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of this Bureau, the door will be opened to a great amount of fraud. It is a well settled rule of law that a party who conveys land can grant nothing more than he himself possesses. In this case it would be a conditional estate, dependent upon the rights to of third parties derived in time of war by virtue of a military necessity and military order. The limitations of those rights will depend upon the orders of Government and the relations which the former owners sustains to the Government. Therefore, I think, we should confer with such former owners and not with the third parties. Besides it is well known that fraudulent conveyances are often made and difficult to prove under circumstances less vital to the owner tan those which interest the Sea Island planters. Alleged purchases, who may even show a deed for their property, may be but the Agents of the alleged granter, having a secret understanding with him that the property is still his, and that he will receive it back again when he may do so without running the risk of losing it through the action of the U.S. Government.
I should be glad to know whether my actions in this case meets with the approval of the Commissioner, and whether in future cases I shall be gov-