Houston County, Minnesota - Chapter 11: Jonathan Carver, the First British Traveler at Falls of Saint Anthony, 1882

Chapter 11: Jonathan Carver, the First British Traveler at Falls of Saint Anthony

Carver's Early Lift. - In the Battle new Lake George. - Arrive! at Mackinaw. - Old Fort at Green Bay. - Winnebago Village. - Description of Prairie du Chien. Earthwork* on Banks of Lake Pepin. - Sioux Bands Described. - Cave and Burial Place in Suburbs of 8t. Paul. - The Palls of Saint Anthony. - Burial Rites of tLe Sioux. - Speech of a Sioux Chief. - Schiller's Poem of the Death Bong. - Sir John Herschels Translation. - Sir ETBulwer Lyttons Version. - Correspondence of Sir William Johnson. - Carrer's Project for Opening a Route to the Pacific. - Supposed Origin of the Sioux. - Carver's Claim to Lands Examined. - Alleged Deed. - Testimony of Rev. Samuel Peters. - Communication from Gen. Leavenworth. ---Report of U. S. Senate Committee.

Jonathan Carver was a native of Connecticut His grandfather, William Carver, was a native of Wigan, Lancashire, England, and a captain in King William's army during the campaign in Ireland, and for meritorious services received an appointment as an officer of the colony of Connecticut.

His father was a justice of the peace in the new world, and in 1732, the subject of this sketch was born. At the early age of fifteen he was called to mourn the death of his father. He then commenced the study of medicine, but his roving disposition could not bear the confines of a doctor's office, and feeling, perhaps, that his genius would be cramped by pestle and mortar, at the age of eighteen he purchased an ensign's commission in one of the regiments raised during the French war. He was of medium stature, and of strong mind and quick perceptions.

In the year 1757, he was captain under Colonel Williams in the battle near Lake George, where Saint Pierre was killed, and narrowly escaped with his life.

After the peace of 1763, between France and England was declared, Carver conceived the project of exploring the Northwest. Leaving Boston in the month of June, 1766, he arrived at Mackinaw, then the most distant British post, in the month of August. Having obtained a credit on some French and English traders from Major Rogers, the officer in command, he started with them on the third day of September. Pursuing the usual route to Green Bay, they arrived there on the eighteenth.

The French fort at that time was standing, though much decayed.. It was, some years previous to his arrival, garrisoned for a short time by an officer and thirty English soldiers, but they having been captured by the Menominees, it was abandoned.

In company with the traders, he left Green Bay on the twentieth, and ascending Fox river, arrived on the twenty-fifth at an island at the east end of Lake Winnebago, containing about fifty acres.

Here he found a Winnebago village of fifty houses. He asserts that a woman was in authority. In the month of October the party was at the portage of the Wisconsin, and descending that stream, they arrived, on the ninth at a town of the Sauks. While here he visited some lead mines about fifteen miles distant. An abundance of lead was also seen in the village, that had been brought from the mines.

On the tenth they arrived at the first village of the " Ottigaumies" [Foxes] about five miles before the Wisconsin joins the Mississippi, he perceived the remnants of another village, and learned that it had been deserted about thirty years before, and that the inhabitants soon after their removal, built a town on the Mississippi, near the mouth of the " Ouisconsin," at a place called by the French La Prairie les Chiens, which signified the Dog Plains. It was a large town, and contained about three hundred families. The houses were built after the Indian manner, and pleasantly situated on a dry rich soil.

He saw here many houses of a good size and shape. This town was the great mart where all the adjacent tribes, and where those who inhabit the most remote branches of the Mississippi, annually assemble about the latter end of May, bringing with them their furs to dispose of to the traders. But it is not always that they conclude their sale here. This was determined by a gen eral council of the chiefs, who consulted whether it would be more conducive to their interest to sell their goods at this place, or to carry them on to Louisiana or Mackinaw.

At a small stream called Yellow River, opposite Prairie du Chien, the traders who had thus far accompanied Carver took up their residence for the winter.

From this point he proceeded in a canoe, with a Canadian voyageur and a Mohawk Indian as companions. Just before reaching Lake Pepin, while his attendants were one day preparing dinner, he walked out and was struck with the peculiar appearance of the surface of the country, and thought it was the site of some vast artificial earth-work. It is a fact worthy of remembrance, that he was the first to call the attention of the civilized world to the existence of ancient monuments in the Mississippi valley. We give his own description :

" On the first of November I reached Lake Pepin, a few miles below which I landed, and, whilst the servants were preparing my dinner, I ascended the bank to view the country. I had not proceeded far before I came to a fine, level, open plain, on which I perceived, at a little distance, a partial elevation that had the appearance of entrenchment. On a nearer inspection I had greater reason to suppose that it had really been intended for this many centuries ago. Notwithstanding it was now covered with grass, I could plainly see that it had once been a breastwork of about four feet in height, extending the best part of a mile, and sufficiently capacious to cover five thousand men. Its form was somewhat circular and its flanks reached to the river.

" Though much defaced by time, every angle was distinguishable, and appeared as regular and fashioned with as much military skill as if planned by Yauban himself. The ditch was not visible, but I thought, on examining more curiously, that I could perceive there certainly had been one. From its situation, also, I am convinced that it must have been designed for that purpose. It fronted the country, and the rear was covered by the river, nor was there any rising ground for a considerable way that commanded it; a few straggling lakes were alone to be seen near it. In many places small tracks were worn across it by the feet of the elks or deer, and from the depth of the bed of earth by which it was covered, I was able to draw certain conclusions of its great antiquity. I examined all the angles, and every part with great attention, and have often blamed myself since, for not encamping on the spot, and drawing an exact plan of it. To show that this description is not the offspring of a heated imagination, or the chimerical tale of a mistaken traveler, I find, on inquiry since my return, that Mons. St. Pierre, and several traders have at different times, taken notice of similar appearances, upon which they have formed the same conjectures, but without examining them so minutely as I did. How a work of this kind could exist in a country that has hitherto (according to the generally received opinion) been the seat of war to untutored Indians alone, whose whole stock of military knowledge has only, till within two centuries, amounted to drawing the bow, and whose only breastwork even at present is the thicket, I know not. I have given as exact an account as possible of this singular appearance, and leave to future explorers of those distant regions, to discover whether it is a production of nature or art. Perhaps the hints I have here given might lead to a more perfect investigation of it, and give us very different ideas of the ancient state of realms that we at present believe to have been, from the earliest period, only the habitations of savages."

Lake Pepin excited his admiration, as it has that of every traveler since his day, and here he remarks : " I observed the ruins of a French factory, where it is said Captain St. Pierre resided, and carried on a very great trade with the Naudowessies, before the reduction of Canada."

Carver's first acquaintance with the Dahkotahs commenced near the river St. Croix. It would seem that the erection of trading posts on Lake Pepin had enticed them from their old residence on Bum river and Mille Lacs.

He says: "Near the river St Croix reside bands of the Naudowessie Indians, called the River Bands. This nation is composed at present of eleven bands. They were originally twelve, but the Assinipoils, some years ago, revolting and separating themselves from the others, there remain at this time eleven. Those I met here are termed the Biver Bands, because they chiefly dwell near the banks of this river; the other eight are generally distinguished by the title of Nadowessies of the Plains, and inhabit a country more to the westward. The names of the former are Nehogatawonajis , the Mawtawbaun to walis, and Shashweentowahs.

Arriving at what is now a suburb of the capital of Minnesota, he continues: " About thirteen miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived the tenth day after I left Lake Pepin, is a remarkable cave, of an amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe [Wakan-tipi]. The entrance into it is about ten feet wide, the height of it five feet. The arch within is fifteen feet high and about thirty feet broad; the bottom consists of fine, clear sand. About thirty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance, for the darkness of the cave preents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it.] I threw a small pebble towards the nterior part of it with my utmost strength. I could hear that it fell into the water, and, notwithstanding it was of a small size, it caused an astonishing and terrible noise, that reverberated through all those gloomy regions. I found in this cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeared very ancient, for time had nearly covered them with moss, so that it was with difficulty I could trace them. They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the wall, which was composed of a stone so extremely soft that it might be easily penetrated with a knife; a stone everywhere to be found near the Mississippi.

" At a little distance from this dreary cavern, is the burying-place of several bands of the Naudowessie Indians. Though these people have no fixed residence, being in tents, and seldom but a few months in one spot, yet they always bring the bones of the dead to this place.

" Ten miles below the Falls of St. Anthony, the river St. Pierre, called by the natives Wadapaw Menesotor, falls into the Mississippi from the west. It is not mentioned by Father Hennepin, though a large, fair river. This omission, I consider, must have proceeded from a small island [Pike's] that is situated exactly in its entrance."

When he reached the Minnesota river, the ice became so troublesome that he left his canoe in the neighborhood of wliat is now St. Anthony, and walked to St. Anthony, in company with a young Winnebago chief, who had never seen the curling waters. The chief, on reaching the eminence some distance below Cheever's, began to invoke his gods, and offer oblations to the spirit in the waters.

"In the middle of the Falls stands a small island, about forty feet broad and somewhat longer, on which grow a few cragged hemlock and spruce trees, and about half way between this island and the eastern shore is a rock, lying at the very edge of the Falls, in an oblique position, that appeared to be about five or six feet broad, and tliirty or forty long. At a little distance below the Falls stands a small island of about an acre and a half, on which grow a great number of oak trees."

From this description, it would appear that the little island, now some distance below the Falls, was once in the very midst, and shows that a constant recession has been going on, and that hi ages long past they were not far from the Minnesota river.

" The country around them is extremely beautiful. It is not an uninterrupted plain, where the eye finds no relief, but composed of many gentle ascents, which in the summer are covered with the finest verdure, and interspersed with little groves that give a pleasing variety to the prospect. On the whole, when the Falls are included, which may be seen at a distance of four miles, a more pleasing and picturesque view, I believe, cannot be found throughout the universe."

On the twenty-fifth of November, he had returned to the place opposite the Minnesota, where he had left his canoe, and this stream as yet not being obstructed with ice, he commenced its ascent, with the colors of Great Britain flying at the stern of his canoe. There is no doubt that he entered this river, but how far he explored it cannot be ascertained. He speaks of the Rapids near Shakopay , and asserts that he went as far as two hundred miles beyond Mendota. He remarks:

Sioux Burial Oration Versified By Schiller

After speaking of the upper bands of the Dahkotahs and their allies, he adds that he " left the habitations of the hospitable Indians the latter end of April, 1767, but did not part from them for several days, as I was accompanied on my journey by near three hundred of them to the mouth of the river St. Pierre. At this season these bands annually go to the great cave (Dayton's Bluff) before mentioned.

When he arrived at the great cave, and the Indians had deposited the remains of their deceased friends in the burial-place that stands adjacent to it, they held their great council to which he was admitted.

When the Naudowessies brought their dead for interment to the great cave (St. Paul), I attempted to get an insight into the remaining burial rites, but whether it was on account of the stench which arose from so many dead bodies, or whether they chose to keep this part of their custom secret from me, I could not discover. I found, however, that they considered my curiosity as ill-timed, and therefore I withdrew. * *

One formality among the Naudowessies in mourning for the dead is very different from any mode I observed in the other nations through which I passed. The men, to show how^reat their sorrow is, pierce the flesh of their arms above the elbows with arrows, and the women cut and gash their legs with broken flints till the blood flows very plentifully. * *

After the breath is departed, the body is dressed in the same attire it usually wore, his face is painted, and he is seated in an erect posture on a mat or skin, placed in the middle of the hut, with his weapons by his side. His relatives seated around, each in turn harangues the deceased; and if he has been a great warrior, recounts his heroic actions, nearly to the following purport, which in the Indian language is extremely poetical aud pleasing

" You still sit among us, brother, your person retains its usual resemblance, and continues similar to ours, without any visible deficiency, except it has lost the power of action! But whither is that breath flown, which a few hours ago sent up smoke to the Great Spirit? Why are those lips silent, that lately delivered to us expressions and pleasing language? Why are those feet motionless, that a few hours ago were fleeter than the deer on yonder mountains? Why useless hang those arms, that could climb the tallest tree or draw the toughest bow? Alas, every part of that frame which we lately beheld with admiration and wonder has now become as inanimate as it was three hundred years ago! We will not, however, bemoan thee as if thou wast forever lost to us, or that thy name would be buried in oblivion; thy soul yet lives in the great country of spirits, with those of thy nation that have gone before thee; and though we are left behind to perpetuate thy fame, we will one day join thee.

" Actuated by the respect we bore thee whilst living, we now come to tender thee the last act of kindness in our power; that thy body might not lie neglected on the plain, and become a prey to the beasts of the field or fowls of the air, and we will take care to lay it with those of thy predecessors that have gone before thee; hoping at the same time that thy spirit will feed with their spirits, and be ready to receive ours when we shall also arrive at the great country of souls."

For this speech Carver is principally indebted to his imagination, but it is well conceived, and suggested one of Schiller's poems, which Goethe considered one of his best, and wished " he had made a dozen such."

Sir E. Lytton Bulwer the distinguished novelist, and Sir John Herschel the eminent astronomer, have each given a translation of Schiller's " Song of the Nadowessee Chjef."

It appears from other sources that Carver's visit to the Dahkotahs was of some effect in bringing abouf friendly intercourse between them and the commander of the English force at Mackinaw.

The earliest mention of the Dahkotahs, in any public British documents that we know of, Is in the correspondence between Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Colony of New York, and General Gage, in command of the forces.

On the eleventh of September, less than six months after Carver's speech at Dayton's Bluff, and the departure of a number of chiefs to the English fort at Mackinaw, Johnson writes to General Gage: u Though I wrote to you some days ago, yet I would not mind saying something again on the score of the vast expenses incurred, and, as I understand, still incurring at Michilimackinac, chiefly on pretense of making a peace between the Sioux and Chippeweighs, with which I think we have very little to do, in good policy or otherwise."

Sir William Johnson, in a letter to Lord Hillsborough, one of his Majesty's ministers, dated August seventeenth, 1768, again refers to the subject:

"Much greater part of those who go a trading are men of such circumstances and disposition as to venture their persons everywhere for extravagant gains, yet the consequences to the public are not to be slighted, as we may be led into a general quarrel through their means. The Indians in the part adjacent to Michillmackinac have been treated with at a very great expense for some time previous.

"Major Bodgers brings a considerable charge against the former for mediating a peace between some tribes of the Sioux and some of the Chippeweighs, which, had it been attended with success, would only have been interesting to a very few French, and others that had goods in that part of the Indian country, but the contrary has happened, and they are now more violent, and war against one another."

Though a wilderness of over one thousand miles intervened between the Falls of St Anthony and the white settlements of the English, Carver was fully impressed with the idea that the State now organized under the name of Minnesota, on account of its beauty and fertility, would attract settlers.

Speaking of the advantages of the country, he says that the future population will be "able to convey their produce to the seaports with great facility, the current of the river from its source to its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico being extremely favorable for doing this in small craft This might also In time be facilitated by canals or shorter cuts, and a ammunication opened by water with New York by way of the Lakes.11

The subject of this sketch was also confident that a route would be discovered by way of the Minnesota river, which would open a passage to China and the English settlements in the East Indies." .

Carver having returned to England, interested Whitworth, a member of parliament in the northern route. Had not the American Revolution commenced, they proposed to have built a fort at Lake Pepin, to have proceeded up the Minnesota until they found, as they supposed they could, a branch of the Missouri, and from thence, journeying over the summit of lands until they came to a river which they called Oregon, they expected to descend to the Pacific.

Carver, in common with other travelers, had his theory in relation to the origin of the Dahkotahs. He supposed that they came from Asia. He remarks: "But this might have been at different times and from various parts - from Tartary, China, Japan, for the inhabitants of these places resemble each other. * * *

"It is very evident that some of the names and customs of the American Indians resemble those of the Tartars, and I make no doubt but that in some future era, and this not far distant, it will be reduced to certainty that during some of the wars between the Tartars and Chinese a part of the inhabitants of the northern provinces were driven from their native country, and took refuge in some of the isles before mentioned, and from thence found their way into America. * * *

"Many words are used both by the Chinese and the Indians which have a resemblance to each other, not only in their sound, but in their signification. The Chinese call a slave Shungo; and the Noudowessie Indians, whose language, from their little intercourse with the Europeans, is least corrupted, term a dog Shungush [Shoankah.J The former denominate one species of their tea Shoushong; the latter call their tobacco Shousas-sau [Chanshasha.] Many other of the words used by the Indians contain the syllables cfte, chaw, and cfeu, after the dialect of the Chinese."

Explobers And Pioneers Of Minnesota

The comparison of languages has become a rich source of historical knowledge, yet many of the analogies traced are fanciful. The remark of Humbolt in " Cosmos" is worthy of remembrance. "As the structure of American idioms appears remarkably strange to nations speaking the modern languages of Western Europe, and who readily suffer themselves to be led away by some accidental analogies of sound, theologians have generally believed that they could trace an affinity with the Hebrew, Spanish colonists with the Basque and the English, or French settlers with Gaelic, Erse, or the Bas Breton. I one day met on the coast of Peru, a Spanish naval officer and an English whaling captain, the fontier of whom declared that he had heard Basque spoken at Tahiti; the other, Gaelic or Erse at the Sandwich Islands."

Carver became very poor while in England, and was a clerk in a lottery-office. He died in 1780, and left a widow, two sons, and five daughters, in New England, and also a child by another wife that he had married in Great Britain

After his death a claim was urged for the land upon which the capital of Minnesota now stands* and for many miles adjacent. As there are still many persons who believe that they have some right through certain deeds purporting to be from the heirs of Carver, it is a matter worthy of an investigation.

Carver says nothing in his book of travels in relation to a grant from the Dahkotahs, but after he was buried, it was asserted that there was a deed belonging to him in existence, conveying valuable lands, and that said deed was executed at the cave now in the eastern suburbs of Saint Paul.

Deed Purporting To Have Been Given At The Cave In The Bluff Below St. Paul

" To Jonathan Carver, a chief under the most mighty and potent George the Third, King of the English and other nations, the fame of whose warriors has reached our ears, and has now been fully told us by our good brother Jonathan, aforesaid, whom we rejoice to have come among us, and bring us good news from his country.

"We, chiefs of the Naudowessies, who have hereunto set our seals, do by these presents, for ourselves and heirs forever, in return for the aid and other good services done by the said Jonathan to ourselves and allies, give grant and convey to him, the said Jonathan, and to his heirs and assigns forever, the whole of a certain tract or territory of land, bounded as follows, viz: from the Falls of St. Anthony, running on the east bank of the Mississippi, nearly southeast, as far as Lake Pepin, where the Chippewa joins the Mississippi, and from thence eastward five days travel, accounting twenty English miles per day; and from thence again to the Falls of St. Anthony, on a direct straight line. We do for ourselves, heirs, and assigns, forever give unto the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns, with all the trees, rocks, and rivers therein, reserving the sole liberty of hunting and fishing on land not planted or improved by the said Jonathan, his heirs and assigns, to which we have affixed our respective seals. *

The original deed was never exhibited by the assignees of the heirs. By his English wife Carver had one child, a daughter Martha, who was cared for by Sir Richard and Lady Pearson. In time she eloped and married a sailor. A mercantile firm in London, thinking that money could be made, induced the newly married couple, the day after the wedding, to convey the grant to them, with the understanding that they were to have a tenth of the profits.

The merchants despatched an agent by the name of Clarke to go to the Dahkotahs, and obtain a new deed; but on his way he was murdered in the state of New York.

In the year 1794, the heirs of Carver's American wife, in consideration of fifty thousand pounds sterling, conveyed their interest in the Carver grant to Edward Houghton of Vermont. In the year 1806, Samuel Peters, who had been a tory and an Episcopal minister during the Revolutionary war, alleges, in a petition to Congress, that he had also purchased of the heirs of Carver their rights to the grant.

"In the year 1774, 1 arrived there (London), and met Captain Carver. In 1775, Carver had a hearing before the king, praying his majesty's approval of a deed of land dated May first, 1767, and sold and granted to him by the Naudowissies. The result was his majesty approved of the exertions and bravery of Captain Carver among the Indian nations, near the Falls of St. Anthony, in the Mississippi, gave to said Carver 13712. 13s. 8d. sterling, and ordered a frigate to be prepared, and a transport ship to carry one hundred and fifty men, under command of Captain Carver, with four others as a committee, to sail the next June to New Orleans, and then to ascend the Mississippi, to take possession of said territory conveyed to Captain Carver ; but the battle of Bunker Hill prevented."

In 1821, General Leavenworth, having made inquiries of the Dahkotahs, in relation to the alleged claim, addressed the following to the commissioner of the land office :

" Sir: - Agreeably to your request, I have the honour to inform you what I have understood from the Indians of the Sioux Nation, as well as some facts within my own knowledge, as to what is commonly termed Carver's Grant. The grant purports to be made by the chiefs of the Sioux of the Plains, and one of the chiefs uses the sign of a serpent, and the other of a turtle, purporting that their names are derived from those animals.

uThe land lies on the east side of the Mississippi. The Indians do not recognize or acknowl edge the grant to be valid, and they among others assign the following reasons:

"1. The Sioux of the Plains never owned a foot of land on the east side of the Mississippi. The Sioux Nation is divided into two grand divisions, viz: The Sioux of the Lake; or perhaps more literally Sioux of the River, and Sioux of the Plain. The former subsists by hunting and fishing, and usually move from place to place by water, in canoes, during the summer season, and travel on the ice in the winter, when not on their hunting excursions. The latter subsist entirely by hunting, and have no canoes, nor do they know but little about the use of them. They reside in the large prairies west of the Mississippi, and follow the buffalo, upon which they entirely subsist; these are called Sioux of the Plain, and never owned land east of the Mississippi.

" 2. The Indians say they have no knowledge of any such chiefs as those who Jiave signed the grant to Carver, either amongst the Sioux of the

River or the Sioux of the Plain. They say that if Captain Carver did ever obtain a deed or grant, it was signed by some foolish young men who were not chiefs and who were not authorized to make a grant. Among the Sioux of the River there are no such names.

" 3. They say the Indians never received anything for the land, and they have no intention to part with it without a consideration. From my knowledge of the Indians, I am induced to think they would not make so considerable a grant, and have it to go into full effect without receiving a substantial consideration.

4. They have, and ever have had, the possession of the land, and intend to keep it. I know that they are very particular in making every person who wishes to cut timber on that tract obtain their permission to do so, and to obtain payment for it. In the month of May last, some Frenchmen brought a large raft of red cedar timber out of the Chippewa River, which timber was cut on the tract before mentioned. The Indians at one of the villages on the Mississippi, where the principal chief resided, compelled the Frenchmen to land the raft, and would not permit them to pass until they had received pay for the timber, and the Frenchmen were compelled to leave their raft with the Indians until they went to Prairie du Chien, and obtained the necessary articles, and made the payment required."

On the twenty-third of January, 1823, the Committee of Public Lands made a report on the claim to the Senate, which, to every disinterested person, is entirely satisfactory. After stating the facts of the petition, the report continues:

" The Rev. Samuel Peters, in his petition, further states that Lefei, the present Emperor of the Sioux and Naudowessies, and Red Wing, a sachem, the heirs and successors of the two grand chiefs who signed the said deed to Captain Carver, have given satisfactory and positive proof that they allowed their ancestors' deed to be genuine, good, and valid, and that Captain Carver's heirs and assigns are the owners of said territory, and may occupy it free of all molestation.

The committee have examined and considered the claims thus exhibited by the petitioners, and remark that the original deed is not produced, nor any competent legal evidence offered of its execution ; nor is there any proof that the persons, who it is alleged made the deed, were the chiefs of said tribe, nor that (if chiefs) they had authority to grant and give away the land belonging to their tribe. The paper annexed to the petition, as a copy of said deed, has no subscribing witnesses ; and it would seem impossible, at this remote period, to ascertain the important fact, that the persons who signed the deed comprehended and understood the meaning and effect of their act.

" The want of proof as to these facts, would interpose in the way of the claimants insuperable difficulties. But, in the opinion of the committee, the claim is not such as the United States are under any obligation to allow, even if the deed were proved in legal form.

" The British government, before the time when the alleged deed bears date, had deemed it prudent and necessary for the preservation of peace with the Indian tribes under their sovereignty, protection and dominion, to prevent British subjects from purchasing lands from the Indians, and this rule of policy was made known and enforced by the proclamation of the king of Great Britain, of seventh October, 1768, which contains an express prohibition.

" Captain Carver, aware of the law, and knowing that such a contract could not vest the legal title in him, applied to the British government to ratify and confirm the Indian grant, and, though it was competent for that government then to confirm the grant, and vest the title of said land

" The territory has since become the property of the United States, and an Indian grant not good against the British government, would appear to be not binding uuon the United States government.

" What benefit the British government derived from the services of Captain Carver, by his travels and residence among the Indians, that government alone could determine, and alone could judge what remuneration those services deserved.

" One fact appears from the declaration of Mr. Peters, in his statement in writing, among the papers exhibited, namely, that the British government did give Captain Carver the sum of one thousand three hundred and seventy-five pounds six shillings and eight pence sterling. To the United States, however, Captain Carver rendered no services which could be assumed as any equitable ground for the support of the petitioners' claim.

"The committee being. of opinion that the United States are not bound in law and equity to confirm the said alleged Indian grant, recommend the adoption of the resolution:

Lord Palmerston stated in 1889, that no trace could be found in the records of the British office of state papers, showing any ratification of the Carver grant.