Winter et al. v. United States.
lation of the law existing in the province on that subject. No usage nor custom can ever prevail against an act of parliament,—a principle which must utterly destroy the usage of the post of Arkansas.
But it is said that it was the policy of the Baron de Carondelet to encourage settlements, and to dispense with surveys, if necessary to attain that end; and we are entertained with a sort of review of the acts of himself as governor-general. But will it advance us a single step in the cause to inquire into the policy of the baron during the five years he was governor-general, or to contrast his administration with that of Estevan Miro, his predecessor, or Gayoso, his successor? It would be quite as pertinent to investigate the Spanish intrigue set on foot as early as 1790 to separate the territory west of the Alleghany mountains from the Union, and its total failure; or to. show that the Baron de Carondelet commenced his administration in 1792 with a scheme to sever Kentucky from the confederacy and bring her under Spanish dominion, and failed in it; or that he set it on foot a second time in 1795, sent an emissary into Kentucky in the person of Gayoso, then lieutenant-governor of Natchez, and again failed; or that the baron made a third attempt in 1796, and again signally failed. It would be, a waste of time to wadethrough the rubbish of Spanish rule, to find out the policy of Spanish officials. We should discover enough at every step to demonstrate hostility to American citizens and American interests; corruplion in office, and breaches of public and private faith. Whether the policy of the Baron de Carondelet was good or bad, is of no importance to the present question. He had not the right, and did not, in point of fact, dispense with a survey.
But it is said that figurative plots of the Winter grants were found in the offices in New Orleans. And of what avail is it to produce figurative plots or plans—mere creatures of the brain—office sketches, that can be made at any time? These sketches only present the supposed outlines of a tract of land, which could be made at a distance from the land, and without ever seeing it, by one having a general knowledge of the face of the country. They show no bearings and distances, no field
