To James Madison from Josiah Meigs, 23 June 1815
From Josiah Meigs
23d. June 1815.
Sir,
The lands in the district West of pearl river, in the Mississippi Territory, and west of the basis meridian, being prepared for sale, and the receiver of public monies for that district having informed me that applications are daily made by persons to purchase, I have the honor to transmit herewith for your signature a proclamation authorising a public sale of those lands on the second Tuesday in October next.1 I have the honor to be &c.
Letterbook copy (DNA: RG 49, Division C, Misc. Letters Sent). For enclosure, see n. 1.
1. The final version of the proclamation, dated 22 June 1815, directed that public lands in the district that had not been offered in the sales JM had ordered in 1808 and 1811, or “otherwise disposed of or excepted by Law,” be sold at Washington, Mississippi Territory, beginning on 10 Oct. 1815. The sale was limited to lands of which “the Indian Title … has been extinguished,” with the survey thereof completed and returned to the register of the land office before 1 Oct. 1815 (DNA: RG 49, Division D, Record Copies of Proclamations).