Note 1440 — Chapter X

Except by John Milledge of Georgia, who declared that "there was no legal claim upon ... any part of that territory." Robert Goodloe Harper said that that question "must be determined in a Court of Justice," and argued for an "amicable settlement" of the claims. He himself once had an interest in the purchase, but had disposed of it three years before when it appeared that the matter must come before Congress (Annals, 5th Cong. 2d Sess. 1277-78); the debate occupied parts of two days (see also ib. 1298-1313). In view of the heated controversy that afterward occurred, it seems scarcely credible that almost no attention was given in this debate to the fraudulent character of the transaction.