(4) PROPERTY THAT PASSES BY CESSION. § 86. Case of Louisiana. By Art. II. of the treaty of April 30, 1803, by which France ceded Louisiana to the United States, it was declared that the cession "included the designated islands belonging to Louisiana, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications, barracks, and other edifices which are not private property," as well as "the archives, papers and documents, relative to the dominion and sovereignty of Louisiana and its dependencies." The province was surrendered to the United States on December 30, 1803, and a record was made of the transaction by the commissioners who were concerned in it. The commissioners on the part of the United States were William C. C. Claiborne and James Wilkinson; the commissioner on the part of France was Peter Clément Laussart, colonial prefect. The procès verbal recited that the commissioners met at the city hall, and that, the full powers of the commissioners having been delivered, the French commissioner delivered to the commissioners of the United States "the keys of the city of New Orleans," at the same time declaring that he discharged "from their oaths of fidelity to the French Republic the citizens and inhabitants of Louisiana who should choose to remain under the dominion of the United States." Am. State Papers, For. Rel. II. 581–582. Messrs. Claiborne and Wilkinson communicated the documents to Mr. Madison, Secretary of State, with a letter of Dec. 20, 1803. In a letter of Dec. 27, 1803, Messrs. Claiborne and Wilkinson enclosed to the Secretary of State an "original copy " of the procès verbal of the delivery. They said that the "barracks, magazines, hospital, and publick storehouses" in the city of New Orleans were still in the occupancy of the Spanish authorities; they considered these buildings " as appendages of of the military posts and essential to their defense." "The public records, archives, &c., recognized in the treaty are not yet delivered. The prefect has given us assurances that these documents are now arranging and will soon be in a state for delivery. The fort at Piakemine's and the blockhouse at the Balize have been taken possession of by a detachment of our troops, and measures will immediately be taken by Genl. Wilkinson to occupy the post at Natchitoches on the Red River." In another letter of March 11, 1804, they stated that the French commissioner had declared that " France had expected us to take her cannon and military stores, that being disappointed in that expectation, and the war which is now raging preventing their being transported to the territories of France, he should reserve a portion of the public storehouses and magazines for the preservation of the property of France." They proposed "to receive the cannon and military stores of France in this city by way of deposit and to keep them in safety, ready to be restored when it might be more convenient to remove them from the province. . . . He still persists in his determination to reserve a portion of the storehouses and magazines for the use of France." (MSS. Dept. of State.) Louisiana was ceded to the United States in full sovereignty and in every respect, with all its rights and appurtenances, as it was held by the Republic of France and as it was received by that Republic from Spain. New Orleans. United States, 10 Pet. 662; Strother v. Lucas, 12 Pet. 410. The Floridas. By Art. II. of the treaty of February 22, 1819, Spain ceded to the United States "in full property and sovereignty" the territories known as East and West Florida. The cession was declared to include "the designated islands dependent. on said provinces, all public lots and squares, vacant land, public edifices, fortifications, barracks, and other buildings, which are not private property, archives and documents, which relate directly to the property and sovereignty of said provinces.” By Art. VII. of the same treaty Spain agreed to evacuate the territories in question within six months after the exchange of the ratifications, and to give possession to the commissioners or officers of the United States duly appointed to receive them, and it was provided that the United States should furnish the transports and escort necessary to convey the Spanish officers and troops and their baggage from Havana." The royal order for the delivery of the territories to the United States was signed by the King of Spain October 24, 1820. This order recited the stipulations of the treaty which have just been quoted. It was addressed to the captain-general and governor of the island of Cuba and of the Floridas." March 20, 1821, President Monroe appointed General Jackson to administer the affairs of the Floridas, on their delivery to the United States. On the 23d of the same month Mr. John Quincy Adams, his Secretary of State, addressed a letter to General Jackson, in which he adverted to the circumstance that the second article of the treaty, while it stipulated that the fortifications should be ceded to the United States, made no express mention of the cannon belonging to them. By the seventh article of the treaty, said Mr. Adams, "the United States was to furnish the transports and escort necessary to convey the Spanish officers and troops and their baggage to Havana; but no mention was made of the transportation of cannon, nor was there any express arrangement on the part of the United States to furnish provisions to the Spanish officers and troops on passage. It was," he declared, "the opinion of the President that by a fair and just construction of the treaty the cannon belonging to the fortifications were to be considered as appendages to them, included in the cession." @ Am. State Papers, For. Rel. IV. 702. On the same principle he thought that provisions for the Spanish officers and troops should be furnished by the United States, and orders had accordingly been given for them. If the Spanish commissioners should claim the cannon in the fortifications because they were not expressly named in the article, General Jackson was to insist that the United States was not bound to furnish the provisions and would claim reimbursement for them. The question anticipated by Mr. Adams actually arose in the delivery of East Florida. The formal act of cession was performed at St. Augustine, July 10, 1821, by Colonel Robert Butler on the part of the United States, and Colonel José Coppinger on the part of Spain. The documents relating to the transaction were transmitted by Col. Butler to Mr. Adams, July 30, 1821." During the discussions at St. Augustine, the Spanish commissioner took the ground that the "artillery, ammunition, and ordnance stores" did not go with the fortifications as part of the cession. The word fortifications, he maintained, comprehended, as his instructions advised him, "solely the material and immovable parts," but not the arms, ammunition, and ordnance stores, which were to be placed in the same category as the cots, furniture, and utensils used by the troops and to be taken away. He added that it was "well known that on the delivery of this province by Great Britain to Spain, the former withdrew all the above-mentioned effects as being the practice in similar cases unless otherwise stipulated." The American commissioner replied that his Government laid no claim to "the ammunition and ordnance stores," but considered the artillery in the fortifications "was appendant to and should remain with them." For this view he also found support both in the order of the captain-general of Cuba, which did not require the removal of the artillery, and also in the 7th article of the treaty, which obliged the United States to "furnish the transports and escort necessary to convey the Spanish officers and troops and their baggage to the Havana." Should the artillery be left behind, he would engage to furnish a reasonable proportion of the transportation for the ammunition and ordnance stores; but in case it should be removed, he was obliged to protest against the measure, and to declare not only that the United States was not bound to furnish either transportation or escort for the artillery, ammunition, and ordnance stores, but also that his Government would have a claim against Spain as well for the artillery as for the articles which it had provided for the subsistence of the Spanish troops on the way to the Havana, should those articles be made use of.c a Am. State Papers, For. Rel. IV. 749. Gov. Coppinger to Adj. Gen. Butler, June 14, 1821, MSS. Dept. of State. The act of cession which was signed by the commissioners states that they had had several conferences and had received documents, inventories, and plans appertaining to the property and sovereignty of Spain. The act recited that the commissioners had transmitted to their Governments "the doubts occurring as to whether the artillery ought to be comprehended in the fortifications; and if the public archives relating to private property ought to remain and be delivered to the American Government by virtue of the cession; and that there remained in the fortifications, until the aforesaid resolution is made, the artillery, munitions, and implements specified in a particular inventory, awaiting on these points, and the others appearing in question in our correspondence, the superior decision of our respective Governments." " a In the subsequent discussion of the subject between the two Governments, the Spanish Government declared that it would adhere to the strict construction of the article, and offered to pay for the provisions in consideration of the cannon being restored or paid for by the United States, the cannon being, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs observed, of greater value than the provisions. Mr. Adams replied that he had not taken into account the question of value, but had proceeded solely on principle. Under the term fortifications the United States claimed, he affirmed, the artillery, together with the walls of which they formed the defense. "The walls without their artillery were no fortifications." The United States, however, did not, said Mr. Adams, wish to press the controversy further, but would, on being repaid the cost of the provisions, permit the ordnance to be taken away." By Art. II. of the treaty of March 30, 1867, ceding Alaska to the United States, the cession was declared "to include Alaska. the right of property in all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications, barracks, and other edifices which are not private individual property," as well as any Government archives, papers, and documents relating to the territory in question. By Art. IV. the two Governments agreed to appoint agents for the purpose of transferring "the territory, dominion, property, dependencies, and appurtenances" which were ceded above. The Government of the United States appointed as commissioner General Lovell H. Rousseau, and the Russian Government Captain Alexis Pestchouroff. The formal delivery was made at Sitka, October 26, 1867. The procès verbal stated that Captain Pestchouroff delivered to General Rousseau "the Government archives, papers, and documents relating to the property and dominion above named, also the forts and public buildings, including the governor's house, dock @Am. State Papers, For. Rel. IV. 750. Mr. Adams, Sec. of State, to Mr. Nelson, min. to Spain, April 28, 1823, MS. Inst. U. S. Ministers, IX. 183, 227). yards, blockhouses, barracks, hospitals, wharves, and schools." Accompaning the procès verbal are four inventories marked A, B, C, and D. Inventory A consists of a list of the public property in Sitka delivered to the United States. This included five forts, with their armaments, and also a number of buildings of various kinds. Νο mention whatever is made of furniture, and it seems obvious that it went with the buildings. Inventory B contained the property belonging to the Greek Church. Inventory C contained a list of the persons holding property in fee simple in the city of Sitka. Inventory D contained a statement of private property in Sitka. It specified a large number of buildings of various kinds, but mentioned no furniture, showing that the latter was considered for the purposes of the inventory as being included in the building. There was also a fifth inventory, marked E, containing a list of forts, with armaments, and other public buildings on the island of Kodiak to be delivered to the United States." A building erected in 1845 by the Russian-American Company, on land belonging to the Russian Government, became the property of that Government, and as such was transferred to the United States by the treaty of March 30, 1867, especially in view of the declaration of article 6, that the "cession of territory and dominion" was "free and unincumbered by any reservations, privileges, franchises, grants, or possessions by any associated companies, whether corporate or incorporate, Russian or any other, or by any parties, except merely private individual property holders." Kinkead v. United States, 150 U. S. 483 (1893). It appeared by the record of the negotiations that the United States increased the amount to be paid to Russia for Alaska by the sum of $200,000 in consideration of the insertion of article 6 of the treaty. Spanish islands, 1898. By the protocol signed at Washington August 12, 1898, Spain agreed to "relinquish all claim of sovereignty over or title to Cuba," and to "cede to the United States the island of Porto Rico and other islands now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies." It was also stipulated that Spain should "immediately evacuate Cuba, Porto Rico, and the other islands under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies," and that, within thirty days after the signing of the protocol, commissioners should meet at Havana, in Cuba, and at San Juan, in Porto Rico, for the purpose of "arranging and carrying out the details of the evacuation." Commissioners to treat of peace were to meet at Paris not later than October 1, 1898. Prior to the negotiation of the treaty of peace commissioners on the part of the United States and of Spain met, in conformity with the a Diplomatic Correspondence, 1868, I. 475-484. |