REPORT

OF THE

LORDS COMMISSIONERS for
TRADE and PLANTATIONS

ON THE

PETITION

OF THE

Honourable Thomas Walpole, Benjamin
Franklin, John Sargent, and Samuel
Wharton, Esquires, and their Associates;

FOR

A Grant of Lands on the River Ohio, in North
America; for the purpose of Erecting a new Government.

WITH

OBSERVATIONS and REMARKS.

LONDON:

Printed for J. Almon, opposite Burlington-House, in
Piccadilly.

MDCCLXXII.

REPORT

OF

The Lords Commissioners for
Trade and Plantations.

ON THE

PETITION of the Honourable
Thomas Walpole and his Associates,
for a Grant of Lands on
the River Ohio in North America.

My Lords,

Pursuant to your lordships order of the 25th May 1770, we have taken into our consideration the humble memorial of the honourable Thomas Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, John Sargent, and Samuel Wharton, Esquires, in behalf of themselves and their associates, setting forth (among other things) "That they presented a petition to his Majesty, in council, for a grant of lands in America (parcel of the lands purchased by government of the Indians) in consideration of a price to be paid in purchase of the same; that in pursuance of a suggestion which arose when the said petition was under consideration of the Lords Commissioners for trade and plantations, the memorialists presented a petition to the Lords Commissioners of the treasury, proposing to purchase a larger tract of land on the river Ohio in America, sufficient for a separate government; whereupon their lordships were pleased to acquaint the memorialists, they had no objection to accepting the proposals made by them with respect to the purchase-money and quit-rent to be paid for the said tract of land, if it should be thought adviseable by those departments of government, to whom it belonged to judge of the propriety of the grant, both in point of policy and justice, that the grant should be made; in consequence whereof the memorialists humbly renew their application that a grant of said lands may be made to them, reserving therein to all persons their just and legal rights to any parts or parcels of said lands which may be comprehended within the tract prayed for by the memorialists;" whereupon we beg leave to report to your lordships,

I. That according to the description of the tract of land prayed for by the memorialists, which description is annexed to their memorial, it appears to us to contain part of the dominion of Virginia, to the south of the river Ohio, and to extend several degrees of longitude westward from the western ridge of the Appalachian mountains, as will more fully appear to your Lordships from the annexed sketch of the said tract, which we have since caused to be delineated with as much exactness as possible, and herewith submit to your Lordships, to the end that your Lordships may judge with the greater precision of the situation of the lands prayed for in the memorial.

II. From this sketch your Lordships will observe, that a very considerable part of the lands prayed for, lies beyond the line, which has, in consequence of his Majesty's orders for that purpose, been settled by treaty, as well with the tribes of the Six Nations, and their confederates, as with the Cherokee Indians, as the boundary line between his Majesty's territories and their hunting grounds; and as the faith of the crown is pledged in the most solemn manner both to the Six Nations and to the Cherokees, that notwithstanding the former of these nations had ceded the property in the lands to his Majesty, yet no settlements shall be made beyond that line, it is our duty to report to your Lordships our opinion, that it would on that account be highly improper to comply with the request of the memorial, so far as it includes any lands beyond the said line.

It remains therefore, that we report to your Lordships our opinion, how far it may consist with good policy and with justice, that his Majesty should comply with that part of the memorial which relates to those lands which are situated to the east of that line, and are part of the dominion of Virginia.

III. And first with regard to the policy, we take leave to remind your Lordships of that principle which was adopted by this Board, and approved and confirmed by his Majesty, immediately after the treaty of Paris, viz. the confining the western extent of settlements to such a distance from the sea coast, as that those settlements should lie within the reach of the trade and commerce of this kingdom, upon which the strength and riches of it depend, and also of the exercise of that authority and jurisdiction, which was conceived to be necessary for the preservation of the colonies, in a due subordination to, and dependance upon, the Mother Country; and these we apprehend to have been two capital objects of his Majesty's proclamation of the 7th of October 1763, by which his Majesty declares it to be his royal will and pleasure to reserve under his sovereignty, protection, and dominion, for the use of the Indians, all the lands not included within the three new governments, the limits of which are described therein, as also all the lands and territories lying to the westward of the sources of the rivers which shall fall into the sea from the west and north-west, and by which, all persons are forbid to make any purchases or settlements whatever, or to take possession of any of the lands above reserved, without special licence for that purpose.

IV. It is true indeed, that partly from want of precision in describing the line intended to be marked out by the proclamation of 1763, and partly from a consideration of justice in regard to legal titles to lands, which had been settled beyond that line, it has been since thought fit to enter into engagements with the Indians, for fixing a more precise and determinate boundary between his Majesty's territories and their hunting grounds.

V. By this boundary, so far as it regards the case now in question, your Lordships will observe, that the hunting grounds of the Indians are reduced within narrower limits than were specified by the proclamation of 1763; we beg leave however, to submit to your Lordships, that the same principles of policy, in reference to settlements at so great a distance from the sea coast as to be out of the reach of all advantageous intercourse with this kingdom, continue to exist in their full force and spirit; and, though various propositions for erecting new colonies in the interior parts of America have been, in consequence of this extension of the boundary line, submitted to the consideration of government (particularly in that part of the country wherein are situated the lands now