es. Whilst the case was pending in the District Court, the
population of the city had increased more than four-fold; and
improvements of a costly character had been made in all parts of it.
The magnitude of the interests which had thus grown up demanded that
the title to the land upon which the city rested should be in some
way definitely settled. To expedite this settlement, as well as the
settlement of titles generally in the State, was the object of the
act of July 1st, 1864. Its object is so stated in its title. It
was introduced by Senator Conness, of California, who was alive to
everything that could tend to advance the interests of the State. He
felt that nothing would promote its peace and prosperity more than
giving security to its land titles, and he labored earnestly to bring
about that result. In framing the act, he consulted me, and at my
suggestion introduced sections four, five, and seven, which I drafted
and gave to him, but without the exception and proviso to the fifth
section, which were added at the request of the Commissioner of the
Land Office.[4] The fourth section authorized the District Court to
transfer to the Circuit Court cases pending before it arising under
the act of March 3d, 1851, affecting the title to lands within the
corporate limits of a city or town, and provided that in such cases
both the District and Circuit Judges might sit. By the fifth section,
all the right and title of the United States to the land within the
corporate limits of the city, as defined by its charter of 1851, were
relinquished and granted to the city and its successors for the uses
and purposes specified in the Van Ness Ordinance. The exceptions
incorporated at the suggestion of the Commissioner of the Land Office
related to parcels of land previously or then occupied by the United
States for military, naval, or other public purposes, and such other
parcels as might be subsequently designated for such purposes by the
President within one year after the return to the land office of
an approved plat of the exterior limits of the city. The holders of
grants from the authorities of the _pueblo_ and the occupants of land
within the limits of the charter of 1851 were thus quieted in their
possessions. But as the claim of the city was for a much greater
quantity, the case for its confirmation was still prosecuted. Under
the fourth section it was transferred to the Circuit Court, as already
stated; and it was soon after