TiK.MAs] SPANISH POLICY TOWARD THE INDIANS 543 



by the United States, directly or indirectly, from Spain. However, 

 as West Florida was a depeiideucy of Louisiana, which most of the 

 time had its own government, and E;ist Florida was attached to tlie 

 intendency of Cuba, there were; some difl'ereuces in the local adminis- 

 tration of the laws and in tlie customs adoi)ted in dealing with the 

 Indians. 



Some two or three commissions were authorized by Congress to 

 examine into and decide in regard to land claims in Florida derived 

 from Spanish grants. Little or nothing can be derived from their 

 reports in regard to the method of extinguishing the Indians' claim. 

 Two members of the tirst commission were so clearly personally inter- 

 ested in several of these grants that the third member (Alexander 

 Hamilton) felt himself compelled to resign and to protest against the 

 conclusions reached. The only fact brought out by them bearing on 

 the question before us is that grants were, during the closing years 

 of Spanish rule, made in a most reckless manner and apparently with 

 little or no attention to the rights of the Indians, the designation 

 "vacant lands" being considered a sufficient ground for making a 

 grant. The official surveyor in many cases did not even run around 

 the boundary of a grant, nor pretend to ascertain whether it was on 

 Indian territory. This, however, was not in accordance with the law 

 and royal policy, as appears from the statement of Juan Jose de 

 Estrada, governor pro tempore of Florida (July 29, 1811 ).• Writing to 

 the Marques de Someruelos, in regard to a request of one Don Cristoval 

 Gios for a large grant along the southwest coast of Florida for plant- 

 ing a colony, he remarks: 



But the jjreatest objection to the project of Don Cristoval Gios [who proposed 

 plautiug a colony] remaines to he examined, and it is, that the lands he asks the 

 cession of are not pnblic; they are the property of the Indians, who look with 

 much interest to any usurpation of them, however small it may be. The preserva- 

 tion of their lands is one of the bases of our friendshij) with them; and in all the 

 harangues pronounced Ijy the Governors of this Province, they have been always 

 promised the same treatment and privileges they had under the British Government. 

 That Government ruled the laud as a sovereign, hut left the Indians the property of 

 the soil, except those places which they had acquired from the aborigines by ]iur- 

 chase, or by .a solemn treaty made with the Chiefs. The Anglo-Americans i'ollow 

 this same rule with the Indians who are under their dominion, and it is certain that 

 the same rule has been religiously observed in the two Floridas, uo white man being 

 permitted to purchase land from the Indians without the intervention of the Govern- 

 ment to prevent frauils, and prohibiting strictly that any person should establish 

 himself in the territory known as theirs. 



He further adds : 



In virtue of this, I am of opiaion that, unless Don Cristoval Gios obliges himself 

 to purchase from the Indians the lands he pretends to, and that said purchase is 

 made with the knowledge and in the presence of this Government, and interpreters 

 appointed by it, his project is rather directed to compromise the trauquility of this 

 province, and, therefore, that perjietual silence on the subject should be imposed 

 upon him. 



' Laws etc., Relating to Public Lands, vol. u (1836). appendix, pp. 233-234. 



