Corporation of the Catholic Bishop of Nesqually v. Gibbon
| Decision Date | 06 May 1895 |
| Docket Number | No. 277,277 |
| Citation | 158 U.S. 155,39 L.Ed. 931,15 S.Ct. 779 |
| Parties | CORPORATION OF THE CATHOLIC BISHOP OF NESQUALLY v. GIBBON et al |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
In section 1 of the act of congress of August 14, 1848, establishing the territorial government of Oregon, is the following proviso: 'Provided, also, that the title to the land, not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, now occupied as missionary stations among the Indian tribes in said territory, together with the improvements thereon, be confirmed and established in the several religious societies to which said missionary stations respectively belong.' 9 Stat. 323. Oregon, as then organized, included all that region west of the Rocky Mountains, and north of the forty-second degree of north latitude, part of which became afterwards the territory, and later the state, of Washington.
In February, 1887, the appellant, as plaintiff, commenced a suit in the district court of the Second judicial district of Washington Territory against the defendants, John Gibbon, T. M. Anderson, and R. T. Yeatman. In the bill then filed the plaintiff alleged that, under and by virtue of the forego- ing proviso, it was entitled to a tract of 640 acres at and adjacent to the present town of Vancouver, 430 acres of which were in the occupancy of the defendants, as officers and soldiers of the United States, who held the same as a military reservation; and the prayer was for an injunction, a decree of title, and a surrender of possession. Under the direction of the attorney general, the United States attorney for the territory of Washington entered the appearance of the United States, and filed an answer in behalf of all of the defendants. While the case was pending in the territorial courts, Washington was admitted as a state, and the case was thereupon transferred to the circuit court of the United States for the district of Washington. In that court, upon pleadings and proof, a decree was entered in favor of the defendants, dismissing the bill. 44 Fed. 321. From such decree the plaintiff appealed to this court.
A. H. Garland, Heber J. May, and R. C. Garland, for appellant.
Sol. Gen. Conrad, for appellees.
Mr. Justice BREWER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.
No question was raised in the pleadings or otherwise on the record as to the jurisdiction of the court below over a controversy of this character, but the case was heard and disposed of by the circuit court on the merits of the plaintiff's claim. It had been in like manner argued in this court, and therefore waiving the inquiry whether the objection to the jurisdiction might not, if seasonably taken, have compelled a dismissal, we shall proceed to consider the merits.
In this case a large volumeo f testimony has been taken, which it would be a waste of time to attempt to review in detail. Notwithstanding some conflict in minor matters, there is little difficulty in determining what was the true situation of affairs at Vancouver at the time of the passage of the act of 1848. To a clear understanding of that situation, a brief historical statement of preceding events is necessary. Some years prior to 1838 the Hudson Bay Company had established a trading post at Vancouver. This was done under the assumption that it was within the British possessions. In and about this post were gathered quite a number of employees of the company. It was purely a trading post, with the buildings, appurtenances, and employees naturally attached to such a post established far from civilization, and in the middle of the Indian country. Many of these employees were Catholics. In the year 1834-35, these Catholics forwarded petitions to the bishop of Juliopolis to send missionaries to them. To these applications the bishop, on June 6 and 8, 1835, made responses; the first being a letter to Dr. McLaughlin, of the Hudson Bay Company, reading as follows:
'Your most humble ob't serv't, X I. N.
'Bishop of Juliopolis.
'6 June, 1835—Red River.'
The other inclosed with it commences as follows:
'To All the Families Established on the Willamette River, and Other Catholic Persons beyond the Rocky Mountains, Greeting and Benediction:
Subsequently, and on April 17, 1838, the bishop of Quebec sent Francis Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers as missionaries into this region, giving them a letter of instructions, from which we quote the following:
'Instructions for Messrs. Francis Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers, priests, appointed missionaries for that portion of the diocese of Quebec which is situate between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains:
'1st. They must consider as the first object of their mission to draw from barbarity and the disorders which follow from it the Indian nations spread in that country.
'2d. The second object is to lend their services to the bad Christians who have there adopted the morals of the Indians, and live in licentiousness and the forgetfulness of their duties.
'3d. Convinced that the preaching of the gospel § the safest means of obtaining these happy results, they will lose no opportunity of inculcating its principles and its maxims, either in their private conversations, or in their public instructions.
'4th. In order more promptly to render themselves useful to the Nations of the country where they are sent, they will, from the first moment of their arrival, apply themselves to the study of the Indian languages, and will endeavor to reduce them to regular principles, so as to be able to publish a grammar of them after some years of residence.
'5th. They will prepare for baptism with all possible haste the infidel women who live in a state of concubinage with Christians, in order to replace those irregular by lawful marriages.
'6th. They will apply themselves with a particular care to the Christian education of the children, establishing for that purpose, as much as their means will afford them, schools and catechisms in all the villages which they will have occasion to visit.
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'9th. The territory which is particularly assigned to them is that which is comprised between the Rocky Mountains at the east, the Pacific Ocean at the west, the Russian possession at the north, and the territory of the United States at the south. It is only in that extent of territory that they will establish missions, and it is particularly recommended to them not to form any establishment on the lands, the possession whereof is contested by the United States. They will be allowed, however, in conformity with the indult of the holy see, dated February 28, 1836, a copy of which accompanies the present, to exercise, when needed, their faculties in the Russian possessions as well as in that part of the American territory which joins their mission. As to that part of the territory, it is probable that it does not belong to any of the dioceses of the United States, but, if the missionaries were informed that it is a part of some dioceses, they will abstain from exercising any act of jurisdiction there, in obedience to the indult cited above, unless they be authorized to it by the bishop of such diocese.
'10th. As to the place where they will fix their principal residence, it will be on the river Cowlitz or Kowiltyhe, which empties into the river Columbia on the north side of this last river. On their arrival at Fort Vancouver they will present themselves to the person who then represents the honorable Hudson Bay Company, and they will take his advice as to the precise situation of that establishment '11th. They are particularly recommended to have all possible regard for the members and employees of that company, with whom it is very important, for the holy work with which they are charged, to be constantly in good intelligence.
'12th. As they cannot rely entirely upon the resources from the Association for Propagation of the Faith, established a year ago in this diocese, to provide for their sustenance, and the construction of the chapels and houses which they will establish in various places of their mission, they will induce the White inhabitants and the Nations of the country to contribute for these objects as much as their means will allow them.
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