor to any colonist was 11 square leagues." Hence 5ou will observe that. according to the language of the law itself. the decisions of the Supreme Court. and previous Congressional interpretation. the lleaguo restriction of Mexico never went any further than to limit grants to that quantity "for each Individual." or to "any one person." or to "any colonist." But the 11league limitation of Mexico was subject to still another qualification. namely. that it did not apply to "grants to empresarios for them to colonize with many families." The Supreme Court in the Maxwell case. above cited. immediately following the passage before quoted. goes onto say: "But article 14 of the same decree speaks of the contracts which the empresarios make with the families which they bring at their own expense. provided they be not contrary to the laws." and article 7 of the rules and regulations of of 1828 speaks of " grants made to empresarios for them to colonize with many families." It is a wellknown matter of Mexican history that. by reason of there being vast quantities of unoccupied and unprofitable public land owned by the Government In its Territories. contractswere made with individuals called cmpreserios. by which they were given very large bodies of land without any regard at al to the 11league limitation. in consideration that they should bring emigrants into the country and settle them upon these lands with a view of increasing the population and securing the protection thus afforded against the wild Indian tribes on the Mexican borders." Further on. on page 3M3. the court says: "It would seem from these orders. decrees. and resolutions of the governor and departmental assembly of the Territory of New Mexico that they must have supposed that the grant was intended for families to be settled upon.-and was not one of those in which an individual could only receive a definite quantity of land for the purpose of his own settlement and cultivation." And a little below on the same page: "The final confirmation of this grant by the Congress of the United States in 1850 affords strong grounds to believe that that body viewed it as one of this character. and not one governed by the limitation of 11 leagues to each grantee." N or is this all. The 11league provision only operated as a restriction on the power of the Ter rial governors or other authorities. and not upon the General Government itself. So that any grant. either originally made by the supreme government (as it was ealled} or subsequently ratified by it. would be absolutely valid. irrespective o quantity.