sippi, and all other rivers and waters bordering on the said State of Wisconsin, so far as the same shall form a common boundary to said State and any other State or States now or hereafter to be formed or bounded by the same; and said river and waters, and the navigable waters leading into the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said State as to all other citizens of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost or toll therefor.

"Sec. IV. And be it further enacted, That from and after the admission of the State of Wisconsin into the Union, in pursuance of this act, the laws of the United States, which are not locally inapplicable, shall have the same force and effect within the State of Wisconsin as elsewhere within the United States; and said State shall constitute one district, and be called the district of Wisconsin; and a District Court shall be held therein, to consist of one Judge, who shall preside in the said district, and be called a District Judge. He shall hold at the seat of government of said State two ses sions of said court annually, on the first Mondays in January and July, and he shall in all things have and exercise the same jurisdiction and powers which were by law given to the Judge of the Kentucky District, under an act entitled "An act to establish the Judicial Courts of the United States." He shall appoint a Clerk for said District, who shall reside and keep the records of said Court at the place of holding the same; and shall receive for the services performed by him the same fees to which the Clerk of the Kentucky District is by law entitled for similar services. There shall be allowed to the Judge of said District Court the annual compensation of fifteen hundred dollars, to commence from the date of his appointment, to be paid quarterly at the Treasury of the United States.

"Sec. V. And be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed in said District a person learned in the law, to act

as Attorney of the United States, who, in addition to the stated fees, shall be paid the sum of two hundred dollars annually by the United States, as a full compensation for all extra services; the said payment to be made quarterly, at the treasury of the United States. And there shall also be appointed a Marshal for said District, who shall perform the same duties, be subject to the same regulations and penalties, and be entitled to the same fees as are prescribed and allowed to Marshals in other districts; and shall, moreover, be allowed the sum of two hundred dollars annually, as a compensation for all extra services.

"Sec VI. And be it further enacted, That, until another census shall be taken and apportionment made, the State of Wisconsin shall be entitled to two Representatives in the Congress of the United States.

"Sec. VII. And be it further enacted, That the following propositions are hereby submitted to the Convention which shall assemble for the purpose of forming a Constitution for the State of Wisconsin, for acceptance or rejection; and if accepted by said Convention, and ratified by an article in said Constitution, they shall be obligatory on the United States:

First. That section numbered sixteen, in every township of the public lands in said State, and where such section has been sold or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as may be, shall be granted to said State, for the use of Schools.

Second. That the seventy-two sections, or two entire townships of land set apart and reserved for the use and support of a university by an act of Congress, approved on the twelfth day of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, entitled "an act concerning a seminary of learning in the Territory of Wisconsin," are hereby granted and conveyed to the State, to be appropriated solely to the use and support of such university, in such manner as the Legislature may prescribe.

Third. That ten entire sections of land, to be selected,

located under the direction of the Legislature, in legal divisions of not less than one-quarter section, from any of the unappropriated lands belonging to the United States within the said State, are hereby granted to the said State, for the purpose of completing the public buildings of the said State, or for the erection of others at the seat of government, under the direction of the Legislature thereof.

Fourth. That all salt springs within said State, not exceeding twelve in number, with six sections of land adjoining, or as contiguous as may be to each, shall be granted to the State for its use; the same to be selected by the Legislature thereof, within one year after the admission of said State; and when so selected, to be used or disposed of on such terms, conditions and regulations as the Legislature shall direct provided, that no salt spring or land, the right whereof is now vested in any individual or individuals, or which may hereafter be confirmed or adjudged to any individual or individuals, shall, by this section, be granted to said State.

"Fifth. That five per cent of the net proceeds of sales of all public lands lying within the said State, which have been or shall be sold by Congress, from and after the admission of said State into the Union, after deducting all the expenses incident to the same, shall be paid to the said State for the purpose of making public roads and canals in the same, as the Legislature shall direct: provided, that the foregoing propositions herein offered are on the condition that the said Convention which shall form the Constitution of said State shall provide by a clause in said Constitution, or an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that said State shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil within the same by the United States, nor with any regulations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to bona fide purchasers thereof; and that no tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States;

and that in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents.*

IV. THE CONSTITUTION OF WISCONSIN.

An organic law for the State of Wisconsin was framed and adopted at a Convention held at Madison, on the fourteenth day of December, 1846. That document declared the consent of the people to the boundaries of the State, as the same were prescribed in the act to enable them to form a constitution and State government, yet suggested their preference for a boundary that should leave the rapids in the St. Louis river, and run thence southwardly to a point fifteen miles east of the most easterly point on Lake St. Croix; thence due south to the main channel of the Mississippi, and thence down the same to the boundary prescribed in said act of Congress. It accepted the terms proposed by Congress concerning taxation and the primary disposal of the soil, and expressly ordained that the State should never interfere with the primary disposal of such soil by the United States, nor with any regulations Congress might find necessary for securing the title in such soil to bona fide purchasers thereof; that no tax should be imposed on land belonging to the United States; and that in no case should non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. It declared that the State should have concurrent jurisdiction on the river Mississippi, and on every other river and lake bordering on the said State so far as any river or lake should form a common boundary to the same, and any other State or States, Territory or Territories then or thereafter to be formed and bounded by the same; and that the Mississippi and the navigable waters leading into the same, and that

* In 1847, an act amendatory of the above was passed, in and by which the northwestern boundary of Wisconsin was adjusted, and brought to the line which demarked the old northwestern territory. Wisconsin now covers none of the Ildefonso, or Louisiana purchase, but deduces her entire title from the cession of Virginia, although it is very questionable whether the ancient charter of Virginia, in fact, covered any part of Wisconsin.

the St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same should be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said State as to the citizens of the United States, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor; that no law should be passed to take away or abridge the rights of owners to the riparian soil, unless in the same law provision be made for full compensation to the riparian owners; that lands and other property which had accrued to the Territory of Wisconsin by grant, gift, purchase, forfeiture, escheat, or otherwise, should vest in the State; and that the people, in their right of sovereignty, should be deemed to possess the ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the State; and further, that all lands, the title to which should fail from a defect of heirs, should revert or escheat to the people. It however remains unadopted by the people, and until the same shall be ratified, its provisions will not have effect.*

V. LAND TITLES GENERALLY, IN WISCONSIN. It has been observed that Wisconsin was constructively colonized by the French at an early day; that it was capitulated by the Marquis De Vandreuil to Gen. Amherst, and confirmed to Great Britain by treaty, in 1763; that it was claimed to have been included in the chartered limits of Virginia, over which jurisdiction was relinquished by Great Britain in 1783; and that the title to the soil vested in the United States under the cession of Virginia. [Ante 140.]

The valid and subsisting title, therefore, to all lands within the State rests either in the United States, or was derived from the General Government by the State or individuals.

Although Wisconsin may be regarded as a State, she will have a territorial organization until a Constitution for a State government shall have heen adopted by the people. The provisions in the instrument adopted by the Convention in December last, concerning banks and exemptions, proved unsatisfactory to the people, and will doubtless occasion its rejection. If, however, it be adopted, the document will be inserted in the Appendix.