1st Session. LANDS TO OFFICERS, &c.-VIRGINIA STATE LINE. MAY 13, 1830. Printed by order of the House of Representatives. Documents accompanying the bill from the Senate, entitled "An act for the relief of certain officers and soldiers of the Virginia State line during the Revolutionary war." IN SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, Resolved, That the Committee on Public Lands be instructed to inquire into the justice and expediency of authorizing those persons, their heirs or devisees, whose claims to military bounty land, under the acts and resolves of the Virginia Legislature, for services rendered during the Revolutionary war, remain unsatisfied, by reason of the reservations made by Virginia, in her compacts with Kentucky and the United States, having proved deficient, to enter their claims on the public lands lying within the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which may have heretofore been brought into market, and remain unsold; or of making such other provision as reason and equity may seem to require. Attest, WALTER LOWRIE, Secretary. Resolution of the Assembly of Virginia, of the 2d of January, 1781, ceding to Congress lands on the Northwest side of Ohio river, under certain conditions and restrictions. IN THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, TUESDAY, the 2d of January, 1781. The General Assembly of Virginia, being well satisfied that the happiness, strength, and safety, of the United States, depend, under Providence, upon the ratification of the articles of the Federal Union between the United States, heretofore proposed by Congress for the consideration of the said States, and preferring the good of their country to every object of smaller importance, do Resolve, That this Commonwealth will yield to the Congress of the United States, for the benefit of the said United States, all right, title, and claim that the said Commonwealth hath to the lands Northwest of the river Ohio, upon the following conditions, to wit: That the territory so ceded shall be laid out and formed into States containing a suitable extent of territory, and shall not be less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, or as near thereto as circumstances will admit; that the States so formed shall be distinct republican States, and be admitted members of the Federal Union, having the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and i dependence as the other States; that Virginia shall be allowed, and fully reimbursed by the United States, her actual expenses in reducing the British posts at the Kaskaskias and St. Vincent's, the expense of maintaining garrisons and supporting civil government there since the reduction of the said posts, and, in general, all the charge she has incurred on account of the country on the Northwest side of the Ohio river since the commencement of the present war; that the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers at the Kaskaskias, St. Vincent's, and the neighboring villages, who have professed themselves citizens of Virginia, shall have their possessions and titles confirmed to them, and shall be protected in the enjoyment of their rights and liberty; for which purpose, troops shall be stationed there at the charge of the United States, to protect them from the encroachments of the British forces at Detroit or elsewhere, unless the events of war shall render it impracticable. As Colonel George Rogers Clarke planned and executed the secret expe dition by which the British posts were reduced, and was promised, if the enterprise succeeded, a liberal gratuity in lands in that country for the officers and soldiers who first marched thither with him; that a quantity of land, not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand acres, be allowed and granted to the said officers and soldiers, and the other officers and soldiers that have been since incorporated into the said regiment, to be laid off in one tract, the length of which not to exceed double the breadth, in such place on the Northwest side of the Ohio as the majority of the officers shall choose, and to be afterwards divided among the said officers and soldiers in due proportion, according to the laws of Virginia. That, in case the quantity of good lands of the Southeast side of the Ohio, upon the waters of Cumberland river, and between the Green river and the Tennessee river, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops upon Continental establishment, and upon their own State establishment, should (from the North Carolina line bearing in further upon the Cumberland lands than was expected) prove insufficient for their legal bounties, the deficiency shall be made up to the said troops in good lands, to be laid off between the rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the Northwest side of the river Ohio, in such proportions as have been engaged to them by the laws of Virginia. That all the lands within the territory so ceded to the United States, and not reserved for, or appropriated to, any of the herein before mentioned purposes, or disposed of in bounties to the officers and soldiers of the American army, shall be considered as a common fund for the use and benefit of such of the United American States as have become or shall become members of the confederation or federal alliance of the said States, (Virginia inclusive) according to their usual respective proportions in the general charge and expenditure, and shall be faithfully and bona fide disposed of for that purpose, and for no other use or purpose whatsoever; and therefore, that all purchases and deeds from any Indian or Indians, or from any Indian nation or nations, for any lands within any part of the said territory, which have been or shall be made for the use or benefit of any private person or persons whatsoever, and royal grants, within the ceded territory, inconsistent with the chartered rights, laws, and customs of Virgina, shall be deemed and declared absolutely void and of no effect, in the same manner as if the said territory had still remained subject to, and part of, the Commonwealth of Virginia. That all the remaining territory of Virginia, included between the Atlantic ocean and the Southeast side of the river Ohio, and the Maryland, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina boundaries, shall be guarantied to the Commonwealth of Virginia by the said United States. That the above cession of territory by Virginia to the United States shall be void and of none effect, unless all the States in the American Union shall ratify the articles of confederation heretofore transmitted by Congress for the consideration of the said States. Virginia having thus, for the sake of the general good, proposed to cede a great extent of valuable territory to the continent, it is expected, in return, that every other State in the Union, under similar circumstances as to vacant territory, will make similar cessions of the same to the United States for the general emolument. Teste, JOHN BECKLEY, C. H. D. WILLIAM DREW, C. S. January 2, 1781-Agreed to by the Senate. The foregoing is a true copy of the original resolution filed in this office. GEORGE W. MUNFORD, C. H. D. January 12, 1830. REGISTER'S OFFICE, 2d February, 1822. SIR: In obedience to a resolution of the House of Delegates of the 22d ultimo, requiring the Register of the Land Office to furnish to that House "a statement of the whole amount of acres of land-warrants dated before the 1st day of May, 1792, issued for military or naval service upon the State establishment, and also the amount of acres of warrants dated before the 1st day of May, 1792, issued for services in the Virginia line upon Continental establishment, and the amount of acres of land-warrants dated since the 1st day of May, 1792, issued for service in the Virginia line upon Continental establishment, distinguishing the amount of each description," I have the honor to submit the two statements hereto annexed, marked A and B, which furnish the information required as accurately as the records and documents of this office enable me to give it. The statement A embraces the warrants issued prior to the 1st day of May, 1792; and the statement B embraces the warrants issued from the first day of May, 1792, inusive, to the present time; distinguishing the amount of each description f warrants. In some instances warrants have issued in consideration of military services generally, without distinguishing the line in which the service was performed; and I am not enabled, from any document in this office, to ascertain in what line such service was rendered. The amount of warrants issued, in relation to which this uncertainty as to the line exists, will be found distinguished from others in the statements referred to. I have the honor to be, Very respectfully, The Hon. SPEAKER of the House of Delegates. Your most obedient servant, |