rivers, settled at various eligible places within the boundaries of Symmes' purchase.

On the 29th day of May, 1795, Governor St. Clair and two judges of the northwestern territory, (John Cleves Symmes, and George Turner,) met at Cincinnati, in their legislative capacity. In the course of their session, which ended on the 25th of August, 1795, they adopted and made thirty-eight laws, under the following titles, to wit:

I.-A law subjecting real estate to execution for debt.[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

II.-A law allowing domestic attachments.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

III.-A law regulating domestic attachments. -[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

IV.-A law for the easy and speedy recovery of small debts. -[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

V.-A law concerning defalcation.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

VI.-A law for the trial and punishment of larceny, under a dollar and a half.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] The first section of this law contains the following declaration: "If any person shall be convicted, either by his or her own confession or the testimony of credible evidence, before any two justices of the peace, in their respective counties, of having feloniously stolen any money, goods, or chattels, (the same being under the value of five shillings, now equal to one hundred and fifty cents,) the offender shall have judgment, to be immediately and publicly whipped, upon his or her bare back, not exceeding fifteen lashes; or be fined in any sum, at the discretion of the said justices, not exceeding three dollars; and, if able, to make restitution, besides, to the party wronged; paying also the charges of prosecution and whipping: or, otherwise, shall be sent to the workhouse, to be kept at hard labor; and, for want of such workhouse, to be committed to prison, for such charges, for a term not exceeding twelve days."

VII.-A law to prevent unnecessary delays in causes, after issued joined. [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

VIII-A law establishing courts of judicature.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

IX.-A law for the limitation of actions.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

X.-A law for the relief of persons conscientiously scrupulous to take an oath in the common form.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XI.-A law for the recovery of fines and forfeitures, and directing how the same are to be estreated.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XII.-A law ascertaining and regulating the fees of the several officers and persons therein named.-[Adopted from the New York and Pennsylvania codes.]

XIII-A law for establishing orphans' courts.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XIV.-A law for the settlement of intestates' estates.— [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XV.-A law to license and regulate taverns.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XVI.-A law establishing the recorder's office.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XVII.-A law for raising county rates and levies.-[Founded on and adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XVIII.-A law for the relief of the poor.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XIX.-A law concerning the probate of wills, written or nuncupative.—[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XX. A law regulating inclosures.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XXI.-A law as to the order of paying debts of persons deceased.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XXII.—A law concerning trespassing animals.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XXIII.-A law directing how husband and wife may convey their estates. [Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XXIV.-A law for the speedy assignment of dower.[Adopted from the Massachusetts code.]

XXV.-A law giving remedies in equity, in certain cases.[Adopted from the Massachusetts code.]

XXVI.-A law against forcible entry and detainer.-[Adopted from the Massachusetts code.]

XXVII.-A law annulling the distinction between petit trea→ son and murder.-[Adopted from the Massachusetts code.]

XXVIII.—A law declaring what laws shall be in force.— [Adopted from the Virginia code.] This law was comprised in the following words: "The common law of England, all statutes or acts of the British parliament made in aid of the common law, prior to the fourth year of the reign of king James the first, (and which are of a general nature, not local to that kingdom,) and also the several laws in force in this territory, shall be the rule of decision, and shall be considered as of full force, until repealed by legislative authority, or disapproved of by Congress."

XXIX.-A law to prevent trespassing by cutting of timber.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XXX.-A law repealing certain laws and acts, and parts of laws and acts.

XXXI.-A law respecting divorces.-[Adopted from the Massachusetts code.]

XXXII.-A law for the partition of lands.-[Adopted from the New York code.]

XXXIII.—A law allowing foreign attachments.—[Adopted from the New Jersey code.]

XXXIV.-A law concerning the duty and power of coroners.-[Adopted from the Massachusetts code.]

XXXV.—A law for continuing suits in the general and circuit courts.-[Adopted from the Virginia code.]

XXXVI.—A law to suppress gaming.―[Adopted from the Virginia code.]

XXXVII.-A law as to proceedings in ejectment, distress for rent, and tenants at will holding over.-[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.]

XXXVIII.-A law limiting imprisonment for debt, and subjecting certain debtors and delinquents to servitude.[Adopted from the Pennsylvania code.] This law contained the following provisions: "No person shall be kept in prison, for debt or fines, longer than the second day of the sessions next after his or her commitment; unless the plaintiff shall make it appear that the person imprisoned hath some estate

that he will not disclose: then, and in every such case, the court shall examine all persons suspected to be privy to the concealment of such estate; and if no sufficient estate be found, the debtor shall make satisfaction, by personal and reasonable servitude, according to the judgment of the court where such action is tried, (but only if the plaintiff require it,) not exceeding seven years, where such debtor is unmarried, and under the age of forty years; unless it be the request of the debtor, who may be above that age: but if the debtor be married, and under the age of thirty-six, the servitude shall be for five years only; and with which the married man, upward of thirty-six, shall be privileged, if it be his request. Should the plaintiff refuse to accept such satisfaction according to the judgment of the court, as aforesaid, then the prisoner shall be discharged in open court, and the plaintiff be for ever barred from any further or other action for the same debt."

Ar San Lorenzo el Real, on the 27th of October, 1795, Thos. Pinckney, envoy extraordinary from the United States to the court of Spain, and the duke of Alcudia, prince of peace, etc., concluded a treaty of friendship, limits, and navigation, between the United States of America and the king of Spain. The second and the fourth articles of this treaty

here follow:

"Article 2. To prevent all disputes on the subject of the boundaries which separate the territories of the two high contracting parties, it is hereby declared and agreed as follows, to wit: The southern boundary of the United States, which divides their territories from the Spanish colonies of east and west Florida, shall be designated by a line beginning on the river Mississippi, at the northernmost part of the

thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator, which from thence shall be drawn due east to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence, along the middle thereof, to its junction with the Flint; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's river; and thence, down the middle thereof, to the Atlantic ocean. And it is agreed that if there should be any troops, garrisons, or settlements of either party, in the territory of the other, according to the above-mentioned boundaries, they shall be withdrawn from the said territory within the term of six months after the ratification of this treaty, or sooner if it be possible; and that they shall be permitted to take with them all the goods and effects which they possess."

"Article 4. It is likewise agreed that the western boundary of the United States, which separates them from the Spanish colony of Louisiana, is in the middle of the channel or bed of the river Mississippi, from the northern boundary of the said States to the completion of the thirty-first degree of latitude north of the equator. And his Catholic majesty has likewise agreed that the navigation of the said river, in its whole breadth, from its source to the ocean, shall be free only to his subjects and the citizens of the United States, unless he should extend this privilege to the subjects of other powers by special convention."

This treaty between the United States of America and the kingdom of Spain, was ratified on the 3d of March, 1796; and on the 24th of May, in the same year, Andrew Ellicott was appointed commissioner, and Thomas Freeman surveyor, on the part of the United States, for the purpose of running the boundary line mentioned in the second article of the treaty.

Before the close of the month of July, 1796, the British garrisons, with their arms, artillery, and stores, were withdrawn from the posts within the boundaries of the United States northwest of the river Ohio. A detachment of American troops, consisting of sixty-five men, under the command of Captain Moses Porter, took possession of the evacuated fort at Detroit, on or about the 12th of July, 1796. In September, 1796, Winthrop Sargent, secretary of the northwestern territory, proceeded to Detroit, erected the county of Wayne, and established the civil authority of the United States in that quarter.