330

INTERNATIONAL LAW.

[CHAP. IV.

States, and those States to carry their produce to such colonies.

Third. In all such treaties, the United States to be considered as one nation.

Fourth. In case of war, the merchants of belligerents resident in the dominions of the other to be allowed to collect their debts and remove their effects. Fishermen, cultivators, manufacturers, and other pacific classes, not to be molested by the armed force of an enemy; merchants and traders to pass unmolested, and privateering to be abolished.

Fifth. No article to be confiscated as contraband; they may be detained, and compensation made.

Sixth. Free ships to make free goods. No place to be considered as blockaded, unless a vessel sailing in or out of the port is exposed to imminent danger. Indemnification to the party stopped.

Seventh. The real estate of aliens to be sold by their representatives.

Eighth. That treaties of commerce be made for a term not exceeding ten years.

Ninth. These instructions to be regarded as supplementary to, and not as revoking those of October, 1783.1 That treaties of amity and commerce be entered into with Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli.

That a commission be issued to J. Adams, B. Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, to negotiate such treaties; such commissions to be in force for a term not exceeding two years.

'The liberal principles recommended by the above resolutions are calculated to lessen the miseries of war to all who are engaged in navigating the ocean. The most important of them had been previously suggested by Dr. Franklin, but of a part Mr. Jefferson was the author.— See III. Secret Journals of Congress, page 484.

1784.] LOCATION AND SALE OF WESTERN LANDS.

331

On the twenty-eighth of May, Congress passed an ordinance for the appointment of three commissioners to superintend the treasury department, to be styled the Board of Treasury.

The same day an ordinance for locating and disposing of the lands in the Western Territory was acted on.1

By its principal provisions, the ceded territory was to be laid off into States, and the lands divided into hundreds, of ten geographical square miles, by lines running due north and south, and others crossing these at right angles; and these hundreds subdivided into lots of one mile square, or eight hundred and fifty acres.

These lines to be run by surveyors appointed by Congress, and marked on the trees; and all water-courses, mountains, and other natural features, to be noted at their proper distances.

The report provides for the appointment of a Register, and prescribes his duties. It makes loan office certificates receivable in payment of the lands; and it guards against hasty and surreptitious grants. It is particular in saving to all officers and soldiers the lands previously granted to them.

This ordinance did not obtain the sanction of a majority of Congress, and in fact received the votes of but four members out of twenty-three. It seems to have suggested, in its principal features, the excellent system subsequently adopted, which, by laying off the public lands into regular squares, whose position is determined by lines of latitude, entirely removes all that uncertainty of boundary which is so fruitful of disputes and litigation.

That provision which made the divisions according to geographical, rather than mere statutory miles, was no 1 IX. Journals of Congress, page 242.

1

332 SLAVERY INHIBITED IN THE NORTH-WEST. [CHAP. IV. doubt recommended to Mr. Jefferson, who drew the report, because it referred to a natural standard, or onesixtieth of a degree of a great circle of the earth; but to most men, the mile in common use would be deemed preferable, and that measure was accordingly subsequently adopted.

The business of Congress was done by the committee of States in July and August; and on the first of November, Congress met, as had been agreed on, at Trenton; but it was the twenty-ninth of that month before there was a quorum of seven States. The next day they elected Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, President.

On the eleventh of January, 1785, Congress met at New York, according to adjournment.

In March, Mr. King moved to commit the following proposition, which had been formerly rejected:

"That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the States," as described in the resolve of the twenty-third of April, 1784, "otherwise than in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been personally guilty; and that this regulation shall be an article of compact, and remain a fundamental principle of the Constitutions between the thirteen original States and each of the States described in the said resolve." 1

The resolution was carried by eight votes-Virginia, the Carolinas, and one member from Georgia voting against it.

In April, Congress accepted a cession made by Massachusetts2 of her claim to western lands3 on that day, and executed by their Delegates, Samuel Holten and Rufus King.

The ordinance for the disposition of the lands in the * Ibid. page 124.

IX. Journals of Congress, page 79.

1785.]

MONETARY SYSTEM.

333

Western Territory was then considered, and sundry amendments were subsequently made, which gave rise to discussion during several weeks. It was finally passed on the twentieth of May, varying from the ordinance first proposed, in making the large divisions or townships six English miles square, and the subdivisions of a mile, or six hundred and forty acres; and setting aside four of three square miles in each township for the United States, and one for public schools; and prohibiting the sale of any land between the Miami and Scioto Rivers, until the lands to which the officers and soldiers, or their assignees, are entitled, are first laid off. The price of the lands was limited to one dollar

per acre.

On the sixth of July, in conformity with the report of a grand committee, Congress unanimously decided that the dollar should be the money unit of the United States; that the smallest coin should be of copper, of which two hundred should pass for one dollar; and that the several pieces should increase in a decimal ratio. They thus adopted the plan which had been recommended by Mr. Jefferson the year before.

On a report of a grand committee on the subject of finance, it appeared that the money required for the current expenses of the government for the year was four hundred and sixty-eight thousand eight hundred and twenty-four dollars; that for the foreign debt, six hundred and thirty-one thousand dollars; for the interest on the loan office debts, seven hundred and forty-three thousand and fifty-four dollars; with other items, making the sum required three millions, to which each State was required to contribute according to her federal numbers.

Various expedients were suggested to postpone portions of these requisitions, and others to lessen their burden, all indicating great pecuniary pressure on the States.

334

WAYS AND MEANS.

[CHAP. IV.

The report was taken up on the eighteenth of July, and was debated, with some intermissions, until the twenty-seventh of September, when it was adopted, with amendments.

The non-attendance of members was still felt and complained of, and the Secretary was required to transmit an account of their attendance to the State Legislatures.

The committee appointed to consider what measures were expedient to meet the requisite supplies for the year, made a report on the third of February, by which it appears that somewhat more than two and a half millions of dollars were wanted for the current year; that is, four hundred and four thousand dollars for the expenses of the government, and two millions one hundred thousand dollars for interest on the public debt: and they added, that part of the money borrowed would also fall due within the year.

In their inquiry how these demands are to be met, the committee say that the United States are authorised, by their Constitution, to obtain money in three ways-first, by requisition from the States; second, by loan; and third, by emitting bills of credit-which are successively considered. Of the four requisitions, from 1781 to 1785, amounting to fifteen millions six hundred and seventy thousand nine hundred and eighty-seven dollars, less than two and a half millions had been received: secondly, that, unless we were able to pay the interest punctually, loans were impracticable, or only obtainable on ruinous terms: thirdly, that bills of credit would not serve to pay the interest of the debt; for, bearing no interest, they would put the creditor in a worse situation than before.

The public lands were indeed another resource, but