Statement of the Case. 202 U.S. latter State was admitted into the Union of the United States of America by the act of Congress, found in the United States Statutes at Large, volume 3, chapter 23, page 348, approved March 1st, 1817, whereby the inhabitants of the western part of the then Mississippi Territory were authorized to form for themselves a state constitution and to be admitted into the Union, the boundaries of the then to be created State being described as follows: 'Beginning at the river Mississippi at a point where the southern boundary line with the State of Tennessee strikes the same; thence along the said boundary line to the Tennessee river; thence up the same to the mouth of Bear creek; thence by a direct line to the northwest corner of the county of Washington (Alabama); thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico; thence westwardly, including all islands within six leagues of the shore to the most southern junction of Pearl river with Lake Borgne; thence up said river to the 31st degree of north latitude; thence west along said degree of latitude to the Mississippi river; thence up the same to the beginning;' "th. That by the said act, Congress intended that the southern boundary line of the State of Mississippi, beginning at the point dividing it from the State of Alabama, should run westwardly till it joined the Louisiana eastern boundary line, and that in doing so, the said southern boundary would in effect start westward from a point eighteen miles south of the coast line, and include in its westwardly direction the western end of Petit Bois Island, all of Horn Island, Ship Island and Cat Island, and the smaller islands north of these, those islands being the ones contemplated in the act of Congress, as being within eighteen miles of the southern coast line of Mississippi, and that the said southern boundary of Mississippi, extending in its westwardly direction through the Gulf of Mexico, would gradually approach the coast line, and meet the eastern boundary line of Louisiana, just as the said eastern boundary line of Louisiana emerges from the Cat Island channel into the Gulf of Mexico, and thence follow and become the same as the DIAGRAM NO. 3. Louisiana boundary line extending westwardly to the south of Cat Island, through Mississippi Sound to the north of Half Moon or Grand Island to the most southern junction of the Statement of the Case. 202 U.S. east branch of Pearl river with Lake Borgne, being identical with the Louisiana eastern boundary, and thence extending up the channel of Pearl river; "7th. That the islands included between the shore line and the southern boundary of the State of Mississippi are the islands heretofore described, viz: the western end of Petit Bois Island, with all of Horn Island, Ship Island and Cat Island, and the small islands north of them, those islands being large, and well known to Congress at the time of the passage of the act, all of which islands and the southern boundary of the State of Mississippi will more fully appear from the diagram No. 3, made a part of this bill; "8th. That the islands contemplated in the act of Congress of 1812, creating the State of Louisiana, and intended to be embraced within the State of Louisiana, as provided by the clause, 'Thence bounded by the said Gulf to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast,' were all of the other islands, except those heretofore named as going to the State of Mississippi, as all other islands, and all other mainland, are south and west of the boundary line thus passing from Pearl river through the deep water channels in Lake Borgne, and Mississippi Sound, through the deep water channel, southwest of Cat Island to the eastward of the Chandeleur Islands, and thence south, taking in the delta of the Mississippi river, and extending westward along the Gulf coast, including all islands along the coast, to the Sabine river, where the State of Louisiana is thence bounded on the westward by the State of Texas, all of which will more fully appear from diagram No. 2, heretofore referred to; "9th. Now your orator avers that there has developed in recent years in the waters south of the State of Mississippi and east of the southern portion of the State of Louisiana a considerable growth of oysters, and an industry of large proportions, in the handling of the said bivalves, either in their fresh or in a canned condition, has resulted therefrom; "10th. That the State of Mississippi has, by legislative |