Letter-1865, May 4

Washington D. C. May 4, 1865

To
His Excellency Andrew Johnson
President of the United States

   The Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church through us its proper attorneys respectfully ask

   I. That the property known as the Shawnee Manual Labor school in the State of Kansas be restored to its original intent and use.

II. That if this be not practicable then that the said property he sold and the said Society be reimbursed for its heavy expenditures in creating the same.

   Some of the grounds on which this request is made are as follows: viz.

   1. In the year 1838 the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church founded a Manual Labor School for the benefit of the Shawnee Indians in Kansas on lands belonging to said Indians and occupied by the said society with the formal consent of the Shawnees and with the approval of the Government. (See paper marked A, and its enclosure.)

2. The said Missionary Society appropriated and paid for the benefit of the Shawnee Manual Labor School during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841 & 1842 the aggregate sum of $39,000.00 of which amount $20,750.00 were expended in buildings & improvements of the property. (See paper marked B. p. 2. For number and character of the buildings see Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs Nov. 28, 1840, Paper marked C.)

3. It is matter of public notoriety as well as record in the Indian Bureau of the Government and elsewhere, that the said School went into successful operation and was carried on for a number of years to the entire satisfaction of the Government and at a heavy annual expense to the Missionary Society.– Of this School the Commissioner of Indian Affairs says, “The Manual Labor School established by the Methodist Episcopal Church is on a large scale. This religious Society has contributed freely of its means and the Department has been as liberal in aiding to build it up as a just regard to the claims of kindred establishments would allow. I think the assistance exceedingly well bestowed.” (Report, Nov. 25, 1841, P. 14)

4. Its prosperity continued during the administration of said Society up to 1845, at which time by the secession of the Church South, it fell within their geographical limits and was occupied by them without contest on our part, as we understood that its original purposes were being carried out by said Church: but the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, has never done nor consented to any act by which its claims to the occupancy & use of said lands and improvements can be invalidated.

5. We have recently learned that our expectations were not realized, and that the School declined in numbers and usefulness till it was formally terminated on the 30th day of September 1862 by an order from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

6. Still more recently we have been surprised to learn that by a treaty May 10, 1854 the title to the lands on which said school was founded was, on certain specified conditions to be given to the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, or to such person or persons as may be designated by it.

7. We learn with regret that the said Missionary Society or the Methodist Episcopal Church South has agreed to sell and convey to one Thomas Johnson his heirs or assigns two of the three sections of land mentioned in the said treaty of May 10, 1854. It is also alleged by the heirs of Thomas Johnson that the remaining section of land was sold to the said Thomas Johnson by the said Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, but of this sale or agreement to sell, we submit there is no proper legal evidence.

8. The heirs of Thomas Johnson on the grounds of the sales alleged above have applied to the Secretary of the Interior to have the patent to the three sections of land in question issue directly to them; but to this, we respectfully submit, they are not entitled, not having been designated by the Society to receive the same as required by the treaty; nor is there any evidence that the said Society desires the patent so to issue.

9. While we may not ask that the treaty of May 10, 1854 be set aside yet we do ask that its execution be suspended for a time: and we desire the following to be good and sufficient reasons for such suspension:

   (1) Its execution will utterly defeat the original intent in founding said school, and will transfer to the sole benefit of a private individual, without adequate compensation to any one therefor, a large & valuable property created by a Charitable institution and for Charitable purposes.

   (2) There were no debts or other liens upon the property rendering its sale necessary to their liquidation. The claims of Mr. Johnson “for services and expenditures in procuring the grant” and which it is proposed to cancel by giving him a large portion (one third) of the property in question are not claims against the property but against the Missionary Society that employed him.

   (3) In the sixth Article of the treaty of May 10, 1854 it is provided that the lands granted to the Friends School, and to the Baptist School shall on the discontinuance of these schools “be sold at public sale to the highest bidder, upon such terms as the President may prescribe, the proceeds to be applied by the Shawnees to such general, beneficial and charitable purposes as they may wish;– provided that the improvements shall be valued and the valuation deducted from the proceeds of sale and returned to said Boards respectively.” Had the treaty contained similar provision to reimburse the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church on the same conditions the said society would be content.

   (4) But especially do we object to the execution of the aforesaid treaty of 1854. because, that after eight years experience under it, and under a contract between the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South made March 5, 1855, for fulfilling the treaty of 1854, the said contract was found oppressive & injurious to the Shawnees, and a new treaty was made March 18, 1864, under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior nullifying the treaty of May 10, 1854 and the contract aforesaid, and ordering the public sale of the Mission lands in question and an equitable distribution of the proceeds of the same. This treaty is now pending in the Senate. The fifth Article of the said pending treaty is in the words following: viz.

   “Article 5th. The contract entered into by George W. Manypenny Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and E.W. Sehon who assumed to act in  the name and on behalf of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, on the 5th day of March 1855 being one of great hardship as to the Shawnees, and the said Society having engaged in the present rebellion against the laws and authority of the United States before the expiration of said contract and thereby rendered a compliance with its stipulations impossible, the said Contract is hereby declared forfeited. Nevertheless if the Secretary of the Interior shall be satisfied that under color of said contract any loyal citizen of the United States has conducted a school and furnished the means for ·the clothing, boarding, and educating of the children of the tribe at the Shawnee Manual Labor School that he shall, upon the application of such citizen if made within one year after the ratification of this treaty, cause an account to be taken of the number of said children, thus clothed boarded and 1nstructed, during each year from the 1st day of October 1854, to the close of said school on the 30th day of September 1862; and that he shall also have an account taken of the aggregate sum of money which has been paid to or received by such claimant for his services and expenditures: and the annual and aggregate value of the rents and profits of the said land and improvements received and enjoyed by him during such period. And should said Secretary determine that the said claimant has not been fully and fairly paid, he is hereby authorized to pay him any balance thus found to be due out of any fund now or hereafter in the hands of the Government to the credit of the Shawnee Indians not otherwise appropriated. Provided, that not more than one hundred dollars shall be allowed for each child for the ordinary Scholastic year. In order to ascertain the facts and fairly adjust said accounts the Secretary of the Interior may receive or cause to be taken the testimony of the parties interested and residents in the vicinity of the school.

   And the said Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, having neglected to pay for said three sections of land, and having thereby and for the same reason before stated as affecting the validity of the contract aforesaid forfeited all claim or right to any legal or equitable interest in or to the said three sections of land, the provisions of the treaty of May 10, 1854 are hereby abrogated and declared null and void. And the Secretary of the Interior shall sell said lands upon such terms and in such quantities as he may deem best for the interest of the tribes; and upon the payment of the purchase money a patent in fee simple shall issue to the purchaser his heirs or assigns.”

Note. This treaty is now before the Senate, and has not been acted on as we are informed and believe, for want of time to give it due consideration, owing to the press of other and more important business in the Senate since it was sent in.

   10. We see that in the written opinion of the Hon. Secretary of the Interior which he pleased to allow us to read, his decision turns largely if not mainly on a mistake in assuming that the property of the Shawnee Manual Labor School was the property of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This was not the case; but it was the property of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church a corporation created by the Legislature of the State of New York, and the Shawnee Manual Labor School, as well as all other Mission Schools, were therefore purposely left out of the list of properties enumerated in the 9th Article of the Plan of Separation quoted by the Hon. Secretary of the Interior.

11. We therefore in the name and on behalf of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church most respectfully ask that if, in the judgment of the Government the property in question cannot be restored to its original intent and use under the supervision of the said Missionary Society, that the issuing of patent to any party or parties under the treaty of May 10, 1854 be suspended till the Senate shall take action on the pending treaty of March l8, 1864.

Very Respectfully
Your Obt. Servant
William L. Harris
J.P. Durbin
Attornies for the Missionary Society

(See Post Script)

P.S. In further support of our opinion that neither Mr.  Johnson or his heirs are entitled to the patent under the provisions of the treaty of 1854, and that neither he nor the Government understood, up to this time the School was closed by order of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that the sales claimed to have been made by the said Missionary Society of’ the M. E. Church South to Johnson, were intended to “designate” him as the  receipient of the patent from the  Government, we beg leave to refer you to  a Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior, dated October 18, 1862 (herewith) in which occurs the following passage viz; “The Society still claims as due it $7,500 for one year and a half from the 12th of April 1861 to 30th of September 1862 when the contract was annulled: and $1,500 to be placed to its credit towards the $10,000 above mentioned, which leaves $2,000, still due the Shawnees by the Society which it proposes that I should retain out of the $7,500, in money,  and grant it a patent for the three sections of land  before mentioned

W. L. H.
J. P. D.
Attornies.