PREFACE.

THE papers of the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D., have recently fallen into the hands of the family of his eldest son, Judge Ephraim Cutler, of Marietta, Ohio, who was himself one of the early pioneers, having moved there in 1795 from his New England home.

While the labor of preparing these papers for publication has been performed from an affectionate regard for the memory of their ancestor, it is also hoped that they may prove a valuable contribution to the early history of the North-west. The plan of the volume may be stated as follows:

1. After a brief introduction, a sketch of his early life, together with extracts from a daily journal kept by himself, beginning in 1765 and running down to 1787, at which time he entered on the "Ohio business."

2. In order to arrive at a proper understanding of the value and character of the negotiations he carried through with the Congress of 1787, and as explanatory of the results of his labors, a brief examination and review of the situation of public affairs as connected with the North-west Territory is presented; also the steps taken to organize the Ohio Company, consisting of the plan of Colonel Timothy Pickering for the organization of a new state westward of the Ohio;" the petition of the officers, with their names; the correspondence of General Putnam with General Washington; the "Information" published by General Putnam and General Tupper; the organization of the Ohio Company, with Dr. Cutler's appointment as their agent.

3. Dr. Cutler's private journal, kept from the day he started from his home, as the agent of the Ohio Company to visit New York, embracing his visit to Philadelphia, until his re

turn.

4. A journal of his second visit to New York to pay the first moiety on the land purchase, and to close the contract with the Board of Treasury.

5. A brief review of the personal influence exerted by Dr. Cutler in the formation of the Governmental Ordinance of July 13, 1787.

6. A variety of correspondence between Dr. Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, General Putnam and others, relating to the establishment of the Colony at Marietta and Ohio Company affairs.

7. A journal of a visit to Marietta undertaken in July, 1788.

8. A history of the Scioto Purchase, prepared by E. C. Dawes from papers and documents not hitherto published.

9. Dr. Cutler's correspondence while member of Congress from 1801 to 1805.

10. Portions of his literary and scientific correspondence. 11. Estimates of his character by personal acquaintances.

MARIETTA, OHIO, September 3, 1887.

INTRODUCTION.

In gathering up and arranging the materials for a biographical sketch of Dr. Cutler, it becomes quite evident that an important chapter in the true history of the early settlement of the Ohio valley and the North-west has been omitted from current discussions and histories relating to that general subject.

This omission is not merely one of incidents and personalities, but extends to the staple facts that constitute true and reliable data for the guidance of such an inquiry. To do justice to a subject of so much importance, the conditions under which individual actors were compelled to exert their efforts must be understood.

The great organic law passed by Congress on the 13th of July, 1787, for the government of the North-west Territory, occupies and deserves a prominent place in the admiration of posterity; but the reasons why some of its most valuable provisions were inserted, and its main features suddenly and favorably changed, have never been fully explained.

The reasons why a system of surveys was organized, and systematic and permanent occupation of the Ohio country was undertaken in direct connection with the application of the institutions of civil government, are not well understood.

Any thing like a satisfactory explanation of these, and many other similar inquiries in regard to vacant territory, must reach back to the earliest lines of policy adopted by Congress, even before its conquest from the British crown.

Not only the policy of Congress, but the rights of the army, Xarising from promised bounties, must be considered.

In placing before the reader the services performed by Dr. Cutler, and claiming for him whatever of merit attaches to his efforts, it is intended also to present as fully as practicable the services and merits of associates, and to give to contemporaneous circumstances and influences their full weight.

It will be seen that Congress and the army were the principal factors; that there was a concert of action, if not of design; that Congress sought to prepare the way for the occupation of the western wilderness, to make "rough places smooth, and the crooked places straight," while the army, with their Commander-in-Chief in full support, sought to retrieve losses, heal wounds, and find repose by encountering new risks, new hardships, and new dangers, in laying deep and broad the foundations of Christian civilization in "new states" "westward of the Ohio."

The service performed by Dr. Cutler was in bringing into harmonious action the lines of policy that were marked out by one party, and cordially accepted by the other.

As the agent of the Ohio Company of Associates, he succeeded in placing in the hands of an intelligent body of his fellow-citizens, mainly composed of officers of the army, the first application, on an efficient scale, of the land selling policy, and at the same time of the governmental policy of Congress. This effort brought him in direct contact with both parties. The narrative, mainly by himself and his contemporaries, will show the steps taken and results accomplished.

An important element in the true situation at that time is found in the connection which the Commander-in-Chief had with efforts to organize the permanent occupation of the Ohio valley. His personal landed interests there, his efforts at colonization on these lands, his earnest espousal of the petition of the offi

cers, his early direction of their attention to the Ohio valley as a resort in case of defeat, and the zeal with which he entered upon a comprehensive system of internal improvements, designed to connect the valley and the entire north-west with Virginia seaports, are sufficient evidences of co-operation to justify the introduction of some of his correspondence on the subject.

General Putnam's letters to Washington and to Fisher Ames disclose the true condition of affairs at that time.

If the reader will give careful attention to Washington's letter to Governor Harrison, Putnam's correspondence, and Dr. Cutler's Explanation, etc.. it will be found that a harmony of views and opinions can be traced through them all that would indicate a preconcerted plan for presenting what was at that time the true situation of affairs, as well as the schemes of improvement and colonization that commanded. their united attention.

These papers, with others of similar import, are valuable contributions to history, and afford explanations for the direction that Dr. Cutler gave to his negotiations with Congress. It will be clearly seen that the interests of Virginia were closely connected with the plans of the Ohio Company of Associates, and, as a result, harmony of action was seeured; that the motives for such harmony were strong enough to influence legislation in matters of the greatest impor

tance.

No apology is required for placing Dr. Cutler's journals so fully before the reader; with other papers, they constitute the body of the volume.

It is well to bear in mind that the policy adopted by Congress, in regard to vacant territory, or the "back country," was, in most respects, new and experimental.

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