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AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION.
thirds, of those claims were Survey'd in time and'in consequence,-not· Recorded agreeable to law-· The extravagant fees for Surveying rendered it impossible,for, numbers of the Poor to have· their claims ·Survey'd, admitting the Deputies, could have ·survey'd them •in time , Perhaps no ·,People under any Government, were ever placed in ·a .more difficult and ruinous situation- On one hand .the Law of Congress called foi· a return, and Record of all claims~by a given clay, under the .penalty of forever after being barred the right to bring them forward-On the other Govr· Wilkinson by his absolute order declar'd that,·unless, all claims were survey'd agreeable to his mandate they should not be receiv'd by·the ·Recorder-To comply with ·both these demands was as impossible as to serve God and Mammon ;-because the number of Deputies employed were not sufficient.to do the work by the first of March-and because it was not in the power.of the •People to raise money to pay the Surveyors Demands,-·Twenty Thousand Dollars is a sum the Poor People of Upper Louisiana ~ere not nor are able to pay in Sixty or Eighty days-The settlers on the River Arkansas and si. Francis have suffer'd greatly- The ·distance from St. Louis, being ·about Four Hundred Miles,.and through a Wilderness Country, had it not in their power, to make their returns.by the first, of March-The regulations of W.ilkinson did not·reach them untill a few Weeks, before the time for Recording claims expir'd; and then not a Surveyor untill ·some time, in .January-however, a, . number sent forward their claims to be Recorded, but were refus'd for want of Soulards Certificate that the ·Surveys ·had been made •agreeable, to the ·Orders of Wilkinson, Therefore, ·all :such Claims, ~which. comprehend one Third of all the claims in the Territory, are agree- able to the present Laws of Congress for ·ever -lost;- The conse- quences resulting from such a State of things is -readily told.- It drew down the imprecations of an enraged and injur'd People on the Government, they contrasted their situation with that under the Spanish Government it caused dissatisfaction a.nd disaffection-It was in vain to tell them the fault lay not with Government, but with the Governor-the People felt themselves injur'd without the power or prospect of gaining redress. The objects of Wilkinson for thus Acting in open violation of the Laws of Congress is yet to be told; if he bas an excuse for his con- duct, it behoves him to make it, for·:he has plung'd the people of Louisiana. into a Labyrinth of difficulties.which the interference of Congress only can remedy-The Surveying system adopted·by vVil- kinson, was oppos'd by Judge Lucas·but'iri vain, •.he was overruled· bv Penrose-and Donaldson thus you see the object-of the Americans Emigrating to this Country, became abortive-The promisses made
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