... But the
jurisdiction hereby ceded, and the exemption from taxation
herein granted, shall continue in respect to said property, and
to each portion thereof, _so long as the same shall remain the
property of the United States_, and be used for the purposes
aforesaid, _and no longer_." The cession of the site of the
Watervliet Arsenal is made in the same or equivalent terms,
except that, instead of "defense and safety of the city and port
of New York," etc., the language is, "defense and safety _of the
said State_, and no longer."
South Carolina in 1805, by legislative enactment, ceded to the United
States, in Charleston Harbor and on Beaufort River, various forts and
fortifications, and sites for the erection of forts, on the following
conditions, viz.:
"That, if the United States shall not, within three years from
the passing of this act, and notification thereof by the
Governor of this State to the Executive of the United States,
repair the fortifications now existing thereon or build such
other forts or fortifications as may be deemed most expedient by
the Executive of the United States on the same, and keep a
garrison or garrisons therein; in such case this grant or
cession shall be void and of no effect."--("Statutes at Large of
South Carolina," vol. v, p. 501.)
It will hardly be contended that the conditions of this grant were
fulfilled, and, if it be answered that the State did not demand the
restoration of the forts or sites, the answer certainly fails after
1860, when the controversy arose, and the unfounded assertion was made
that those forts and sites had been purchased with the money, and were
therefore the property, of the United States.
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