Early Governors' Papers

or the salt could be sold at cost and thereby reduce the price of that essential article at other salt works where such impositions have been practiced on the community - on learning that the salt spring and four miles square of land had been leased by some Citizens about the time of signing the treaty, and discovering that those Citizens were not by the terms of the treaty prohibited from from vending salt at the distance of two miles from the spring at any price which they could get - I determined to make an effort to secure this saline for the state & introduced the resolution of which the enclosed is a copy - It was believed that the lease executed before the ratification of the treaty vested us title in the [page damaged] - And if the state could procure the first lease after the ratification of the treaty [her? then?] title would be a good one - On application to the Sec^ry at War, he with his characteristic promptness instructed the Agent of the Chicasaw to see Brown & Colbert and request them to execute no other lease except to persons authorised by the U States to negotiate with them, [page damaged] [desired?] the War department

before I left Washington last spring that Brown & Colbert would comply with the wishes of the Secretary - If the Session however the Session should have obtained an intimation of the measures adopted, and of the views of the Senate of the U. States on this subject, and procured an other lease, after the ratification of the treaty, and before our Commissioners could act - A question will arise whether their title is a good one. Our laws regulating intercourse with Indian tribes prohibits under severe penalties any Citizen from leasing or purchasing Indian claim to lands - The great question as to the extent of the treaty making power vested by the Constitution in the President & Senate has been debated on several occasions with great ability - And no doubt the arguments are familiar to you - The question however in relation to the disposal of the soil of the United States steers clear of the difficulties discussed on those occasions - Because the Constitution provides that Congress shall have power to dispose of the territory belonging to the U. States - The opinion that a treaty does not repeal an existing Statute [page damaged]