of certain lands to the extent of four square leagues; and that
the present city had succeeded to such rights, following, in these
particulars, the decision which had previously been made in the case
of Hart vs. Burnett, by the Supreme Court of the State, in which I had
participated. I accordingly decided that the city was entitled to have
her claim confirmed to four square leagues of land, subject to
certain reservations. But I also added that the lands to which she
was entitled had not been given to her by the laws of the former
government in absolute property with full right of disposition and
alienation, but to be held in trust for the benefit of the whole
community, with such powers of use, disposition, and alienation as had
been or might thenceforth be conferred upon her or her officers for
the execution of the trust. The trust character of the city's title
was expressed in the decree of confirmation. The decision was rendered
on the 30th of October, 1864, as stated, and a decree was soon
afterwards entered; but as a motion was made for a re-hearing, the
control over it was retained by the Circuit Court until May of the
following year. Upon the suggestion of counsel, it was then modified
in some slight particulars so as to limit the confirmation to land
above ordinary high water mark, as it existed at the date of the
acquisition of the country, namely, the 7th of July, 1846. On the 18th
of May, 1865, the decree was finally settled and entered. Appeals from
it were prosecuted to the Supreme Court both by the United States and
by the city; by the United States from the whole decree, and by
the city from so much of it as included certain reservations in the
estimate of the quantity of land confirmed.

In October following I proceeded as usual to Washington to attend the
then approaching term of the Supreme Court, and thought no more of
the case until my attention was called to it by a most extraordinary