The foregoing letter was referred to the Board of Treasury on the 2d of October, 1787; and on the 15th of October, 1788, a contract was made between the board and Symmes and his associates, for the sale of a tract of land of one million of acres. In the contract the boundaries of Symmes' purchase were defined as follows:-"Beginning on the bank of the river Ohio at a spot exactly twenty miles distant along the several courses. of the same from the place where the Great Miami empties itself into the said river Ohio; from thence, extending down the said river Ohio, along the several courses thereof, to the Great Miami river; thence, up the said river Miami, along the several courses thereof, to a place whence a line drawn due east will intersect a line drawn from the place of beginning aforesaid, parallel with the general course of the Great Miami river, so as to include one million of acres within those lines and the said rivers; and from that place, up the said Great Miami river, extending along such lines, to the place of beginning, containing, as aforesaid, one million of acres.”

By an act of Congress, of the 12th of April, 1792, the President of the United States was authorized, at the request of John Cleves Symmes, to alter the first contract between the board of treasury and the said Symmes and his associates, so that the tract of land described in that contract might extend "from the mouth of the Great Miami to the mouth of the Little Miami, and be bounded by the river Ohio on the south, by the Great Miami on the west, by the Little Miami on the east, and by a parallel of latitude on the north, extending from the Great Miami to the Little Miami, so as to comprehend the proposed quantity of one million of acres: Provided, that the northern limits of the said tract shall not interfere with the boundary line established by the treaty of Fort Harmar,* between the United States and the Indian nations." The quantity of one million of acres could not be included within the bounds prescribed by this act; and Mr. Symmes and his associates, having encountered several unexpected and insurmountable obstacles, could not fulfill their contract with the board of treasury. The original purchase of one million of

acres was therefore reduced to a tract of land bounded on the

*See Appendix E.

south by the river Ohio, on the west by the Great Miami river, on the east by the Little Miami river, and on the north by a parallel of latitude to be run from the Great Miami to the Little Miami so as to comprehend the quantity of three hundred and eleven thousand six hundred and eighty-two acres. For this tract of land letters patent, under the seal of the United States, were granted to Mr. Symmes and his associates, on the 30th of September; 1794.* The settlement of Symmes' purchase was commenced in 1789; in the course of which year Fort Washington was erected by a detachment of troops under the command of Major John Doughty, on a portion of the ground which is now the site of Cincinnati; and a few families settled on the rich bottom lands just below the mouth of the Little Miami river, where they laid the foundation of the town. of Columbia. Sometime in the same year, a town, which was called Losantiville, was laid off on the lands adjoining Fort Washington.

CHAPTER XIX.

NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY ORGANIZED.

On the 5th of October, 1787, Major-general Arthur St. Clair was elected, by Congress, governor of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio. St. Clair was a native of Scotland, from which country he came to the British colonies of North America, in 1755. He joined the Royal American or 60th British regiment, and served under General Amherst at the taking of Louisbourg, in 1758. He carried a standard at the storming and capture of Quebec by the troops under General Wolfe, in 1759. Soon after the peace of 1763, he settled in Ligonier valley, in the western part of the province

*American State Papers, Public Lands, vol. i, 93, 115.—Laws U. S., vol. i, 157, 494, 495, 497;-vol. ii, 270, 287;-vol. iii, 264, 428, 502, 541, 554.

of Pennsylvania, where he continued to reside until the commencement of the Revolutionary war, when, having received from Congress a commission of colonel, he joined the American army with a regiment of seven hundred and fifty men. Having been promoted to the rank of major-general, he was tried by a court martial, in 1778, for evacuating Ticonderoga* and Mount Independence. He was, however, unanimously acquitted, with the highest honor, of all the charges which were brought against him; and from this time, holding the rank of a major-general, he continued to act in the service of the United States until the close of the war. In a letter to the honorable William B. Giles, of Virginia, St. Clair wrote as follows:

"In the year 1786 I entered into the public service in civil life, and was a member of Congress, and president of that body, when it was determined to erect a government in the country to the west, that had been ceded by Virginia to the United States; and, in the year 1788, the office of governor was in a great measure forced on me. The losses I had sustained in the Revolutionary war, from the depreciation of the money, and other causes, had been very great; and my friends saw, in this new government, means that might be in my power to compensate myself, and to provide handsomely for my numerous family. They did not know how little I was qualified to avail myself of those advantages, if they had existed. I had neither taste nor genius for speculation in land: neither did I think it very consistent with the office."

By the first instructions which governor St. Clair received from Congress, in 1788, he was authorized and directed, Firstly: To examine carefully into the real temper of the Indians. Secondly: To remove, if possible, all causes of controversy, so that peace and harmony might be established between the United States and the Indian tribes. Thirdly: To regulate trade among the Indians. Fourthly: To neglect no opportunity that might

*On the evacuation of Ticonderoga, St. Clair said to Major James Wilkinson, "I know I could save my character by sacrificing the army; but were I to do so, I should forfeit that which the world could not restore, and which it can not take away--the approbation of my own conscience."-WILKINSON'S MEMOIRS, 1, 85.

offer, of extinguishing the Indian rights to lands westward as far as the river Mississippi, and northward as far as the completion of the forty-first degree of north latitude. Fifthly: To use every possible endeavor to ascertain the names of the real head men and warriors of the several tribes, and to attach these men to the United States by every possible means. Sixthly: To make every exertion to defeat all confederations and combinations among the tribes, and to conciliate the white people inhabiting the frontiers toward the Indians.* In the month of July, 1788, Governor St. Clair arrived at the new town of Marietta, at the mouth of the river Muskingum, where he began to organize the government of the Northwestern Territory, according to the provisions of the ordinance of 1787. At Marietta, in the county of Washington, before the close of the year 1788, the governor and the judges of the general court of the territory, (Samuel Holden Parsons, James Mitchell Varnum, and John Cleves Symmes,) adopted and published various laws, under the following titles, viz:

I.-A law for regulating and establishing the militia in the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio.

II.—A law for establishing general courts of quarter sessions of the peace, (and therein of the powers of single justices,) and for establishing county courts of common pleas, (and therein of the power of single judges to hear and determine upon small debts and contracts,) and also a law for establishing the office of sheriff, and for the appointment of sheriffs: Published on the 23d of August.

III.—A law establishing a court of probate:-Published on the 30th of August.

IV.-A law for fixing the terms of the general court of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio:Published on the 30th of August.

This law was in the words following:-"The general court for the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio, shall hold pleas, civil and criminal, at four certain periods or terms in each and every year in such counties as the judges shall from time to time deem most conducive to the general

*Secret Journals of Congress, i, 277.

good; they giving timely notice of the place of their sitting: that is to say, upon the first Monday of February, May, October, and December. Provided, however, that but one term be holden in any one county in a year; and that all processes, civil and criminal, shall be returnable to said court wheresoever they may be in said territory. And as circumstances may so intervene as to prevent a session of the court at the time and place fixed upon, it shall and may be lawful for the court, to adjourn from time to time, by writ directed to the sheriff of the county; and to continue all process accordingly: And in case neither of the judges shall attend at the time and place aforesaid, and no writ be received by the sheriff, it shall be his duty to adjourn the court from day to day during the first six days of the term; and then to the next term; to which all processes shall be continued as aforesaid. Provided, however, that all issues in fact shall be tried in the county where the cause of action shall have arisen."

V.-A law respecting oaths of office:-Published on the 2d of September.

per

VI.—A law respecting crimes and punishments:-Published on the 6th of September. By this statute, the crimes of treason, murder, and house-burning, (in cases where death ensued from such burning,) were respectively punishable by death. The crimes of burglary and robbery were each punishable by whipping, (not exceeding thirty-nine stripes,) fine, and imprisonment for any term not exceeding forty years. For the crime of jury the offender was punishable by a fine not exceeding sixty dollars, or whipping, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, and disfranchisement, and standing in the pillory for a space of time not exceeding two hours. Larceny was punishable by fine or whipping, at the discretion of the court. If the convict could not pay the fine of the court, it was lawful for the sheriff, by the direction of the court, to bind such convict to labor for a term not exceeding seven years, to any suitable person who would pay such fine. Forgery was punishable by fine, disfranchisement, and standing in the pillory for a space of time not exceeding three hours. The following sections are copied from the statute respecting crimes and punishments: "If any person shall be convicted of drunkenness before one or more justices of the peace, the person so convicted shall be