[IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY.]

February 9th, 1774.

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A petition of Mary Valentine, relict of Thomas Valentine deceased, was presented to the house and read praying that provision may be made for the payment of her account, for the services of her said deceased husband, late surveyor, authorised by the Government of New-York, in ascertaining the boundary line between this colony and the province of Quebec.

Ordered,

That the said petition be referred to the consideration of the committee to whom his Excellency's speech is committed.

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Idem, p. 44.

February 14, 1774.

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A message from his Excellency the Governor, by Col. Edmund Fanning, his Private Secretary:

GENTLEMEN,

The running of the boundary line between this province and Quebec, being undertaken at the mutual expense of both Governments, Mr. Collins and Mr. Sauthier, the surveyors last employed on that service, have furnished me with a signed account of the several disbursements, (leaving the pay of their own services to the respective provinces) whereby I am enabled to send you the amount of what is due to each of those gentlemen, which I recommend to your consideration and allowance. The field book and plan' of the survey, I also send for your inspection, that you may have the fullest information of the nature of this service.

-[Idem, p. 49.

WM TRYON.

'This "field book" has not been found. The "plan" may have been a preliminary draft of the one completed October 20, 1774, on file in the office of the Secretary of State (Portfolio Map No. 175), bearing the following inscription:

"A Plan
of the

Boundary Line Between

the Provinces of

Quebec and New York

Latte 45° Vari" of the Compass 9° Wt.

Surveyed, and Compleated the 20th October 1774.

by John Collins, D. 8. G.

Scale of two Miles to an inch."

This "Plan" includes the whole line from Connecticut River to St. Regis.—[P.

February 17th, 1774.

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A message from his Excellency the Governor,

GENTLEMEN,

Since my last message to you, I have received a letter from Mr. Collins, the surveyor on the part of Quebec, for running the partition line between that province and New York; with copies of the accounts of that service, as settled by the government of Quebec; whereby it appears that he has made a claim against this province for only ten pounds, eighteen shillings and six pence, Hallifax money: You will perceive, however, that Mr. Collins has credited this government with a larger sum, by Mr. Sauthier, than what was actually advanced by him; consequently there must be an error in that article of Mr. Collin's

account.

The overture made by Mr. Collins, to complete the Extension of the boundary line, to Lake St. Francois, as the surveyor for both provinces, for the sum of one hundred pounds sterling, is thought a reasonable proposition by the government of Quebec, and I esteem it worthy of your consideration, Mr. Collins being, in my opinion, a gentleman in the integrity of whose conduct in the faithful performance of that service an entire confidence may be placed. The accomplishment of it. would effectually prevent all further trouble or controversy about the boundary between the two governments.

-[Idem, p. 56.

WH TRYON.

An Act for the Payment of the Salaries of the several Officers of this Colony, and other Purposes therein mentioned.

Passed the 19th of March, 1774.

1. BE IT ENACTED * * That the Treasurer of this Colony shall, and hereby is directed and required to pay,

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Unto Mary Valentine, Relict and Executrix of Thomas Valentine, Surveyor, deceased, in full for his Services and Expences, in running in Part the Partition Line between this Colony and the Colony of Quebec, the Sum of Three Hundred Pounds.

Unto Claude J. Sauthiers, Surveyor, for the Balance of his Account of Days Wages and Expences, in running and marking Part of the Line of Partition between this Colony and the Colony of Quebec, the Sum of Seventy-seven Pounds Four Shillings.

Unto John Collins, of Quebec, Surveyor, a Balance due to him, as per

his Account of Expences accrued in running the Quebec Line, the Sum of Seven Pounds Thirteen Shillings and Six-pence.

By desire of Governor Tryon, I last spring sent Mr. Collins, the Deputy Surveyor General of the province of Quebec, a copy of the resolve of your house, that you would make provision for paying fifty pounds sterling, for completing the line between this province and the province of Quebec. Mr. Collins, by his letter of the 24th of November last, informed me that he had completed the work; that the distance being greater than was expected, had occasioned a greater expense than was foreseen; and that of consequence he was liable to be a considerable loser by the service which he had undertaken for the government, unless some further allowance was made for his disbursements. With his letter of the 28th of February, Mr. Collins has sent me an account of his disbursements; and has drawn upon me for the fifty pounds sterling, which cannot be paid till an act is passed for the purpose. I send to you the letters and account, that you may make the necessary provision.

CADWALLADER COLDEN.

Unto John Collins, for compleating the Extention of the Boundary Line between this Colony and the Province of Quebec, to Lake St. Francois, agreeable to a Resolution of this House the Sixteenth of March last, the sum of Eighty-five Pounds.

-[N. Y. Colony Laws, 1774, 1775, p. 92.

[STATE OF VERMONT.]

AN ACT empowering the Governor of this state to ascertain the Northern Boundary of this state.

SECTION I.

It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont, That the Governor of this State for the time being, be, and he is hereby

authorised and empowered, to employ some person of competent knowledge, together with such assistants as he may deem necessary, to ascertain by celestial observation, where the forty fifth degree of north latitude crosses Lake Memphrimagog, and where the same intersects Connecticut-River, and how far a parellel of latitude extended east and west from said points, will deviate from the present boundary line.

SEC. 2. And it is hereby further enacted, That for the purposes aforesaid, there be, and there is hereby appropriated a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars; and the treasurer is hereby directed to pay the same, or any part thereof, to the order of the Governor.

Passed November 8, 1805.

-[Acts and Laws of Vt., 1805, chapter cxvi.

[GOVERNOR OF VERMONT TO SAMUEL WILLIAMS, LL. D.] Bennington, April 25, 1806.

Rev. Samuel Williams, LL. D., Rutland: Sir.

I received your letter of the 19th Instant, and am well pleased that you agree to undertake the business of ascertaining the latitude 45. Your experience and practical knowledge in the Science of Astronomy, will create confidence in whatever you do. The act which empowers me to employ you in this business must be strictly pursued.

The Legislature was induced to pass this act upon the representations of a number of respectable persons, who were of opinion, that although the point of Latitude 45 near Lake Champlain, has been correctly ascertained in the year 1767 by commissioners duly authorized for that purpose, yet the person who was afterwards appointed to extend a line on this point of Latitude to Connecticut River for the boundary between the three Provinces of New York and Canada, was incorrect, in his survey that this line uniformly inclined to the Equator-that the place where it intersects Connecticut River would be found at least three miles South of the true point of Latitude 45 - To ascertain the truth of this representation, and in order to enable the Legislature to decide whether the variation from the true line was such, as to make it an object, for an application to the General Government, the act in question was passed and is explicit in pointing out the duties of the person employed in its execution.

-

The Committee who reported the bill were of opinion that by ascertaining the point of Latitude 45 on Connecticut River and also the same point of Latitude on Lake Memphremagog, and by measuring the distance from each point to the line now considered as the boundary, we should be able to ascertain every necessary information.

I have been thus particular in my opinion of the act, which must be our guide, from an apprehension that we differ in our construction of it. In one paragraph of your letter you consider it necessary to ascertain the situation of the line from Connecticut River to Lake Champlain, and that the act requires an account of the land gained or lost by the State. I wish the act had left this at discretion, but it has not. Of any business that may be done beyond the act mentions, the responsibility must be upon us.

Should you

find the old line where it intersects Connecticut River to be on the true point of Latitude 45 or not far distant from it and at Lake Memphremagog, you should find the line equally correct, I am persuaded our Legislature would acquiesce in the line as it now is without any further trouble or expence.

The marking out the line anew, ascertaining its situation and erecting suitable monuments would in that case, depend upon some future act of our Government in concurrence with the Government of Canada, and not upon the act now before us.

As you will be on the line, and in a situation, from a personal view and from the information of others, to ascertain in general, its style, course and correctness and the propriety of erecting monuments on any part, any observations on these points will be useful, and I am persuaded will be gratefully received by the Legislature in case the old line should prove to be our boundary.

The Almanac I have not yet read. You will advise me the next mail, whether your first observations will be made at the N. E. corner of the State or at Derby, and to what place I must send the Almanac. I can be at Derby the 15th May.

I shall direct Mr. Page to make out your appointment in due form. He will also deliver to you an order upon the Treasurer for one hundred dollars. If it should be more convenient your collector will answer this order. In our good Republican Government I need not mention to you, who have given so many excellent lessons on the virtue of economy, the necessity of observing it in the business committed to our management.

With sincere esteem and the best wishes for the continuance of your health

'This name is misspelled in some of the MSS. hereafter quoted. —[P.