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Show 06 hac? Seed paroxysms of virtue into which a portion of the American public occasionally works itself. At such times, the cry of fraud becomes epidemic throughout the land, and is echoed far and wide. It is taken up by every an who iad eee re ee ae a, a te hal alt ee mear F442 Oe pe ol od Sel pol ee 6~ elt Be PS BP) record proof of the final action of the government in discharge of its treaty obligations, as this court has said it shall be ; Instead of being the guaranty of peaceable and quiet enjoyment, it is but a delusion and a snare; a trap to catch confiding purchasers; and that its issue, even at the end of protracted controversies, is but the signal for fresh attack in the name of the government which gave it, with all its accompanying train of expense, delay, vexation, disaster, and ruin. It has become fashionable of late to attack United States patents. And so feeble has become the security they afford, and so little regard is shown for the sacred character which they were supposed to possess, that their holders are called upon to defend their validity in ruinous litigation, as often as any covetous intruder or restless demagogue can get near enough to the law officers of the government, to make them hear his loud resounding ery of fraud. ‘‘ Macauley has somewhere given a picture of the British public in one of its periodic attacks of morality and I am not sure but it might equally apply to those oo ae! al Rl Sead RE me Pee Pepereie THESPANISH ARCHIVES OF NEW MEXICO covets the possession of his neighbor. It is the ery of re fd Ree ee) . sae of the sluggard against the vigilant. It is the ery of every man who has slept away his opportunities against those who were shrewd to think and bold to act waneh the time was ripe. It is the ery of every demaga who 1s looking for some popular wave upon which Sa ee es Pee ee a Pat eS PLP oe altel tS 9g ete ty AP ee Pee a Oe ae oad al il hal DS Tat Bae bg + a et Oe PEA ended DO edhe - - : aga ride into public favor. And in the majority of cases, as in the case before us, it is found after all ae - little less than clamor — voz, parts Le rereta Malet 34 pt 6.2 BldCae bo oe led eee bs e 2 te @.8.¥ ~~ ne as tate o ’ ca a ce ee ee ee Deha Se oe pe) ee ee ce at al indolence against activity and energy; of envy against suc- ee eae nt . is oir States patent, is safe from disturbance, 8 law officers, whether with good judgment or bring agai ica of the bill can be maintained, then no title, rest- ite het ota nhil. es the public good that there be an end of ing ae - UW 1s pagal et praeterea it 1s one of the oldest maxims — motives proper or improper, see fit to bias ibis or can any man, so claiming, ever tell Suppose the S are finally adjudicated. court die ae Ain Gs _ this patent, on account of the errors a oe € location of its boundaries; the court cannot a ere the true boundaries are upon the ground. annot send corps of engineers to mark them by ap- THE SPANISH ARCHIVES OF NEW MEXICO = 97 propriate monuments in the field. It can not give us a new patent. We must go back to the land department for that.’’ ‘‘Do you contend, Mr. Springer, Mr. Justice Miller: that this court has not the power to reform this patent? Suppose the court should become satisfied that a patent has been issued for a certain number of sections of land in excess of the quantity authorized by law; could not the court by a decree declare that the patent should not Or, if the proofs should show that this include them? grant was limited to the summit of the Raton mountains on the north, and there were no other objection to such a decision, could not the court direct a decree to be made reforming the patent so that it should only include lands within that boundary ?’’ ‘‘Undoubtedly it might do either of the Mr. Springer: But the difficulty is it would things your honor suggests. If this grant had been laid off into townsettle nothing. ships, and sections, as public lands are, and the patent had been for certain of these sub-divisions, among which were some improperly included, the patent could be reformed so as to exclude these, and it would remain still a definite muniment of title for lands about whose boundaries or location there could be no further controversy. But Mexico did not survey or describe her lands in this way; when we undertake to locate a grant of land described by natural objects alone, so as to conform to our methods, we are compelled to mark the boundaries by monuments erected upon the ground, and by reference to the courses and distances preserved in the field notes, to constituting a special survey which bears no relation any other survey, except that it may at some point be connected with one of the known base lines or meridians. be If the court should decree that the patent should limited to such part of the tract which has been so sur, veyed as lies south of the summit of the Raton mountains location we are left without any definite or authoritative If the Raton summit were of that line upon the ground. so conmarked by a Chinese wall, or some other object could spicuous and universally known that no two persons have that have different opinions about it, it might thus be based. degree of certainty on which such a decree could of the disBut the precise position of that summit is one testimony puted facts of this case. There is conflicting and whether extend, mountains Raton the far how as to summit; the northern or the southern edge is the actual |