The Memorial of the Honorable Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Wharton humbly sheweth:
That on the 5th day of November 1768, His Britannick Majesty at a Congress held with the Six Nations of Indians, at Fort Stanwix, purchased from the said Indians a very extensive Tract of Country, Situate near the Province of New York, and upon the river Ohio in North America, The limits and Boundaries of which Tract are mentioned and described in the Deed of Sale and Conveyance from the said Indians to his said Majesty.
That the Consideration paid by his said Majesty’s Agent to the said Indians, on their executing the said Conveyance amounted to the Sum of £10,460.7.3. Sterling, exclusive of other Considerations referred to in the said Conveyance.
That in June 1769 a Petition was presented to his said Majesty by your Memorialists, in behalf of Themselves and several Persons residing in the United States and Great Britain, proposing to purchase 2,400,000 Acres, Part of the said tract, at such Price and Subject to such Quit Rents as should be thought reasonable, and the Petitioners humbly proposed, that a Grant of the Lands, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, should be made to Them and their Heirs and Assigns; and that such Grant should particularly specify the several and respective Boundaries and Limits within which the Lands thereby granted should be located or set out.
That the said Petition having been referred by his said Majesty in Council, to the Earl of Hillsborough and the other Lords Commissioners for Trade, and Plantations, your Memorialists and Several of their Associates attended their Lordships in the month of December, 1769, on the Subject of the said Petition; when the Earl of Hillsborough was pleased to recommend to the Petitioners, to endeavour to contract with the Lords Commissioners of the British Treasury for such Part of the said Lands, purchased from the said Six Nations, lying on the river Ohio, as would be Sufficient in extent to form a Seperate Government, and your Memorialists and their Associates acceding to this Suggestion and Recommendation, his Lordship immediately went from the Board of Trade to the said Board of Treasury, desiring the Petitioners, to wait ’till his Return when his Lordship was pleased to inform the Petitioners, that he had applied in their behalf to the Duke of Grafton, Lord North, and the other Lords of the said Treasury Board, which was then sitting, who had signified their Desire to receive the Proposal of the Petitioners, for purchasing such Tract of Land as was recommended to them to contract for as aforesaid.
That accordingly, on the 4th. day of January, 1770, a Memorial was presented to the said Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, proposing to purchase the Tract of Land, herein after described, and to pay the sum of £10,460 7. 3. Sterling money of Great Britain for the same, and a quit Rent of two shillings for every hundred Acres of cultivable Land, within the said Tract, the said quit Rent to commence after the Expiration of Twenty Years; the Boundaries of which Tract of Land were described in a Paper annexed to the said Memorial, and are as follow.— Beginning on the South Side of the River Ohio opposite to the mouth of Scioto, thence Southerly thro’ the Pass in the Ouasioto Mountains to the South Side of the said Mountains, thence along the Side of the said Mountains NorthEasterly to the Fork of the great Kenhawa, made by the Junction of green Briar and new River, thence along the said Green Briar River on the easterly Side of the Same unto the Head or Termination of the North Easterly Branch thereof, thence Easterly to the Allegheny Mountains Then along the said Allegany Mountains to Lord Fairfax’s line, thence along the same to the Spring Head of the North Branch of the River Potowmack, thence along the western boundary Line of the Province of Maryland to the Southern boundary Line of the Province of Pennsylvania, Thence along the said boundary Line of the Province of Pennsylvania to the End thereof, Thence along the western boundary Line of the said Province of Pennsylvania, untill the same shall strike the River Ohio, thence down the said River Ohio to the Place of Beginning.
That the said Lords Commissioners of the Treasury took into Consideration the said Memorial and Paper containing a Description of the Lands applied for, and agreed to accept the Price offer’d to be paid for the Purchase of the said Lands, in Case the other Departments of his said Majestys government, who were the proper Judges of the Policy of the Grant applied for, should approve such Grant, but with Respect to the quit Rents proposed to be reserved, and the Periods at which They should commence their said Lordships postponed any Decision thereon ’till They received information from the Earl of Hillsborough and the Board of Trade, what quit Rents were reserved on Grants in his said Majesty’s Colonies, which lie nearest to the Lands in Question, and from what Periods after the Grants such quit Rents commenced respectively.
That on the 19th Day of January 1770 the Earl of Hillsborough transmitted to the said Board of Treasury, an Account of the quit Rents reserved in such Grants of Lands in North America, as were nearest to the Lands applied for.
That your Memorialists, and their Associates being informed that Arthur Lee Esquire; who had prayed his said Majesty, on the 16th day of March 1768, to give and grant to him and his Associates 250,000 Acres of the said Land, had presented a Petition to the Lords Commissioners for Trade, and Plantations, as had also Colonel George Mercer, in Behalf of the Ohio Company (who claimed 500,000 Acres within the Limits of the Tract prayed for) and That the said Petitions had been transmitted to the said Lords Commissioners of the Treasury for the Purpose of Staying the Grant of the Lands to your Memorialists and their Associates. They Therefore, on the Fourth Day of April 1770, represented to the said Lords of the Treasury, that as their Lordships had agreed to the Sum offered to be paid for the said Purchase, and nothing was wanting to complete the same, but fixing the Time for the Commencement of the quit Rents, They hoped the Conclusion of their Treaty would not be delayed, at the Request of the said Petitioners.
That on the 7th of April 1770, the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury having been attended by your Memorialists and several of their Associates, Their Lordships acquainted them that as the Matter contained in the said Petition (of Colonel Mercer) related Singly to the question, how far the Grant to your Memorialists and their Associates could be made, consistenly with Justice, it could not properly come under the Consideration of that Board, who had nothing before them but the Settlement of the Purchase Money, and quit Rents to be paid, and with Respect to these Points, their Lordships agreed to accept the Proposition of the Memorialists, as to the purchase Money and quit rents to be paid for the said Grant.
That on the 8th Day of May 1770 your Memorialists and their Associates presented a Petition to his said Majesty in Council, praying that a Grant of the said Lands should be made to them, reserving therein to all Persons their just and legal Rights to any Parts or Parcels of said Lands, which might be comprehended within the Tract prayed for by the Memorialists.
That your Memorialists, and their Associates having agreed with the said Colonel George Mercer on Behalf of the Ohio Company; he withdrew his Application to his said Majesty for a seperate Grant of Lands, within the Tract prayed for by the Memorialists, and relinquished all Claim thereto.
That on the 25 day of May 1770, the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, referred to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, the Memorialists said Petition of the 8th of May 1770.
That in July 1770, when the aforesaid Petition was under the Consideration of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, the Earl of Hillsborough was pleased to send for and acquaint your Memorialists and several of their Associates, that the said Commissioners were of opinion, The Government of Virginia should be furnished with Copies of all Papers relating to your Memorialists and Associates Contract with the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and that until such Time, as an Answer was received to a Letter, which the Earl of Hillsborough was directed by his Britannick Majesty to write to the governor of the Colony (inclosing the said Papers) all farther Proceedings with your Memorialists, and their Associates, touching the Premisses, must be suspended; but his Lordship was pleased to assure your Memorialists, and several of their Associates, that he should by the said King’s express Command, forbid the Governor of Virginia to grant any Warrants for, or suffer any Surveys to be made on any Lands within the Boundaries of the Contract of your Memorialists, or beyond the Limits, prescribed by the Royal Proclamation of 1763.
That on the 24th of February 1771 the Honorable Mr. Walpole (one of your Memorialists Associates) understanding, that an Answer was received from the President, and Council of Virginia to the foregoing Letter of the Earl of Hillsborough, made Application to his Lordship for a Copy of the same, and on the day following,— His Lordship, by Letter, informed Mr. Walpole “that he had directed Copies to be made and Sent him of such Parts of the Letter as he had received from Virginia, as related to your” (memorialist’s) “Application for Lands in America, now before the Board of Trade.”— And that accordingly, your Memorialists and their Associates were furnished with Copies of such Parts of Mr. President Nelson’s Letter (dated Williamsburgh October 18th 1770) as related to their Contract aforesaid, by which it appeared, that all the Proceeding’s concerning the said Contract with the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury (transmitted, as above, by Order of the Board of Trade) and the Earl of Hillsborough’s Letter of the 20th of July 1770 (forbidding by the said King’s Order, The granting of any more Lands westward of the Alleghany Mountain) had been received “read in Council, and maturely considered.”
That it also appear’d, that the said President and Council had represented to the Earl of Hillsborough, that “his late Majesty (George the Second) had been pleased to order 200,000 Acres of Land to be granted to the Ohio Company, and that Governor Dunwiddie had, by proclamation, promised 200,000 Acres on, or near the Ohio to Such Persons as would voluntarily enter the King’s service for the Defence of the Frontiers &c. (as upon Reference being had to the said Letter, will more particularly appear) But at the same Time, the said President (and Council) observed “that in all other Grants, He did not find any Steps had been taken towards Surveying and Seating them. Of Course (he added) They are, or will become lapsed”, And also, That,— “We do not presume to say, to whom our gracious Sovereign Should grant his vacant Lands, all that We can consistently with our Duty hope for, is that all prior Rights, whether equitable or legal, may be preserved and protected.”
That upon the Earl of Hillsborough receiving the foregoing Letter, his Lordship wrote to Mr. President Nelson, January 2d. 1771, acknowledged the Receipt of his Dispatches, No. 2, 5, & 6, and observed to him, “That as the first related to a Matter under the Consideration of the Lords of Trade, his Majesty had ordered Copies thereof and of it’s inclosures to be sent to that Board, and that his Lordship had no Doubt, but in the Consideration of them,— Attention would be given to the equitable Claims of those bona fide Settlers, whose Possessions were derived from the Grants made to the Ohio Company in 1754, or such as were passed in Consequence of Instructions from his late Majesty or Lieutenant Governor Dunwiddies Proclamation, at the Commencement of last War.”
That after much Attendance and Solicitation at the Board of Trade, the Earl of Hillsborough and the other Lords Commissioners of that Board did on the 15th Day of April 1772 make a Report to the said Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, as to the Propriety of the Grant prayed for by your Memorialists and their Associates, both in Point of Policy and Justice...; and among other Reasons assigned by their Lordships against the Policy of the said Grant They were pleased to observe, That the Tract prayed for was out of all Advantageous Intercourse with Great Britain...; And with Regard to the Justice of the said Grant, their Lordships were pleased to report, That they presumed this Consideration could have Reference only to the Case of such Persons, who had already possession of Lands in that Part of the Country, under legal Titles, derived from Grants made by the Governor and Council of Virginia.
That on the first Day of July 1772, the said Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs took the said Report of the said Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations into Consideration, and having heard what your Memorialists and their Associates had to offer thereupon, did humbly report to his said Majesty, that it appeared to them upon full and mature Consideration of the Evidence, which the Petitioners had produced in Support of their Said Petition, (The most material Part of which had not been produced at the Board of Trade.)
1st. That the Lands in question had been for some Time past, and were then in an actual State of settling, Numbers of Families to a very considerable Amount removing thither from his said Majesty’s other Colonies.
2ly. That the Lands in question, did not lie beyond all advantageous Intercourse with the kingdom of Great Britain.
That the Lords of the said Council for Plantation Affairs, did at the same Time report to his said Majesty, that it was their Opinion, that in Case his said Majesty should be graciously pleased to make a Grant of any Part of the Lands in question, that the Petitioners were best entitled to such Mark of his Majesty’s Royal Favor, in Regard they were the first who had made Proposals for the Purchase from Government, of Lands in his Majesty’s Plantations in America, and had agreed to take the whole Expence of the Civil Government on themselves and their Lordships at the same Time that they recommended it to his said Majesty to comply with the Prayer of the Petitioners, submitted it, as their Opinion That Orders should be sent to the Superintendant of Indian Affairs, to apprize the Tribes of the six Nations and their Confederates, of such intended Settlement; and That the said Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations should be directed to prepare a proper Clause or Clauses to be inserted in the Grant, Saving and reserving to the respective Occupiers all prior Claims to Lands within the Limits of the said Grant, whether derived from equitable, or legal Titles, and further strictly prohibiting the Petitioners and their Associates, and their, and each and every of their Heirs and Assigns from settling occupying or improving any Part of the Lands lying between the Line which had been settled by the Treaty as well with the Tribes of the Six Nations and their Confederates, as with the Cherokee Indians, as the boundary line between his said Majesty’s Territories and the hunting Grounds of the Indians and the Line proposed by the Petitioners, beginning on the South Side of the River Ohio, opposite to the Mouth of Scioto, and running thence Southerly Thro’ the Pass of the Ouasioto Mountains to the South Side of the said Mountains, but that all that Part of the said Lands comprehended between the said two Lines should remain wholly unsettled and unoccupied by the Petitioners and their Associates, and each and every of their Heirs, and Assigns untill such Time as his said Majesty’s Allowance and Permission for the Settling and occupying the same, Should be first obtained;— And lastly, the said Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs did report to his said Majesty, that it was their Opinion, that to the End the several Persons actually Settled, or that might thereafter Settle, might be more properly and quietly governed, that the said Settlement and District Should be erected into a Seperate Government, in such Form, and Manner as to his said Majesty’s Wisdom should seem meet, and under such other Restrictions and Regulations as his said Majesty’s Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations Should advise.
That on the 14th Day of August 1772 his said Majesty taking the said Report of the said Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs into Consideration was pleased, with the Advice of his privy Council to approve thereof, and to order, that the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations should consider and report to his Majesty in Council, if any and what Terms of Settlement and Cultivation, and what Restrictions and Reservations to the British Crown were necessary to be inserted in the said Grant, exclusive of the Money agreed to be paid by the Petitioners in Consideration of the said Tract of Land, And the Reservation of a quit Rent of two Shillings for every hundred Acres of cultivable Land within the said Tract, after the Expiration of twenty years and that they should likewise prepare a proper Clause or Clauses to be inserted therein, for saving and reserving to the respective Occupiers all prior Claims to Lands within the Limits of the said intended Grant, whether derived under equitable or legal Titles. And also strictly prohibiting the Petitioners and their Associates and each and every of their Heirs and Assigns, from settling occupying or improving any Part of the Lands which lie between the Line which had been settled by Treaty as well with the Tribes of the Six Nations and their Confederates as with the Cherokee Indians, as the Boundary Line between his said Majesty’s Territories and the hunting Grounds of the Indians, and the Line proposed to be drawn by the Petitioners (as above described) but that all that Part of the said Lands comprehended between the said two Lines should remain wholly unsettled and unoccupied by the Petitioners and their Associates, and each and every of their Heirs and Assigns ’till such Time as the Petitioners their Heirs and Assigns should have obtained his said Majesty’s Permission and Allowance for settling and occupying the same. And his said Majesty was pleased further to order that the said Lords Commissioners for Trade And Plantations should prepare and lay before his Majesty in Council a Plan for establishing a Seperate Government upon the said Tract in such Form and Manner and under such Restrictions and Regulations as they should judge proper and expedient; together with an Estimate of the Expence, and the Ways and Means by which the same should be defrayed by the Petitioners.
That on the 14th Day of August his said Majesty in Council was pleased by a further Order in Council to approve the Report of the said Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs; and accordingly to give the necessary Directions to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations for carrying the same into Execution: And his said Majesty was thereby pleased to order “that the right Honorable the Earl of Dartmouth one of his said Majesty’s principal Secretarys of State Should receive his Majesty’s Pleasure for directing his Majesty’s Superintendant for Indian Affairs to apprize the Chiefs of the Six Nations and their Confederates, of his Majesty’s Intention to form a Settlement upon the Lands purchased of them by his Majesty in 1768.”
That in Consequence of the said Order of Council, the Earl of Dartmouth sent Instructions to his Majesty’s Superintendant for Indian Affairs, and in Obedience thereto the Deputy Agent for Indian Affairs on the 3d. of April 1773 assembled the Chiefs of the Western Nations and informed them in his Majesty’s Name, of his Majesty’s Resolution to form a Settlement upon Part of the Lands purchased of the Six Nations in 1768 and on the sixth Day of the same Month the Chiefs in Council returned an Answer, and therein among other Things observed, that as their Bretheren the white People had for some years past been settling in great Numbers thro’ that Country, they could not help being alarmed, as they appeared to do it, without the Authority of their wise People, or any good Intentions towards them. That for the Peace of the Country it was as necessary for prudent People to govern them, as it was for them to take Care of their foolish young Men. And they desired, that his Majesty might be assured that they wished nothing more than to cultivate the strictest Friendship with their Bretheren the English in that Country, And that it would give them the highest Satisfaction to take the Person, whom his Majesty should appoint to govern there by the Hand and to afford him all the Assistance on their Parts, that they were able to give in renewing and strengthning the Chain of Friendship and promoting the Peace and Tranquillity of that Part of the Country.
That on the 6th Day of May 1773 the Earl of Dartmouth and the other Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations were pleased to report to his said Majesty, that his Majesty having been pleased by his Order in Council of the 14th of August 1772 to approve of a Report from the right honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs containing several Propositions respecting the Application made as aforesaid, for a Grant of Lands upon the River Ohio in North America and for erecting the said Lands into a seperate Government and to direct them to report their Opinion touching the Conditions of the said Grant and the Plan upon which Such Seperate Government ought to be established; They did therefore, in Obedience to his said Majesty’s Command, take the said Order of Reference into Consideration, and represented to his said Majesty thereupon.
That as the Measures which his said Majesty had been pleased to Adopt, in Regard to his Possessions upon the Ohio had they humbly conceived been principally founded upon a Consideration of the Necessity there was, for introducing some regular and uniform System of Government into a Country which tho’ at present a Part of the Colony of Virginia was yet from its remote Situation, incapable of participating of the Advantages arising from the civil Institution of that Colony, they did therefore, make the Consideration of the Plan of Government the first Object of their Attention, and as they presumed that it was not intended that the Limits of the new Government to be formed Should be confined to the Tract proposed to be granted in Propriety but that it Should comprehend all such Parts of that Country as by the Agreement of the Indians, were reserved for the Settlement of his Majesty’s Subjects, and which from their Nature and remote Situation could not participate of the Advantages of the Civil Constitution of any other Colony, they therefore craved Leave humbly to propose
1st. That the Lands comprehended within the Boundaries described in the said Report Should be seperated from the Colony of Virginia and be erected by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, into a distinct Colony, under the Name of Vandalia, And that the Form and Constitution of Government for the Said Colony Should be such, as is in and by the Said Report mentioned and expressed; And particularly that the Annual Salaries and Allowances to the Several Officers of Government, within the said new Colony should be as follows vizt