the fees received from the party whose location shall be set aside. A surveyor desiring to locate lands for himself shall make such location with the Register. And whereas Congress by their resolutions of Sep. 16. 1776 & Aug. 12, 1780 stipulated grants of land to the officers & souldiers who should engage the service of the United States, and continue therein to the close of the war or until discharged by Congress & to the representatives of such officers & souldiers as should be slain by the enemy, in the following proportions, to wit, to a Major General 1100 acres, to a Brigedier 850, to a Colonel 500, to a L Colonel 450, to a Major 400, to a Captain 300, to a Lieutenant 200, to an Ensign 150, & to a non-commissioned officer or souldier 100. For complying therefore with such stipulation, & for ascertaining the evidence of rights accruing under the same which shall be receivable instead of money, it is ordained that the evidence to be required from commissioned officers shall be a certificate from the War office of their rank and continuance in service to the end of the war & from non commissioned officers & souldiers a certificate from the captain of their Company, coun tersigned by the officer who commanded commanding officer of their regiment at the time of their discharge, that they were enlisted into the service of the United States, during the war, & continued therein to the close of it to wit, to the day of 1783 & from the representatives of such officers & souldiers as were slain by the enemy, a certificate, from the same authority of the rank, or term of enlistment of the deceased, & that he was slain by the enemy, together with satisfactory affidavits that they are his representatives: which evidences shall be receivable by the treasurer Loan officer of the United States in the state to the line of which he belonged, or by the Treasurer if he belonged to the line of no state and on the warrant issued shall be an endorsement signed by the Treasurer or Loan officer declaring the proportion thereof which was satisfied by military service; and in the same proportion shall all fees be abated to which that warrant would otherwise be subject. The proceedings on it in all other respects shall be the same as on a warrant issued wholly for money. Saving and conforming always to all Officers & souldiers entitled to lands on the Northern side of the Ohio, by donation or bounty from the commonwealth of Virginia & to all persons claiming under them all rights to which they are so entitled by the laws of the said state & the acts of Congress accepting the cession of Western territory from the sd state. TO THE GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. V. S. A. ANNAPOLIS Apr. 30: 1784 SIR, I do myself the honor of inclosing you an act of Congress on the subject of Western territory as passed a few days ago. The Ordinance for opening the land office so soon as our purchases are made from the Indians is not yet passed. I also inclose a copy of the estimate & requisitions of the year as they passed Congress. This however you will shortly receive from the President officially. Congress have determined that they will adjourn on the 3a of June to meet at Trenton in November. Virginia, Maryland & Pennsylvania gave each certain powers to Congress to enable them to counteract the British commercial measures. But these powers were all different. A recommendation is therefore now under consideration proposing to the states to give a uniform power for a given term of years which may enable Congress to make it the interest of every nation to enter into equal treaties with us. This I think will be ready by the next post. The Cheval Luzerne has notafied his leave to return home & that Mons' de Marbois will act as chargé des affaires till a successor arrives. We begin to hope that the bills of the finan The cier threatened with protest have been taken up. ground of our hope is the length of time elapsed without hearing of their ultimate protest. A vessel arrived here two days ago which left London the 25th of March. She brings papers to the 20th. Pitt was still in place, supported by the king, H. of Lords, the city of London, E. India Company & the nation in general, who were sending addresses from all parts of the Crown in his favor. The Grocers Company having presented him with the freedom of their body & given him an entertainment, the city was illuminated, and the windows of the opposition who would not illuminate were broken. Still the opposition returned a majority of 12 in the H. of Commons who kept all the wheels of government suspended. It was in Mr. Pitt's power to secure himself at any time by admitting a coalition but this would seem to shift him on the very ground which had shaken his adversaries. It was believed the parliament would be dissolved. They had continued the king's power over our commerce six months longer. DEAR GENERAL,-I received by the last post your favor of the 27th Ult. and am obliged for the communication therein. The ferment on the subject of your society seems just becoming general. They write us from Virginia that it works high there, and 1 From the original in the possession of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet of New York. that the division is precisely into civil and military. We will not presume to send foreign news from Annapolis to Philadelphia. Congress expects to adjourn on the 3d of June. They have passed the estimate and requisitions for the year, and some recommendations to the states to vest Congress with such much power over their commerce as will enable them to retaliate on any nation who may wish to grasp it on unequal terms; and to enable them if it should be found expedient to pass something like the British navigation act. You say [sic] in the public papers a report of a committee, erroneously said to be an act of Congress, for dividing the Western country into new states. That report was recommitted, the paragraphs of names struck off, the principles of government somewhat varied & the act then passed. Foreign treaties of commerce occupy us at present. I am not yet fixed as to the time of my coming to Philadelphia, tho' think it will not be long [after the] first REPORT ON CONTINENTAL BILLS OF CREDIT.' [May 7, 1784.] The Grand Committee. To whom was referred a Letter of the Governor of Massachusetts of the 28th of October 1783 relative to the Continental Bills of Credit of the old Emissions, submit the following. 1 Endorsed: "No. 88 Report of grand Comee on Old Cont: Money. Entd Read May 17, 1784. Monday 24 May assigned for consideration." This report, as adopted by Congress, was printed as : The Grand Committee to whom was referred / a Letter of the Governor of Massachusetts, of the 28th of Oc-/tober, 1783, relative to the Continental Bills of Credit / of the Old Emissions, submit the following. / 4 to. Broadside. Resolved. That all sums of Continental bills of credit paid by or to any State on account of the United States shall be credited or debited in account according to the specie value of such bills at the time of paiment, as settled by the legislature of the same state in their table of depreciation formed for the use of their state: and where none such has been formed, an average shall be taken from those of the states adjoining wherein such tables have been formed, on which paiments an interest shall be allowed at the rate of 6 per centum per annum from the time of paiment. That all such bills now in the Treasury of any state shall be credited to such state at the value they bore in specie at the time they were received by the state, which value shall be settled by a table of depreciation as directed in the preceding resolution for all the period of time comprehended in such depreciation table and if the sd bills were received after the last day to which such table descends they shall then be credited at the rate at which they were actually purchased or received, or if not purchased or received at any particular rate, then at the market value of such bills within the state at the time, to be estimated on the best evidence which may be obtained, on which sums also a like interest of 6 per cent per annum from the time of receipt shall be allowed, and the affidavit of the Treasurer receiving the sd bills shall be evidence of the time and rate at which they were received. That all such bills now in the hands of individuals shall be redeemed at the same rates prescribed for those in the Treasury of their state. That the holders of such bills shall be at liberty to carry them to the loan officer of the U. S. within their state who shall give them in exchange for the same a certificate expressing the sum in specie which the U. S. owe in lieu thereof & the time from which it bears interest, which time shall be the 1st day of April 1781, where the sd bills were received before that day, & when received afterwards the time of their actual receipt. The loan officer shall require from the holder the best evidence of the time of his receiving them which the nature of the case will admit, viz. that of circumstances & disinterested persons where to be had, and where not to be had to his satisfaction, then resorting to the examination of the party himself on oath, & giving |