sea to North America. This great stream of humanity kept the line of a temperate climate, the central channel of which, as it crossed the continent, occupied the State of Ohio. In King John's time, an English_people existed who exhibited their power through the barons at Runymede. Cromwell was endowed with a mental capacity equal to the greatest of men; but he would not have appeared in history if there had not been a constituency of Roundheads, full of strength, determined upon the overthrow of a licentious king and his nobility. The English stock here proved its capabilities on a larger scale than in the days of King John. Washington would not have been known in history if the people of the American colonies had not been stalwarts in every sense, who selected him as their representative. In these colonies the process of cross-breeding among races had then been carried further than in England, and is now a prime factor in the strength of the United States. I propose to apply the same rule to the first settlers of Ohio, and to show that if she now holds a high place in this nation, it is not an accident, but can be traced to manifest natural causes, and those not alone climate, soil and geographical position. There were five centres of settlement in Ohio by people of somewhat different stock; four of them by people whose social training was more diverse than their stock. Beginning at the southwest, the Symmes' Purchase, between the Great and Little Miami rivers, was settled principally from New Jersey, with Cincinnati as the centre. Next, on the east, between the Little Miami and the Scioto rivers, lay the Virginia Military District, reserved by that State to satisfy the bounty land warrants, issued to her troops in the war of the Revolution. It was like a projection of Virginia (except as to slavery), which then included Kentucky, across the Ohio river to the centre of the new State. Chillicothe was the principal town of this tract. The pioneers came on through the passes of the Blue Ridge, their ancestors being principally English and Episcopal, but claiming without much historical show, a leaven of Norman and Cavalier. With Marietta as a centre, the Ohio Company was recruited from Massachusetts and other New England States. In colonial times, their ancestors also came from England, but of opponents to the Church of England, in search of religious freedom. One hundred and fifty years had wrought great differences between them and the Virginians. Next, west of the Pennsylvania line, lies the "seven ranges of townships, extending north of the Ohio to the completion of the fortieth parallel of latitude, being the first of the surveys and sales of the public land of the United States. Most of the early settlers here came over the Alleghenies from the State of Pennsylvania; some of Quaker stock, introduced by William Penn; and more of German origin, in later days. North of them to Lake Erie lay the Western Reserve, owned and settled by inhabitants of Connecticut, with Cleveland as the prospective capital of a new State, to be called "New Connecticut." This tract extended west from Pennsylvania one hundred and twenty miles. West of the seven ranges to the Scioto, and south of Wayne's treaty line, is the United States Military Reservation, where the first inhabitants were from all the States, and held bounty warrants issued under the resolution of 1776. They were not homogeneous enough to give this tract any social peculiarity. The northwestern part of the State was, until the war of 1812, a wilderness occupied by Indians. The New Jersey people brought a tincture of Swedish and Hollander blood, mingled with the English. Those from Pennsylvania had a slight mixture of Irish, Scotch and Scotch-Irish. The settlers of new communities leave their impress upon the locality long after they are gone. In Ohio these five centres were quite isolated, on account of broad intermediate spaces of dense unsettled forests, through which, if there were roads or trails, they were nearly impracticable. They all had occupation enough to secure the bread of life, clear away the trees around their cabins, and defend themselves against their red enemies. Though of one American family, their environment delayed their full social fusion at least one generation. Their differences were principally those of education, and including their religious cultus, were so thoroughly inbred that they stood in the relation of different races, but without animosity. A large part of them had taken part in the war of the Revolution, or they would have been lacking in courage to plant themselves on a frontier that was virtually in a state of war until the peace of 1815. The expeditions of Harmar in 1790, St. Clair in 1791 and Wayne in 1792-94 embraced many of them as volunteers. Full one thousand whites and more Indians were killed on Ohio soil before peace was assured. Nearly every man had a rifle and its accoutrements, with which he could bring down a squirrel or turkey from the tallest tree, and a deer, a bear or an Indian at sixty rods. They had not felt the weakening effect of idleness or luxury. Their food was coarse, but solid and abundant. In spite of the malaria of new countries, the number of robust, active men fit for military duty was proportionally large. As hunters of wild animals or wild men, they were the full equals of the latter in endurance and the art of success. They were fully capable of defending themselves. The dishonorable surrender at Detroit, August 16, 1812, became known on the Western Reserve, where the settlements were wholly unguarded, between the 20th and 22d; probably at Washington not before the 25th or 26th. General Wadsworth, commanding the Fourth Division of the State Militia, ordered the Third Brigade (General Perkins) to rendezvous at Cleveland. On the 23d, the men of the Lake counties were on their way, each with his rifle, wellfilled powder-horn, bullet-pouch and butcher-knife, in squads or companies, on foot or mounted; and on the 26th, one battalion moved westward. By the 5th of September, before any orders from Washington reached them, a post was established on the Huron river, near Milan, in Huron county. Nothing but these improvised troops lay between General Brock's army at Detroit and the settled portions of the State. The frontier line of settlements at that time turned south, away from Lake Erie at Huron, passing by Mansfield and Delaware to Urbana, in Champaign county. The war of 1812 brought nearly all our able-bodied men into the field, which had the effect to hasten a closer relationship between the settlements. In 1810, there were 230,760 inhabitants in Ohio. The vote for Governor in 1812 was 19,752. Probably the enrolled militia was larger than the vote. It is estimated that for different terms of service 20,000 were in the field. War has many compensations for its many evils, especially a war of defense or for a principle in which the people are substantially unanimous. Few citizens volunteer for military service and go creditably through a campaign, its exposures and dangers, whose character is not strengthened. They acquire sturdiness, self-respect and courage. These qualities in individuals affect the aggregate stamina of communities and of states. The volunteers in 1812-14, with a variety of thought, manners and dress, engaged in the common cause of public defense, coalesced in a social sense, which led to a better understanding and to intermarriages. At that time very few native-born citizens were of an age to participate in public affairs. Tiffin, the first governor, was a native of England. Senator, and then Governor Worthington was born in Virginia. Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., senator, governor and postmaster-general, in Connecticut; Jeremiah Morrow, sole member of Congress from 1803 to 1813, then senator and governor, in Pennsylvania; General Harrison, afterwards president of the United States, in Virginia; General McArthur in New York; and General Cass in New Hampshire. Nearly all the generals of the war of the Rebellion in command of Ohio troops were natives. When the State had recovered from the sacrifices of the war of 1812, the native element showed itself in public affairs. The Legislature, reflecting the character of its constituents, took high ground in favor of free schools, canals, roads and official integrity. To this day no disgraceful scandal or corruption has been fastened upon it, or the executive of the State. Two generations succeeded, their blood more completely mingled, their habits more thoroughly assimilated, their intelligence increased, public communication improved, and in 1861 wealth had not made the people effeminate. Such are the processes which, by long and steady operation in one direction, brought into existence the constituency which rose up to sustain the Federal government. Three hundred thousand men were found capable of filling all positions, high and low, especially that of efficient soldiers in the ranks. For commanders, they had Gilmore, Cox, Stanley, Steedman, Sill, Hazen, McCook, Rosecrans, McDowell, McPherson, Sheridan, Sherman and Grant, all raised, and except three, born on Ohio soil, and educated at West Point. Was it fortuitous? I think I perceive sufficient causes working toward this result, not for one generation, or for a century, but reaching back to the English people of two or three centuries since. Nations, races and families decay, and it is possible it may be so here; but wherever the broad political foundations laid in Ohio are taken as a pattern, and there is a general mixture of educated AngloSaxon stocks, the period of decline will be far in the distance. On the 4th of March, 1881, three men of fine presence advanced on the platform at the east portico of the Federal capitol. On their right is a solid, square-built man of an impressive appearance, the Chief-Justice of the United States [Morrison R. Waite]. On his left stood a tall, well-rounded, large, self-possessed personage, with a head large even in proportion to the body who is President of the United States [James A. Garfield]. At his left hand was an equally tall, robust and graceful gentleman, the retiring president [Rutherford B. Hayes]. Near by was a tall, not especially graceful figure, with the eye of an eagle, who is the general commanding the army [William Tecumseh Sherman]. A short, square, active officer, the Marshal Ney of America, is there as lieutenant-general [Philip Sheridan]. Another tall, slender, self-poised man, of not ungraceful presence, was the focus of many thousands of eyes. He had carried the finances of the nation in his mind and in his heart, four years as secretary of the treasury, the peer of Hamilton and Chase [John Sherman]. Of these six, five were natives of Ohio, and the other a life-long resident. Did this group of national characters from one State stand there by accident? Was it not the result of a long train of agencies, which, by force of natural selection, brought them to the front on that occasion? THE PUBLIC LANDS OF OHIO. BY JOHN KILBOURNE. JOHN KILBOURNE was born in Berlin, Connecticut, August 7, 1787, graduated at Vermont University, and emigrating West was occupied for several years as Principal of Worthington College, Franklin county, of which his uncle, James Kilbourne, the famed surveyor and founder of the Scioto He published Company, was the president trustee. Subsequently he removed to Columbus and engaged in authorship and book selling and publishing, and there died March 12, 1831, aged forty-four years. a "Gazetteer of Vermont," a "Gazetteer of Ohio," a map of Ohio, a volume of " Public Documents Concerning the Ohio Canals," and a "School Geography." The article upon "The Public Lands of Ohio," which here follows slightly abridged from the original, is from his "Ohio Gazetteer," the first edition of which appeared in 1816. It went through several editions and was a work of great merit and utility. This article on the lands was carefully written, and having been copied into the first edition of the "Ohio Historical Collections," was highly valued by many of its readers. We are glad to reproduce it here with this preliminary notice of the author. In most of the States and Territories lying west of the Allegheny mountains, the United States, collectively as a nation, owned, or did own, the soil of the country, after the extinguishment of the aboriginal Indian title. This vast national domain comprises several hundreds of millions of acres; which is a bountiful fund, upon which the general government can draw for centuries, to supply, at a low price, all its citizens with a freehold estate. When Ohio was admitted into the Federal Union as an independent State, one of the terms of admission was, that the fee-simple to all the lands within its limits, excepting those previously granted or sold, should vest in the United States. Different portions of them have, at diverse periods, been granted or sold to various individuals, companies and bodies politic. The following are the names by which the principal bodies of the lands are designated, on account of these different forms of transfer, viz.: 1. Congress Lands. 3. Virginia Military. 4. Western Reserve. 6. Ohio Co.'s Purchase. 8. Symmes' Purchase. 15. Maumee Road Lands. 16. School do. 17. College do. 18. Ministerial do. do. 19. Moravian do. 20. Salt Sections. 13. Canal Lands. Congress Lands are so called because they are sold to purchasers by the immediate officers of the general government, conformably to such laws as are, or may be, from time to time, enacted by Congress. They are all regularly surveyed into townships of six miles square each, under authority, and at the expense of the National government. All Congress lands, excepting Marietta and a part of Steubenville district, are numbered as follows: VII ranges, Ohio Company's purchase, and Symmes' purchase, are numbered as here exhibited: 5 10 14 1 The townships are again subdivided into sections of one mile square, each containing 640 acres, by lines running parallel with the township and range lines. The sections are numbered in two different modes, as exhibited in the preceding igures or diagrams. In addition to the foregoing division, the sections are again subdivided into four equal parts, called the northeast quarter section, southeast quarter section, etc. And again, by a law of Congress, which went into effect in July, 1820, these quarter sections are also divided by a north and south line into two equal parts, called the east half quarter section, No. and west half quarter section, No. which contain eighty acres each. The minimum price has been reduced by the same law from $2.00 to $1.25 per acre, cash down. In establishing the township and sectional corners, a post is first planted at the point of intersection; then on the tree nearest the post, and standing within the section intended to be designated, is numbered with the marking iron, the range, township and number of the section, thus: Section No. 16, of every township, is perpetually reserved for the use of schools. and leased or sold out, for the benefit of schools, under the State government. All the others may be taken up either in sections, fractions, halves, quarters, or half quarters. For the purpose of selling out these lands, they are divided into eight several land districts, called after the names of the towns in which the land offices are kept, viz.: Wooster, Steubenville, Zanesville, Marietta, Chillicothe, etc., etc. The seven ranges of townships are a portion of the Congress lands, so called, being the first ranges of public lands ever surveyed by the general government west of the Ohio river. They are bounded on the north by a line drawn due west from the Pennsylvania State line, where it crosses the Ohio river, to the United States Military lands, forty-two miles; thence south to the Ohio river, at the southeast corner of Marietta township, thence up the river to the place of beginning. Connecticut Western Reserve, oftentimes called New Connecticut, is situated in the northeast quarter of the State, between Lake Erie on the north, Pennsylvania east, the parallel of the forty-first degree of north latitude south, and Sandusky and Seneca counties on the west. It extends 120 miles from east to west, and upon an average fifty from north to south: although, upon the Pennsylvania line, it is sixty-eight miles broad, from north to south. The area is about 3,800,000 acres. It is surveyed into townships of five miles square each. A body of half a million acres is, however, stricken off from the west end of the tract, as a donation, by the State of Connecticut, to certain sufferers by fire, in the revolutionary war. The manner by which Connecticut became possessed of the land in question was the following: King Charles II., of England, pursuing the example of his brother kings, of granting distant and foreign regions to his subjects granted to the then colony of Connecticut, in 1662, a charter right to all lands included within certain specific bounds. But as the geographical knowledge of Europeans concerning America was then very limited and confused, patents for lands often interfered with each other, and many of them, even by their express terms, extended to the Pacific ocean, or South sea, as it was then called. Among the rest, that for Connecticut embraced all lands contained between the forty-first and forty-second parallels of north latitude, and from Providence plantations on the east, to the Pacific ocean west, with the exception of New York and Pennsylvania colonies; and, indeed, pretensions to these were not finally relinquished without considerable altercation. And after the United States became an independent nation, these interfering claims occasioned much collision of sentiment between |