diffusive as possible, and that they now are, and at all times have been, ready to submit to such Government as should be placed by authority over them, wishing and desiring their case may be thought of sufficient importance to call the attention of such power.

That this being a true and candid state of the affair, they hope that no insinuations or unjust assertions to the contrary, either from the Petitions aforesaid, or others, will be so far credited as in any manner to prejudice the minds of this Convention, or the rest of the good people of Virginia, against the Memorialists, they having, in their opinion, acted in a fair, open, and impartial manner. That notwithstanding they consider the allegations of their Memorial, with respect to the right of the Convention in matters of private property to be just, they are far from wishing to avoid a proper inquiry into the legality of their title, but, at the same time, cannot help expressing their surprise and utter astonishment that any right or claim to the said country or land is set up or opposed to theirs on account of the treaty held at Fort Stanwix in the year 1768, by Sir William Johnson, with the six United Nations of Indians, inasmuch as it is a matter well known to every person conversant in Indian affairs that those Nations never were possessed of, or could justly claim title to, any part of the lands or country now in dispute; and that the right confessedly was in the Cherokee Nation, or tribe of Indians, appears not only from their own constant and perpetual claim and occupancy, but by the several treaties and purchases heretofore made between the good people of Virginia and the Cherokee Nation, at sundry times and places, for lands lying northward of those now in question, particularly the last purchase made at Lochabar in the year 1770, in consequence of which a boundary line between the Virginians’ and Cherokees’ land was ordered and directed by authority to be run, crossing in a northward direction from the Holstein River six miles above, or eastward, of the Long-Island therein, and from thence a direct course, to the Ohio River, at the mouth or confluence of the Great Kanawha, or New River, to be and remain a perpetual boundary between the lands then belonging to the Crown of England in the Colony of Virginia and those of the Cherokee Nation, or tribe of Indians; by which, and many other arguments too numerous to be inserted in this Memorial, no claim was or could be made to the land on the west and southwest of the said line in consequence of the aforesaid treaty, or for any other cause or reason whatsoever, nor any title derived thereby to the King or Crown of England, nor to the good people of Virginia.

They beg leave to suggest that the treaty between them and the said Cherokees, for the land now in dispute or contemplation, was begun in the fall of the year 1774, and finished on the 17th day of March, in the year following. That at that time the contest between Great Britain and America was but in commencement, and it seemed to be the wish and hope of every person that a reconciliation might take place, and of course the regal powers and laws exercised as usual in America; and that they then were, and Still remained, freemen, as capable of purchase, or inheriting an estate which might come to them by descent or otherwise, as any other person or persons in England, or any of the Colonies in America; and having made such their purchase under certain known laws, by which every person was secured in the possession of their property, whilst the Government of England was acknowledged throughout the American Colonies; and that a Confederacy of the United Colonies and a Declaration of Independence by some or all of them, cannot alter the tenure of estates. That as the means of acquiring and possessing property is an unalienable right, so such Confederacy, Declaration of Independence, or non-allegiance to the King of England, or any other Power or State whatever, and declaring ourselves to be a free people, does by no means interfere with the right of individuals; and that every attempt to destroy such idea of property, as well with respect to them as others, is injurious, and they hope will be considered as infringements on the rights of humanity, and treated accordingly.

Ordered, That the said Memorial be referred to the Committee on the state of the Colony.

The Convention then, according to the Order of the Day, resolved itself into a Committee on the state of the Colony; and after some time spent therein, Mr. President resumed the chair, and Mr. Cary reported, that the Committee had, according to order, had under their consideration the state of the Colony, and had come to the following Resolution thereupon; which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the Clerk’s table, where the same was again twice read, and agreed to:

Whereas disputes have for some time subsisted between the people settled under the Government of this Colony and others settled under the Proprietor of Pennsylvania, which cannot be determined for want of having the boundary between the two countries settled and ascertained; and as the people are uncertain which Government they ought to submit to, consequences of the most alarming nature are justly to be apprehended from a contention and clashing of jurisdictions between the magistrates and officers of the respective countries: For prevention whereof, and in order to restore peace and harmony to all those people,

Resolved, That it be proposed to the General Assembly or Representatives of the people of the Province of Pennsylvania, to agree to the following temporary boundary between the two countries, that is to say: From that part of the meridian of the head fountain of Potomack, where it is intersected by Braddoclc’s Road, along the said road to the Great Crossing of Youghganey; thence down the meanders of that river to the Chestnut Ridge, thence along that ridge to the easterly branch of Jacob’s Creek, otherwise called Green-Lick Run; thence down the said run to Braddock’s Old Road; thence along the same, and the new road leading to Pittsburgh, to a place called the Bullock-Pens, now in the tenure of William Elliot, and from thence a direct course to the mouth of Plum Run, on the Alleghany River, above Colonel Croghan’s; which lines this Convention are of opinion will give most general satisfaction to the inhabitants, as it will nearly leave them in the respective country under which they settled; that the present inhabitants on either side of the line ought quietly to enjoy their possessions, and be subject to the regulations of the Government they will remain in, without considering under which they derive, their title, until a final and ultimate boundary can be settled, when nothing which may be done in consequence of this agreement shall tend to prejudice the just titles of individuals, or the claim of either country to a fair and equal boundary.

Ordered, That the Committee of Safety be desired immediately to transmit the foregoing Resolution to the Delegates appointed to represent this Colony in General Congress, requesting them to negotiate the same on the part of this Colony.

Mr. Richard Lee, from the Committee of Publick Claims, reported that they had, according to order, had under their consideration the Accounts and Vouchers for the money paid by John Harvie and Joseph Neaville, Esqs., agreeably to a Resolution of the last Convention, and also for the said John Harvie’s and Joseph Neaville’s services in stating and settling all the Accounts of the expedition against the Indians which remained unsettled, and for revising those already settled in West-Augusta; and that it appeared to them that the said John Harvie has received from the Treasury the sum of £7,044 16s. 3 ½ d., out of which he paid the said several claimants their proportions, amounting in the whole to the sum of £6;979 Is. 3¾d.; previous to which, in order that he might perform the same with certainty, he was under the necessity of transcribing the Commissioners’ books, and sorting and placing in alphabetical order all the vouchers which had been produced to the Commissioners; that, upon revising the said claims, he was necessarily obliged to examine a great number of witnesses relative thereto, the substance of whose testimony is finally entered in a book for that purpose, which he hath produced to this Convention; that he has likewise examined sundry witnesses relating to certain claims of the same nature now remaining in his possession, which are not mentioned in his book; that it further appeared, that when the said Harvie was at Fredericksburgh, on his way to Pittsburgh with the money aforesaid, upon looking it over he discovered a deficiency of £56, which mistake he is not able to account for, unless it happened in counting the money at the Treasury; that he immediately applied there, in order to discover the error, but proved unsuccessful; that it also appeared that he employed two guards, which he thought absolutely requisite to attend him from Winchester to Pittsburgh, whose expenses, together with his own, amount to £57, or thereabouts; that, for the