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  LAND 
  TITLES. 
  

  

  The 
  decision 
  of 
  the 
  District 
  Court 
  of 
  the 
  United 
  States, 
  

   in 
  the 
  suit 
  instituted 
  by 
  the 
  heirs 
  of 
  Harcourt, 
  and 
  

   which 
  was 
  fully 
  affirmed 
  by 
  the 
  Supreme 
  Court, 
  settled 
  

   the 
  question 
  finally, 
  and 
  the 
  British 
  grants 
  are 
  now 
  no 
  

   more 
  regarded 
  than 
  that 
  of 
  Sir 
  Robert 
  Heath. 
  

  

  This 
  decision 
  of 
  the 
  Supreme 
  Court 
  was 
  subsequently 
  

   ably 
  controverted 
  by 
  Chief 
  Justice 
  C. 
  P. 
  Smith, 
  of 
  the 
  

   High 
  Court 
  of 
  this 
  State, 
  when 
  engaged, 
  some 
  years 
  since, 
  

   as 
  counsel 
  for 
  the 
  representatives 
  of 
  Campbell, 
  who 
  

   claimed 
  a 
  tract 
  of 
  land, 
  embracing 
  the 
  town 
  of 
  Rodney, 
  

   under 
  a 
  British 
  patent 
  dated 
  11th 
  July, 
  1772. 
  It 
  was 
  

   maintained 
  by 
  Judge 
  Smith, 
  in 
  an 
  elaborate 
  argument, 
  

   sustained 
  by 
  indisputable 
  authority, 
  " 
  That 
  the 
  British 
  

   government 
  had 
  the 
  right, 
  and 
  had 
  exercised 
  it 
  re- 
  

   peatedly, 
  of 
  dismemberiug 
  or 
  altering 
  the 
  limits 
  or 
  

   boundaries 
  of 
  its 
  royal 
  colonies 
  ; 
  that 
  the 
  crown 
  retained 
  

   the 
  right 
  of 
  property 
  in 
  the 
  soil 
  ; 
  that 
  the 
  extension 
  of 
  

   the 
  limits 
  of 
  West 
  Florida, 
  from 
  the 
  thirty-first 
  degree 
  

   of 
  north 
  latitude 
  to 
  a 
  line 
  drawn 
  due 
  east 
  from 
  the 
  

   mouth 
  of 
  the 
  Yazoo, 
  was 
  a 
  right 
  legitimately 
  exercised, 
  

   and 
  the 
  grants 
  made 
  within 
  those 
  limits, 
  by 
  the 
  Governor 
  

   of 
  West 
  Florida, 
  were 
  consequently 
  valid." 
  

  

  The 
  rejection 
  of 
  the 
  British 
  claims 
  should 
  have 
  rested, 
  

   therefore, 
  solely 
  on 
  their 
  non-recognition 
  by 
  the 
  Spanish 
  

   and 
  American 
  governments, 
  and 
  a 
  failure 
  of 
  the 
  fulfilment 
  

   of 
  the 
  conditions 
  of 
  those 
  grants, 
  and 
  not 
  upon 
  want 
  of 
  

   jurisdiction 
  in 
  the 
  British 
  government. 
  

  

  So 
  far, 
  all 
  grants 
  of 
  land 
  were 
  confined 
  to 
  districts 
  to 
  

   which 
  the 
  Indian 
  title 
  had 
  been 
  extinguished 
  previous 
  

   to 
  the 
  accession 
  of 
  the 
  country 
  to 
  the 
  United 
  States. 
  

  

  In 
  1777, 
  the 
  British 
  government 
  entered 
  into 
  a 
  treaty 
  

   with 
  the 
  Indians 
  at 
  Mobile, 
  by 
  which 
  the 
  boundaries 
  of 
  

   the 
  lands 
  claimed 
  by 
  the 
  French, 
  on 
  the 
  sea-coast 
  and 
  in 
  

   the 
  Natchez 
  District, 
  were 
  defined 
  j 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  year 
  1779, 
  

  

  