A little later a lot was purchased in an undesirable corner of the town cemetery, whither the precious remains were transferred from the family tomb: General and Mrs. Knox, with their children who died young, being placed in one and the same grave, and the others in separate graves. The gray marble shaft that formerly guarded the entrance to the tomb stands at the head of the large grave, and plain slabs at the others. The lot is inclosed with an iron fence, now tumble-down and neglected. The towns-people rightly considered this a disgrace to them as well as to the Knox descendants, and wrote to the executor of the will for permission to remove the bodies to a prominent place in the park and place a suitable monument over them. The reply, although a refusal, shows that his action in regard to the burial had been a hasty one. He mentions the repug

nance he feels at another removal of the honored remains, and his veneration for the monument Mrs. Knox had selected to mark her husband's last resting-place; and also speaks, in warm appreciation, of the interest and kindness of the Thomaston people in wishing "to perpetuate the memory of a man who gave all the energies of his early life to the great cause of establishing for us this model Republic, and his latter days to the interests of the town which he selected before all others as his home."

The old Knox mansion remained a striking land-mark until about the year 1868. The construction of the Knox and Lincoln Railroad necessitated its removal, as the line of the road was laid diagonally across its site; the servants' house has been utilized as the railroad station, and the solitary stable has been converted into a grave-stone manufactory. The grounds are but a mere waste save the river border, which is occupied by a cluster of petty manufactories.

The prompt, active part taken by Knox in the Revolution, his valuable services for the nation after the close of the war, and his useful life as a citizen when his public career ended, will ever be gratefully remembered by all New England people. The visitor to Thomaston will find streets and public institutions bearing his name, and will observe how the enthusiasm and reverence of a grateful people bursts forth into well-merited praise. Our recruits for the late war marched under a banner bearing the words, "From the Home of Knox."

D. Marguerite Lendly

THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY.

ITS ORDINANCE AND ITS SETTLEMENT

On the 7th of April, 1888, a century will be completed since the first colony was planted on the first territory belonging to the United States. The causes which led to the establishment of that colony, the territory on which it was planted, and the ordinance of the Continental Congress for the government of the territory, form the subject of this paper.

The ordinance of 1787 is regarded as one of the wisest and most remarkable of the enactments of the Continental Congress. The territory for the government of which it was enacted was a conspicuous feature in our early history, regarded with great interest by European as well as American States. The settlement of that territory, made in 1788, was remarkable in many respects, and especially noteworthy for its intimate connection with the ordinance of 1787, and the preparation which had been made for it through a series of years.

The establishment, in a great territory inhabited only by savage tribes, of a colony carrying with it the institutions of civilized and Christian society was in itself an important event. But this was not a fortuitous migration, but the carrying out of a long-contemplated plan. For years events had been shaping themselves with reference to this settlement. No single decade in the history of the United States is so full of important events as that of which the present is the centennial—the decade from 1780 to 1790. And nearly all those events were directly connected with the North-west territory and its settlement. Besides the questions of the war, the providing of ways and means for carrying on the struggle for independence, the attention of our public men was largely occupied with the territory west of the Alleghenies, and especially that north-west of the river Ohio. As the probabilities of a successful termination of the war with England became stronger, the agitation of the question of title to this region became more earnest. Four States laid claim to it, in whole or in part, while others insisted that it belonged to the nation itself. Maryland, especially, was strenuous in her opposition to these State claims, and because of them she had declined to ratify the Articles of Confederation. Congress could not well decide between the claimants,

but urged them all to make cessions to the United States. Early in September, 1780, on a report of a committee to whom had been referred the instructions of Maryland to her delegates, the remonstrance of Virginia and the action of New York, pressed the importance of a surrender of these claims, which were endangering the stability of the general Confederacy. This was followed, on the 10th of October, by the important resolution: "That the unappropriated lands that may be ceded or relinquished to the United States by any particular State shall be disposed of for the common benefit of the United States, and be settled and formed into distinct republican States, which shall become members of the federal union."

New York was the first State to cede her claim. Though not based, like those of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia, upon a colonial grant or charter, her claim seems to have been regarded by the Committee of Congress, to whom the various claims had been referred for examination, as not inferior, at least, to either of the others. The cession of New York was not only the first, it was also made without any reservation. And on the same day that the delegates of New York executed their deed of cession, those of Maryland signed the Articles of Confederation, thus completing the Federal Union. Knowing how inefficient these articles proved as a constitution of government, we do not now attach to them any high value, but we must not forget that they constituted the symbol of union; and thus their ratification by Maryland as the thirteenth State was a most important act, and brought a great feeling of relief to the country.

Maryland seemed to assume that the example of New York would be followed by the other States having claims, in which she was not disappointed, though there was some delay, and all the cessions were not, like hers, without reservation. Had they insisted on their claims, the union, such as it was, must have been broken to pieces. The question at issue concerned the ownership of the North-west Territory. We are greatly indebted to Maryland for the firmness with which she maintained her position that the territory won by the blood and treasure of the common country was by right the property of the United States as a whole; and we are also indebted to those States which, having, as they believed, rightful claims, were willing to relinquish them for the common good.

But there was a further question of ownership of the same region. The war was not yet over. The battle of Yorktown had not been fought. And even when England became satisfied that she must let her colonies go, there still remained the question of boundary. Next to her unwilling

ness to acknowledge our independence was her unwillingness to yield any territory north-west of the Ohio. Congress wanted the forty-fifth parallel of latitude as the dividing line; England insisted on the Ohio River. France had aided us in our struggle for independence, but in the matter of boundary she was on the side of England. So, too, was Spain; and, as treaties were to be made between England and these two powers, as well as between her and the United States, all involving questions of territory, the matter was not a little complicated. To add to the difficulty, Congress had instructed the American commissioners to consult the French Court as to the provisions of the treaty between Great Britain and the United States. Mr. Jay, becoming convinced that the French minister was not acting in good faith, addressed himself directly to the English commissioner, and thus a provisional treaty was agreed on without the knowledge of France. The American commissioners felt themselves justified, in the peculiar circumstances of the case, in departing from their instructions, though they have been severely criticised for it by some of their own countrymen, and it has often been asserted that their suspicions of the French minister were without foundation. Recently documents have been brought to light which go far to justify them in what they did.

In the midst of the negotiations a change of administration took place in consequence of the death of the Marquis of Rochester. The new prime minister, Lord Shelburne, though he had been opposed to the passage of the Stamp Act, was strongly averse to the acknowledgment of the independence of the United States. So strong was his opposition that he declared in Parliament after he became prime minister that, in his opinion, "whenever Parliament should acknowledge the independence of America, the sun of England's glory was set forever." With the British prime minister holding such views, and with France and Spain unwilling that the United States should hold any territory north of the Ohio, it is remarkable that our commissioners succeeded in making the St. Lawrence and the lakes the dividing line instead of the Ohio River.

The provisional treaty between the United States and Great Britain was signed November 30, 1782, but was not to take effect till peace should be concluded between France and Great Britain. This was done a little later, the provisional treaty between these two powers being signed January 20, 1783; as also on the same day one between Spain and Great Britain. On the 3d of September following definitive treaties were concluded between Great Britain and the other three powers.

After it was settled by the three provisional treaties that England, France, and Spain would relinquish to the United States all claim to the

territory lying between the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the great lakes, a most important movement was made to plant there a colony. The Continental Congress as early as 1776 had appropriated lands as bounties for officers and soldiers who should serve during the war. Before the army

had been disbanded and while yet in camp at Newburgh, two hundred and eighty-eight officers signed a petition to Congress asking that the bounty lands to which they were entitled might be located between the river Ohio and Lake Erie. They speak of this tract as "of sufficient extent, the land of such quality and situation as may induce Congress to assign and mark it out as a tract or territory to form a distinct government, in time to be admitted one of the Confederated States of America." General Rufus Putnam placed this petition, with a long and able letter, in the hands of General Washington to be laid before Congress. This petition, with the letter of General Putnam, as also the letter of General Washington to the President of Congress, will be referred to again. Though the commander-in-chief strongly urged the granting of this petition, Congress declined doing it; partly, perhaps, because the conditional cession by Virginia of her claim to the territory had not been accepted. Looking back after the lapse of a hundred years, we see that the delay of a few years in the planting of that colony was wisely ordered by Him who shapes the course of human events.

On the 1st of March, 1784, the delegates in Congress from Virginia, in pursuance of an act of the Legislature of that State, passed October 20, 1783, executed a deed of cession of the right of that commonwealth to the territory north west of the river Ohio. This cession made two reservations one reserving for "the Virginia troops upon continental establishment" the land between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers, and the other granting 150,000 acres for George Rogers Clarke and his officers and men. The two States with the largest claims to the Western territoryNew York and Virginia-having now made cessions satisfactory to Congress, a committee was appointed to report a plan for the government of that territory. This committee, consisting of Messrs. Jefferson, Chase, and Howell, reported a plan, which after recommitment and subsequent amendments, was passed on the 23d of April. As reported by the committee, the resolution contained this paragraph: "That after the year 1800 of the Christian era there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the said States, otherwise than in punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been convicted to have been personally guilty." This clause was stricken out before the passage of the resolution.