Another object of the revisal is, to dif_The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 8 (of 9) Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private

generally through the mass of the people. This bill proposes to

lay off every county into small districts of five or six miles square,

called hundreds, and in each of them to establish a school for

teaching, reading, writing, and arithmetic. The tutor to be supported

by the hundred, and every person in it entitled to send

their children three years gratis, and as much longer as they

please, paying for it. These schools to be under a visitor who

is annually to choose the boy of best genius in the school, of

those whose parents are too poor to give them further education,

and to send him forward to one of the grammar schools, of which

twenty are proposed to be erected in different parts of the country,

for teaching Greek, Latin, Geography, and the higher

branches of numerical arithmetic. Of the boys thus sent in

one year, trial is to be made at the grammar schools one or two

years, and the best genius of the whole selected, and continued

six years, and the residue dismissed. By this means twenty of

the best geniuses will be raked from the rubbish annually, and

be instructed, at the public expense, so far as the grammar schools

go. At the end of six years instruction, one half are to be discontinued

(from among whom the grammar schools will probably

be supplied with future masters); and the other half, who

are to be chosen for the superiority of their parts and disposition,

are to be sent and continued three years in the study of such

sciences as they shall choose, at William and Mary college, the

plan of which is proposed to be enlarged, as will be hereafter

explained, and extended to all the useful sciences. The ultimate

result of the whole scheme of education would be the

teaching all the children of the State reading, writing, and common

arithmetic; turning out ten annually, of superior genius,

well taught in Greek, Latin, Geography, and the higher branches

of arithmetic; turning out ten others annually, of still superior

parts, who, to those branches of learning, shall have added such

of the sciences as their genius shall have led them to; the furnishing

to the wealthier part of the people convenient schools at

which their children may be educated at their own expense.

The general objects of this law are to provide an education

adapted to the years, to the capacity, and the condition of every

one, and directed to their freedom and happiness. Specific details

were not proper for the law. These must be the business

of the visitors entrusted with its execution. The first stage of

this education being the schools of the hundreds, wherein the

great mass of the people will receive their instruction, the principal

foundations of future order will be laid here. Instead,

therefore, of putting the Bible and Testament into the hands of

the children at an age when their judgments are not sufficiently

matured for religious inquiries, their memories may here be stored

with the most useful facts from Grecian, Roman, European and

American history. The first elements of morality too may be

instilled into their minds; such as, when further developed as

their judgments advance in strength, may teach them how to

work out their own greatest happiness, by showing them that it

does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has

placed them, but is always the result of a good conscience, good

health, occupation, and freedom in all just pursuits. Those

whom either the wealth of their parents or the adoption of the

State shall destine to higher degrees of learning, will go on to

the grammar schools, which constitute the next stage, there to

be instructed in the languages. The learning Greek and Latin,

I am told, is going into disuse in Europe. I know not what

their manners and occupations may call for; but it would be

very ill-judged in us to follow their example in this instance.

There is a certain period of life, say from eight to fifteen or sixteen

years of age, when the mind like the body is not yet firm

enough for laborious and close operations. If applied to such, it

falls an early victim to premature exertion; exhibiting, indeed,

at first, in these young and tender subjects, the flattering appearance

of their being men while they are yet children, but ending

in reducing them to be children when they should be men.

The memory is then most susceptible and tenacious of impressions;

and the learning of languages being chiefly a work of

memory, it seems precisely fitted to the powers of this period,

which is long enough too for acquiring the most useful languages,

ancient and modern. I do not pretend that language is science.

It is only an instrument for the attainment of science. But that

time is not lost which is employed in providing tools for future

operation; more especially as in this case the books put into the

hands of the youth for this purpose may be such as will at the

same time impress their minds with useful facts and good principles.

If this period be suffered to pass in idleness, the mind

becomes lethargic and impotent, as would the body it inhabits

if unexercised during the same time. The sympathy between

body and mind during their rise, progress and decline, is too strict

and obvious to endanger our being missed while we reason from

the one to the other. As soon as they are of sufficient age, it is

supposed they will be sent on from the grammar schools to the

university, which constitutes our third and last stage, there to

study those sciences which may be adapted to their views. By

that part of our plan which prescribes the selection of the youths

of genius from among the classes of the poor, we hope to avail

the State of those talents which nature has sown as liberally

among the poor as the rich, but which perish without use, if not

sought for and cultivated. But of the views of this law none is

more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the

people the safe, as they are the ultimate, guardians of their own

liberty. For this purpose the reading in the first stage, where

_they_ will receive their whole education, is proposed, as has been

said, to be chiefly historical. History, by apprizing them of the

past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them

of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify

them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable

them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and

knowing it, to defeat its views. In every government on earth

is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and

degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly

open, cultivate and improve. Every government degenerates

when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The

people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories. And

to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a

certain degree. This indeed is not all that is necessary, though

it be essentially necessary. An amendment of our constitution

must here come in aid of the public education. The influence

over government must be shared among all the people. If every

individual which composes their mass participates of the ultimate

authority, the government will be safe; because the corrupting

the whole mass will exceed any private resources of wealth;

and public ones cannot be provided but by levies on the people.

In this case every man would have to pay his own price. The

government of Great Britain has been corrupted, because but one

man in ten has a right to vote for members of parliament. The

sellers of the government, therefore, get nine-tenths of their price

clear. It has been thought that corruption is restrained by confining

the right of suffrage to a few of the wealthier of the people;

but it would be more effectually restrained by an extension

of that right to such numbers as would bid defiance to the means

of corruption.

Lastly, it is proposed, by a bill in this revisal, to begin a public

library and gallery, by laying out a certain sum annually in

books, paintings, and statues.

FOOTNOTES:

[59] Crawford.

[60] The instrument proper to them is the Banjar, which they

brought hither from Africa, and which is the original

of the guitar, its chords being precisely the four lower

chords of the guitar.

[61] Tous doulous etaxen örismenou nomesmatos homilein tais

therapainsin.--Plutarch. Cato.

[62] Suet. Claud. 25.

QUERY XV.

_The Colleges and Public Establishments, the Roads, Buildings, &c._

The college of William and Mary is the only public seminary

of learning in this State. It was founded in the time of king

William and queen Mary, who granted to it twenty thousand

acres of land, and a penny a pound duty on certain tobaccoes

exported from Virginia and Maryland, which had been levied by

the statute of 25 Car. II. The assembly also gave it, by temporary

laws, a duty on liquors imported, and skins and furs exported.

From these resources it received upwards of three

thousand pounds _communibus annis_. The buildings are of

brick, sufficient for an indifferent accommodation of perhaps an

hundred students. By its charter it was to be under the government

of twenty visitors, who were to be its legislators, and to

have a president and six professors, who were incorporated. It

was allowed a representative in the general assembly. Under

this charter, a professorship of the Greek and Latin languages, a

professorship of mathematics, one of moral philosophy, and two

of divinity, were established. To these were annexed, for a

sixth professorship, a considerable donation by Mr. Boyle, of

England, for the instruction of the Indians, and their conversion

to Christianity. This was called the professorship of Brafferton,

from an estate of that name in England, purchased with the

monies given. The admission of the learners of Latin and

Greek filled the college with children. This rendering it disagreeable

and degrading to young gentlemen already prepared for

entering on the sciences, they were discouraged from resorting

to it, and thus the schools for mathematics and moral philosophy,

which might have been of some service, became of very little.

The revenues, too, were exhausted in accommodating those who

came only to acquire the rudiments of science. After the present

revolution, the visitors, having no power to change those circumstances

in the constitution of the college which were fixed

by the charter, and being therefore confined in the number of

the professorships, undertook to change the objects of the professorships.

They excluded the two schools for divinity, and that

for the Greek and Latin languages, and substituted others; so

that at present they stand thus:

A Professorship for Law and Police;

Anatomy and Medicine;

Natural Philosophy and Mathematics;

Moral Philosophy, the Law of Nature and Nations, the Fine Arts;

Modern Languages;

For the Brafferton.

And it is proposed, so soon as the legislature shall have leisure

to take up this subject, to desire authority from them to increase

the number of professorships, as well for the purpose of subdividing

those already instituted, as of adding others for other

branches of science. To the professorships usually established in

the universities of Europe, it would seem proper to add one for the

ancient languages and literature of the north, on account of their

connection with our own language, laws, customs, and history.

The purposes of the Brafferton institution would be better answered

by maintaining a perpetual mission among the Indian

tribes, the object of which, besides instructing them in the principles

of Christianity, as the founder requires, should be to collect

their traditions, laws, customs, languages, and other circumstances

which might lead to a discovery of their relation with one another,

or descent from other nations. When these objects are

accomplished with one tribe, the missionary might pass on to another.

The roads are under the government of the county courts,

subject to be controlled by the general court. They order new

roads to be opened wherever they think them necessary. The

inhabitants of the county are by them laid off into precincts, to

each of which they allot a convenient portion of the public roads

to be kept in repair. Such bridges as may be built without the

assistance of artificers, they are to build. If the stream be such

as to require a bridge of regular workmanship, the court employs

workmen to build it, at the expense of the whole county. If it

be too great for the county, application is made to the general

assembly, who authorize individuals to build it, and to take a

fixed toll from all passengers, or give sanction to such other proposition

as to them appears reasonable.

Ferries are admitted only at such places as are particularly

pointed out by law, and the rates of ferriage are fixed.

Taverns are licensed by the courts, who fix their rates from

time to time.

The private buildings are very rarely constructed of stone or

brick, much the greatest portion being of scantling and boards,

plastered with lime. It is impossible to devise things more ugly,

uncomfortable, and happily more perishable. There are two or

three plans, on one of which, according to its size, most of the

houses in the State are built. The poorest people build huts of

logs, laid horizontally in pens, stopping the interstices with mud.

These are warmer in winter, and cooler in summer, than the

more expensive construction of scantling and plank. The

wealthy are attentive to the raising of vegetables, but very little

so to fruits. The poorer people attend to neither, living principally

on milk and animal diet. This is the more inexcusable,

as the climate requires indispensably a free use of vegetable food,

for health as well as comfort, and is very friendly to the raising

of fruits. The only public buildings worthy mention are the

capitol, the palace, the college, and the hospital for lunatics, all

of them in Williamsburg, heretofore the seat of our government.

The capitol is a light and airy structure, with a portico in front

of two orders, the lower of which, being Doric, is tolerably just

in its proportions and ornaments, save only that the intercolonations

are too large. The upper is Ionic, much too small for that

on which it is mounted, its ornaments not proper to the order,

nor proportioned within themselves. It is crowned with a pediment,

which is too high for its span. Yet, on the whole, it is

the most pleasing piece of architecture we have. The palace is

not handsome without, but it is spacious and commodious within,

is prettily situated, and with the grounds annexed to it, is capable

of being made an elegant seat. The college and hospital

are rude, misshapen piles, which, but that they have roofs, would

be taken for brick-kilns. There are no other public buildings

but churches and court-houses, in which no attempts are made

at elegance. Indeed, it would not be easy to execute such an attempt,

as a workman could scarcely be found capable of drawing

an order. The genius of architecture seems to have shed its

maledictions over this land. Buildings are often erected, by individuals,

of considerable expense. To give these symmetry and

taste, would not increase their cost. It would only change the

arrangement of the materials, the form and combination of the

members. This would often cost less than the burthen of barbarous

ornaments with which these buildings are sometimes

charged. But the first principles of the art are unknown, and

there exists scarcely a model among us sufficiently chaste to give

an idea of them. Architecture being one of the fine arts, and as

such within the department of a professor of the college, according

to the new arrangement, perhaps a spark may fall on some

young subjects of natural taste, kindle up their genius, and produce

a reformation in this elegant and useful art. But all we

shall do in this way will produce no permanent improvement

to our country, while the unhappy prejudice prevails that houses

of brick or stone are less wholesome than those of wood. A dew

is often observed on the walls of the former in rainy weather,

and the most obvious solution is, that the rain has penetrated

through these walls. The following facts, however, are sufficient

to prove the error of this solution: 1. This dew upon the walls

appears when there is no rain, if the state of the atmosphere be

moist. 2. It appears upon the partition as well as the exterior

walls. 3. So, also, on pavements of brick or stone. 4. It is more

copious in proportion as the walls are thicker; the reverse of which

ought to be the case, if this hypothesis were just. If cold water be

poured into a vessel of stone, or glass, a dew forms instantly on

the outside; but if it be poured into a vessel of wood, there is no

such appearance. It is not supposed, in the first case, that the

water has exuded through the glass, but that it is precipitated

from the circumambient air; as the humid particles of vapor,

passing from the boiler of an alembic through its refrigerant, are

precipitated from the air, in which they are suspended, on the internal

surface of the refrigerant. Walls of brick and stone act

as the refrigerant in this instance. They are sufficiently cold to

condense and precipitate the moisture suspended in the air of

the room, when it is heavily charged therewith. But walls of

wood are not so. The question then is, whether the air in

which this moisture is left floating, or that which is deprived of

it, be most wholesome? In both cases the remedy is easy. A

little fire kindled in the room, whenever the air is damp, prevents

the precipitation on the walls; and this practice, found healthy

in the warmest as well as coldest seasons, is as necessary in a

wooden as in a stone or brick house. I do not mean to say, that

the rain never penetrates through walls of brick. On the contrary,

I have seen instances of it. But with us it is only through

the northern and eastern walls of the house, after a north-easterly

storm, this being the only one which continues long enough to

force through the walls. This, however, happens too rarely to

give a just character of unwholesomeness to such houses. In a

house, the walls of which are of well-burnt brick and good mortar,

I have seen the rain penetrate through but twice in a dozen

or fifteen years. The inhabitants of Europe, who dwell chiefly

in houses of stone or brick, are surely as healthy as those of Virginia.

These houses have the advantage, too, of being warmer

in winter and cooler in summer than those of wood; of being

cheaper in their first construction, where lime is convenient, and

infinitely more durable. The latter consideration renders it of

great importance to eradicate this prejudice from the minds of

our countrymen. A country whose buildings are of wood, can

never increase in its improvements to any considerable degree.

Their duration is highly estimated at fifty years. Every half

century then our country becomes a _tabula rasa_, whereon we

have to set out anew, as in the first moment of seating it.

Whereas when buildings are of durable materials, every new edifice

is an actual and permanent acquisition to the State, adding

to its value as well as to its ornament.

QUERY XVI.

_The measures taken with regard to the estates and possessions

of the Rebels, commonly called tories?_

A tory has been properly defined to be a traitor in thought but

not in deed. The only description, by which the laws have endeavored

to come at them, was that of non-jurors, or persons refusing

to take the oath of fidelity to the State. Persons of this

description were at one time subjected to double taxation, at another

to treble, and lastly were allowed retribution, and placed

on a level with good citizens. It may be mentioned as a proof,

both of the lenity of our government, and unanimity of its inhabitants,

that though this war has now raged near seven years,

not a single execution for treason has taken place.

Under this query I will state the measures which have been

adopted as to British property, the owners of which stand on a

much fairer footing than the tories. By our laws, the same as

the English as in this respect, no alien can hold lands, nor alien

enemy maintain an action for money, or other movable thing.

Lands acquired or held by aliens become forfeited to the State;

and, on an action by an alien enemy to recover money, or other

movable property, the defendant may plead that he is an alien

enemy. This extinguishes his right in the hands of the debtor

or holder of his movable property. By our separation from

Great Britain, British subjects became aliens, and being at war,

they were alien enemies. Their lands were of course forfeited,

and their debts irrecoverable. The assembly, however, passed

laws at various times, for saving their property. They first sequestered

their lands, slaves, and other property on their farms

in the hands of commissioners, who were mostly the confidential

friends or agents of the owners, and directed their clear profits to

be paid into the treasury; and they gave leave to all persons

owing debts to British subjects to pay them also into the treasury.

The monies so to be brought in were declared to remain the

property of the British subject, and if used by the State, were to

be repaid, unless an improper conduct in Great Britain should

render a detention of it reasonable. Depreciation had at that

time, though unacknowledged and unperceived by the whigs,

begun in some small degree. Great sums of money were paid in

by debtors. At a later period, the assembly, adhering to the political

principles which forbid an alien to hold lands in the State,

ordered all British property to be sold; and, become sensible of

the real progress of depreciation, and of the losses which would

thence occur, if not guarded against, they ordered that the proceeds

of the sales should be converted into their then worth in

tobacco, subject to the future direction of the legislature. This

act has left the question of retribution more problematical. In

May, 1780, another act took away the permission to pay into the

public treasury debts due to British subjects.

QUERY XVII.

_The different religions received into that State?_

The first settlers in this country were emigrants from England,

of the English Church, just at a point of time when it was

flushed with complete victory over the religious of all other persuasions.

Possessed, as they became, of the powers of making,

administering, and executing the laws, they showed equal intolerance

in this country with their Presbyterian brethren, who had

emigrated to the northern government. The poor Quakers were

flying from persecution in England. They cast their eyes on

these new countries as asylums of civil and religious freedom;

but they found them free only for the reigning sect. Several

acts of the Virginia assembly of 1659, 1662, and 1693, had made

it penal in parents to refuse to have their children baptized; had

prohibited the unlawful assembling of Quakers; had made it

penal for any master of a vessel to bring a Quaker into the State;

had ordered those already here, and such as should come thereafter,

to be imprisoned till they should abjure the country; provided

a milder punishment for their first and second return, but

death for their third; had inhibited all persons from suffering

their meetings in or near their houses, entertaining them individually,

or disposing of books which supported their tenets. If no

execution took place here, as did in New England, it was not

owing to the moderation of the church, or spirit of the legislature,

as may be inferred from the law itself; but to historical

circumstances which have not been handed down to us. The

Anglicans retained full possession of the country about a century.

Other opinions began then to creep in, and the great care of the

government to support their own church, having begotten an equal

degree of indolence in its clergy, two-thirds of the people had become

dissenters at the commencement of the present revolution.

The laws, indeed, were still oppressive on them, but the spirit

of the one party had subsided into moderation, and of the other

had risen to a degree of determination which commanded respect.

The present state of our laws on the subject of religion is this.

The convention of May 1776, in their declaration of rights, declared

it to be a truth, and a natural right, that the exercise of

religion should be free; but when they proceeded to form on

that declaration the ordinance of government, instead of taking

up every principle declared in the bill of rights, and guarding it

by legislative sanction, they passed over that which asserted our

religious rights, leaving them as they found them. The same

convention, however, when they met as a member of the general

assembly in October, 1776, repealed all _acts of Parliament_ which

had rendered criminal the maintaining any opinions in matters

of religion, the forbearing to repair to church, and the exercising

any mode of worship; and suspended the laws giving salaries to

the clergy, which suspension was made perpetual in October,

1779. Statutory oppressions in religion being thus wiped away,

we remain at present under those only imposed by the common

law, or by our own acts of assembly. At the common law,

_heresy_ was a capital offence, punishable by burning. Its definition

was left to the ecclesiastical judges, before whom the conviction

was, till the statute of the 1 El. c. 1 circumscribed it,

by declaring, that nothing should be deemed heresy, but what

had been so determined by authority of the canonical scriptures,

or by one of the four first general councils, or by other

council, having for the grounds of their declaration the express

and plain words of the scriptures. Heresy, thus circumscribed,

being an offence against the common law, our act of assembly

of October 1777, c. 17, gives cognizance of it to the general

court, by declaring that the jurisdiction of that court shall be

general in all matters at the common law. The execution is by

the writ _De hæretico comburendo_. By our own act of assembly

of 1705, c. 30, if a person brought up in the Christian religion

denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or asserts there are

more gods than one, or denies the Christian religion to be true,

or the scriptures to be of divine authority, he is punishable on

the first offence by incapacity to hold any office or employment

ecclesiastical, civil, or military; on the second by disability to

sue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or administrator,

and by three years' imprisonment without bail. A

father's right to the custody of his own children being founded

in law on his right of guardianship, this being taken away, they

may of course be severed from him, and put by the authority of

a court into more orthodox hands. This is a summary view of

that religious slavery under which a people have been willing

to remain, who have lavished their lives and fortunes for the establishment

of their civil freedom. [63]The error seems not sufficiently

eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as

the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws. But

our rulers can have no authority over such natural rights, only

as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we

never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for

them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend

to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no

injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God.

It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said, his

testimony in a court of justice cannot be relied on, reject it then,

and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him worse by

making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him a truer man.

It may fix him obstinately in his errors, but will not cure them.

Reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against

error. Give a loose to them, they will support the true religion

by bringing every false one to their tribunal, to the test of their

investigation. They are the natural enemies of error, and of

error only. Had not the Roman government permitted free inquiry,

Christianity could never have been introduced. Had not

free inquiry been indulged at the era of the reformation, the corruptions

of Christianity could not have been purged away. If it

be restrained now, the present corruptions will be protected, and

new ones encouraged. Was the government to prescribe to us

our medicine and diet, our bodies would be in such keeping as

our souls are now. Thus in France the emetic was once forbidden

as a medicine, and the potato as an article of food. Government

is just as infallible, too, when it fixes systems in physics.

Galileo was sent to the Inquisition for affirming that the earth

was a sphere; the government had declared it to be as flat as a

trencher, and Galileo was obliged to abjure his error. This

error, however, at length prevailed, the earth became a globe, and

Descartes declared it was whirled round its axis by a vortex.

The government in which he lived was wise enough to see that

this was no question of civil jurisdiction, or we should all have

been involved by authority in vortices. In fact, the vortices

have been exploded, and the Newtonian principle of gravitation

is now more firmly established, on the basis of reason, than it

would be were the government to step in, and to make it an

article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been

indulged, and error has fled before them. It is error alone which

needs the support of government. Truth can stand by itself.

Subject opinion to coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors?

Fallible men; men governed by bad passions, by private

as well as public reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To

produce uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable?

No more than of face and stature. Introduce the bed of Procrustes

then, and as there is danger that the large men may beat

the small, make us all of a size, by lopping the former and

stretching the latter. Difference of opinion is advantageous in

religion. The several sects perform the office of a _censor morum_

over such other. Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent

men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity,

have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not

advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect

of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the

other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over

the earth. Let us reflect that it is inhabited by a thousand millions

of people. That these profess probably a thousand different

systems of religion. That ours is but one of that thousand.

That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we should

wish to see the nine hundred and ninety-nine wandering sects

gathered into the fold of truth. But against such a majority we

cannot effect this by force. Reason and persuasion are the only

practicable instruments. To make way for these, free inquiry

must be indulged; and how can we wish others to indulge it

while we refuse it ourselves. But every State, says an inquisitor,

has established some religion. No two, say I, have established

the same. Is this a proof of the infallibility of establishments?

Our sister States of Pennsylvania and New York, however, have

long subsisted without any establishment at all. The experiment

was new and doubtful when they made it. It has answered

beyond conception. They flourish infinitely. Religion

is well supported; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough;

all sufficient to preserve peace and order; or if a sect arises, whose

tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair play, and reasons

and laughs it out of doors, without suffering the State to be

troubled with it. They do not hang more malefactors than we

do. They are not more disturbed with religious dissensions.

On the contrary, their harmony is unparalleled, and can be ascribed

to nothing but their unbounded tolerance, because there

is no other circumstance in which they differ from every nation

on earth. They have made the happy discovery, that the way

to silence religious disputes, is to take no notice of them. Let

us too give this experiment fair play, and get rid, while we may,

of those tyrannical laws. It is true, we are as yet secured against

them by the spirit of the times. I doubt whether the people of

this country would suffer an execution for heresy, or a three

years' imprisonment for not comprehending the mysteries of the

Trinity. But is the spirit of the people an infallible, a permanent

reliance? Is it government? Is this the kind of protection

we receive in return for the rights we give up? Besides, the

spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become

corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may commence

persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too

often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a

legal basis is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united.

From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill.

It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people

for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their

rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole

faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect

a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore,

which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war,

will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till

our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion.

FOOTNOTE:

[63] Furneaux passim.

QUERY XVIII.

_The particular customs and manners that may happen to be

received in that State?_

It is difficult to determine on the standard by which the manners

of a nation may be tried, whether _catholic_ or _particular_.

It is more difficult for a native to bring to that standard the

manners of his own nation, familiarized to him by habit. There

must doubtless be an unhappy influence on the manners of our

people produced by the existence of slavery among us. The

whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise

of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism

on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other. Our

children see this, and learn to imitate it; for man is an imitative

animal. This quality is the germ of all education in him. From

his cradle to his grave he is learning to do what he sees others

do. If a parent could find no motive either in his philanthropy

or his self-love, for restraining the intemperance of passion towards

his slave, it should always be a sufficient one that his

child is present. But generally it is not sufficient. The parent

storms, the child looks on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts

on the same airs in the circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to

the worst of passions, and thus nursed, educated, and daily exercised

in tyranny, cannot but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities.

The man must be a prodigy who can retain his manners

and morals undepraved by such circumstances. And with

what execration should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting

one half the citizens thus to trample on the rights of the other,

transforms those into despots, and these into enemies, destroys

the morals of the one part, and the _amor patriæ_ of the other.

For if a slave can have a country in this world, it must be any

other in preference to that in which he is born to live and labor

for another; in which he must lock up the faculties of his nature,

contribute as far as depends on his individual endeavors to the

evanishment of the human race, or entail his own miserable condition

on the endless generations proceeding from him. With

the morals of the people, their industry also is destroyed. For

in a warm climate, no man will labor for himself who can make

another labor for him. This is so true, that of the proprietors

of slaves a very small proportion indeed are ever seen to labor.

And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we

have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds

of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That

they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble

for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice

cannot sleep forever; that considering numbers, nature and natural

means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange

of situation is among possible events; that it may become

probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty

has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest.

But it is impossible to be temperate and to pursue this subject

through the various considerations of policy, of morals, of history

natural and civil. We must be contented to hope they will force

their way into every one's mind. I think a change already perceptible,

since the origin of the present revolution. The spirit

of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from the dust,

his condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing, under the

auspices of heaven, for a total emancipation, and that this is disposed,

in the order of events, to be with the consent of the masters,

rather than by their extirpation.

QUERY XIX.

_The present state of manufactures, commerce, interior and exterior

trade?_

We never had an interior trade of any importance. Our exterior

commerce has suffered very much from the beginning of

the present contest. During this time we have manufactured

within our families the most necessary articles of clothing.

Those of cotton will bear some comparison with the same kinds

of manufacture in Europe; but those of wool, flax and hemp are

very coarse, unsightly, and unpleasant; and such is our attachment

to agriculture, and such our preference for foreign manufactures,

that be it wise or unwise, our people will certainly return

as soon as they can, to the raising raw materials, and exchanging

them for finer manufactures than they are able to execute

themselves.

The political economists of Europe have established it as a

principle, that every State should endeavor to manufacture for

itself; and this principle, like many others, we transfer to America,

without calculating the difference of circumstance which

should often produce a difference of result. In Europe the lands

are either cultivated, or locked up against the cultivator. Manufacture

must therefore be resorted to of necessity not of choice

to support the surplus of their people. But we have an immensity

of land courting the industry of the husbandman. Is it

best then that all our citizens should be employed in its improvement,

or that one half should be called off from that to exercise

manufactures and handicraft arts for the other? Those

who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever He

had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made His peculiar

deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in

which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might

escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the

mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no age nor nation

has furnished an example. It is the mark set on those, who,

not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does

the husbandman, for their subsistence, depend for it on casualties

and caprice of customers. Dependence begets subservience

and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools

for the designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and consequence

of the arts, has sometimes perhaps been retarded by accidental

circumstances; but, generally speaking, the proportion

which the aggregate of the other classes of citizens bears in any

State to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unsound

to its healthy parts, and is a good enough barometer whereby to

measure its degree of corruption. While we have land to labor

then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a workbench,

or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are

wanting in husbandry; but, for the general operations of manufacture,

let our workshops remain in Europe. It is better to

carry provisions and materials to workmen there, than bring

them to the provisions and materials, and with them their manners

and principles. The loss by the transportation of commodities

across the Atlantic will be made up in happiness and

permanence of government. The mobs of great cities add just

so much to the support of pure government, as sores do to the

strength of the human body. It is the manners and spirit of a

people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in

these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and

constitution.

QUERY XX.

_A notice of the commercial productions particular to the State,

and of those objects which the inhabitants are obliged to get

from Europe and from other parts of the world?_

Before the present war we exported, _communibus annis_, according

to the best information I can get, nearly as follows:

+----------------------+----------------+----------+----------------+

+----------------------+----------------+----------+----------------+

| | 1,000 lbs. |per hhd. | $1,650,000 |

| | | | |

| | |per bush. | 666,666⅔ |

| | | | |

|Indian corn |600,000 " |at ⅓d. | |

| | |per bush. | 200,000 |

| | | | |

|Shipping | ........ | .... | 100,000 |

| | | | |

|Masts, planks, }| | | |

|scantling, shingles, }| ........ | .... | 66,666⅔ |

|staves }| | | |

| | | | |

| | |per bbl. | 40,000 |

| | | | |

|Peltry, viz., skins }| | | |

|of deer, beavers, }|180 hhds. of | | |

|otters, musk rats, }|600 lbs. |at 5-12d. | |

|raccoons,foxes }| |per lb. | 42,000 |

| | | | |

| | |per bbl. | 40,000 |

| | | | |

|cotton | ........ | .... | 8,000 |

| | | | |

|Pit coal, pig iron | ........ | .... | 6,666⅔ |

| | | | |

| | |per bush. | 3,333⅓ |

| | |per bbl. | 3,333⅓ |

| | | | |

|herring | ........ | .... | 3,333⅓ |

| | | | |

|Brandy from peaches }| ........ | .... | 1,666⅔ |

|and apples, and }| | | |

|whiskey }| | | |

| | | | |

|Horses | ........ | .... | 1,666⅔ |

| +----------------+----------+----------------+

| | ........ | .... |[64]$2,833,333⅓ |

+----------------------+----------------+----------+----------------+

In the year 1758 we exported seventy thousand hogsheads of

tobacco, which was the greatest quantity ever produced in this

country in one year. But its culture was fast declining at the

commencement of this war and that of wheat taken its place;

and it must continue to decline on the return of peace. I suspect

that the change in the temperature of our climate has become

sensible to that plant, which to be good, requires an extraordinary

degree of heat. But it requires still more indispensably

an uncommon fertility of soil; and the price which it commands

at market will not enable the planter to produce this by manure.

Was the supply still to depend on Virginia and Maryland alone

as its culture becomes more difficult, the price would rise so as

to enable the planter to surmount those difficulties and to live.

But the western country on the Mississippi, and the midlands of

Georgia, having fresh and fertile lands in abundance, and a hotter

sun, will be able to undersell these two States, and will oblige

them to abandon the raising of tobacco altogether. And a happy

obligation for them it will be. It is a culture productive of

infinite wretchedness. Those employed in it are in a continual

state of exertion beyond the power of nature to support. Little

food of any kind is raised by them; so that the men and animals

on these farms are badly fed, and the earth is rapidly impoverished.

The cultivation of wheat is the reverse in every

circumstance. Besides clothing the earth with herbage, and preserving

its fertility, it feeds the laborers plentifully, requires from

them only a moderate toil, except in the season of harvest, raises

great numbers of animals for food and service, and diffuses plenty

and happiness among the whole. We find it easier to make an

hundred bushels of wheat than a thousand weight of tobacco,

and they are worth more when made. The weavil indeed is a

formidable obstacle to the cultivation of this grain with us. But

principles are already known which must lead to a remedy.

Thus a certain degree of heat, to wit, that of the common air

in summer, is necessary to hatch the eggs. If subterranean granaries,

or others, therefore, can be contrived below that temperature,

the evil will be cured by cold. A degree of heat beyond

that which hatches the egg we know will kill it. But in aiming

at this we easily run into that which produced putrefaction. To

produce putrefaction, however, three agents are requisite, heat,

moisture, and the external air. If the absence of any one of

these be secured, the other two may safely be admitted. Heat is

the one we want. Moisture then, or external air, must be excluded.

The former has been done by exposing the grain in

kilns to the action of fire, which produces heat, and extracts

moisture at the same time; the latter, by putting the grain into

hogsheads, covering it with a coating of lime, and heading it up.

In this situation its bulk produced a heat sufficient to kill the

eggs; the moisture is suffered to remain indeed, but the external

air is excluded. A nicer operation yet has been attempted; that

is, to produce an intermediate temperature of heat between that

which kills the egg, and that which produces putrefaction. The

threshing the grain as soon as it is cut, and laying it in its chaff

in large heaps, has been found very nearly to hit this temperature,

though not perfectly, nor always. The heap generates

heat sufficient to kill most of the eggs, whilst the chaff commonly

restrains it from rising into putrefaction. But all these

methods abridge too much the quantity which the farmer can

manage, and enable other countries to undersell him, which are

not infested with this insect. There is still a desideratum then

to give with us decisive triumph to this branch of agriculture

over that of tobacco. The culture of wheat by enlarging our

pasture, will render the Arabian horse an article of very considerable

profit. Experience has shown that ours is the particular

climate of America where he may be raised without degeneracy.

Southwardly the heat of the sun occasions a deficiency

of pasture, and northwardly the winters are too cold for the short

and fine hair, the particular sensibility and constitution of that

race. Animals transplanted into unfriendly climates, either

change their nature and acquire new senses against the new

difficulties in which they are placed, or they multiply poorly and

become extinct. A good foundation is laid for their propagation

here by our possessing already great numbers of horses of that

blood, and by a decided taste and preference for them established

among the people. Their patience of heat without injury, their

superior wind, fit them better in this and the more southern climates

even for the drudgeries of the plough and wagon. Northwardly

they will become an object only to persons of taste and

fortune, for the saddle and light carriages. To those, and for

these uses, their fleetness and beauty will recommend them. Besides

these there will be other valuable substitutes when the cultivation

of tobacco shall be discontinued such as cotton in the

eastern parts of the State, and hemp and flax in the western.

It is not easy to say what are the articles either of necessity,

comfort, or luxury, which we cannot raise, and which we therefore

shall be under a necessity of importing from abroad, as everything

hardier than the olive, and as hardy as the fig, may be

raised here in the open air. Sugar, coffee and tea, indeed, are

not between these limits; and habit having placed them among

the necessaries of life with the wealthy part of our citizens, as

long as these habits remain we must go for them to those countries

which are able to furnish them.

FOOTNOTE:

[64] This sum is equal to £850,000; Virginia money, 607,142

guineas.

QUERY XXI.

_The weights, measures and the currency of the hard money?

Some details relating to exchange with Europe?_

Our weights and measures are the same which are fixed by

acts of parliament in England. How it has happened that in

this as well as the other American States the nominal value of

coin was made to differ from what it was in the country we had

left, and to differ among ourselves too, I am not able to say with

certainty. I find that in 1631 our house of burgesses desired of

the privy council in England, a coin debased to twenty-five per

cent.; that in 1645 they forbid dealing by barter for tobacco,

and established the Spanish piece of eight at six shillings, as the

standard of their currency; that in 1655 they changed it to five

shillings sterling. In 1680 they sent an address to the king, in

consequence of which, by proclamation in 1683, he fixed the

value of French crowns, rix dollars, and pieces of eight, at six

shillings, and the coin of New England at one shilling. That

in 1710, 1714, 1727, and 1762, other regulations were made,

which will be better presented to the eye stated in the form of a

table as follows:

-------------------------------------+-----+--------+-------+-------

| 1710| 1714. | 1797. | 1762.

-------------------------------------+-----+--------+-------+-------

| | | |

Guineas | .. |26s. | |

| | | |

British gold coin not milled, gold | | | |

coin of Spain and France, chequins, | | | |

Arabian gold, moidores of Portugal | .. |5s. dwt.| |

| | | |

Coined gold of the empire | .. |5s. dwt.| .. |4s. 3d.

| | | | dwt.

English milled silver money, in | | | |

proportion to the crown, at | .. |5s. 10d.|6s. 3d.|

| | | |

Pieces of eight of Mexico, Seville | | | |

& Pillar, ducatoons of Flanders, | | | |

French ecus, or silver Louis, |3¾d. | .. |4d. |

crusados of Portugal | dwt.| | dwt. |

| | | |

Peru pieces, cross dollars, and old |3½d. | .. |3¾d. |

rix dollars of the empire | dwt.| | dwt. |

| | | |

Old British silver not milled | .. |3¾d. | |

| | dwt. | |

-------------------------------------+-----+--------+-------+-------

The first symptom of the depreciation of our present paper

money, was that of silver dollars selling at six shillings, which

had before been worth but five shilling and ninepence. The

assembly thereupon raised them by law to six shillings. As the

dollar is now likely to become the money-unit of America, as it

passes at this rate in some of our sister States, and as it facilitates

their computation in pounds and shillings, &c., converso, this

seems to be more convenient than its former denomination. But

as this particular coin now stands higher than any other in the

proportion of one hundred and thirty-three and a half to one

hundred and twenty-five, or sixteen to fifteen, it will be necessary

to raise the others in proportion.

QUERY XXII.

_The public Income and expenses?_

The nominal amount of these varying constantly and rapidly,

with the constant and rapid depreciation of our paper money, it

becomes impracticable to say what they are. We find ourselves

cheated in every essay by the depreciation intervening between

the declaration of the tax and its actual receipt. It will therefore

be more satisfactory to consider what our income may be when

we shall find means of collecting what our people may spare. I

should estimate the whole taxable property of this State at an

hundred millions of dollars, or thirty millions of pounds, our

money. One per cent. on this, compared with anything we

ever yet paid, would be deemed a very heavy tax. Yet I think

that those who manage well, and use reasonable economy, could

pay one and a half per cent., and maintain their household comfortably

in the meantime, without aliening any part of their

principal, and that the people would submit to this willingly for

the purpose of supporting their present contest. We may say,

then, that we could raise, from one million to one million and a

half of dollars annually, that is from three hundred to four hundred

and fifty thousand pounds, Virginia money.

Of our expenses it is equally difficult to give an exact state,

and for the same reason. They are mostly stated in paper

money, which varying continually, the legislature endeavors at

every session, by new corrections, to adapt the nominal sums to

the value it is wished they would bear. I will state them, therefore,

in real coin, at the point at which they endeavor to keep them:

Dollars.

The annual expenses of the general assembly are about 20,000

The governor 3,333⅓

The council of state 10,666⅔

Their clerks 1,166⅔

Eleven judges 11,000

The clerk of the chancery 666⅔

The attorney general 1,000

Three auditors and a solicitor 5,333⅓

Their clerks 2,000

The treasurer 2,000

His clerks 2,000

The keeper of the public jail 1,000

The public printer 1,666⅔

Clerks of the inferior courts 43,333⅓

Public levy; this is chiefly for the expenses of

criminal justice 40,000

County levy, for bridges, court-houses, prisons, &c. 40,000

Members of Congress 7,000

Quota of the federal civil list, supposed one-sixth

of about $78,000 13,000

Expenses of collecting, six per cent. on the above 12,310

The clergy receive only voluntary contributions;

suppose them on an average one-eighth of a dollar

a tythe on 200,000 tythes 25,000

Contingencies, to make round numbers not far from truth 7,523⅓

---------

$250,000

or 53,571 guineas. This estimate is exclusive of the military

expense. That varies with the force actually employed, and in

time of peace will probably be little or nothing. It is exclusive

also of the public debts, which are growing while I am

writing, and cannot therefore be now fixed. So it is of the

maintenance of the poor, which being merely a matter of charity

cannot be deemed expended in the administration of government.

And if we strike out the $25,000 for the services of the

clergy, which neither makes part of that administration, more

than what is paid to physicians, or lawyers, and being voluntary,

is either much or nothing as every one pleases, it leaves $225,000,

equal to 48,208 guineas, the real cost of the apparatus of

government with us. This divided among the actual inhabitants

of our country, comes to about two-fifths of a dollar,

twenty-one pence sterling, or forty-two sols, the price which

each pays annually for the protection of the residue of his property,

and the other advantages of a free government. The

public revenues of Great Britain divided in like manner on its

inhabitants would be sixteen times greater. Deducting even the

double of the expenses of government, as before estimated, from

the million and a half of dollars which we before supposed might

be annually paid without distress, we may conclude that this

State can contribute one million of dollars annually towards supporting

the federal army, paying the federal debt, building a

federal navy, or opening roads, clearing rivers, forming safe ports,

and other useful works.

To this estimate of our abilities, let me add a word as to the

application of them. If, when cleared of the present contest,

and of the debts with which that will charge us, we come to

measure force hereafter with any European power. Such events

are devoutly to be deprecated. Young as we are, and with such

a country before us to fill with people and with happiness, we

should point in that direction the whole generative force of nature,

wasting none of it in efforts of mutual destruction. It

should be our endeavor to cultivate the peace and friendship of

every nation, even of that which has injured us most, when we

shall have carried our point against her. Our interest will be to

throw open the doors of commerce, and to knock off all its

shackles, giving perfect freedom to all persons for the vent of

whatever they may chose to bring into our ports, and asking the

same in theirs. Never was so much false arithmetic employed

on any subject, as that which has been employed to persuade nations

that it is their interest to go to war. Were the money

which it has cost to gain, at the close of a long war, a little town,

or a little territory, the right to cut wood here, or to catch fish

there, expended in improving what they already possess, in making

roads, opening rivers, building ports, improving the arts, and

finding employment for their idle poor, it would render them

much stronger, much wealthier and happier. This I hope will

be our wisdom. And, perhaps, to remove as much as possible

the occasions of making war, it might be better for us to abandon

the ocean altogether, that being the element whereon we

shall be principally exposed to jostle with other nations; to leave

to others to bring what we shall want, and to carry what we can

spare. This would make us invulnerable to Europe, by offering

none of our property to their prize, and would turn all our citizens

to the cultivation of the earth; and, I repeat it again, cultivators

of the earth are the most virtuous and independent citizens.

It might be time enough to seek employment for them

at sea, when the land no longer offers it. But the actual habits

of our countrymen attach them to commerce. They will exercise

it for themselves. Wars then must sometimes be our lot;

and all the wise can do, will be to avoid that half of them which

would be produced by our own follies and our own acts of injustice;

and to make for the other half the best preparations we

can. Of what nature should these be? A land army would be

useless for offence, and not the best nor safest instrument of defence.

For either of these purposes, the sea is the field on

which we should meet an European enemy. On that element

it is necessary we should possess some power. To aim at such

a navy as the greater nations of Europe possess, would be a foolish

and wicked waste of the energies of our countrymen. It

would be to pull on our own heads that load of military expense

which makes the European laborer go supperless to bed, and

moistens his bread with the sweat of his brows. It will be

enough if we enable ourselves to prevent insults from those nations

of Europe which are weak on the sea, because circumstances

exist, which render even the stronger ones weak as to

us. Providence has placed their richest and most defenceless

possessions at our door; has obliged their most precious commerce

to pass, as it were, in review before us. To protect this,

or to assail, a small part only of their naval force will ever be

risked across the Atlantic. The dangers to which the elements

expose them here are too well known, and the greater dangers

to which they would be exposed at home were any general calamity

to involve their whole fleet. They can attack us by detachment

only; and it will suffice to make ourselves equal to

what they may detach. Even a smaller force than they may

detach will be rendered equal or superior by the quickness with

which any check may be repaired with us, while losses with

them will be irreparable till too late. A small naval force then

is sufficient for us, and a small one is necessary. What this

should be, I will not undertake to say. I will only say, it should

by no means be so great as we are able to make it. Suppose

the million of dollars, or three hundred thousand pounds, which

Virginia could annually spare without distress, to be applied to

the creating a navy. A single year's contribution would build,

equip, man, and send to sea a force which should carry three

hundred guns. The rest of the confederacy, exerting themselves

in the same proportion, would equip in the same time fifteen

hundred guns more. So that one year's contributions would set

up a navy of eighteen hundred guns. The British ships of the

line average seventy-six guns; their frigates thirty-eight. Eighteen

hundred guns then would form a fleet of thirty ships, eighteen

of which might be of the line, and twelve frigates. Allowing

eight men, the British average, for every gun, their annual

expense, including subsistence, clothing, pay, and ordinary repairs,

would be about $1,280 for every gun, or $2,304,000 for

the whole. I state this only as one year's possible exertion,

without deciding whether more or less than a year's exertion

should be thus applied.

The value of our lands and slaves, taken conjunctly, doubles

in about twenty years. This arises from the multiplication of

our slaves, from the extension of culture, and increased demand

for lands. The amount of what may be raised will of course

rise in the same proportion.

QUERY XXIII.

_The histories of the State, the memorials published in its name

in the time of its being a colony, and the pamphlets relating

to its interior or exterior affairs present or ancient?_

Captain Smith, who next to Sir Walter Raleigh may be considered

as the founder of our colony, has written its history, from

the first adventures to it, till the year 1624. He was a member

of the council, and afterwards president of the colony; and to

his efforts principally may be ascribed its support against the opposition

of the natives. He was honest, sensible, and well informed;

but his style is barbarous and uncouth. His history,

however, is almost the only source from which we derive any

knowledge of the infancy of our State.

The reverend William Stith, a native of Virginia, and president

of its college, has also written the history of the same

period, in a large octavo volume of small print. He was a man

of classical learning, and very exact, but of no taste in style.

He is inelegant, therefore, and his details often too minute to be

tolerable, even to a native of the country, whose history he

writes.

Beverley, a native also, has run into the other extreme, he has

comprised our history from the first propositions of Sir Walter

Raleigh to the year 1700, in the hundredth part of the space

which Stith employs for the fourth part of the period.

Sir Walter Keith has taken it up at its earliest period, and continued

it to the year 1725. He is agreeable enough in style, and

passes over events of little importance. Of course he is short

and would be preferred by a foreigner.

During the regal government, some contest arose on the exaction

of an illegal fee by governor Dinwiddie, and doubtless there

were others on other occasions not at present recollected. It is

supposed that these are not sufficiently interesting to a foreigner

to merit a detail.

The petition of the council and burgesses of Virginia to the

king, their memorials to the lords, and remonstrance to the commons

in the year 1764, began the present contest; and these

having proved ineffectual to prevent the passage of the stamp-act,

the resolutions of the house of burgesses of 1765 were passed

declaring the independence of the people of Virginia of the parliament

of Great Britain, in matters of taxation. From that

time till the declaration of independence by Congress in 1776,

their journals are filled with assertions of the public rights.

The pamphlets published in this State on the controverted

question, were:

1766, An Inquiry into the rights of the British Colonies, by

Richard Bland.

1769, The Monitor's Letters, by Dr. Arthur Lee.

1774, A summary View of the rights of British America.[65]

1774, Considerations, &c., by Robert Carter Nicholas.

Since the declaration of independence this State has had no

controversy with any other, except with that of Pennsylvania,

on their common boundary. Some papers on this subject passed

between the executive and legislative bodies of the two States,

the result of which was a happy accommodation of their rights.

To this account of our historians, memorials, and pamphlets,

it may not be unuseful to add a chronological catalogue of American

state-papers, as far as I have been able to collect their titles.

It is far from being either complete or correct. Where the title

alone, and not the paper itself, has come under my observation,

I cannot answer for the exactness of the date. Sometimes I

have not been able to find any date at all, and sometimes have

not been satisfied that such a paper exists. An extensive collection

of papers of this description has been for some time in a

course of preparation by a gentleman[66] fully equal to the task,

and from whom, therefore, we may hope ere long to receive it.

In the meantime accept this as the result of my labors, and as

closing the tedious detail which you have so undesignedly drawn

upon yourself.

Pro Johanne Caboto et filiis suis super terra 1496, Mar. 5.

incognita investiganda 12. Ry. 595. 3. Hakl. 4. 11. H. 7.

2. Mem. A. 409.

Billa signata anno 13. Henrici septimi. 3. 1498, Feb. 3.

Hakluyt's voiages 5. 13. H. 7.

De potestatibus ad terras incognitas 1502, Dec. 19.

investigandum. 13. Rymer. 37. 18. H. 7.

Commission de François I. à Jacques Cartier pour 1540, Oct. 17.

l'establissement du Canada. L'Escarbot. 397. 2.

Mem. Am. 416.

An act against the exaction of money, or any 1548, 2. E. 6.

other thing, by any officer for license to

traffique into Iseland and New-found-land,

made in An. 2. Edwardi sexti. 3. Hakl. 131.

The letters-patent granted by her Majestie 1578, June 11.

to Sir Humphrey Gilbert, knight, for the 20. El.

inhabiting and planting of our people in

America. 3. Hakl. 135.

Letters-patent of Queen Elizabeth to Adrian 1583, Feb. 6.

Gilbert and others, to discover the northwest

passage to China. 3. Hakl. 96.

The letters-patent granted by the Queen's 1584, Mar. 25.

majestie to M. Walter Raleigh, now knight, 26 El.

for the discovering and planting of new lands

and countries, to continue the space of six

years and no more. 3. Hakl. 243.

An assignment by Sir Walter Raleigh for Mar. 7.

continuing the action of inhabiting and 31. El.

planting his people in Virginia. Hakl. 1st.

ed. publ. in 1589. p. 815.

Lettres de Lieutenant General de l'Acadie et 1603, Nov. 8.

pays circonvoisins pour le Sieur de Monts.

L'Escarbot. 417.

Letters-patent to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George 1606, Apr. 10.

Somers and others of America. Stith. Apend. 4. Jac. 1.

No. 1.

An ordinance and constitution enlarging the 1607, Mar. 9.

council of the two colonies in Virginia and 4. Jac. 1.

America, and augmenting their authority, M.S.

The second charter to the treasurer and 1609, May 23.

company for Virginia, erecting them into a 7. Jac. 1.

body politick. Stith. Ap. 2.

Letters-patents to the E. of Northampton, 1610, April 10.

granting part of the island of Newfoundland. Jac. 1.

1. Harris. 861.

A third charter to the treasurer and company 1611, Mar. 12.

for Virginia. Stith. Ap. 3. 9. Jac. 1.

A commission to Sir Walter Raleigh. Qu. 1617. Jac. 1.

Commissio specialis concernens le garbling 1620. Apr. 7.

herbæ Nocotianæ. 17. Rym. 190. 18. Jac. 1.

A proclamation for restraint of the disordered 1620. June 29.

trading of tobacco. 17. Rym. 233. 18. Jac. 1.

A grant of New-England to the council of 1620. Nov. 3.

Plymouth. Jac. 1.

An ordinance and constitution of the treasurer, 1621, July 24.

council and company in England, for a council Jac. 1.

of state and general assembly in Virginia.

Stith. Ap. 4.

A grant of Nova Scotia to Sir William Alexander. 1621, Sep. 10.

2. Mem. de l'Amerique. 193. 20 Jac. 1.

A proclamation prohibiting interloping and 1622, Nov. 6.

disorderly trading to New England in America. 20 Jac. 1.

17. Rym. 416.

De commissione speciali Willelmo Jones militi 1623, May 9.

directa. 17. Rym. 490. 21 Jac. 1.

A grant to Sir Edmund Ployden, of New Albion. 1623.

Mentioned in Smith's examination. 82.

De commissione Henrico vicecomiti Mandevill 1624, July 15.

et aliis. 17. Rym. 609. 22. Jac. 1.

De commissione speciali concernenti 1624, Aug. 26.

gubernationem in Virginia. 17. Rym. 618. 22 Jac. 1.

A proclamation concerning tobacco. 17. Rym. 1624, Sep. 29.

621. 22 Jac. 1.

De concessione demiss, Edwardo Ditchfield et 1624, Nov. 9.

aliis. 17. Rym. 633. 22 Jac. 1.

A proclamation for the utter prohibiting the 1625, Mar. 2.

importation and use of all tobacco which is 22 Jac. 1.

not of the proper growth of the colony of

Virginia and the Somer islands, or one of

them. 17. Rym. 668.

De commissione directa Georgio Yardeley militi 1625, Mar. 4.

et aliis. 18. Rym. 311. 1 Car. 1.

Proclamatio de herba Nicotianâ. 18. Rym. 19. 1625, Apr. 9.

1 Car. 1.

A proclamation for settlinge the plantation 1625, May 13.

of Virginia. 18. Rym. 72. 1 Car. 1.

A grant of the soil, barony, and domains of 1625, July 12.

Nova Scotia to Sir Wm. Alexander of Minstrie.

2. Mem. Am. 226.

Commissio directa a Johanni Wolstenholme 1626, Jan. 31.

militi et aliis. 18. Rym. 831. 2 Car. 1.

A proclamation touching tobacco. Rym. 848. 1626, Feb. 17.

2 Car. 1.

A grant of Massachusetts bay by the council of 1627, Mar. 19.

Plymouth to Sir Henry Roswell and others. qu? 2 Car. 1.

De concessione commissionis specialis 1627, Mar. 26.

proconcilio in Virginia. 18. Rym. 980. 3 Car. 1.

De proclamatione de signatione de tobacco. 1627, Mar. 30.

18. Rym. 886. 3 Car. 1.

De proclamatione pro ordinatione de tobacco. 1627, Aug. 9.

18. Rym. 920. 3 Car. 1.

A confirmation of the grant of Massachusetts 1628, Mar. 4.

bay by the crown. 3 Car. 1.

The capitulation of Quebec. Champlain pert. 1629, Aug. 19.

2. 216. 2. Mem. Am. 489.

A proclamation concerning tobacco. 19. Rym. 1630, Jan. 6.

235. 5 Car. 1.

Conveyance of Nova Scotia (Port-royal excepted) 1630, April 30.

by Sir William Alexander to Sir Claude St.

Etienne Lord of la Tour and of Uarre and to

his son Sir Charles de St. Etienne Lord of St.

Denniscourt, on condition that they continue

subjects to the king of Scotland under the

great seal of Scotland.

A proclamation forbidding the disorderly 1630-31, Nov.

trading with the savages in New England 24. 6 Car. 1.

in America, especially the furnishing the

natives in those and other parts of America

by the English with weapons and habiliments

of warre. 19. Ry. 210. 3. Rushw. 82.

A proclamation prohibiting the selling arms, 1630, Dec. 5.

&c. to the savages in America. Mentioned 3. 6 Car. 1.

Rushw. 75.

A grant of Connecticut by the council of 1630, Car. 1.

Plymouth to the E. of Warwick.

A confirmation by the crown of the grant 1630, Car. 1.

of Connecticut [said to be in the petty-bag

office in England.]

A conveiance of Connecticut by the E. of 1631, Mar. 19.

Warwick to Lord Say, and Seal, and others. 6 Car. 1.

Smith's examination, Appendix No. 1.

A special commission to Edward, Earle of 1631, June 27.

Dorsett, and others, for the better plantation 7 Car. 1.

of the colony of Virginia. 19. Ry. 301.

Litere continentes promissionem regis ad 1632, June 29.

tradenum castrum et habitationem de Kebec in 7 Car. 1.

Canada ad regem Francorum. 19. Ry. 303.

Traité entre le roy Louis XIII. et Charles 1632, Mar. 29.

roi d'Angleterre pour la restitution de la 8 Car. 1.

nouvelle France, la Cadie et Canada et des

navires et merchandises pris de part et

d'autre. Fait a St. Germain. 19. Ry. 361. 2.

Mem. Am. 5.

A grant of Maryland to Cæcilius Calvert, 1632, June 20.

baron of Baltimore in Ireland. 8 Car. 1.

A petition of the planters of Virginia against 1633, July 3.

the grant to lord Baltimore. 9 Car. 1.

Order of council upon the dispute between the 1633, July 3.

Virginia planters and lord Baltimore, Votes

of repres. Pennsylvania. V.

A proclamation to prevent abuses growing by 1633, Aug. 13.

the unordered retailing of tobacco. Mentioned 9 Car. 1.

3. Rushw. 191.

A special commission to Thomas Young to search, 1633, Sept. 23.

discover and find out what ports are not yet 9 Car. 1.

inhabited in Virginia and America and other

parts thereunto adjoining. 19. Ry. 472.

A proclamation for preventing of the abuses 1633, Oct. 13.

growing by the unordered retailing of tobacco. 9 Car. 1.

19. Ry. 474.

A proclamation restraining the abusive venting 1633. Mar. 13.

of tobacco. 19. Rym. 522. Car. 1.

A proclamation concerning the landing of 1634, May 19.

tobacco, and also forbidding the planting 10 Car. 1.

thereof in the king's dominions. 19. Ry. 553.

A commission to the Archbishop of Canterbury 1634, Car. 1.

and 11 others, for governing the American

colonies.

A commission concerning tobacco. M.S. 1634, June 19.

10 Car. 1.

A commission from Lord Say, and Seal, and 1635, July 18.

others, to John Winthrop to be governor of 11 Car. 1.

Connecticut. Smith's App.

A grant to Duke Hamilton. 1635, Car. 1.

De commissione speciali Johanni Harvey militi 1636, Apr. 2.

to pro meliori regemine coloniae in Virginia. 12 Car. 1.

20. Ry. 3.

A proclamation concerning tobacco. Title in 1637, Mar. 14.

3. Rush. 617. Car. 1.

De commissione speciali Georgio domino Goring 1636-7, Mar.

et aliis concessâ concernente venditionem de 16. 12 Car. 1.

tobacco absque licentiâ regiâ. 20. Ry. 116.

A proclamation against disorderly transporting 1637, Apr. 30.

his Majesty's subjects to the plantations 13 Car. 1.

within the parts of America. 20. Ry. 143. 3.

Rush. 409.

An order of the privy council to stay 8 ships 1637, May 1.

now in the Thames from going to New England. 13 Car. 1.

3. Rush. 409.

A warrant of the Lord Admiral to stop 1637, Car. 1.

unconformable ministers from going beyond

the sea. 3. Rush. 410.

Order of council upon Claiborne's 1638, Apr. 4.

petition against Lord Baltimore. Votes of Car. 1.

representatives of Pennsylvania, vi.

An order of the king and council that the 1638, Apr. 6.

attorney general draw up a proclamation to 14 Car. 1.

prohibit transportation of passengers to New

England without license. 3. Rush. 718.

A proclamation to restrain the transporting 1638, May 1.

of passengers and provisions to New England 14 Car. 1.

without license. 20. Ry. 223.

A proclamation concerning tobacco. Title 4. 1639, Mar. 25.

Rush. 1060. Car. 1.

A proclamation declaring his majesty's pleasure 1639, Aug. 19.

to continue his commission and letters patents 15 Car. 1.

for licensing retailers of tobacco. 20. Ry.

348.

De commissione speciali Henrico Ashton 1639, Dec. 16.

armigero ét aliis ad amovendum Henricum Hawley 15 Car. 1.

gubernatorem de Barbadoes. 20. Rym. 357.

A proclamation concerning retailers of tobacco. 1639, Car. 1.

4. Rush. 966.

De constitutione gubernatoris et concilii 1641, Aug. 9.

pro Virginia. 20. Ry. 484. 17 Car. 1.

Articles of union and confederacy entered 1643, Car. 1.

into by Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut

and New-haven. 1. Neale. 223.

Deed from George Fenwick to the old Connecticut 1644, Car. 1.

jurisdiction.

An ordinance of the lords and commons assembled

in parliament, for exempting from custom and

imposition all commodities exported for, or

imported from New England, which has been

very prosperous and without any public charge

to this State, and is likely to prove very

happy for the propagation of the gospel in

those parts. Tit. in Amer, library 90. 5. No

date. But seems by the neighbouring articles

to have been in 1644.

An act for charging of tobacco brought from 1644, June 20.

New England with custom and excise. Title in Car. 2.

American library. 99. 8.

An act for the advancing and regulating the 1644, Aug. 1.

trade of this commonwealth. Tit. in Amer. Car. 2.

libr. 99. 9.

Grant of the Northern neck of Virginia to Sep. 18.

Lord Hopton, Lord Jermyn, Lord Culpepper, 1 Car. 2.

Sir John Berkley, Sir William Moreton, Sir

Dudley Wyatt, and Thomas Culpepper.

An act prohibiting trade with the Barbadoes, 1650, Oct. 3.

Virginia, Bermudas and Antego Scobell's Acts. 2 Car. 2.

1027.

A declaration of Lord Willoughby, governor 1650, Car. 2.

of Barbadoes, and of his council, against an

act of parliament of 3d of October, 1650. 4.

Polit. register. 2. cited from 4 Neal. hist.

of the Puritans. App. No. 12 but not there.

A final settlement of boundaries between the 1650, Car. 2.

Dutch New Netherlands and Connecticut.

Instructions for Captain Robert Dennis, Mr. 1651, Sept. 26.

Richard Bennet, Mr. Thomas Stagge, and Captain 3 Car. 2.

William Claibourn, appointed commissioners for

the reducing of Virginia and the inhabitants

thereof to their due obedience to the

commonwealth of England. 1 Thurloe's state

papers, 197.

An act for increase of shipping and 1651, Oct. 9.

encouragement of the navigation of this 8 Car. 2.

nation. Scobell's acts, 1449.

Articles agreed on and concluded at James citie 1651-2, Mar.

in Virginia for the surrendering and settling 12. 4 Car. 2.

of that plantation under the obedience and

government of the commonwealth of England, by

the commissioners of the council of state,

by authoritie of the parliament of England,

and by the grand assembly of the governor,

council, and burgesse of that state. M.S.

[Ante. p. 206.]

An act of indempnitie made at the surrender 1651, Mar.

of the country [of Virginia.] [Ante p. 206.] 12. 4 Car. 1.

Capitulation de Port Royal. Mem. Am. 507. 1654, Aug. 16.

A proclamation of the protector relating to 1655, Car. 2.

Jamaica. 3 Thurl. 75.

The protector to the commissioners of Maryland. 1655, Sep. 26.

A letter. 4 Thurl. 55. 7 Car. 2.

An instrument made at the council of Jamaica, 1655, Oct. 8.

Oct. 8, 1655, for the better carrying on of 7 Car. 2.

affairs there. 4 Thurl. 17.

Treaty of Westminster between France and 1655, Nov. 3.

England. 6. corps diplom. part 2. p. 121. 2

Mem. Am. 10.

The assembly at Barbadoes to the protector. 1656, Mar. 27.

4 Thurl. 651. 8 Car. 2.

A grant by Cromwell to Sir Charles de Saint 1656, Aug. 9.

Etienne, a baron of Scotland, Crowne and

Temple. A French translation of it. 2 Mem.

Am. 511.

A paper concerning the advancement of trade, 1656, Car. 2.

5 Thurl. 80.

A brief narration of the English rights to 1656, Car. 2.

the Northern parts of America. 5 Thurl. 81.

Mr. R. Bennet and Mr. S. Matthew to Secretary 1656, Oct. 12.

Thurlow. 5 Thurl. 482. 8 Car. 2.

Objections against the Lord Baltimore's patent, 1656, Oct. 10.

and reasons why the government of Maryland 8 Car. 2.

should not be put into his hands. 5 Thurl. 482.

A paper relating to Maryland. 5 Thurl. 483. 1656, Oct. 10.

8 Car. 2.

A breviet of the proceedings of the lord 1656, Oct. 10.

Baltimore and his officers and compliers 8 Car. 2.

in Maryland, against the authority of the

parliament of the commonwealth of England

and against his highness the lord protector's

authority, laws and government 5 Thurl. 486.

The assembly of Virginia to secretary Thurlow. 1656, Oct. 15.

5 Thurl. 497. 8 Car. 2.

The governor of Barbadoes to the protector. 1657, Apr. 4.

6 Thurl. 69. 9 Car. 2.

Petition of the general court at Hartford 1661, Car. 2.

upon Connecticut for charter. Smith's exam.

App. 4.

Charter of the colony of Connecticut. Smith's 1662, Apr. 23.

exam. App. 6. 14 Car. 2.

The first charter granted by Charles II. to 1662-2, Mar. 24.

the proprietaries of Carolina, to wit, to Apr. 4. 15 C. 2.

the Earl of Clarendon, Duke of Albemarle,

Lord Craven, Lord Berkeley, Lord Ashley, Sir

George Carteret, Sir William Berkeley, and

Sir John Colleton. 4 Mem. Am. 554.

The concessions and agreement of the lords 1664, Feb. 10.

proprietors of the province of New Cæsarea,

or New Jersey, to and with all and every of

the adventurers and all such as shall settle

or plant there. Smith's New Jersey. App. 1.

A grant of the colony of New York to the Duke 1664. Mar. 12.

of York. 20 Car. 2.

A commission to Colonel Nichols and others 1664, Apr. 26.

to settle disputes in New England. Hutch. 16 Car. 2.

Hist. Mass. Bay, App. 537.

The commission to Sir Robert Carre and others 1664, Apr. 26.

to put the Duke of York in possession of

New York, New Jersey, and all other lands

thereunto appertaining.

Sir Robert Carre and others proclamation to

the inhabitants of New York, New Jersey, &c.

Smith's N. J. 36.

Deeds of lease and release of New Jersey by 1664, June 23.

the Duke of York to Lord Berkeley and Sir 24. 16 Car. 2.

George Carteret.

A conveiance of the Delaware counties to

William Penn.

Letters between Stuyvesant and Colonel Nichols 1664, Aug.

on the English right. Smith's N. J. 37-42. 19-29, 20-30,

24.

Aug. 25.

Sept. 4.

Treaty between the English and Dutch for the 1664, Aug. 27.

surrender of the New Netherlands. Sm. N. J.

42.

Nicoll's commission to Sir Robert Carre to Sept. 3.

reduce the Dutch on Delaware bay. Sm. N. J.

47.

Instructions to Sir Robert Carre for reducing

of Delaware bay and settling the people there

under his majesty's obedience. Sm. N. J. 47.

Articles of capitulation between Sir Robert 1664, Oct. 1.

Carre and the Dutch and Swedes on Delaware

bay and Delaware river. Sm. N. J. 49.

The determination of the commissioners of 1664, Dec. 1.

the boundary between the Duke of York and 16 Car. 2.

Connecticut. Sm. Ex. Ap. 9.

The New Haven case. Smith's Ex. Ap. 20. 1664.

The second charter granted by Charles II. 1665, June 13.

to the same proprietors of Carolina. 4. Mem. 24. 17 Car. 2.

Am. 586.

Declaration de guerre par la France contre 1666, Jan. 26.

l'Angleterre. 3 Mem. Am. 123.

Declaration of war by the king of England 1666, Feb. 9.

against the king of France. 17 Car. 2.

The treaty of peace between France and England 1667, July 31.

made at Breda. 7 Corps, Dipl. part 1. p. 51

2. Mem. Am. 32.

The treaty of peace and alliance between 1667, July 31.

England and the United Provinces made at

Breda. 7. Cor. Dip. p. 1. d. 44. 2. Mem. Am.

40.

Acte de la cession de l'Acadie au roi de 1667-8, Feb.

France. 2. Mem. Am. 40. 17.

Directions from the governor and council 1668, April 21.

of New York for a better settlement of the

government on Delaware. Sm. N. J. 51.

Lovelace's order for customs at the Hoarkills. 1668.

Sm. N. J. 55.

A confirmation of the grant of the northern 16-- May 8.

neck of Virginia to the Earl of St. Albans, 21 Car. 2.

Lord Berkeley, Sir William Moreton and John

Tretheway.

Incorporation of the town of Newcastle or 1672.

Amstell.

A demise of the colony of Virginia to the 1673, Feb. 25.

Earl of Arlington and Lord Culpepper for 31 25 Car. 2.

years. M.S.

Treaty at London between king Charles II. 1673-4.

and the Dutch. Article VI.

Remonstrance against the two grants of Charles

II. of Northern and Southern Virginia. Mentd.

Beverley 65.

Sir George Carteret's instructions to Governor 1674, July 13.

Carteret.

Governor Andros's proclamation on taking 1674, Nov. 9.

possession of Newcastle for the Duke of York.

Sm. N. J. 78.

A proclamation for prohibiting the importation 1675, Oct. 1.

of commodities of Europe into any of his 27 Car. 2.

majesty's plantations in Africa, Asia, or

America, which were not laden in England;

and for putting all other laws relating to

the trade of the plantations in effectual

execution.

The concessions and agreements of the 1676 Mar. 3.

proprietors, freeholders and inhabitants of

the province of West New Jersey in America.

Sm. N. J. App. 2.

A deed quintipartite for the division of New 1676, July 1.

Jersey.

Letter from the proprietors of New Jersey to 1676, Aug. 18.

Richard Hartshorne. Sm. N. J. 80.

Proprietors instructions to James Wasse and

Richard Hartshorne. Sm. N. J. 83.

The charter of king Charles II. to his subjects 1676, Oct. 10.

of Virginia. M.S. 28 Car. 2.

Cautionary epistle from the trustees of 1676.

Byllinge's part of New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 84.

Indian deed for the lands between Rankokas 1677, Sept. 10.

creek and Timber creek, in New Jersey.

Indian deed for lands from Oldman's creek to 1677, Sept. 27.

Timber creek, in New Jersey.

Indian deed for the lands from Rankokos creek 1677, Oct. 10.

to Assunpink creek, in New Jersey.

The will of Sir George Carteret, sole 1678, Dec. 5.

proprietor of East Jersey ordering the same

to be sold.

An order of the king in council for the 1680, Feb. 16.

better encouragement of all his majesty's

subjects in their trade to his majesty's

plantations, and for the better information

of all his majesty's loving subjects in these

matters--Lond. Gaz. No. 1596. Title in Amer.

library. 134. 6.

Arguments against the customs demanded in 1680.

New West Jersey by the governor of New York,

addressed to the Duke's commissioners. Sm.

N. J. 117.

Extracts of proceedings of the committee of 1680, June 14.

trade and plantations; copies of letters, 23. 25. Oct. 16.

reports, &c., between the board of trade, Mr. Nov. 4. 8. 11.

Penn, Lord Baltimore and Sir John Werden, 18. 20. 23.

in the behalf of the Duke of York and the Dec. 16.

settlement of the Pennsylvania boundaries by 1680-1, Jan. 15.

the L. C. J. North. Votes of Repr. Pennsyl. 22. Feb. 24.

vii.-xiii.

A grant of Pennsylvania to William Penn. 1681, Mar. 4.

Votes of Represen. Pennsyl. xviii. Car. 2.

The king's declaration to the inhabitants 1681, Apr. 2.

and planters of the province of Pennsylvania.

Vo. Repr. Penn. xxiv.

Certain conditions or concessions agreed upon 1681, July 11.

by William Penn, proprietary and governor of

Pennsylvania, and those who are the adventurers

and purchasers in the same province. Votes

of Rep. Pennsyl. xxiv.

Fundamental laws of the province of West New 1681, Nov. 9.

Jersey. Sm. N. J. 126.

The methods of the commissioners for settling 1681-2, Jan. 14.

and regulation of lands in New Jersey. Sm.

N. J. 130.

Indentures of lease and release by the 1681-2, F. 1. 2.

executors of Sir George Carteret to William

Penn and 11 others, conveying East Jersey.

The Duke of York's fresh grant of East New 1682, Mar. 14.

Jersey to the 24 proprietors.

The frame of the government of the province 1682, Apr. 25.

of Pennsylvania, in America. Votes of Repr.

Penn. xxvii.

The Duke of York's deed for Pennsylvania. 1682, Aug. 21.

Vo. Repr. Penn. xxxv.

The Duke of York's deed for the feoffment of 1682, Aug. 24.

Newcastle and twelve miles circle to William

Penn. Vo. Repr. Penn.

The Duke of York's deed of feoffment of a 1682, Aug. 24.

tract of land 12 miles south from Newcastle

to the Whorekills, to William Penn. Vo. Repr.

Penn, xxxvii.

A commission to Thomas Lord Culpepper to be 1682, Nov. 27.

lieutenant and governor-general of Virginia. 34 Car. 2.

M.S.

An act of union for annexing and uniting 1682, 10th mon.

of the counties of Newcastle, Jones's and 6th day.

Whorekill's, alias Deal, to the province

of Pennsylvania, and of naturalization of

all foreigners in the province and counties

aforesaid.

An act of settlement. 1682, Dec. 6.

The frame of the government of the province 1683, Apr. 2.

of Pennsylvania and territories thereunto

annexed in America.

Proceedings of the committee of trade 1683, Apr. 17. 27.

and Plantations in the dispute May 30.

between Lord Baltimore and Mr. Penn. June 12.

Vo. R. P. xiii-xviii.

1684, Feb. 12.

July 2. 16. 23.

Sept. 30.

Dec. 9.

1685, Mar. 17.

Aug. 18. 26.

Sept. 2.

Oct. 8. 17. 31.

Nov. 7.

A commission by the proprietors of East New 1683, July 17.

Jersey to Robert Barclay to be governor. Sm.

N. J. 166.

An order of council for issuing a quo warranto 1683, July 26.

against the charter of the colony of the 35 Car. 2.

Massachusetts bay in New England, with his

majesty's declaration that in case the said

corporation of Massachusetts bay shall before

prosecution had upon the same quo warranto

make a full submission and entire resignation

to his royal pleasure, he will then regulate

their charter in such a manner as shall be

for his service and the good of that colony.

Title in American library. 139, 6.

A commission to Lord Howard of Effingham to be 1683, Sept. 28.

lieutenant and governor general of Virginia. 35 Car. 2.

M.S.

The humble address of the chief governor, 1684, May 3.

council and representatives of the island

of Nevis, in the West Indies, presented to

his majesty by Colonel Netheway and Captain

Jefferson, at Windsor, May 3, 1684. Title in

Amer. libr. 142. 3. cites Lond. Gaz. No. 1927.

A treaty with the Indians at Albany. 1684, Aug. 2.

A treaty of neutrality for America between 1686, Nov. 16.

France and England. 7 Corps Dipl. part 2, p.

44. 2. Mem. Am. 40.

By the king, a proclamation for the more 1687, Jan. 20.

effectual reducing and suppressing of pirates

and privateers in America, as well on the sea

as on the land in great numbers, committing

frequent robberies and piracies, which hath

occasioned a great prejudice and obstruction

to trade and commerce, and given a great

scandal and disturbance to our government in

those parts. Title Amer. libr. 147. 2. cites

Lond. Gaz. No. 2315.

Constitution of the council of proprietors 1687, Feb. 12.

of West Jersey. Smith's N. Jersey. 199.

A confirmation of the grant of the Northern 1687, qu. Sept.

neck of Virginia to Lord Culpepper. 27. 4. Jac. 2.

Governor Coxe's declaration to the council 1687, Sept. 5.

of proprietors of West Jersey. Sm. N. J. 190.

Provisional treaty of Whitehall concerning 1687, Dec. 16.

America between France and England. 2 Mem.

de l'Am. 89.

Governor Coxe's narrative relating to the 1687.

division line, directed to the council of

proprietors of West Jersey. Sm. App. No. 4.

The representation of the council of 1687.

proprietors of West Jersey to Governor Burnet.

Smith. App. No. 5.

The remonstrance and petition of the

inhabitants of East New Jersey to the king.

Sm. App. No. 8.

The memorial of the proprietors of East New

Jersey to the Lords of trade. Sm. App. No. 9.

Agreement of the line of partition between 1778, Sept. 5.

East and West New Jersey. Smith's N. J. 196.

Conveyance of the government of West Jersey 1691.

and territories, by Dr. Coxe, to the West

Jersey society.

A charter granted by King William and Queen 1691, Oct. 7.

Mary to the inhabitants of the province of

Massachusetts bay, in New England. 2 Mem. de

l'Am. 593.

The frame of government of the province of 1696, Nov. 7.

Pennsylvania and the territories thereunto

belonging, passed by Gov. Markham. Nov. 7,

1696.

The treaty of peace between France and England, 1697, Sept. 20.

made at Ryswick. 7 Corps Dipl. part 2. p.

399. 2 Mem. Am. 89.

The opinion and answer of the Lords of trade 1699, July 5.

to the memorial of the proprietors of East

N. Jersey. Sm. App. No. 10.

The memorial of the proprietors of East New 1700, Jan. 15.

Jersey to the Lords of trade. Sm. App. No. 11.

The petition of the proprietors of East and

West New Jersey to the Lords justices of

England. Sm. App. No. 12.

A confirmation of the boundary between the 1700, W. 3.

colonies of New York and Connecticut, by the

crown.

The memorial of the proprietors of East and 1701, Aug. 12.

West New Jersey to the king. Sm. App. No. 14.

Representation of the Lords of trade to the 1701, Oct. 2.

Lords justices. Sm. App. No. 18.

A treaty with the Indians. 1701.

Report of Lords of trade to King William, 1701-2, Jan. 6.

of draughts of a commission and instructions

for a governor of N. Jersey. Sm. N. J. 262.

Surrender from the proprietors of E. and 1702, Apr. 15.

W. N. Jersey, of their pretended right of

government to her majesty Queen Anne. Sm. N.

J. 211.

The Queen's acceptance of the surrender of 1702, Apr. 17.

government of East and West Jersey. Sm. N.

J. 219.

Instructions to lord Cornbury. Sm. N. J. 230. 1702, Nov. 6.

A commission from Queen Anne to Lord Cornbury, 1702, Dec. 5.

to be captain general and governor in chief

of New Jersey. Sm. N. J. 220.

Recognition by the council of proprietors of 1703, June 27.

the true boundary of the deeds of Sept. 10,

and Oct. 10, 1677, (New Jersey.) Sm. N. J. 96.

Indian deeds for the lands above the falls 1703.

of the Delaware in West Jersey.

Indian deed for the lands at the head of

Rankokus river, in West Jersey.

A proclamation by Queen Anne, for settling 1704, June 18.

and ascertaining the current rates of foreign

coins in America. Sm. N. J. 281.

Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. 1705, May 3.

Sm. N. S. 235.

Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. 1707, May 3.

Sm. N. J. 258.

Additional instructions to Lord Cornbury. 1707, Nov. 20.

Sm. N. J. 259.

An answer by the council of proprietors for the 1707.

western division of N. Jersey, to questions

proposed to them by Lord Cornbury. Sm. N. J.

285.

Instructions to Colonel Vetch in his 1708-9, Feb. 28.

negotiations with the governors of America.

Sm. N. J. 364.

Instructions to the governor of New Jersey 1708-9, Feb. 28.

and New York. Sm. J. 361.

Earl of Dartmouth's letter to governor Hunter. 1710, Aug.

Premiers propositions de la France. 6. 1711, Apr. 22.

Lamberty, 669, 2 Mem. Am. 341.

Réponses de la France aux demandes 1711, Oct. 8.

préliminaries de la Grande Bretagne. 6 Lamb.

681. 2 Mem. Amer. 344.

Demandes préliminaries plus particulieres Sept. 27.

de la Grande-Bretagne, avec les réponses. 2 1711, ---------

Mem. de l'Am. 346. Oct. 8.

L'acceptation de la part de la Grande-Bretagne. Sept. 27.

2 Mem. Am. 356. 1711, ---------

Oct. 8.

The Queen's instructions to the Bishop 1711, Dec. 23.

of Bristol and Earl of Stafford, her

plenipotentiaries, to treat for a general

peace. 6 Lamberty, 744. 2. Mem. Am. 358.

A memorial of Mr. St. John to the Marquis May 24.

de Torci, with regard to North America, to 1712, --------

commerce, and to the suspension of arms. 7. June 10.

Recueil de Lamberty 161, 2 Mem. de l'Amer. 376.

Réponse du roi de France au memoire de Londres. 1712, June 10.

7. Lamberty, p. 163. 2. Mem. Am. 380.

Traité pour une suspension d'armes entre 1712, Aug. 19.

Louis XIV. roi de France, and Anne, reign de

la Grande-Bretagne, fait à Paris. 8. Corps

Diplom. part 1. p. 308. 2. Mem. d'Am. 104.

Offers of France to England, demands of 1712, Sept. 10.

England, and the answers of France. 7. Rec.

de Lamb. 461. 2 Mem. Am. 390.

Traité de paix et d'amitié entre Louis Mar. 31.

XIV. roi de France, et Anne, reine de la 1713, --------

Grande-Bretagne, fait à Utrecht. 15 Corps Apr. 11.

Diplomatique de Dumont, 339. id. Latin. 2

Actes et memoires de la pais d'Utrecht, 457.

id. Lat. Fr. 2. Mem. Am. 113.

Traité de navigation et de commerce entre Mar. 31.

Louis XIV. roi de France, et Anne, reine de 1713, ---------

la Grande-Bretagne. Fait à Utrecht. 8 Corps April 11.

Dipl. part 1. p. 345. 2 Mem. de l'Am. 137.

A treaty with the Indians. 1726.

The petition of the representatives of the 1728. Jan.

province of New Jersey, to have a distinct

governor. Sm. N. J. 421.

Deed of release by the government of 1732, G. 2.

Connecticut to that of New York.

The charter granted by George II. for Georgia. 1732, June 9.

4. Mem. de l'Am. 617. 20. 5 Geo. 2.

Petition of Lord Fairfax, that a commission 1733.

might issue for running and marking the

dividing line between his district and the

province of Virginia.

Order of the king in council for commissioners 1733, Nov. 29.

to survey and settle the said dividing line

between the proprietary and royal territory.

Report of the Lords of trade relating to the 1736, Aug. 5.

separating the government of the province of

New Jersey from New York. Sm. N. J. 423.

Survey and report of the commissioners 1737, Aug. 10.

appointed on the part of the crown to settle

the line between the crown and Lord Fairfax.

Survey and report of the commissioners 1737, Aug. 11.

appointed on the part of Lord Fairfax to

settle the line between the crown and him.

Order of reference of the surveys between 1738, Dec. 21.

the crown and Lord Fairfax to the council

for plantation affairs.

Treaty with the Indians of the six nations 1744, June.

at Lancaster.

Report of the council for plantation affairs, 1745, Apr. 6.

fixing the head springs of Rappahanoc and

Potomac, and a commission to extend the line.

Order of the king in council confirming the 1745, Apr. 11.

said report of the council for plantation

affairs.

Articles préliminaries pour parvenir à la 1748, Apr. 30.

paix, signés à Aix-la-Chapelle entre les

ministres de France, de la Grande-Bretagne,

et des Provinces-Unies des Pays-Bas. 2 Mem.

de l'Am. 159.

Declaration des ministres de France, de la 1748, May 21.

Grande-Bretagne, et des Provinces-Unies des

Pays-Bas, pour rectifier les articles I. et

II. des préliminaries. 2. Mem. Am. 165.

The general and definitive treaty of peace 1748, Oct. 7-18.

concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle. Lon. Mag. 1748. 22. G. 2.

503. French 2. Mem. Am. 169.

A treaty with the Indians. 1754.

A conference between governor Bernard and 1758, Aug. 7.

Indian nations at Burlington. Sm. N. J. 449.

A conference between governor Denny, governor 1758, Oct. 8.

Bernard, and others, and Indian nations at

Easton. Sm. N. J. 455.

The capitulation of Niagara. 1759, July 25.

33. G. 2.

The king's proclamation promising lands to 175--.

soldiers.

The definitive treaty concluded at Paris. 1763, Feb. 10.

Lon. Mag. 1763. 149. 3. G. 3.

A proclamation for regulating the cessions 1763, Oct. 7.

made by the last treaty of peace. Guth. Geogr. G. 3.

Gram. 623.

The king's proclamation against settling 1763.

on any lands on the waters westward of the

Alleghany.

Deed from the six nations of Indians to 1768, Nov. 3.

William Trent, and others, for lands betwixt

the Ohio and Monongahela. View of the title

to Indiana. Phil. Steiner and Cist. 1776.

Deed from the six nations of Indians to 1768, Nov. 5.

the crown for certain lands and settling a

boundary. M.S.

FOOTNOTES:

[65] By the author of these notes.

[66] Mr. Hazard.

APPENDIX.

The preceding sheets have been submitted to my friend Mr.

Charles Thompson, Secretary of Congress; he has furnished me

with the following observations, which have too much merit not

to be communicated:

(A.) p. 262. Besides the three channels of communication

mentioned between the western waters and the Atlantic, there

are two others to which the Pennsylvanians are turning their attention;

one from Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, to Le Bœuf, down

the Alleghany to Kiskiminitas, then up the Kiskiminitas, and

from thence, by a small portage, to Juniata, which falls into the

Susquehanna; the other from Lake Ontario to the East Branch

of the Delaware, and down that to Philadelphia. Both these are

said to be very practicable; and, considering the enterprising

temper of the Pennsylvanians, and particularly of the merchants

of Philadelphia, whose object is concentred in promoting the

commerce and trade of one city, it is not improbable but one or

both of these communications will be opened and improved.

The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 8 (of 9) Being His Autobiography, Correspondence, Reports, Messages, Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private · 第 4 / 8 章

Another object of the revisal is, to diffuse knowledge more