The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature. Mr. McMillan at once resigned from the House and proceeded to his new duties. The work of legislation was begun with mutual expressions of regard between the Governor and the members of the assembly, notwithstanding the differences of the preceding winter. On November 5, the Governor visited the joint assembly and delivered an annual message of kindly tone in which he spoke of the near approach of the end of his term of office and of their own. He mentioned the efforts of his adversaries only to remark: "The remorse of their own consciences will one day be punishment sufficient. Their acts may, however, succeed. Be that as it may, this I am certain, that, be my successor who he may, he can never have the interests of the people of this Territory more truly at heart than I have had for them, nor labor more assiduously for their good than I have done; and I am not conscious that any one act of my administration has been influenced by any other motive, than a sincere desire to promote their welfare and happiness." To this the assembly drafted its formal reply and asked the Governor to fix an hour when he could receive the committee and hear the same. On receiving an intimation of his convenience, the committee formally waited on him in the executive chamber at 10 o'clock a. m., Monday, November 17, and afterward returned to their respective houses bearing with them the formal reply of his excellency to their address. This second communication from St. Clair is a feeling response to the expressions of confidence in which the House had clothed its message to him. Governor St. Clair, in a message to the House December 2, 1800, calls to their attention the fact that, as his term of office expires in one week from that day, it will be necessary that the session must end on that day, and therefore any business of importance to be transacted should not be too long postponed. He says in this case, the Secretary of the Territory can not supply to the Assembly the place of a Governor. French inhabitants of the County of Wayne presented to the House, December 4, a petition in French language which was referred to Messrs. Kimberly and Visger for translation. (p. 95.) This committee reported later in the day that the petition was for a redress of certain grievances, and it was referred to the Committee on Propositions and Grievances. A proposition was submitted that the assembly should hold its sessions in rotation as follows: The first session to be held in the town of Marietta, the second in the town of Cincinnati, and the third in the town of Chillicothe. This was agreed to by the House, 10 to 8. A motion to hold the sessions in Cincinnati was lost. 4 to 14. The bill was finally defeated by striking out the enacting clause, on a vote not given. (p. 109.) Adjourned by the Governor, December 9. 1800. (S. J. p. 77.) The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature. ACTS OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE (1800). I. An act defining seals affixed to certain instruments of writing. November 27, 1800. 2. An act to amend the act entitled, "An act allowing compensation to the attorney-general of the Territory," etc. November 27, 1800. 3. An act authorizing the leasing of school lands, and lands for religious purposes, in Washington County. November 27, 1800. 4. An act to revise "an act to establish and regulate ferries." November 27, 1800. 5. An act to incorporate the town of Marietta. December 2, 1800. 6. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to create the offices of a territorial treasurer and of an auditor of Public Accounts." December 2, 1800. 7. An act to empower the trustees named in the last will and testament of Doctor William Burnet, the elder, to dispose of certain lands. (PRIVATE The act is not published in full.) 8. An act to amend the act entitled, "An act to encourage the killing of wolves." December 2, 1800. 9. An act authorizing the judges of the General Court to appoint commissioners to take special bail, and to administer oaths. December 3, 1800. IO. An act to amend the act entitled "An act allowing and regulating prison bounds." December 6, 1800. II. 6, 1800. An act to provide for the recording of town plats. December 12. An act confirming and establishing the town of Athens in the County of Washington, December 6, 1800. 13. An act to provide for the maintenance and support of illegitimate children. December 6, 1800. 14. An act to establish and regulate taverns and public houses of entertainment. December 6, 1800. 15. An act to amend the act entitled "An act regulating the admission and practice of attorneys and councillors at law." December 8, 1800. 16. An act to ascertain and defray the travelling expenses of the judges of the General Court, and to dispose of the fees heretofore allowed them by law. December 8, 1800. (PRIVATE- 17. An act for the relief of Lucy Petit. 18. An act providing for the trial of homicide committed on Indians. (To the more effectually insure justice to the Indian tribes.) December 8, 1800. 19. An act to prevent the abatement of suits in event of the death of a party thereto. December 8, 1800. The Second Session of the First Territorial Legislature. 20. An act supplementary to the act establishing and regulating the militia. December 8, 1800. 21. An act supplementary to the act entitled "An act to regulate the county levies." December 8, 1800. 22. An act supplementary to the act entitled "An act levying a territorial tax on land,” and providing for a territorial tax for the year 1801. December 9, 1800. 23. An act to amend the act entitled "An act to ascertain the number of free male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one, and to regulate the election of representatives for the same." December 9, 1800. An act regulating circuit courts and allowing appeals from the courts of common pleas in certain cases. December 9, 1800. 25. An act supplementary to the act entitled, "An act establishing courts for the trial of small cases." December 9, 1800. 26. An act appropriating monies, etc. December 9, 1800. The apropriation bill (No. 26) contains the following interesting items connected with the enforced removal of the seat of government from Cincinnati to Chillicothe: To Bazil Abrams for rent of a house, occupied by the general assembly during their present session, ninety dollars. To Thomas Worthington (afterwards United States senator and governor) for repairing the house, providing chairs, etc., for the use of the general assembly at their present session, thirty-four dollars and twenty-seven cents. To John Armstrong, esquire, territorial treasurer, for transporting the books and papers belonging to his office, from Cincinnati to Chillicothe, forty dollars. To Thomas Gibson, esquire, auditor of public accounts, for transporting from Cincinnati to Chillicothe the books and papers belonging to his office, sixty dollars. To William McMillan and James Findlay, esquires, for their services and expenses in providing a house for the reception of the legislature at the present session, each forty-three dollars. To William C. Schenck, for transporting the papers belonging to the legislative council from Cincinnati to Chillicothe and for traveling expenses, forty dollars. To John Reily, for transporting the papers belonging to the House of Representatives from Cincinnati to Chillicothe and for traveling expenses, forty dollars. The above recited acts were signed by Edward Tiffin, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Robert Oliver, President of the Council; and approved by Ar. St. Clair, Governor, on the date named. Winship & Willis, Chillicothe, printers. Authenticity vouched for by Zenas Kimberly, Committee, February 4, 1801. THE FIRST SESSION OF THE SECOND TERRITORIAL GENERAL ASSEMBLY. [Convened at Chillicothe on Monday, the twenty-third day of November, 1801, being the day appointed by proclamation of Governor St. Clair.] R MEMBERSHIP. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL (SENATE). OBERT OLIVER, who appeared on the twenty-third, and on the twenty-fourth, to find no other member in attendance. David Vance, who appeared on the twenty-fifth, with his colleague, Mr. Jacob Burnet. Solomon Sibley, from Detroit, in the County of Wayne (now Michigan), presented his commission to succeed Mr. Vanderburgh (see notes of previous year) and was sworn and seated. THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Chobert, Francoise Joncaire, of Wayne County (now Detroit, Michigan). Cutler, Ephraim, of Washington County. Darlington, Joseph, of Adams County. Dunlavy, Francis, of Hamilton County. Kimberly, Zenas, of Jefferson County. Langham, Elias, of Ross County (Seated November 26). Massie, Nathaniel, of Adams County. McCune, Thomas, of Jefferson County. McDougal, George, of Wayne County (Detroit). Miller, Moses, of Hamilton County. Milligan, John, of Jefferson County. Morrow, Jeremiah, of Hamilton County. Paine, Edward, of Trumbull County. Putnam, William Rufus, of Washington County. Reeder, Daniel, of Hamilton County. Schiefflein, Jonathan, of Wayne County. (Detroit. Smith, John, of Hamilton County (Seated December 1). Tiffin, Edward, of Ross County. White, Jacob, of Hamilton County. Worthington. Thomas, of Ross County. ich see The First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly. The House organized on the twenty-fourth of November by the election of the following officers: Edward Tiffin, Speaker; John Reilly, Clerk. The seats of Messrs. Scheifflin and McDougall, of Wayne County were contested, but they were declared to be entitled to their seats. The finances of the Territory were in such condition that the governor, who had been reappointed during the adjournment of the assembly. in his address at a joint session of the two houses called to be held in "Mr. Gregg's Hall" for the purpose said: "The Territory is in debt in the sum of $5.419 beyond the whole revenue for the present year. A new emission of bills (of credit) must be made, even to meet the expenses of the present session. A wretched expedient, it is true, because the bills suffer a depreciation in the hands they pass through, and the public pays the full interest." During this session of the General Assembly, a bill was passed transferring the seat of government to Cincinnati, from which city it had been removed by a provision in the territorial act of 1800, and as an expression of feeling on the part of the local inhabitants, a number of the members of the legislature, and also the governor, were set upon in Chillicothe on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth of December. The matter was made a subject for official investigation. At 12 o'clock noon, on January twenty-third, the Council attended the chamber of the House of Representatives in a body where the joint assembly was addressed by Governor St. Clair, and adjourned by him to meet in second session in Cincinnati on the fourth Monday of the following November. (1802). It should be noted here, that this proposed second session of the second and last territorial legislature was never held. The reason is given in the following interesting extract from the memoirs of a member of the Council speaking of the first constitutional convention: "As the territorial legislature was in existence, and stood adjourned to meet at Cincinnati on the fourth Monday in November, three weeks after the opening of the convention, a resolution was passed, directing their president to request the governor to dissolve or prorogue that body. Such a precaution was altogether unnecessary, as no disposition existed among the members, either to embarrass, or in any way interfere with the movements of the convention. That such a disposition did not exist. was verified by the fact that the day for the meeting of the legislature came and passed; the members remaining at home as by common consent. No attempt was made by the governor, or by any of the members, to convene that body, till its existence was terminated, and it was succeeded by the General Assembly under the State Constitution." (Notes on the Northwestern Territory, 1847, by Judge Jacob Burnett, a member of the Territorial Council.) |