Clinton Township (part 9 of 18)

He proceeded as follows: "My friends and brethren, we are now all present, and I am glad to see you. I thank the great God that you have come to see us at this time. We are all in trouble, and wanted to see you very much. You wish to know our grievances about our late treaty, and we will endeavor to tell you. This treaty, which we made with Gardner, we thought was made in good faith on both sides. He spoke a great deal to us, and called upon God to be witness to what he said to us. This made us believe he was in earnest, and we put confidence in what he said, and never thought of being deceived by him. He said he was sent to us by the President, General Jackson, and so we were willing to trust him. He made propositions to us for our lands, and we agreed to them. The treaty was not read and interpreted to us, but Gardner assured us that it contained just what he offered us in every particular. We thought he told us the truth, and accordingly we signed the treatj r ; but since then we found out that it was not so, and that he had deceived and cheated us. This is what so grieves our hearts. We are sorry to find it is to be the price of our farms that Is to take us to our new homes. We expected no such thing, but understood plainly * that the Government was to be at all that expense, and that what our improvements here were worth, after being valued by good men, was to be paid us in money, to assist us in making farms at our new homes. We have good homes here, and had abundance of labor and pains to make them. We wanted good men to value our improvements, for we are not ashamed of our homes ; but we are surprised to hear the treaty is not as we understood it. The Commissioner told us the President would provide well for our women and children on our long journey. My friends, we are in a difficult situation. We cannot let our property go in this way, for if we do we are a ruined people. Now, my friends, another thing that grieves us is, that when we see how the Delawares and Senecas have been treated, who are now on their way to Kansas, we know they have been very poorly provided for the journey. Some have poor old blind horses ; some poor women are going on foot, and a large number of them are only furnished four bushels of corn meal. We pity them, as they are our brethren ; we fear their situation will be ours when we go upon our journey. We hope this will be avoided. Another grievance is, that man Gardner promised to pay our debts: this we find he intends to take from our money. We cannot leave Ohio until our debts are paid. My friends, when we got this land we were told by President Jefferson that we never should be asked to sell it; but that if we wished at any time to sell, the Government would send a good man to purchase it of us. Gardner, when he came among us, said he was sent by the President and instructed to pay us well for our land ; but he has deceived us, and has failed to do as he promised. This man, who told us he was sent here by General Jackson, told us that such rich farming lands as these we have, should be furnished us at our new home; but we have since learned they are to be paid for out of the proceeds of our poor little reserve here - out of our poor hard-earned farms, which we have improved at a cost of so much time and labor. This is too hard: they never cost the Government anything, and we had no idea the money was to be taken from us for any such purpose. We had mills here that were built for us by our friends the Quakers - they never cost the Government anything - and Gardner told us we should have good mills furnished us at our new home; but the pay for them, we now learn, is to be taken from our money for that too. V'hat does this mean? We declare we understood no such thing at the time we signed the treaty.

" We have now told you what our grievances are. If we could have all these things as we understood them at the time we made the treaty, we would be satisfied ; but if not, trouble and sorrow will follow us to our far distant homes.

" Friends and brothers, we say again that we are glad to see you here at this time; we are glad you are going to take our side, for we are a poor forsaken people, and have none to whom to look but our friends, the Quakers. We hope you will succeed in your undertaking, and if you do, sorrow will be removed from us. We are so rejoiced that you have come to see us that we never, as long as we live, shall forget our feelings of gratitude at this time. The world is wide, but after looking about us on every hand, we could find no one to whom to appeal in this hour of need except our old friends, the Quakers. Many people will talk from the teeth out, but themanner of the Quakers toward us at all times shows them to be our real and genuine friends. We know they are still our only friends, and so to them we state our grievances and appeal to them for help. My brothers, I am now done speaking."

The result of this investigation was a petition to Congress, embodying a statement offsets, and asking additional compensation for the Shawnee lands. A deputation of chiefs was appointed, consisting of John Perry, Wayweleapy, Black Hoof, and Spybuck, with Francis Duchouqnet, and Joseph Parks, as interpreters. At the same time a memorial was prepared in behalf of the Friends, asking relief for the Shawnees, and a committee, consisting of Henry Harvey and David Baily, authorized to present it to Congress. They were further instructed to give such information as they could touching the late treaty, and urge the claim of the Indians before Congress and the President.

Henry Harvey, being a witness to the treaty, was competent to show the fraud by which it was obtained. The expense of these proceedings was borne by the Society. The joint deputation left the mission Dec.

1, 1831, and went via Mt. Pleasant, where the Quakers joined in the memorial, and did much for the further comfort of the deputation. Again, at Baltimore, the Quakers joined the appeal to Congress, so that by this time the memorial represented the societies of Ohio, Indiana, and Maryland. At Cumberland, Francis Duchouquet was taken sick, and had to be left by the company. It was believed he could live but a short time, and his parting with the chiefs was very affecting. The latter were touched to tears as the old interpreter told them he was an old man, must soon die, and they would never meet him again. He had been an honest and useful man who, in the capacity of government interpreter, had been of great service to the whites, and even saved many from the stake. He died a few days after his companions left Cumberland. (See reference elsewhere.) On reaching Washington, and making known their mission, they were furnished a copy of the fraudulent treaty, and requested by Sec. Cass to examine it carefully, and find what difference, if any, existed in the amount therein stipulated and that represented and promised by Gardner. After due examination, this deficiency was shown to amount to $115,000, and the delegation thereupon asked that said treaty be annulled, and another be formed with the delegation, who were authorized to act for the Indians. The Secretary approved the plan, after satisfying himself that the calculation was correct, and added that in his opinion the Indians would not receive a single dollar by the Gardner - treaty. He further appealed to the President, but as he would take no action in the premises, an appeal was made to Congress, through the assistance of Joseph Vance, a representative from Ohio. After considerable-delay, a bill was reported by Geo. McDuffy, of S. C., granting $30,000, instead of the $100,000 asked in the petition. After the trana. action of the business of the delegation, Secretary Cass paid all expenses incurred in Washington, and those necessary on their return home, amounting in all to $640 ; and, further, presented each of the chiefs with

$50. At the making of the treaty, the Indians were promised to be removed early in the spring, and were advised to sell everything they could spare during the winter. In accordance with this advice, they sold about 200 head of cattle, 1200 hogs, and many other things, and with the proceeds purchased clothing, wagons, and guns, in anticipation of their early removal.

Moreover, they were to receive $3000 at the time of their departure, so that they had no uneasiness about the future. These promises were all violated, and resulted in absolute want, and almost starvation, to a whole nation. Again Mr. Harvey appealed to Secretary Cass, and at the same time went to the Miami mission, distant about eighty miles, to buy a load of provisions for the starving tribe. In this he was successful, and a few days later supplies were received from Piqua, on the order of the Secretary. On the arrival of these provisions, the Indians repaired to Wapakoneta, where a distribution was made which supplied their needs until their removal. Gardner arrived about the first of September, and, wretchedly equipped, they took up their march of 800 miles for their sunset home. Well might they exclaim : -

, All ages and classes ; all ranks and conditions, the remnant of a proud free people, noteven demanding justice - for they knew they had no rights, but rather supplicating that sympathy which they dared not expect - they went forth, fearing to look back, and the mock pageant of the commissioner was to the Indian a mere show, signifying nothing but his undone condition. Gardner accompanied them to the Mississippi River, and then returned. They pressed on across the prairie after traversing the wilderness, and reached their destination about Christmas. They were joined the next spring by the Hog Creek tribe, who were under the direction of Joseph Parks, and fared much better than the Wapakoneta band, as they had the advantage of season, and a leader of heart. The next season Harvey and two others visited them, and obtained permission to erect schools, and continue the work of the mission. This work progressed until 1839, when it was suspended, on account of sickness. Mr. H. and family took charge the next year, and remained until 1842, when they returned home. When ho was about to leave, the Indians took a very affectionate leave of his family.

George Williams was appointed to extend the farewell of the whole tribe, and in doing so, he spoke as follows : " My brother and my sister, I am about to speak for all our young men and for all our women and children, and in their name bid you farewell. They could not all come, and it would be too much trouble for you to have them allbere at once, so I have been sent with their message. I was directed to tell you that all their hearts are full of sorrow, because you are going to leave them and return to your home. Ever since you have lived with us we can all see how the Quakers and our fathers lived together in peace.

"You have treated our children well, and your doors have always been open to us. When we were in distress, you relieved us; and when our people were hungry, you gave them food. For your kindness, we love you. Your children and our children lived together- in peace, and at school learned together, and loved one another. We will always remember you, and teach our children to never forget your children. And now, my brother and sister, I bid you farewell, and Caleb and his sisters, and the little boys and their sisters, farewell I" He then took Mr. Harvey by the hand, saying " Farewell, my brother," and then taking the hand of Mrs. Harvey said, " Farewell, my good sister." He then bade the children an individual farewell, and went away in sadness. The next day about twenty chiefs spent the day with the Friends, and towards evening took leave of the family in a manner similar to that of the representative chief on the preceding day, and then left the house in the manner of leaving a grave, without looking back, or speaking a word. The mission was still sustained after Harvey's return, until it became supplemented by several district missions of different denominations. It may here be added that, in 1853, Congress appropriated $66,000 as

Our purpose is now accomplished, and we cast a lingering farewell look upon that people whose history' we have reviewed. We thus traced the connection with this territory of the disinherited offspring of the Algonquin nation, which knew no superiors, and acknowledged no equals. Springing from the head of the Great Spirit, all other tribes and nationalities were inferior, because they sprang from the inferior body. Endowed by superior wisdom, all other tribal or national wisdom was obtained through them, as the terrestrial fountain head. Brave, generous, and strong, they' possessed a nomadic nature which makes their history almost coextensive with a continent. From the Atlantic to the Father of Waters they left their foot-prints, and from the great cold lakes to the broad warm gulf, the forests echoed their voices, and the streams reflected their images. Proud and arrogant in the knowledge of their strengt h, if that strength waned they substituted prudence for arrogance, but never compromised their superiority nor sacrificed their dignity. More than other tribes, they appreciated nature, and there found their storehouse of eloquence, for their imagery was the reflection of nature's heart. Their language was thus limited, but rich, and better calculated for lofty oratory than trivial conversation Single words adorned whole ideas in poetic beauty.

They' were in harmony with nature till the mutual sy'mpathy caused the " very leaves of the forests to weep tears of pity" at the suffering produced by the pale-face intruder, whose contact, like a whirlwind, swept forest and savage alike before him in his destructive career. Such were the Shawnees at the advent of the whites, and although driven about and wronged, they still hoped to find a spot they could call their own, and from which they never would be driven. Destiny reserved no such boon for them as yet, and when they settled on the Auglaize and the lands were " guaranteed to them forever," the promises were false, and the hopes delusive. Contented if here they could remain, they were willing to even forsake their fathers' graves, relinquish their claims to their tribal lands, renounce their ancestral lives, and adopt the habits of civilized men. The Auglaize is a witness to the transformation, while Wapakoneta is a ^ monument to the progress of the same race. Here they abandoned their wild past, and embraced the teaching of the whites. Instead of warring, they cultivated the soil; instead of the chase, they gathered harvests. For tradition, they accepted education, and for barbarity they accepted humanity. It was enough, and they were happy'; but again they must leave all they love ; all the associations of their new condition, and all the incentives to the new life they embraced.

Their hope was crushed, for the hand that plays with the heart-strings of association and affection is cruel and relentless. So in their case ; the tender cords snapped asunder, and warriors, who knew not how to flinch before a tomahawk, nor yet to weep before the stake, were touched ' to galling tears. It was a night of gloom on which Destiny looked in pity, and provided in the Quakers a star of promise, until, in humanity, the sun of reality could rise. Let the dark past, with its suffering and its wrongs, be forever dissipated by the golden light of humanity which beams justice and happiness, not for the whites alone, but for the whole brotherhood of man.

Post-Office

Although some difference of opinion has prevailed touching the date of the establishment of post-offices in the Northwest, it may be stated that the first office was established in 1794, as shown by the subjoined correspondence.

Dear Sib : It is proposed to attempt the carriage of a mail from Pittsburg to Wheeling by land and thence by water to Limestone. From Limestone by a new road on the southern side of the Ohio to the mouth of Licking, opposite to Fort Washington, where it will cross over. From

Limestone the mail will be carried through the State of Kentucky ; the post road through the wilderness in this case to be discontinued. I have given directions to have these boats constructed for the purpose, to be formed in the best manner for ease and expedition in pushing up stream, to be managed by five hands each. Hope they will be running some time in June.

Marietta will be a station for the boats to stop at as they pass, and doubtless it will be convenient to have a post-office there. Herewith I send a packet addressed to you to be put into the hands of the person you judge most suitable for postmaster. He will there see the forms in which the business is to be transacted, with which he should make himself acquainted. The law now Sent will expire in a few days. It is substantially the same, as the new law as to the regulations - the latter will be forwarded when prepared. The person you designate for postmaster should be careful and trusty, and there will be an advantage in having one whose residence will be near the landing place of the mail boats.

reason I send a second package addressed to you to be disposed of as you think fit. You will be so good as to favor me with an answer as soon as possible.

Dear Sir: Your favor of the 24th ult., with the packets referred to, has come to hand. I have engaged Mr. Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., to undertake the business of postmaster at this place. He is a gentleman of probity - is attorney for the United States in this county, and keeps his office within a few yards of where boats will naturally land, both on account of convenience and security.

With respect to Gallipolis, I am not so well acquainted ns to fix on any one without some further information, which I expect to obtain in a few days. Yours, Rufus Putnam.

Mr. R. J. Meigs, Jr., was thus the first postmaster in the Northwestern Territory. He held the office until October, 1795, when he was succeeded by Capt. Josiah M unroe, who continued postmaster to 1801.

Ohio

It is but a step from the territory to the State. The constitutional convention, comprising delegates from the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, assembled for the purpose of framing and adopting a constitution for the United States, and terminated its labors and adjourned September 17, 1787. The old "Article^ of Confederation" were too narrow for the structure of government then rearing by the people. From the old battle-scarred confederation they sought to hew out a new State, recognizing the people as the source, the object and the power of government. It must be "a government of the people, for the people, by the people," and to this end a Nation was founded, supreme in its attributes, because reflecting the will of a sovereign people. Rights, powers, functions, and prerogatives were reserved to the Nation, while others were delegated to the several States.

The Nation in its constitutional capacity became, and is the supreme power and supreme law. It was a new experiment ; it was the launching of an untried vessel upon an unknown sea; but the fullness of time had come wherein "man is man and master of his fate," and when it was found desirable to make a "perpetual union" still "more perfect." That constitution everywhere sought an indissoluble union composed of indestructible States. It was "we the people of the United States in order to make a more perfect union," who sought to confirm and strengthen what had been pronounced a perpetual union. True, it was found necessary in later years to enlarge the provisions of the constitution, but at the period of its adoption it was as rounded, as symmetrical, and as finished as the differing opinions entertained by the framers would permit. Those liberalizing provisions which have been the outgrowth of years of development applied and still apply chiefly to the rights of individuals rather than to the powers of the Nation or the State. The integrity of the union was not an open question so far as the constitution could provide against conflicting views; but the rights of the individual, the manhood of man had not yet been recognized or secured. That instrument contained the word "white" and "white inhabitants," alone were known to the founders of the government. Slavery was an institution which became the fountain head of nullification, secession, and rebellion, that trinity of evil which impoverished a treasury, bathed a people in teafs, and baptized a land in blood. But it hastened the consummation of freedom, hastened development, hastened the recognition of manhood's highest estate, and who will say liberty and manhood can be purchased at too high a price? Until the, amendments were adopted " we, the people," only applied to a portion of the people, just as the clause, "all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as used in the Declaration, could only apply to a portion of the race, and that portion was determined only by a color line which shut away from the black man all rights which a white man was'" bound to respect. A storm of thought, succeeded by a tempest of armed force, gave to those expressions a literal significance, and the Nation withstood the shock to become in reality what it had before been but in name, " the land of the free and the asylum of the oppressed." When the shock did come, when armed rebellion sought to destroy the union, when the constitution became too narrow for the crisis of the hour, then above all constitutions and all written laws was seen the light and strength and justice of the unwritten law of nature, the law of self-preservation. Under that law, the life of the Nation was the first object to be secured, and after that came the liberty of the individual. The result was life to the Nation and liberty for every man beneath the flag, with a constitution so amended as to secure forever these inestimable jewels to generations yet unborn.

The constitution itself provided that : " the ratification of the conventions of nine States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the States so ratifying the same."

In accordance with this provision eleven of the thirteen States, by their conventions ratified the constitution, and it went into operation and became the supreme law on March 4, 1789, that being the date fixed by Congress under the convention resolutions of September 13, 1788, The order of the ratification by the several States will appear by the following list: Delaware, Dec. 7, 1787; Pennsylvania, Dec. 12, 1787; New Jersey, Dec. 18, 1787 ; Georgia, Jan. 2, 1788; Connecticut, Jan. .9, 1788; Massachusetts, Feb. 6, 1788; Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1788 ; New Hampshire, June 21, 1788 ; Virginia, June 26, 1788; New York, July 26, 1788.

Afterward the States of North Carolina and Rhode Island were admitted into the union by Congress, upon the presentation of authenticated forms of ratification ; North Carolina being admitted Nov. 21," 1789, and Rhode Island May 29, 1790. The union of the old States was thus secured and perfected, but the constitution did not rest here. After providing for its own adoption by ratification, it further provided that "new States may l)e admitted by Congress into this union," upon equal terms with the original States which had fought out their independence of the mother country, and founded a new form of government, under new conditions, in a new world. Under this provision Vermont applied for admission into the Union in 1791 ; Kentucky in 1792; and Tennessee in 1796. Herein was the inauguration of the new order of tilings which, planted in hope, has flourished in strength. .Brought forth in tearful, anxious travail, it was baptized in blood to live in hope. In the midst of these events in the east, wfcat of the vast region west of Pennsylvania? We will see.

While the thirteen old colonies were thus declaring their independence, the thirteen new States, which now lie in the western interior, had no existence, and gave no sign of the future. The solitude of nature was unbroken by the steps of civilization. The wisest statesman had not contemplated the probability of the coming States, and the boldest patriot did not dream that this interior wilderness should soon contain a greater population than the thirteen old States with all the added growth of one hundred years.

Ten years after that the old States had ceded their western lands to the General Government, and the Congress of the United States had passed the ordinance of 1785 for the survey of .the public territory, and in 1787 the celebrated ordinance which organized the Northwestern Territory, and dedicated it to freedom and intelligence.

Fifteen years after that, and more than a quarter of a century after the Declaration of Independence, the State of Ohio was admitted into the Union, being the seventeenth, which accepted the Constitution of the United States.

It has since grown up to be great, populous, and prosperous under the influence of those ordinances. At her admission in 1803 the tide of migration had begun to flow over the Allegbanies into the valley of the Mississippi, and although no steamboat or railroad then existed, not even a stage coach helped the immigration, yet the wooden " ark" on the Ohio, and the heavy wagon slowly winding over the mountains, bore these tens of thousands to the wilds of Kentucky and the plains of Ohio. In the spring of 1788 - the first year of settlement - 4500 persons passed the mouth of the Muskingum in three months, and the tide continued to pour on fot half a century in a widening stream, mingled with all the races of Europe and America, until now the five States of the Northwestern Territory, in the wilderness of 1776, contain over twelve millions of people, enjoying all the blessings which peace and prosperity, freedom and Christianity, can confer upon any people. Of these five States, born under the ordinance of 1787, Ohio is the first, oldest, and, in many things, the greatest State in the American Union. Ohio is just one-sixth part of the Northwestern Territory - 40,000 square miles. It lies between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, having two hundred miles of navigable waters, on one side flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other into the Gulf of Mexico. Through the lakes its vessels touch on six thousand miles of interior coast, and through the Mississippi on thirty-six thousand miles of river coast; so that a citizen of Ohio may pursue his navigation through forty-two thousand miles, all in his own country, and all within navigable reach of his own State. He who has circumnavigated the globe has gone but little more than half the distance which the citizen of Ohio finds within his natural reach in this vast interior.

Looking upon the surface of this State, we find no mountains, no barren sands, no marshy wastes, no lava-covered plains ; but one broad, compact body of arable land, intersected with rivers, and streams, and running waters, while the beautiful Ohio flows tranquilly by its side. From this great arable surface, where upon the very hills the grass and the forest trees grow exuberant and abundant, we find that underneath this surface, and easily accessible, lie ten thousand square miles of coal and four thousand square miles of iron - coal and iron enough to supply the basis of manufacture for a world! All this vast deposit does not interrupt or take from that arable surface at all. There you may find in one place the same machine bringing up coal and salt water from below, while the wheat and com grow upon the surface above. The immense masses of coal, iron, salt, and freestone deposited below have not in any way diminished the fertility and production of the soil.

The first settlement of Ohio was made by a colony from New England at the mouth of the Muskingum. It was literally a remnant of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution. Of this colony no praise of the historian can be as competent or as strong as the language of Washington. He says, in answer to inquiries addressed to him: " No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property, and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community ;" and he adds, "that if he were a young man, he knows no country in which he would sooner settle than in this western region." This colony, left alone for a time, made its own government, and nailed its laws to a tree in the village ; an early indication of that law-abiding and peaceful spirit which has since made Ohio a just and well ordered community. The subsequent settlements on the Miami and Scioto were made by citizens of New Jersey and Virginia, and it is certainly remarkable that among the early immigration there were no ignorant people. In the language of Washington, they came with "information" - qualified to promote the welfare of the community."

Soon after the settlement on the Muskingum and the Miami, ttie great wave of migration flftwed on the plains and valleys of Ohio and Kentucky. Kentucky had been settled earlier, but the main body of immigrants in*subsequent years went into Ohio, influenced partly by the ordinance of 1787, securing freedom and schools forever; and partly by the great security of titles under the survey and guarantee of the United States Government. Soon the new State grew up with a rapidity which, until then, was unknown in the history of civilization. On the Muskingum, where the buffalo had roamed; on the Scioto, where the Shawnees had built their towns ; on the Miami, where the great chiefs of the Miamis had reigned ; on the plains of Sandusky, yet red with the blood of the white man ; on the Maumee, where Wayne, by the victory of the " Fallen Timbers," had broken the power of the Indian confederacy, the immigrants from the old States and from Europe came in to cultivate the fields, to build up towns, and to rear the institutions of Christian civilization, until the single State of Ohio is greater in number, wealth, and education than was the whole American Union when the Declaration of Independence was made.

The territory now comprised within the limits of Ohio was formerly a part of that vast region claimed by France between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, first known by the general name of Louisiana. In 1670, Marquette, a zealous French missionary, accompanied by Monsieur Joliet, from Quebec, with five boatmen, set out on a mission from Mackinac to the unexplored regions lying south of that station They passed down the lake to Green Bay, thence from Fox River crossed over to the Wisconsin, which they followed down to its junction with the Mississippi. They descended this mighty stream a thousand miles to its confluence with the Arkansas. On their return to Canada they did not fail to urge in strong terms the immediate occupation of the vast and fertile regions watered by the Mississippi and its branches. About 1725, the French erected forts on the Mississippi, on the Illinois, on the Maumee, and on the lakes; still, however, the communication with Canada was through Lake Michigan. Before 1750, a French post had been fortified at the mouth of the Wabash, and a communication was established through that river and the Maumee with Canada. About the same time, and for the purpose of checking the progress of the French, the Ohio Company was formed, and made some attempts to establish trading houses among the Indians. The French, however, established a chain of fortifications back of the English settlements, and thus, in a measure, had the entire control of the great Mississippi Valley.

The English government became alarmed at the encroachments of the French, and attempted to settle boundaries by negotiations. These availed nothing, and both parties were determined to settle their differences by force of arms. The principal ground, whereon the English claimed dominion beyond the Allcghanies, was that the Six Nations owned the Ohio Vallejo, and had placed it, with their other lands, under the protection of England. Some of the western lands were also claimed by the British as having been actually purchased at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744, at a treaty between the colonists and the Six Nations at that place. The claim of the English monarch to the late Northwestern

Territory was ceded to the United States, signed at Paris, September 3, 1788. The provisional articles which formed the basis of that treaty, more especially as related to the boundary, were signed at Paris, November 30, 1782. During the pendency of the negotiation relative to these preliminary articles, Mr. Oswald, the British commissioner, proposed the Ohio Riveras the western boundary of the United States, and but for the indomitable perseverance of the Revolutionary patriot, John Adams, one of the American commissioners, who opposed the proposition, and insisted upon the Mississippi as the boundary, the probability is that the proposition of Mr. Oswald would have been acceded to by the United States commissioners.

The States which owned western unappropriated lands, with a single exception, redeemed their respective pledges by ceding them to the United States. The State of Virginia, in March, 1784, ceded the right of soil and jurisdiction to the district of country embraced in her charter, situated to the northwest of the Ohio River. In September, 1786, the State of Connecticut also ceded her claim of soil and jurisdiction to the district of country within the limits of her charter, situated west of a line beginning at the completion of the forty-first point degree of north latitude, one hundred and twenty miles west of the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and from thence by a line drawn north parallel to and one hundred and twenty miles west of said line of Pennsylvania, and to continue north until it came to forty-two degrees and two*minutes north latitude. The State of Connecticut, on the 30th of May, 1801, also ceded her jurisdictional claims to all that territory called the "Western Reserve of Connecticut." The States of New York and Massachusetts also ceded all their claims.

The above were not the only claims which had to be made prior to the commencement of settlements within the limits of Ohio. Numerous tribes of Indian savages, by virtue of prior possession, asserted their respective claims, which also had to be extinguished. A treaty- for this purpose was accordingly made at Fort Stanwix, October 27, 1784, with the sachems and warriors of the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras, by the third article of which treaty the said Six Nations ceded to the United States all claims to the country west of a line extending along the west boundary of Pennsylvania, from the mouth of the Oyounayea to the Ohio River.

Washington County was formed July 27, 1788, by proclamation of Governor St. Clair, being the first county formed within the limits of Ohio. Its original boundaries were as follows : Beginning on the bank of the Ohio River, where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie ; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga River ; thence up the said river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum ; thence down that branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Laurens; thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage on that branch of the Big Miami, on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawnee Town to Sandusky ; thence south to Scioto River, and thence with that river to the month, and thence up the Ohio River to the place of beginning.

Hamilton was the second county established in the Northwest Territory; it was formed January 2, 1790, by proclamation of Governor St. Clair, and named from General Alexander Hamilton. Its original boundaries were thus defined: Beginning on the Ohio River at the confluence of the Little Miami, and down the said Ohio to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up said Miami to the standing stone forks or branch of said river, and thence with a line to be drawn due east to the Little Miami, and down said Little Miami River to the place of beginning.

Wayne County was established by proclamation of General St. Clair, August 15, 1796, and was the third county formed in the Northwest Territory. Its original limits were very extensive, and were thus defined in the act creating it : Beginning at the mouth of Cuyahoga River upon Lake Erie, and with the said river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum ; thence down the said branch to the forks at the crossing place above Fort Laurens; thence by a west line to the east boundary of Hamilton County, which is a due north line from the lower Shawnee Town upon the Scioto River ; thence by a line west-northerly to the south part of portage between the Miamis of Ohio 14- and the St. Marys River; thence by a line also west-northerly to the southwestern part of the portage between the Wabash and Miamis of Lake Erie, where Fort Wayne now stands; thence by a line west-northerly to the south part of Lake Michigan; thence along the western shores of the same to the northwest part thereof, including lands upon the streams emptying into said lake ; thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior, and with the said boundary through Lakes Huron, St. Clair, and Erie to the mouth of Cuyahoga River, the place of beginning. These limits embrace what are now parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and. all of Michigan, and the towns of Ohio City, Chicago, St. Marys, Mackinaw, etc. Since then States and counties have been organized out of this territory.

It will be observed in the Virginia Military Districts in Ohio, which comprise the lands between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers, that when the State of Virginia, in 1783, ceded to the United States all her right of soil and jurisdiction to all the tract of country she then claimed northwest of the Ohio River, it was provided that the Virginia troops of the Continental establishment should be paid their legal bounties from these lands (and here it may not be amiss to define these land denominations). The United States Military Lands were so called from the fact that they were appropriated by an act of Congress, in 1796, to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution. The patent to the soldiers or purchasers of these lands, as well as of all other Ohio lands, is derived from the general government. The district was not surveyed into ranges and townships, or any regular form, and hence the irregularity in the shape of the townships as established by the county commissioners for civil purposes; any individual holding a Virginia Military Land warrant might locate it wherever he desired within the district, and in such shape as he pleased, whenever the land had not been previously located.

By the treaties with the Indians of 1785-6, Congress acquired the lands watered by the Muskingum, Scioto, and Little and Great Miami rivers.

Territory Northwest of the Ohio . - By ordinance of July 13, 1787, formed out of the cession of Virginia, being that part of the territory south of the 41st parallel, and out of other territory acquired from Great Britain by the treaty of 1783, being the part of the territory north of the 41st parallel. Article 5 of this ordinance provided that there should be formed from this territory not less than three nor more than five States; that three of the States should extend from the Ohio River northward - that the boundaries between these three States should be established as in the ordinance described - and that Congress should have authority to form one or two other States out of that part of the territory which lay north of an east and west line drawn through the southernmost extremity of Lake Michigan.

The provisions of this article have been carried into effect by the erection, on the Ohio River, of the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, separated by the boundaries prescribed by the ordinance, and out of the land north of them, of the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, and that part of the State of Minnesota which lies east of the Mississippi River.

Territory South of the Ohio River By the act of May 26, 1790, declared to be " one district" for the purpose of temporary government, and its government constituted like that of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, except as otherwise provided in the act of April 2, 1790, accepting from North Carolina the cession of the State of Tennessee. The district included the territory comprehended in the present States of Kentucky and Tennessee and the territory ceded to the United States by the State of South Carolina. It was limited on the south by the original State of Georgia, and which were ceded by the State of Georgia, in 1802 and which by act of March 27, 1804, became a part of the Mississippi territory.

In 1788 another treaty was made by which the country was purchased from the mouth of the Cuyahoga River to the Wabash, lying south and east of a certain line mentioned in the treaty. The Indians were dissatisfied with this treaty and it was not relied on by our Government. In 1795 twelve tribes attended on Gen. Wayne and treated with him for the sale of a considerable portion of the territory, included within the limits of Ohio. In 1805 seven tribes sold to the United States all that part of New Connecticut lying west of the Cuyahoga River. In this treaty the Connecticut people joined, and paid four thousand dollars to the Indians and agreed to pay them twelve thousand dollars additional. In 1807 that part of this which lies north of the Maumee and east of a meridian line, passing through the mouth of the Auglaize River was purchased of the Indians. In 1808 a strip of territory two miles wide was acquired by treaty, running from the western boundary of the Western Reserve to the Maumee River at the rapids. In the same treaty another strip one hundred and twenty feet in width was acquired, running along the bank of the Maumee. By these treaties the United States acquired the four-fifths of the State of Ohio.

That portion of the ceded tracts above latitude 41° north, extending from Pennsylvania on the east, to the western limits of Sandusky and Seneca counties, was given by Congress to Connecticut, and is called the Western Reserve, or New Connecticut. It extends one hundred and twenty miles from east to west, and on an average is fifty miles in width from north to Bouth. Its areft contains about three millions eight hundred thousand acres. Five hundred thousand acres of this tract, off the west end, the State of Connecticut gave to certain sufferers by fire in the Revolutionary War. A part of the ceded lands lying along the Ohio River, including the mouths of the Muskingum and Hockhoeking rivers, was sold by the old Congress to the Ohio Company. This was the first sale of lands before the present Constitution of the United States was adopted. It was sold for one dollar per acre, payable in Congress notes, at twenty shillings in a pound, whereas the interest on those notes made them worth twenty-eight shillings and six pence on the pound at that time. These securities were funded under the Constitution of the United States, and became a part of the national debt. Benjamin Stites, Esq., of old Redstone Fort (now Brownsville, Pa.), who had examined the valley of the Shawnese 'soon after the treaty of 1786, by his statement induced John Cleves Symmes to visit that region. Symmes found them all and more than all they had been represented to be, and upon the 29th of August, 1787, wrote to the President of Congress asking that the Treasury Board might be empowered to contract with them for the country between the Miamis.

John Cleves Symmes of New Jersey was the next purchaser of land in Ohio, as he bought of the old Congress land lying between the mouths of the two Miamis and extending northerly so as to contain six hundred thousand acres ; he gave sixty-six cents an acre for this land.

In addition to the above facts, let us detail the circumstances which led to the cession of the Northwestern Territory, and the States which relinquished their lands for the common benefit of the United States.

In September, 1780, the Congress of the Confederation passed a resolution, stating that, if these unappropriated lands were ceded to the United States, they should be formed into distinct republican States, and become members of the Federal Union and have the same rights as the thirteen original States ; that each State shall contain a suitable extent of territory, not less than one hundred nor more than one hundred and fifty miles square, and that the necessary and reasonable expenses which any State shall have incurred since the commencement of the Revolutionary War, in acquiring any part of the territory that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States, shall be reimbursed.

In pursuance of this resolution, the following States made cession of territory to the United States at the date specified: New York, March 1, 1781; Virginia, March 1, 1781, and December 30, 1788; Massachusetts, April 19, 1785; Connecticut, September 14, 1786, and confirmed May 30, 1800; South Carolina, August 9, 1787; North Carolina, February 25, 1791; and Georgia, April 24, 1820.

These lands were designated and situated as follows: Virginia land lay between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers, which was given to her soldiers of the Revolution as a reward for their services, and was called the Virginia Military Tract. The United States had promised lands to the soldiers of the Revolution, and so Congress laid off a tract for that purpose, lying south of New Connecticut, extending from the Ohio River on the east to the Scioto on the west, and called the United States Military Tract. There were some refugees during the Revolutionary War from Nova Scotia, to whom Congress gave a strip of land extending from the Muskingum, opposite Zanesville, to the Scioto at Columbus.

It is several miles in width. The remaining part of the State was surveyed and sold by Congress. In the United States lands, the Virginia military, and Symmes's purchase, the original owner obtained his patent from the United States Land Office, while land ceded to Ohio by Congress on condition of making certain canals, were deeded to purchasers by the Governor and Secretary of State.

The act of Congress of December 30, 1788, provided that the territory of the United States should be divided into not more than five, nor less than three States; but on August 7, 1789, the act was modified, and by a subsequent act of May 7, 1800, the Northwestern Territory was divided into two separate governments.

The people of the eastern division petitioned Congress, which passed an act April 30, 1S02, authorizing them to form a constitution; and in addition thereto Congress offered the people of the State, after it should be organized, the one thirty-eighth part of their whole territory for the use of schools ; also certain lands on which they supposed salt water might be procured ; five per cent, of all the net proceeds of sales of lands owned by Congress, three per cent, of which was to be laid out in making roads in the State, and two per cent, on a road to be made from Cumberland, in Maryland, to the State of Ohio. This road is familiarly known as the National Turnpike.

These offers were all made on condition that the people of the terri. tory would adept a constitution founded on republican principles, which would harmonize with the ordinances of 1787, so far as being consistent with their being a separate State, and to be in strict accordance with the Constitution of the United States. Such were the requirements of the act of 30th of April, 1802. The convention met November 1, 1802, and finally adopted the constitution November 29, 1802, making Chillicothe the seat of government for the new State. Edward Tiffin, Esq., had the honor of being president of the convention, and Thomas Scott, secretary.

On February 19, 1803, Congress passed an act, admitting Ohio as a State into the Union, with one representative in Congress, although the constitution had never been submitted to the people for their approval or disapproval. The counties in existence before the adoption of the constitution were Hamilton, Ross, Wayne, Adams, Knox, Jefferson, Washington, Trumbull, and Belmont. These counties constituted the Northwestern Territory, now embracing the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed Governor of the Northwestern Territory in 1791. In the session of Congress of 1800 the Northwestern Territory was divided into two territories, Ohio and Indiana. Ohio embraced the present States of Ohio and Michigan, while Indiana comprised Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Ohio Territory contained eighty thousand square miles, whereas Indiana contained one hundred and eighty thousand square miles. Gen. St. Clair was the commissioned Governor of Ohio Territory, while Gen. Wm. Henry Harrison was Governor of Indiana.

On October 29, 1798, Governor St. Clair issued his proclamation, directing the electors, who then numbered five thousand free white males, to elect representatives to a General Assembly to be held at Cincinnati, September 16, 1799, of which Edward Tiffin was speaker. This was the first Legislature of the whole Northwest Territory before its division, and by which Gen. William Henry Harrison was elected the delegate to Congress.

The 1st Constitutional Convention convened at Chillicothe, Nov. 1, 1802. Constitution adopted. The 2d met at Columbus, May 6, 1850. The 3d assembled at Columbus, May 13, 1873. Constitution rejected, leaving the constitution of 1852 in full force and effect.

Constitution Of The State Of Ohio

We, the people of the State of Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare, do establish this Constitution:

Section 1. All men are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.

Sec. 2. All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for their equal protection and benefit, and they have the right to alter, reform, or abolish the same, whenever they may deem it necessary ; and no special privileges or immunities shall ever be granted, that may not be altered, revoked, or repealed by the General Assembly.

Sec. 3. The people have the right to assemble together, in a peaceable manner, to consult for their common good; to instruct their Representatives; and to petition the General Assembly for the redress of grievances.

Sec. 4. The people have the right to bear arms for their defence and security; but standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be kept up ; and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.

Sec. 7. All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own conscience. No person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of worship, or maintain any form of worship, against his consent; and no preference shall be given, by law, to any religious society ; nor shall any interference with the rights of conscience be permitted. No religious test shall be required, as a qualification for office, nor shall any person be incompetent to be a witness on account of his religious belief ; but nothing herein shall be construed to dispense with oaths and affirmations. Religion, morality, and knowledge, however, being essential to good government, it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to pass suitable laws, to protect every religious denomination in the peaceable enjoyment of its own mode of public worship, and to encourage schools and the means of instruction.

Sec. 8. The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety require it.

Sec. 9. All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offences where the proof is evident, or the presumption great. Excessive bail shall not be required ; nor excessive fines imposed ; nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Sec. 10. Except in cases of impeachment, and cases arising in the army and navy, or in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger, and in cases of petit larceny and other inferior offences, no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a grand jury. In any trial, in any court, the party accused shall be allowed to appear and defend in person and with counsel ; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation against him, and to have a copy thereof; to meet the witnesses face to face; and to have compulsory process to procure the attendance of witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district, in which the offence is alleged to have been committed; nor shall any person be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a witness against himself, or be twice put in jeopardy for the same offence.

Sec. 11. Every citizen may freely speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of the right ; and no law shall be passed to restrain or abridge the liberty of speech, or of the press. In all criminal prosecutions for libel, the truth may be given in evidence to the jury, and if it shall appear to the jury, that the matter charged as libellous is true, and was published with good motives, and for justifiable ends, the party shall be acquitted.

Sec. 12. No person shall be transported out of the State, for any offence committed within the same ; and no conviction shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture of estate.

Sec. 13. No soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner; nor, in time of war, except in the manner prescribed by law.

Sec. 14. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and possessions, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ; and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person and things to be seized.

Sec. 16. All courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done him in his land, goods, person, or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law ; and justice administered without denial or delay.

Sec. 19. Private property shall ever be held inviolate, but subservient to the public welfare. When taken in time of war or other public exigency, imperatively requiring its immediate seizure, or for the purpose of making or repairing roads, which shall be open to the public without charge, a compensation shall be made to the owner in money; and in all other cases, where private property shall be taken for public use, a compensation therefor shall first be made in money, or first secured by a deposit of money; and such compensation shall be assessed by a jury, without deduction for benefits to any property of the owner.

Sec. 20. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people ; and all powers not herein delegated remain with the people.

Section 1 . The legislative power of this State shall bq vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Sec. 2. Senators and Representatives shall be elected biennially, by the electors in the respective counties or districts, on the second Tuesday of October. Their own term of office shall commence on the first day of January next thereafter, and continue two years.

Sec. 3. Senators and Representatives shall have resided in their respectives counties or districts one year next preceding their election, unless they shall have been absent on the public business of the United States, or of this State.

Sec. 4. No person holding office under the authority of the United States, or any lucrative office under the authority of this State, shall be eligible to, or have a seat in, the General Assembly; but this provision shall not extend to township officers, justices of the peace, notaries public, or officers of the militia.

Sec. 5. No person hereafter convicted of an embezzlement of the public funds, shall hold any office in this State ; nor shall any person, holding public money for disbursement, or otherwise, have a seat in the General Assembly, until he shall have accounted for, and paid such money into the treasury.

Sec. G. Each House shall be judge of the election, returns, and qualifications of its own members ; a majority of all the members elected to each House shall be a quorum to do business ; but a less number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner, and under such penalties, as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 8. Each House, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, shall choose its own officers, may determine its own rules of proceeding, punish its members for disorderly conduct; and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member, but not the second time for the same cause , and shall have all other powers necessary to provide for its safety and the undisturbed transaction of its business.

Sec. 9. Each House shall keep a correct journal of its proceedings, which shall be published. At the desire of any two members, the yeas and nays shall be entered upon the journal ; and, on the passage of every bill, in either House, the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and entered upon the journal ; and no law shall be passed in either House without the concurrence of a majority of all the members elected therein.

against any act or resolution thereof; and such protest, and the reasons therefor, shall, without alteration, commitment, or delay, be entered upon the journal.

Sec. 12. Senators and Representatives, during the session of the General Assembly, and in going to and returning from the same, shall be privileged from arrest in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace ; and for any speech or debate in either House they shall not be questioned elsewhere.

Sec. 13. The proceedings of both Houses shall be public, except in cases which, in the opinion of two-thirds of those present, require secrecy.

Sec. 14. Neither House shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than two days, Sundays excluded ; nor to any other place than that in which the two Houses shall be in session.

Sec. 16. Every bill shall be fully and distinctly read on three different days, unless, in case of urgency, three-fourths of the House in which it shall be pending shall dispense with this rule. No bill shall contain more than one subject, which shall be clearly expressed in its title; and no law shall be revived or amended, unless the new act contain the entire act revived, or the section or sections amended ; and the section or sections so amended shall be repealed.

Sec. 17- The presiding officer of each House shall sign, publicly, in the presence of the House over which he presides, while the same is in session and capable of transacting business, all bills and joint resolutions passed by the General Assembly.

Sec. 1 9. No Senator or Representative shall, during the term for which he shall have been elected, or for one year thereafter, be appointed to any civil office under the State, which shall be created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during the term for which he shall have been elected.

Sec. 20. The General Assembly, in cases not provided for in the Constitution, shall fix the term of office and the compensation of all officers; but no change therein shall affect the salary of any officer during his existing term, unless the office be abolished.

Sec. 21. The General Assembly shall determine by law before what authority, and in what manner, the trial of contested elections shall be conducted.

Sec. 22. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, except in pursuance of a specific appropriation made by law ; and no appropriation shall be made for a longer period than two years.

Sec. 23. The House of Representatives shall have the sole power of impeachment, but a majority of the members elected must concur therein. Impeachments shall be tried by the Senate ; and the Senators, when sitting for that purpose, shall be upon oath or affirmation to do justice according to law and evidence. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senators.

Sec. 24. The Governor, Judges, and all State officers, may be impeaohed for any misdemeanor in office; but judgment shall not extend further than removal from office, and disqualification to hold any office under the authority of this State. The party impeached, whether convicted or not, shall be liable to indictment, trial, and judgment, according to law.

Sec. 25. All regular sessions of the General Assembly shall commence on the first Monday of January, biennially. The first session under this Constitution shall commence on the first Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.

Sec. 26. All laws of a general nature shall have a uniform operation throughout the State; nor shall any act, except such as relates to public schools, be passed, to take effect upon the approval of any other authority than the General Assembly, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution.

of all vacancies not otherwise provided for by this Constitution, or the Constitution of the United States, shall be made in such manner as may be directed by law; but no appointing power shall be exercised by the General Assembly, except as prescribed in this Constitution, and in the election of United States Senators; and in these cases the vote shall be taken " viva voce."

Sec. 28. The General Assembly shall have no power to pass retroactive laws, nor laws impairing the obligation of contracts; but may, by general laws, authorize courts to carry into effect, upon such terms as shall be just and equitable, the manifest intention of parties and officers, by curing omissions, defects and errors in instruments and proceedings, arising out of their want of conformity with the laws of this State.

Sec. 29. No extra compensation shall be made to any officer, public agent, or contractor, after the service shall have been rendered, or the contract entered into; nor shall any money be paid on any claim, the subject matter of which shall not have been provided for by preexisting law, unless such compensation or claim be allowed by two-thirds of the members elected to each branch of the General Assembly.

Sec. 30. No new county shall contain less than four hundred square miles of territory, nor shall any count}' be reduced below that amount; and all laws creating new counties, changing county lines, or removing county seats, shall, before taking effect, be submitted to the electors of the several counties to be effected thereby, at the next general election after the passage thereof, and be adopted by a majority of all the electors voting at such election, in each of said counties; but any county now or hereafter containing one hundred thousand inhabitants, may be divided, whenever a majority of the voters, residing in each of the proposed divisions, shall approve of the law passed for that purpose ; but no town or city within the same shall be divided, nor shall either of the divisions contain less than twenty thousand inhabitants.

Sec. 31. The members and officers of the General Assembly shall receive a fixed compensation, to be prescribed by law, and no other allowance or perquisites, either in the payment of postage or otherwise ; and no change in their compensation shall take effect during their term of office.

Section 1. The Executive Department shall consist of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, and an Attorney General, who shall be chosen by the electors of the State, on the second Tuesday of October, and at the places of voting for members of the- General Assembly.

Sec. 2. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General, shall hold their offices for two years; and the Auditor for four years. Their terms of office shall commence on the second Monday of January next after their election, and continue until their successors are elected and qualified.

Sec. 3. The returns of every election, for the officers named in the foregoing section, shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government, by the returning officers, directed to the President of the Senate, who, during the first week of the session, shall open and publish them, and declare the result, in the presence of a majority of the members of each house of the General Assembly. The person having the highest number of votes shall be declared duly elected; but if any two or more shall be highest, and equal in votes, for the same office, one of them shall be chosen by the joint vote of both houses.

Sec. 4. Should there be no session of the General Assembly in January next after an election for any of the officers aforesaid, the returns of such election shall be/made to the Secretary of State, and opened, and the result declared by the Governor, in such manner as may be provided by law.

the executive department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices; and shall see that the laws are faithfully executed.

Sec. 7. He shall communicate at every session, by message, to the General Assembly, the condition of the State, and recommend such measures as he shall deem expedient.

Sec. 8. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the General Assembly by proclamation, and shall state to both houses, when assembled, the purpose for which they have been convened.

Sec. 9. In case of disagreement between the two houses, in respect to the time of adjournment, he shall have power to adjourn the General Assembly to such time as he may think proper, but not beyond the regular meetings thereof.

Sec. 10. He shall be commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of the State, except when they shall be called into the service of the TJnited States.

Sec. 11. He shall have power, after conviction, to grant reprieves, commutations, and pardons, for all crimes and offences, except treason and cases of impeachment, upon such conditions as he may think proper, subject, however, to such regulations, as to the manner of applying for pardons, as may be prescribed by law. Upon conviction for treason, he may suspend the execution of the sentence, and report the case to the General Assembly, at its next meeting, when the General Assembly shall either pardon, commute the sentence, direct its execution, or grant a further reprieve. He shall communicate to the General Assembly, at every regular session, each case of reprieve, commutation, or pardon granted ; stating the name and crime of the convict, the sentence, its date, and the date of the commutation, pardon, or reprieve, with his reasons therefor.

Sec. 12. There shall be a seal of the State, which shall be kept by the Governor, and used by him officially; and shall be called "The Great Seal of the State of Ohio."

Sec. 13. All grants and commissions shall be issued in the name, and by the authority, of the State of Ohio; sealed with the Great Seal, signed by the Governor, and countersigned by the Secretary of State.

Sec. 14. No member of Congress, or other person holding office under the authority of this State, or of the United States, shall execute the office of Governor, except as herein provided.

Sec. 15. In case of the death, impeachment, resignation, removal, or other disability of the Governor, the powers and duties of the office, for the residue of the term, or until he shall be acquitted, or the disability removed, shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor.

Sec. 16. The Lieutenant Governor shall be President of the Senate, but phall vote only when the Senate is equally divided; and in case of his absence, or impeachment, or when he shall exercise the office of Governor, the Senate shall choose a President pro tempore.

Sec. 17. If the Lieutenant Governor, while executing the office of Governor, shall be impeached, displaced, resign or die, or otherwise become incapable of performing the duties of the office, the President of the Senate shall act as Governor, until the vacancy is filled, or the disability removed; and if the President of the Senate, for any of the above causes, shall be rendered incapable of performing the duties pertaining to the office of Governor, the same shall devolve upon the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Sec. 18. Should the office of Auditor, Treasurer, Secretary, or Attorney General, become vacant, for any of the causes specified in the fifteenth section of this article, the Governor shall fill the vacancy until the disability is removed, or a successor elected and qualified. Every such vacancy shall be filled by election, at the first general election that occurs more than thirty days after it shall have happened; and the person chosen shall hold the office for the full term fixed in the second section of this article.

Sec. 19. The officers mentioned in this article shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation to be established by law, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which they shall have been elected.

Sec. 20. The officers of the executive department, and of the public State Institutions, shall, at least five days preceding each regular session of the General Assembly, severally report to the Governor, who shall transmit such reports, with his message, to the General Assembly.

Section 1. The judicial power of the State shall be vested in a supreme court, in district courts, courts of common pleas, courts of probate, justices of the peace, and in such other courts, inferior to the supreme court, in one or more counties, as the General Assembly may, from time to time, establish. *

It shall have original jurisdiction in quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus, and procedendo, and such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law. It shall hold at least one term in each year, at the seat of government, and such other terms, at the seat of government, or elsewhere, as may be provided by law. The judges of the supreme court shall be elected by the electors of the State at large.

Sec. 3. The State shall be divided into nine common pleas districts, of which the county of Hamilton shall constitute one, of compact territory, and bounded by county lines; and each of said districts, consisting of three or more counties, shall be subdivided into three parts, of compact territory, bounded by county lines, and as nearly equal in population as practicable; in each of which, one judge of the court of common pleas for said district, and residing therein, shall be elected by the electors of said subdivision. Courts of common pleas shall be held, by one or more of these judges, in every county in the district, as often as may be provided by law ; and more than one court, or sitting thereof, may be held at the same time in each district.

Sec. 5. District courts shall be composed of the judges of the court of common pleas, of the respective districts, and one of the judges of the supreme court, any three of whom shall be a quorum, and shall be held in each county therein, at least once in each year; but if it shall be found inexpedient to hold such court annually, in each county, of any district, the General Assembly may, for such district, provide that said court shall hold at least three annual sessions therein, in not less than three - places: Provided, that the General Assembly may, by law, authorize the judges of each district to fix the times of holding the courts therein.

Sec. 6. The district court shall have like original jurisdiction with the supreme court, and such appellate jurisdiction as may be provided by law.

Sec. 7. There shall be established in each county a probate court, which shall be a court of record, open at all times, and holden by one judge, elected by the voters of the county, who shall hold his office for the term of three years, and shall receive such compensation, payable out of the county treasury, or by fees, or both, as shall be provided by law.

Sec. 8. The probate court shall have jurisdiction in probate and testamentary matters, the appointment of administrators and guardians, the settlement of the accounts of executors, administrators and guardians, and such jurisdiction in habeas corpus, the issuing of marriage licenses, and for the sale of land by executors, administrators and guardians, and such other jurisdiction, in any county, or counties, as may be provided by law.

Sec. 9. A competent number of justices of the peace shall be elected, by the electors, in each township in the several counties. Their term of office shall be three years, and their powers and duties shall be regulated by law.

Sec. 10. All judges, other than those provided for in this constitution, shall be elected by the electors of the judicial district for which they may be created, but not for a longer term of office than five years.

Sec. 11. The judges of the supreme court shall, immediately after the first election under this constitution, be classified by lot, so that one shall hold for the term of one year, one for two years, one for three years, one for four years, and one for five years; and, at all subsequent elections, the term of each of said judges shall be for five years.

Sec. 12. The judges of the courts of common pleas shall, while in office, reside in the district for which they are elected ; and their term of office shall be for five years.

expiration of the regular terra for which he was elected, the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, until a successor is, elected and qualified; and such successor shall be elected for the unexpired terra, at the first annual election that occurs more than thirty days after the vacancy shall have happened.

* Sec. 14. The judges of the supreme court, and of the court of common pleas, shall, at stated times, receive for their services such compensation as may be provided by law, which shall not be diminished or increased during their term of office; but they shall receive no fees or perquisites, nor hold any other office of profit or trust, under the authority of this State or the United States. All votes for either of them, for any elective office, except a judicial office, under the authority of this State, given by the General Assembly, or the people, shall be void.

- Sec. 15. The General Assembly may increase or diminish the number of the judges of the supreme court, the number of the districts of the court of common pleas, the number of judges in any district, change the districts, or the subdivision thereof, or establish other courts, whenever two-thirds of the members elected to each house shall concur therein ; but no such change, addition, or diminution, shall vacate the office of any judge.

Sec. 16. There shall be elected in each county, by the electors thereof, one clerk of the court of common pleas, who shall hold his office for the term of three years, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified. He shall, by virtue of his office, be clerk of all other courts of record held therein ; but the General Assembly may provide by law, for the election of a clerk, with a like term of office, for eachor any other of the courts of record, and may authorize the judge of the probate court to perform the duties of clerk for his court, under such regulations as may be directed by the law. Clerks of courts shall be removable for such cause, and in such manner, as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 17. Judges may be removed from office, by concurrent resolution of both houses of the General Assembly, if two-thirds of the members elected to each house concur therein ; but no such removal shall be made, except upon complaint, the substance of which shall be entered on the journal, nor until the party charged shall have had notice thereof, and an opportunity to be heard.

Sec.' 1 8. The several judges of the supreme court, of the common pleas, and of such other courts as may be created, shall, respectively, have and exercise such power and jurisdiction, at chambers, or otherwise, as may be directed by law.

Sec. 19. The General Assembly may establish courts of conciliation, and prescribe their powers and duties ; but such courts shall not render final judgment, in any case, except upon submission, by the parties, of the matter in dispute, and their agreement to abide such judgment.

Sec. 20. The style of all processes shall be, " The State of Ohio ;" all prosecutions shall be carried on in the name, and by the authority of the State of Ohio; and all indictments shall conclude, " against the peace and dignity of the State of Ohio."

Section 1. Every white male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of the State one year next preceding the election, and of the county, township, or ward in which he resides, such time as may be provided by law, shall have the qualifications of an elector, and be entitled to vote at all elections.

Sec. 3. Electors, during their attendance at elections, and in going to and returning therefrom, shall be privileged from arrest, in all cases, except treason, felony, and breach of the peace.

Sec. 4. The General Assembly shall have power to exclude from the privilege of voting, or of being eligible to office, any person convicted of bribery, peijury, or other infamous crime.

Sec. 5. No person in the military, naval, or marine service of the United States, shall, by being stationed in any garrison, or military or naval station, within the State, be considered a resident of this State.

Section 1. The principal of all funds arising from the sale, or other disposition of lands or other property, granted or entrusted to the State for educational and religious purposes, shall forever be preserved inviolate, and undiminished ; and the income arising therefrom, shall be faithfully applied to the specific objects of the original grants or appropriations.

Sec. 2. The General Assembly shall make such provisions, by taxation or otherwise, as, with the income arising from the school trust fund, will secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State ; but no religious or other sect, or sects, shall ever have any exclusive right to, or control of, any part of the school funds of thi3 State.

Section 1. Institutions for the benefit of the insane, blind, and deaf and dumb, shall always be fostered and supported by the State, and be subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by the General Assembly.

Sec. 2. The directors of the Penitentiary shall be appointed or elected in such manner as the General Assembly may direct ; and the trustees of the benevolent, and other State institutions, now elected by the General Assembly, and of such other State institutions as may be hereafter created, shall be appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate ; and, upon all nominations made by the Governor, the question shall be taken by yeas and. nays, and entered upon the journals of the Senate.

Sec. 3. The Governor shall have power to fill all vacancies that may occur in the offices aforesaid, until the next session of the General Assembly, and until a successor to his appointee shall be confirmed and qualified.

Section 1. The State may contract debts, to supply casual deficits or failures in revenues, or to meet expenses not otherwise provided for; but the aggregate amount of such debts, direct and contingent, whether contracted by virtue of one or more acts of the General Assembly, or at different periods of time, shall never exceed seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; and the money, arising from the creation of such debts, shall be applied to the purpose for which it was obtained, or to repay the debts so contracted, and to no other purpose whatever.

Sec. 2. In addition to the above limited power, the State may contract debts to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, defend the State in war, or to redeem the present outstanding indebtedness of the State ; but the money, arising from the contracting of such debts, shall be applied to the purpose for which it was raised, or to repay such debts, and to no other purpose whatever ; and all debts, incurred to redeem the present outstanding indebtedness of the State, shall be so contracted as to be payable by the sinking fund, hereinafter provided for, as the same shall accumulate.

Sec. 3. Except the debts above specified, in sections one and two of - this article, no debt whatever shall hereafter be created by, or on behalf of the State.

Sec. 4. The credit of the State shall not, in any manner, be given or loaned to, or in aid of, any individual association or corporation whatever; nor shall the State ever hereafter become a joint owner, or stockholder, in an} r company or association in this State, or elsewhere, formed for any purpose whatever.

Sec. 5. The State shall never assume the debts of any county, city, or township, or of any corporation whatever, unless such debt shall have been created to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or defend the State in war.

Sec. 6. The General Assembly shall never authorize any county, city, town, or township, by vote of its citizens, or otherwise, to become a stockholder in any joint stock company, corporation, or association whatever ; or to raise money for, or loan its credit to, or in aid of, any such company, corporation, or association.

public debt, in order to provide therefor, there shall be created a sinking fund, which shall be sufficient to pay tiie accruing interest on such debt, and, annually, to reduce the principal thereof, by a sum not less than one hundred thousand dollars, increased yearly, and each and every year, by compounding, at the rate of six per cent, per annum. The said sinking fund shall consist of the net annual income of the public works and stocks owned by the State, of any other funds or resources that are, or may be, provided by law, and of such further sum, to be raised by taxation, as may be required for the purposes aforesaid.

Sec. 8. The Auditor of State, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, are hereby created a board of commissioners, to be styled " The Commissioners of the Sinking Fund."

Sec. 9. The commissioners of the sinking fund shall, immediately preceding each regular session of the General Assembly, make an estimate, of the probable amount of the fund, provided for in the seventh section of this article, from all sources except from taxation, and report the same, together with all their proceedings relative to such fund and the public debt, to the Governor, who shall transmit the same, with his regular message, to the General Assembly; and the General Assembly shall make all necessary provision for raising and disbursing said sinking fund, in pursuance of the provisions of this article.

Sec. 10. It shall be the duty of the said commissioners faithfully to apply said fund, together with all moneys that may be, by the General Assembly, appropriated to that object, to the payment of the interest, as it becomes due, and the redemption of the principal of the public debt of the State, excepting only the school and trust funds held by the State.

Sec. 11. The said commissioners shall, semi-annually, make a full and detailed report of their proceedings to the Governor, who shall immediately cause the same to be published, and shall also communicate the same to the General Assembly, forthwith, if it be in session, and if not, then at its first session after such report shall be made.

Sec. 12. So long as this State shall have public works which require superintendence, there shall be a Board of Public Works, to consist of three members, who shall he elected by the people, at the first general election after the adoption of this Constitution, one for the term of one year, one for the term of two years, and one for the term of three years; and one member of said board shall be elected annually thereafter, who shall hold his office for three years.

Sec. 13. The powers and duties of said Board of Public Works and its several members, and their compensation, 'shall be such as now are or may be preccribed by law.

Section 1. All white male citizens, residents of this State, being eighteen years of age, and under the age of forty-five years, shall be enrolled in the militia and perform military duty in such manner, not incompatible with the constitution and laws of the United States, as may be prescribed by law.

Sec. 2. Majors General, Brigadiers General, Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels, Majors, Captains and Subalterns shall be elected by the persons subject to military duty in their respective districts.

Sec. 3. The Governor shall appoint the Adjutant General, Quarter Master General, and such other staff officers as may be provided for by law. Majors General, Brigadiers General, Colonels or commandants of regiments, battalions or squadrons, shall severally appoint their staff, and Captains shall appoint their non-commissioned officers and musicians.

Sec. 4. The Governor shall commission all officers of the line and staff, ranking as such ; and shall have power to call forth the militia to execute the laws of the State, to suppress insurrection, and repel invasion.

Sec. 2. County officers shall be elected on the second Tuesday of October, until otherwise directed by law, by the qualified electors of each

Sec. 4. Township officers shall be elected on the first Monday of April, annually, by the qualified electors of their respective townships, and shall hold their offices for one year from the Monday next succeeding their election, and until their successors are qualified.

Sec. 6. Justices of the peace, and county and township officers may be removed in such manner and for 6uch cause as shall be prescribed by law.

Sec. 1. The commissioners of counties, the trustees of townships, and similar boards, shall have such power of local taxation for police purposes as may be prescribed by law.

Section 1. The apportionment of this State for members of the General Assembly shall be made every ten years, after the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, in the following manner: The whole population of the State, as ascertained by the federal census, or in such other mode as the General Assembly may direct, shall be divided by the number one hundred, and the quotient shall be the ratio of representation in the House of Representatives for ten years next succeeding such apportionment.

Sec. 2. Every county, having a population equal to one-half of said ratio, shall be entitled to one Representative ; every county containing said ratio, and three-fourths over, shall be entitled to two Representatives ; every county containing three times said ratio, shall be entitled to three Representatives ; and so on, requiring after the first two, an entire ratio for each additional Representative.

Sec. 3. When any county shall have a fraction above the ratio so large that, being multiplied by five, the result will be equal to one or more ratios, additional Representatives shall be apportioned for such ratios, among the several sessions of the decennial period, in the following manner : If there be only one ratio, a Representative shall be allotted to the fifth session of the decennial period ; if there are two ratios, a Representative shall be allotted to the fourth and third sessions, respectively; if three, to the third, second, and first sessions, respectively; if four, to the fourth, third, second, and first sessions, respectively.

Sec. 4. Any county, forming with another county or counties a representative district, during one decennial period, if it have acquired sufficient population at the next decennial period, shall be entitled to a separate Representation, if there shall be left, in the district from which it shall have been separated, a population sufficient for a Representative; but no such change shall be made, except at the regular decennial period for the apportionment of Representatives.

Sec. 5. If in fixing any subsequent ratio, a county, previously entitled to a separate representation, shall have less than the number required by the new ratio for a Representative, such county shall be attached to the county adjoining it having the least number of inhabitants ; and the representation of the district so formed shall be determined as herein provided.

Sec. 6. The ratio for a Senator shall forever hereafter be ascertained by dividing the whole population of the State by the number thirty-five.

Sec. 7. The State is hereby divided into thirty-three senatorial districts, as follow : The county of Hamilton shall constitute the first senatorial district; the counties of Butler and Warren, the second; Montgomery and Preble, the third ; Clermont and Brown, the fourth ; Greene, Clinton and Fayfctte, the fifth ; Ross and Highland, the sixth ; Adams, Pike, Scioto and Jackson, the seventh ; Lawrence, Gallia, Meigs and Vinton, the eighth ; Athens, Hocking and Fairfield, the ninth ; Franklin and Pickaway, the tenth ; Clark, Champaign, and Madison, the eleventh ; Miami, Darke and Shelby, the twelfth ; Logan, Union, Marion and Hardin, the thirteenth; Washington and Morgan, the fourteenth; Muskingum and Perry, the fifteenth ; Delaware and Licking, the sixteenth ; Knox and Morrow, the seventeenth; Coshocton and Tuscarawas, the eighteenth ; Guernsey and Monroe, the nineteenth ; Belmont and Harrison, the twentieth; Carroll and Stark, the twenty-first; Jefferson and Columbiana, the twenty-second; Trumbull and Mahoning, the twentythird ; Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga, the twenty-fourth ; Cuyahoga, the twenty-fifth ; Portage and Summit, the twenty-sixth ; Medina and Lorain, -the twenty -seventh ; Wayne and Holmes, the twenty-eighth; Ashland and Richland, the twenty : ninth ; Huron, Erie, Sandusky and Ottawa, the thirtieth ; Seneca, Crawford and Wyandot, the thirty-first ; Mercer, Auglaize, Allen, Van Wert, Paulding, Defiance and Williams, the thirtysecond; and Hancock, Wood,. Lucas, Fulton, Henry and Putnam, the thirty-third. For the first decennial period after the adoption of this Constitution, each of said districts shall be entitled to one Senator, except the first district, which shall be entitled to three Senators.

Sec. 8. The same rules shall be applied, in apportioning the fractions of senatorial districts, and in annexing districts which may hereafter have less than three-fourths of a senatorial ratio, as are applied to representative districts.

Sec. 9. Any county forming part of a senatorial district, having acquired a population equal to a full senatorial ratio, shall be made a separate senatorial district, at any regular decennial apportionment, if a full senatorial ratio shall be left in the district from which it shall be taken.

Sec. 10. For the first ten years after the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, the apportionment of Representatives shall be provided in the schedule, and no change shall ever be made in the principles of representation as herein established, or in the senatorial districts, except as above provided. All territory belonging to a county at the time of any apportionment shall, as to the right of representation and suffrage, remain an integral part thereof during the decennial period.