officers under General Wayne, and subsequently under General Wilkinson, were hard drinkers. Harrison, Clark, Shomberg, Ford, Strong, and a few others, were the only exceptions. Such were the habits of the army when they began to associate with the inhabitants of Cincinnati, and of the western settlements generally, and to give tone to public sentiment.

As a natural consequence, the citizens indulged in the same practices, and formed the same habits. As a proof of this it may be stated, that when Mr. Burnet came to the bar, there were nine resident lawyers engaged in the practice, of whom he is, and has been for many years, the only survivor. They all became confirmed sots, and descended to premature graves, excepting his brother, who was a young man of high promise, but whose life was terminated by a rapid consumption, in the summer of 1801. He expired under the shade of a tree by the side of the road on the banks of Paint creek, a few miles from Chillicothe.

In July 1787, Congress, acting under the articles of confederation, passed the much admired Ordinance for the government of the Territory of the United States, north-west of the river Ohio, which was the first step towards the establishment of civil government within it. That ordinance affirmed and perpetuated the great principles of liberty, civil and religious, which had been set forth in the declaration of independence-re-affirmed in the treaty of 1783, and perpetuated by the federal constitution adopted in 1788.

There has been some diversity of opinion, as to the individual to whom the honor of the paternity of that document rightfully belongs. Some have claimed it for Mr. Jefferson, though he did not claim it himself. He supported and advocated the great principles of liberty which it avowed, and guaranteed to the people of the territory. The honor of drafting that instrument, on which the constitutions of all the north-western states are founded, belongs, of right, to Nathan Dane, a revolutionary patriot of Massachusetts.

He was its author-he reported it to Congress and persevered in explaining, and pressing it on their attention, till they became satisfied of its merits, and adopted it by a unanimous vote, Mr. Jefferson being at the time in France. That document was the constitution of the territory.

It vested the executive power in a Governor-the judicial power in a General Court, composed of three Judges, and the legislative power in the Governor and Judges, acting as a legislative council. It also provided for the appointment of a Secretary of the Territory, who was subsequently authorized, by an act of Congress, to execute all the powers and duties of the Governor, in case of his death, resignation, removal, or necessary absence from the territory. It also provided for the establishment of tribunals, inferior to the general court, and for the appointment of subordinate officers.

The legislative power was limited to the adoption of such laws of the original states, as they might think suited to the condition and wants of the people; which were to be submitted to, and approved by Congress. It also entitled the territory, as soon as it should be found to contain five thousand free male inhabitants, of full age, to a General Assembly, to consist of a legislative council and house of representatives, and also to a delegate in Congress.

For the purpose of carrying the Ordinance into effect and organizing a Territorial Government, Congress, on the 5th of October, 1787, elected Arthur St. Clair, Governor, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary; and on the 16th of the same month they appointed Samuel Holden Parsons, John Armstrong, of Newburg, New York, and James Mitchell Varnum, Judges of the said Territory. On the 16th of January, John Armstrong declined the appointment, and John C. Symmes was chosen to fill the vacancy.

On the same day on which General St. Clair was appointed Governor of the Territory, Congress passed a resolution instructing him "to hold a general treaty with the tribes of Indians within the United States, inhabiting the country

north-west of the river Ohio, and about the lakes, at such time and place as he should appoint; for the purpose of knowing the causes of uneasiness among them-hearing their complaints-regulating trade, and amicably settling all affairs concerning lands and boundaries between them and the United States, agreeably to such instructions as should be given him, for that purpose." In pursuance of that order he assembled the Indians at Marietta, in January following, and negotiated "the Treaty of Fort Harmar," which, it was supposed, would ensure safety to the settlements then just beginning to be formed.

In the succeeding summer, the Governor, Judge Varnum, and Judge Parsons, met åt Marietta, and commenced the duty of legislating for the territory. They continued in session till December, during which period they enacted a number of laws on different subjects, which were submitted to Congress, as the Ordinance required; but were not approved, on the ground, that the Governor and Judges, in their legislative capacity, were empowered only to adopt existing laws from the codes of the original states, and not to enact laws of their own formation. This was the only legislative business attempted under the commissions granted by the Congress of the old Confederation.

On the 2d of July, 1788, Congress were officially informed that the state of New Hampshire had adopted the new Federal Constitution; and as it had then been adopted by nine of the states, which was the number required to bring it into operation, measures were immediately taken for that purpose, in pursuance of the resolutions of the Federal Convention. The first Congress under the new Constitution was then elected, and in May, 1789, they assembled at Federal Hall, on Wall street, in the city of New York. That venerable body, composed of men of the first order of talent and patriotism, elected their officers,-installed the Father of his Country first President of the United States, and then pro

ceeded to the important business which the Constitution had confided to them.

One of the first official steps of the President, was to submit to the Senate the Treaty of Fort Harmar, negotiated with the Indians during the preceding winter, which was approved and ratified. As it was understood that appointments under the Articles of Confederation, expired with the government by which they were made, the President nominated to the Senate, candidates for all the offices created in the Ordinance of 1787, which were taken up in Senate on the 20th of August, 1789, when Arthur St. Clair was reappointed Governor, and Winthrop Sargent, Secretary of the Territory.

On the same day, Samuel Holden Parsons, John Cleves Symmes, and William Barton, were appointed Judges of the general court. Mr. Barton having declined the appointment, George Turner was chosen to fill the vacancy. Shortly after his appointment Judge Parsons died, and Rufus Putnam was appointed to fill his vacancy in March, 1790. He continued in office till December 1796, when he resigned his commission, to enable him to accept the office of Surveyor General, for which he had been nominated; and Joseph Gillman, of Point Harmar, was chosen to fill the vacancy. Judge Turner left the Territory in the spring of 1796, and before his return, resigned his seat on the bench, which was filled by the appointment of Return Jonathan Meigs, in February, 1798. The judges then in commission, continued to hold their seats till the territorial government was superseded by the adoption of a state constitution. These appointments completed the organization of the first grade of government, as far as depended on the action of congress.

In July, 1790, Winthrop Sargent, Secretary, and acting Governor of the Territory; John C. Symmes, and George Turner, Judges, met at Vincennes, in their legislative capacity, and passed an act to prevent the sale of spirituous

liquors, and an act to suppress gaming. Those enactments were subject to the same objection as is stated above-they were enacted, not adopted. Several legislative sessions were held after this, at which a number of laws were drafted and enacted, regardless of the limitation imposed by the Ordi

nance.

Although these laws were not approved by Congress, they continued in force for longer or shorter periods; and some of them till the second grade of government was established, notwithstanding strong doubts of their constitutionality were expressed by the bar. At length the Governor and Judges, discovering that their enactments had not been approved, began to doubt their correctness; and at a legislative session, held at Cincinnati, in the summer of 1795, they prepared a code of laws adopted from the statutes of the original states, which superseded the chief part of those they had previously enacted.

This body of laws was printed at Cincinnati, by William Maxwell, in 1795, from which circumstance it was called the Maxwell code. It was the first job of printing ever executed in the North-western Territory, and the book should be preserved, as a specimen of the condition of the art, in the western country, at that period. All the laws previously passed had been printed at Philadelphia, from necessity, because there was not at the time a printing office in the territory. The Maxwell code was supposed to be so full and complete, that but one short legislative session was held thereafter, in 1798, at which a few additional laws were adopted; after which the statutes of the territory underwent no alteration, till the first session of the General Assembly, held under the second grade of government, in 1799.