There ought to be some terms on which a man becomes free of the community. They should be easy and simple; and every one encouraged to qualify himself, in character and interest, to comply with them; and these terms should be calculated to bind the person in the strongest manner, and engage him in its interest.

A new Colony, in the first place, should be divided into small townships or districts, each of which ought to be empowered to regulate their own internal affairs; and to have and enjoy every liberty and privilege not inconsistent with the good of the whole.

Tenure of lands is a capital object, and so is the mode of taking out grants for, and laying them out. If individuals are permitted to engross large tracts, and lay them out as they please, the population of the country will be retarded.

Precarious must be the possession of the finest country in the world, if the inhabitants have not the means and skill of defending it. A militia regulation must, therefore, in all prudent policy, be one of the first.

Though entire liberty of conscience ought every where to be allowed, yet the keeping up among a people, a regular and stated course of Divine worship, has such beneficial effects, that the encouragement thereof deserves the particular attention of the magistrate.

Forms of oaths are ever best, as they are concise, and carry with them a solemn simplicity of appeal to the Divine Being; and to preserve their force, care should be had to avoid too frequent a repetition of them, and on ordinary occasions.

The preservation of the peace, being the capital object of government, no man should be permitted, on any occasion, to be the avenger of the wrongs he has, or conceives he has, received; but, if possible, every one should be brought to submit to the decision of the law of the country in every private, as well as publick injury.

Providing for the poor is an act of humanity; but to prevent their being numerous and burdensome to the society is at once humane, and an act of the highest and soundest policy; and to effect it, the education of children, and the manners of the lower orders are constantly to be attended to.

As, in a well ordered government, every one's person and property should be equally secure, so each should pay equally, or on the same scale, for the expenses in supporting the same.

In a new and wild country, it will be deemed, perhaps, impossible to erect schools; but the consequences are so great and lasting, that every difficulty ought to be encountered rather than give up so necessary, so important an institution. A school will secure the morals and manners, and, at the same time, tend to collect people together in society, and promote and preserve civilization.

The throwing a country into towns, and allowing these towns particular privileges, like corporations in England or America, lends to unite the people, and, as in the least family there is, generally, the best economy, so these towns will conduct the internal and domestick prudentials better than larger bodies, and give strength, soundness and solidity to the basis of the State.

Sir: You have, in the foregoing, the outlines of the policy of the Connecticut Government, in as concise a view as I could; the great and leading principles of which will, I conceive, apply to any new Stale; and the sooner they are applied the better it will be for the health and prosperity of the rising community.

An equal and certain security of life, liberty and property; an equal share in the rights of legislation, and an equal distribution of the benefits resulting from society; with an early attention to the principles, morals and manners of the whole, are the great first principles of a good government, and these well fixed, lesser matters will easily and advantageously adjust, as I may say, themselves. I am far from thinking our system is entirely fit for you, in every point. It has grown up and enlarged itself, as we have grown. Its principal features are worth your attending to; and, if I had leisure, would point out, more particularly, which part I think you might adopt immediately, what additions are necessary, and why some parts should be rejected. But I will, if possible, give you, after your perusal of this, the general beads of what, from my little reading and observation, I think to be the most simple, and, consequently, the best plan of Government.

I am, sir, yours,

S. DEANE.

Thursday Morning, November 2, 1775.

Two laws, I see, I have run over without noting upon: the one is, for punishing vagabonds, by setting them to hard labour. The other, for the punishment of theft, which you may think too light, but I think too severe; or, in other words, I would avoid infamous punishments, such as cropping, branding, whipping, &c, and substitute hard labour in their stead.

COLONEL WILLIAMS, AT BOONESBORODGH, TO THE PROPRIETORS.

Boonesborough, January 3, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: In my last, of the 27th instant, I promised in my next, a more circumstantial account than I was capable then of giving, under the confused situation of mind I was then in, occasioned by the unhappy catastrophe of my brother's death, which happened but a few hours before that. To comply in some measure with that promise, and to discharge a duty incumbent upon me, as well as the promptitude of mind I feel to discharge that duty, I cheerfully enter on the task, and endeavour to render some account of what I have been after since my arrival at this place, now upwards of a month since; and as the primitive intention of sending me to Transylvania was to establish a Land Office, appoint the necessary officers to the said office, surveyors, &c, upon the best footing in my power, and to make sale of the lands within the said Colony, upon such terms as might be most advantageous to the Proprietors and satisfactory to the inhabitants thereof; my first step was to fall on some method of appointing a person to the office of surveyor, who should give general satisfaction to the people; I thought none more likely to do so, than calling a convention and taking their recommendation for the person who I would appoint. From the dispersed situation of the people, and the extreme badness of the weather, we failed in convening a majority; however, I took the sense of those who appeared, and who unanimously recommended Colonel John Floyd, a gentleman generally esteemed, and I am persuaded, truly worthy, and him I have commissioned surveyor of the Colony at present, though, perhaps, it may be advisable, at a future day, to divide the Colony into two districts, and to appoint another surveyor to one of the districts. The Entering Office I have disposed of to Mr. Nathaniel Henderson, and the Secretary's to Mr. Richard Harrison; though, upon consideration, I have thought that the numerous incidental expenses were so great that some way ought to be fallen upon to defray them without breaking in upon the moneys arising from the sale of the lands, and that the two dollars for entering, &c., and the other two for filling up the deeds, counterparts, annexing seals and plots, &c., was more money than the services of those offices absolutely required; I, therefore, have reserved out of each office, one dollar, to answer the purpose of defraying those extraordinary expenses; and the offices are left well worth the acceptance of persons capable of filling them with credit. The number of entries on our book is now upwards of nine hundred, great part of which was made before I came to this place, when people could make entries without money, and without price; the country abounded with land-mongers; since there is two dollars exacted on the entry made, people are not quite so keen, though I make no doubt but all who can comply with the terms will endeavour to save their lands; and as many people who have got entry on the book, are now out of the country, and cannot possibly pay up the entry money immediately, I have thought proper to advertise, that every person who has made entry on the book, and paid no money, that they come in and pay up the entrance money by the first of April, and take out their warrants of survey, or their several entries will, after that time, be considered as vacated, and liable to be entered by any other person whatever. The surveyors have now began to survey, and some few people have been desirous of getting out their deeds immediately; but they generally complain of a great scarcity of money, and doubt their being able to take their deeds before next June, or even before next fall; though in a general way, people seem to