said territory." No successor was appointed and Charles Willing Byrd, the friend of Jefferson and antagonist of St. Clair, continued to hold the positions of secretary and acting governor of the territory until the state was organized on March 1, 1803, when he became judge of the new Federal district of Ohio under the pre-arranged plan and by appointment of President Jefferson. It will be remembered that after the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Connecticut set up a claim to the north part of what is now the state of Ohio north of Latitude 41 degrees north; and Virginia claimed south of that line as being within the limits of her charter. This latter tract was called the Virginia Military Tract, and that state gave the same to her soldiers of the Revolution as a reward for their services. The Western Reserve was estimated to contain about two and one-half millions of acres. Five hundred thousand acres of this tract Connecticut gave to sufferers by fire in the War of the Revolution, and this came to be called Sufferer's Land or the Firelands, and this gives the name to the "Firelands Historical Society" of national repute.

It is well known that the Ordinance of 1787 constituted the Northwest Territory a civil government with restricted powers. It embraced the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and a part of Minnesota, and it provided that when the eastern division of that territory had sixty thousand free inhabitants it was entitled to become a state. And Judge Burnet in his notes on the Northwest Territory says: "Fears were entertained that claims adverse to those of the United States might be attended with unpleasant results; as the Territorial Legislature, following in the footsteps of the governor and judges in the exercise of their legislative functions, had assumed jurisdiction over the entire territory in conformity with the Ordinance of 1787 and were enforcing the execution of their laws by their own officers and judicial tribunals. These unpleasant apprehensions, however, were removed before any collision took place, by an agreement between that state and the United States." * * "By that arrangement the state of Connecticut relinquished to the United States all right of jurisdiction; and the

United States relinquished to Connecticut all right of title to the soil of the disputed territory."

And now it must be borne in mind that from April 7, 1788, the date of the first settlement at Marietta, the people of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio lived under the Ordinance of 1787. This was their constitution and fundamental law and through its operation the first local laws suited to the condition of the people were adopted and published, in the territory, by the governor and three judges chosen by Congress. This government continued until 1799, when the territory, having five thousand free male inhabitants, a territorial government was formed on the sixteenth day of September, 1799, and this continued until the first day of March, 1803.

Under these conditions it twice became the duty of Congress to directly determine the date when Ohio passed from the territorial condition to that of complete statehood.

The first occasion was on January 24, 1803, when a resolution was offered in the House of Representatives which is as follows:

Resolved, That inasmuch as the late territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio have, by virtue of an act of Congress, passed on the first of May, One thousand eight hundred and two, (April 30, 1802) formed a constitution and state government and have thereby and by virtue of the act of Congress aforesaid, become a separate and independent state by the name of Ohio; that Paul Fearing, a member of this House who was elected by the late territorial government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, is no longer entitled to a seat in this House.

This resolution was referred to the committee on elections, and on January 31, 1803, that committee reported the following resolution:

Resolved, That Paul Fearing, the delegate from the territory northwest of the river Ohio, is still entitled to a seat in this House,

which was adopted, and that gentleman retained his seat and received compensation as the territorial delegate during the second session of the Seventh Congress, which of course adjourned sine die before the new state of Ohio had any opportunity to supersede him under the authority of her constitution.

The second occasion was on the report of the committee on claims to whom had been referred the claim of Judge Return J. Meigs. The report was communicated to the House February 18, 1805.

At the time of the adoption of the constitution of Ohio Mr. Meigs was a Federal judge for the eastern division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio and by the provisions of that instrument hereinbefore quoted he retained that office and continued to exercise its functions and perform its duties until April 15, 1803.

It is said in the report above referred to under the head of Claims, American State Papers, page 311, Eighth Congress, second session, No. 162, in a letter from Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury, to Mr. Dana, chairman of the committee on claims, under date of December 12, 1804, that: "The accounting officers of the treasury considering the question of the time when the salaries of the several officers of the Northwestern Territory had ceased as doubtful, applied to the attorney-general and in conformity with his opinion settled the accounts and paid the salaries of these officers only to the twenty-ninth day of November, 1802."

This ruling of Attorney-General Levi Lincoln, of Massachusetts, applied to the governor, secretary and judges of the territory, and they not being willing to lose their compensation for the period after November 29, 1802, applied to the Legislature of Ohio therefor. That body decided that the claim was an obligation of the United States and refused to pay it. The claim above referred to was then presented to Congress. A short extract or two from the report of the committee on claims will show how the question was disposed of. Commenting on the Paul Fearing case above referred to, the report says:

The committee owe respect to the opinion thus manifested by the House; and they consider the territorial government as having existed under the authority of the United States until the meeting of the Legislature on the first Tuesday in March, 1803, under the constitution of the state of Ohio..

That all judges and other territorial officers may receive compensation to which they are entitled from the United States equally with

the memorialist the committee propose the following resolution to the House:

Resolved, That the proper accounting officers be authorized to settle the accounts of the governor, secretary and judges of the late territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio for their services while acting in those capacities respectively at any time before the first Tuesday in March, 1803.

This resolution was adopted, and while it did not meet the full claim of the memorialist it certainly did settle the controversy as to when the territorial condition ceased and when the life of the state of Ohio began.

This resolution of the House of Representatives was carried into effect by an act of Congress approved February 21, 1806.

AN ACT

For the Relief of the Governor, Secretary and Judges of the Late Territory Northwest of the River Ohio.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled:

That the proper accounting officers of the treasury be, and they are hereby authorized and directed to settle at the rate of compensation heretofore established the account of the governor, secretary and judges of the late territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio for their services while acting in those capacities respectively at any time between the twenty-ninth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and two and the first Tuesday in March, one thousand eight hundred and three.

These men were officials of the territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio and would receive compensation to the time when that territory ceased its existence, and when the law-making power and sovereignty were no longer in the territory but were transferred to the state of Ohio.

And this was March 1, 1803, to which time under this act of Congress these officials received their pay. This act was, and ever since has been, considered as an authoritative decision as to the date when Ohio became a state and the territory ceased its political existence, and to my mind sets at rest all controversy as to when Ohio was admitted to the Union.

THE GREAT SEAL OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

In the history of the great seal of Ohio there is much to surprise and attract attention, as the changes in the seal have been peculiar, and many without authority of legislative enactment, as I shall demonstrate.

My purpose is to review all of the enactments, and in this pursuit shall show what was done in the beginning. When the Ohio constitution was framed, November 29, 1802, by Section 14 of Article 2, it was provided:

There shall be a seal of this state which shall be kept by the governor and used by him officially, and shall be called, "The Great Seal of the State of Ohio."

There were no directions given in the constitution as to the diameter, device or engraving on the seal; these matters of detail were all left to the action of the Legislature of the state; and, on the twenty-fifth day of March, 1803, an act was passed designating duties of the secretary of state, section 2 of which provided:

That the secretary of state shall procure a seal two inches in diameter, for the use of the state, on which shall be engraved the following device: On the right side near the bottom, a sheaf of wheat and on the left a bundle of seventeen arrows, both standing erect; in the background, and rising above the sheaf and bundle of arrows a mountain, over which shall appear a rising sun, the state seal to be surrounded by these words, "The Great Seal of the State of Ohio."

The recognition of a seal among the nations of the world goes back long anterior to the engraved devices of the Lacedæmonians. The witness of the seal has been deemed necessary and essential in all important transactions for many centuries. Its use is the solemn assurance that what it authenticates is a well-considered act, and is evidence of the highest authority. The great seal of Ohio was created by our constitution, and it should be maintained by a fixed law of the state. This, however, has not been the fact in relation to it; for, on February 19, 1805, an act was passed repealing the above-named act, and enacting the following section on this subject:

SECTION 5. That the secretary of state shall procure a seal of the Supreme Court for each clerk thereof that may be appointed, of one