the Ohio, an act was passed for that purpose, based on chapter the ordinance of the Continental Congress. It created the office of surveyor general, and directed the survey 1796. of the lands, not surveyed already or reserved for military bounties, into townships of six miles square, by lines crossing each other from north to south and east to west. The alternate townships were to be subdivided into thirty-six sections, each a mile square, the others into quarters. These alternate townships were to be sold by sec-, tions at public vendue, in the territory, at the upset price of two dollars an acre, reserving the four sections in the center of the township for the use of the United States. The quarter section townships were to be sold at the treasury at the same upset price, payments to be made one half down and the balance in a year, with ten per cent. discount for immediate payments. Considerable difference of opinion existed as to the price to be asked for the lands, and as to the sale in large or small tracts. A certain number of the members from the older and more settled states were very doubtful as to the policy of extraordinary encouragement to emigration, tending, as it did, to the increase of a backwoods population, rude, unsocial, and discontented, whose, insubordination, and violence, and threats of secession had al ready occasioned so much trouble, expense, and anxiety. They were therefore opposed to the sale by sections, which was urged by others, together with a high upset price, as a means of preventing these Western lands from falling exclusively into the hands of speculators, as had been to so great a degree the case with the public lands of the states. The sale by sections was objected to by Dearborn, Nicholas, and others, as likely to retard the disposal of the lands, for which they expressed great anxiety, as a means toward paying the public debt. IV.-R R

CHAPTER Harper, on the other hand, exposed with great ability VUL the disadvantage of a sale in large tracts, as established 1796, by the experience of the states, resulting in great emoluments to individuals, small produce to the treasury, and scattered, irregular, and desultory settlements. The plan finally adopted was a compromise, suggested by Gallatin, between these opposite views. Another act provided for the survey of the tract between the Scioto and the Muskingum, reserved for the location of military land warrants, in which an extensive speculation had already commenced.

The prospect had been held out that the public buildings at the new federal city on the Potomac should be erected without any expense to the United States. The donations for this purpose, of $120,000 by Virginia, $72,000 by Maryland, and of half the lots in the new city transferred to the United States by the owners of the land, in addition to the necessary spaces for streets, squares, and public buildings, have already been mentioned. It appeared from the report of the commissioners for the erection of the public buildings that six thousand of these lots had been sold to a company for the sum of $480,000, payable in seven years, the company contracting to build, prior to 1800, a hundred and fifty convenient brick houses, and not to part with any of their lots except on condition that one brick house should be erected for every three lots sold. Other lots disposed of by the commissioners had produced the sum of $95,652, making, with the donations of Maryland and Virginia, an amount of $768,000; but a part of the purchase money of the lots was not yet payable. There still remained in the hands of the commissioners four thousand seven hundred lots, valued at $1,300,000. The sums received had been applied toward laying a foundation for

the Capitol, and in commencing the erection of a house CHAPTER for the president. To enable them to go on, so as to be ready for the reception of the government in the year 1796. 1800, the commissioners had asked for power to raise a loan on the mortgage of the unsold lots, with the guar. antee of the United States, to the amount of $300,000. That guarantee was accordingly given by an act passed for the purpose; but the speculation in the new city, pushed at first with great ardor, had already received a check. Great difficulty was experienced in raising the loan, owing principally to the pressure in the money market occasioned by the extent to which speculation of all kinds had been carried; nor could more than $200,000 be obtained, and that of the State of Maryland, in United States six per cent. stock, then consid. erably below par.

The subject of the impressment of American seamen had been early brought before the House in a speech by Edward Livingston, in which he assailed Jay with great vehemence because he had not provided for this matter in the treaty. A committee had been raised to take the subject into consideration, and finally an act was passed authorizing the appointment of two or more agents, one to reside in Great Britain, the others at such points as the president might designate, to investigate and to report to the State Department an account of all impressments, with authority also to seek the relief of the sufferers, for which purpose $15,000 were appropriated. Collectors were required to grant certificates of citizenship to all American seamen; and all captains whose men were impressed were required to make duplicate protests stating the fact, one to be sent to the nearest American consul, and the other, on the return of the vessel, to the Department of State; the master also, be

CHAPTER fore entering his vessel, to render on oath an account of

VIIL all seamen impressed from him during the voyagë.

Livingston also brought up the subject of the amelioration of the penal laws of the United States, but no action was had upon it. An act, however, was passed for the discharge, on taking the poor debtor's oath, of prisoners held for debt on civil process from the United States courts.

In consequence of the peace with the Indians, the military establishment underwent some reduction. It was henceforth to consist of the corps of artillerists and engineers as already organized, two companies of light dragoons, and four regiments of infantry, of about 450 men each, making a total force of 2800 men, to be commanded by a major general and a brigadier general.

A good deal of delay had taken place in obtaining timber and commencing the frigates under the act of 1794. Three, however, had been begun, and these it was resolved to finish, notwithstanding the peace with Algiers. No treaties had yet been formed with Tunis and Tripoli. The commercial representatives strongly urged, also, that a nation possessing so large a commercial marine, and whose coasts and harbors were liable to perpetual visits and annoyances from the belligerent cruisers, should not be entirely without ships of war. The finishing of these frigates encountered a most vehement resistance from most of the members of the opposition. Nicholas wished them to rot on the stocks, as an instructive monument of national folly. Christie, of Maryland, did not care if they were reduced to ashes. Giles always had opposed a navy, and always should oppose it, in every shape. But upon this point Smith of Baltimore, Parker of Norfolk, Swanwick of Philadelphia, and a few others, voted with the Federalists.

VIII.

The three frigates, built respectively. at Boston, Phila- CHAPTER delphia, and Baltimore, rudiments of the existing navy, all greatly distinguished in our naval annals, and all still 1796, afloat, received the names of the Constitution, the United States, and the Constellation.

By the original act regulating the pay of members of Congress, the senators, after the termination of the present session, were to be entitled to seven dollars per day, while the pay of the representatives remained fixed at six dollars. The origin of this provision has been already mentioned, but the representatives were by no means disposed to submit to it. A new bill brought into the House, while it provided for the equal payment of both branches, proposed to substitute for a daily allowance an annual stipend. Such a provision, it was said, would tend to shorten the sessions. But this idea of shortening the sessions appeared very alarming to Giles, Madison, and others, as tending to increase the power and importance of the executive. Before any attempt had been made to fill the blank, the annual stipend was struck out, and the old rate of payment of six dollars per day was finally continued to the members of both houses.

A resolution offered by Madison for an inspection and survey of the great post-road from Maine to Georgia may be considered the first step taken in Congress toward a system of internal improvements at the federal expense. It was suggested that the inquiry might be beneficially extended to all parts of the Union, and that the expense of it ought to be a charge, not on the postoffice, but on the treasury. A committee was appointed to bring in a bill; but some jealousy on the part of the Northern and Eastern members that this was a scheme to obtain roads for the Southern States and the new set