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range of hills, on their south side is the stream called the Colorado river, which seems to spring from the great mountain range before mentioned. The language descriptive of the land in the petition of Beaubien and Miranda, which was granted and donated to them by Gov. Armijo, as "therein expressed," is as follows: "The tract of land we petition for to be divided equally between us commences below the junction of the Rayado river with the Colorado, and in a direct line towards the east to the first hills, [about which there does not seem to be much difficulty,] and from there running parallel with said River Colorado in a northerly direction to opposite the point of the Una de Gato, following the same river along the same hills to continue to the east of said Una de Gato river to the summit of the table-land, [mesa;] from whence, turning north-west, to follow along said summit until it reaches the top of the mountain which divides the waters of the rivers running towards the east from those running towards the west; and from thence following the line of said mountain in a southwardly direction until it intersects the first hills south of the Rayado river, and following the summit of said hills towards the east to the place of beginning."

Now, it is this north-eastern corner, whence the course turns to the northwest, which is the great subject of controversy,—the line following the summit of the mesa, or table-land, to the summit of the mountain. This part of the Colorado river is a natural object which could not be mistaken, and which it is now claimed is the true course of the line, except that it is asserted that it should have followed the summit of the Raton mountains, which are just north of it, and running parallel with the river. That range is also a natural object, easily ascertained, and it would seem but reasonable that one or the other of those objects should have been selected by the grantor as descriptive of the place where this northern line should be located. Instead of this, however, it is said to run to the "summit of the table-land, from whence, turning north-west, to follow along said summit, [which evidently means the summit of the table land,] until it reaches the top of the mountain." The longest line of the survey is from the south-east corner, in a northerly direction, parallel with the Colorado river; and, if the line now contended for by appellant was the true east and west line, it need only have been stated in the grant that it should follow the course of that river to its origin, in the same mountain, which separates the waters of the rivers running east and west. But, instead of speaking either of that river in its course from west to east, or of the Raton mountains, as the natural object which constituted the northerly boundary of the grant, it requires the boundary line to leave the Colorado river at the junction of the Una de Gato river with it, and continuing along a range of hills "to the east of the Una de Gato river to the summit of the table-land." This is not only a strong indication that the northern boundary was not where it is claimed to be by counsel for appellant, but that it was somewhere else; that it was not a range of hills nor a river already mentioned in the grant, but that it was something else called the "summit, of the table-land," north of both of these. And although there is some contrariety of opinion about this "summit of the table-land" which is to constitute the north-eastern corner of the grant, we are of opinion, upon a consideration of all the evidence before us, that the survey was located as nearly in accordance with the terms of the grant as it is possible now to ascertain them.

Without going into this evidence more minutely, we are content to say that while in favor of the correctness of this survey, in the points assailed, it is as strong or stronger than that for any other survey which could be made, or which has been suggested by the counsel for the United States, and we are very clear that it is not the province of this court to set aside and declare null and void these surveys and patents approved by the officers of the government whose duty it was to consider them, and who evidently did consider them with

great attention, upon the mere possibility or a bare probability that some other survey would more accurately represent the terms of the grant.

The question of fraud in the location of this survey, which is about all the allegation there is of actual fraud in the title of the defendants, is not deserving of much consideration. We are compelled to say that we do not see any satisfactory evidence of an attempt to commit a fraud, and still less of its consummation. As to the principal officers of the government who were connected with that survey, to-wit, the commissioner of the general land-office and the surveyor general of the territory of New Mexico, there is not the slightest evidence that they were governed by any fraudulent or improper motive in their acts in regard to this survey, or that they displayed any leaning towards the grantees in ascertaining the true boundaries of the grant. Nor is there any serious attack upon the subordinates of those officers, or any of the persons actually engaged in making the survey, in regard to their honesty of purpose or interest in the result. The principal argument of counsel upon this subject is based upon the Griffin survey, already mentioned, which was deposited by the claimants in the office of the surveyor general of New Mexico. It is argued, in the first place, that this survey was a very incorrect one, and that it included much more land than was granted by Gov. Armijo; secondly, it is insisted that in this respect it was an intentional departure from a correct survey; and, thirdly, that it was designed and intended by the claimants to impose this incorrect and fraudulent survey upon the commissioner of the general land-office, and have him issue a patent for it.

As regards the first element of this allegation of fraud,-the incorrectness of the survey, and that it included more land than the grant authorized,the only minute and careful survey with which it can be compared is the one upon which the patent finally issued, and we must say, with the light we have upon the subject, and the time we have been able to bestow upon its consideration, that it is by no means clear that the Griffin survey, in that respect, is not the most correct one. The defendants here are not in a condition to contest the final survey. It is their business and their duty, having accepted the patent upon it, to defend it. But if it were to their interest, or to anybody's interest, to show that the Griffin survey was the more correct one, it seems to us that arguments in its support would not be wanting. In the second place, as to any intentional fraud on the part of Griffin or his assistants in the running of these boundary lines, there is not the slightest evidence. And, lastly, as to the charge that the Maxwell Land-Grant Company knew this survey to be a false one, and that it included much more land than the company was entitled to, but that they nevertheless endeavored to impose it upon the commissioner of the general land-office as a correct survey, there are two emphatic answers: First, there is no evidence that they believed it to be a false survey, and they only asked, or seemed to ask, that this survey might be adopted, because the government had not made, and would not then make, one for itself, in order that they might get the patent to which they were entitled; second, the commissioner was not imposed upon. If they at tempted a fraudulent imposition, they were not successful; he rejected their survey altogether, caused another one to be made, and pointed out in his in structions to those who executed the final survey the points of departure from that made by Griffin, upon which he insisted. It seems impossible, in the face of these circumstances, to assume that there was anything in the nature of fraud perpetrated in regard to the Griffin survey, and its effect upon the final survey.

The great importance of this case, as regards the immense quantity of land involved and its value, reinforced by the circumstance of the number of cases coming before the courts, in which, under the directions of the attorney general, attempts are made to set aside the decrees of the courts, the patents is

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sued by the government, and, in this case, an act of congress, seems to cal for some remarks as to the nature of the testimony and other circumstances which will justify a court in granting such relief. The cases of this character which have come to the supreme court of the United States have been so few in number that but little has been said in regard to the general principles which should govern their decision. There are decisions enough to guide us in cases where a patent or other title derived directly from the government has been questioned in a collateral proceeding brought to enforce that title, or to assert a defense under it; but the distinction between this class of cases, in which all the presumptions are in favor of the validity of the title, and ir regard to which a wise policy has forbidden that they should be thus attacked, and those like the present, in which an action is brought in a court of chancery to vacate, to set aside, or to annul the patent itself, or other evidence of title from the United States, is very obvious. In either case, however, the deliberate action of the tribunals to which the law commits the determination of all preliminary questions, and the control of the processes by which this evidence of title is issued to the grantee, demand that to annul such an instrument and destroy the title claimed under it, the facts on which this action is asked for must be clearly established by evidence entirely satisfactory to the court, and that the case itself must be within the class of causes for which such an instrument may be avoided. U. S. v. Throckmorton, 98 U. S. 61.

In the case of U. S. v. Stone, 2 Wall. 525, this court said: "A patent is the highest evidence of title, and is conclusive as against the government, and all claiming under junior patents or titles, until it is set aside or annulled by some judicial proceeding. In England this was originally done by scire facias, but a bill of chancery is found a more convenient remedy." This was a chancery proceeding to set aside a patent for land.

In the case of Johnson v. Towsley, 13 Wall. 72, the court, considering the force and effect to be given to the actions of the officers of the land department of the government, announces the doctrine that their decision, made within the scope of their authority on questions of this kind, is in general conclusive everywhere, except when reconsidered by way of appeal within that department; and that as to the facts on which their decision is based, in the absence of fraud or mistake, that decision is conclusive even in courts of justice, when the title afterwards comes in question; but that in this class of cases, as in all others, there exists in the courts of equity the jurisdiction to correct mistakes, to relieve against frauds and impositions, and, in cases where it is clear that those officers have by a mistake of the law given to one man the land which on the undisputed facts belongs to another, to give proper relief. These propositions have been repeatedly reaffirmed in this court. Moore v. Robbins, 96 U. S. 530; Marquez v. Frisbie, 101 U. S. 473; U. S. v. Atherton, 102 U. S. 372; Shepley v. Cowan, 91 U. S. 330.

In the case of Atlantic Delaine Co. v. James, 94 U. S. 207, Mr. Justice STRONG, in delivering the opinion of the court, said, in regard to the power of courts of equity to cancel private contracts between individuals: "Canceling an executed contract is an exertion of the most extraordinary power of a court of equity. The power ought not to be exercised except in a clear case, and never for an alleged fraud, unless the fraud be made clearly to appear,never for alleged false representations, unless their falsity is certainly proved, and unless the complainant has been deceived and injured by them." Story's Equity Jurisprudence (section 157) it is said that relief will be granted in cases of written instruments only where there is a plain mistake, clearly made out by satisfactory proofs. Chancellor KENT, in the case of Lyman v. United Ins. Co., 2 Johns. Ch. 632, which had reference to reforming a policy of insurance, says: "The cases which treat of this head of equity jurisdiction

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require the mistake to be made out in the most clear and decided manner, and to the entire satisfaction of the court." See, also, Stockbridge Iron Co. v. Hudson Iron Co., 107 Mass. 290.

We take the general doctrine to be that when, in a court of equity, it is proposed to set aside, to annul, or to correct a written instrument for fraud or mistake in the execution of the instrument itself, the testimony on which this is done must be clear, unequivocal, and convincing, and that it cannot be done upon a bare preponderance of evidence which leaves the issue in doubt. If the proposition, as thus laid down in the cases cited, is sound in regard to the ordinary contracts of private individuals, how much more should it be observed where the attempt is to annul the grants, the patents, and other solemn evidences of title emanating from the government of the United States under its official seal. In this class of cases the respect due to a patent, the presumptions that all the preceding steps required by the law had been observed before its issue, the immense importance and necessity of the stability of titles dependent upon these official instruments, demand that the effort to set them aside, to annul them, or to correct mistakes in them should only be successful when the allegations on which this is attempted are clearly stated and fully sustained by proof. It is not to be admitted that the titles by whic so much property in this country and so many rights are held, purporting to emanate from the authoritative action of the officers of the government, and as in this case, under the seal and signature of the president of the United States himself, shall be dependent upon the hazard of successful resistance to the whims and caprices of every person who chooses to attack them in a court of justice; but it should be well understood that only that class of evidence which commands respect, and that amount of it which produces conviction shall make such an attempt successful.

The case before us is much stronger than the ordinary case of an attempt to set aside a patent, or even the judgment of a court, because it demands of us that we shall disregard or annul the deliberate action of the congress of the United States. The constitution declares (article 4, § 3) that "the congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States." At the time that congress passed upon the grant to Beaubien and Miranda, whatever interest there was in the land claimed which was not legally or equitably their property, was the property of the United States; and congress having the power to dispose of that property, and having, as we understand it, confirmed this grant, and thereby made such disposition of it, it is not easily to be perceived how the courts of the United States can set aside this action of congress. Certainly the power of the courts can go no further than to make a construction of what congress intended to do by the act, which we have already considered, confirming this grant and others.

In regard to the questions concerning the surveys, as to their conformity to the original Mexican grant, and the frauds which are asserted to have had some influence in the making of those surveys, so far from their being established by that satisfactory and conclusive evidence which the rule we have here laid down requires, we are of opinion that if it were an open question, unaffected by the respect due to the official acts of the government upon such a subject, depending upon the are preponderance of evidence, there is an utter failure to establish either stake or fraud.

For these reasons the decree of the circuit court is affirmed.