stitute for any free person whose duty or lot it was to serve in such regiment or corps, and hath served faithfully during the term of such enlistment, or hath been discharged from such service by some officer duly authorized to grant such discharge, shall from and after the passing of this act, be fully and compleatly emancipated, and shall be held and deemed free in as full and ample a manner as if each and every of them were specially named in this act; and the attorney-general for the commonwealth, is hereby required to commence And may sue an action, in forma pauperis, in behalf of any of the in forma pauperis and persons above described who shall after the passing of ecover dathis act be detained in servitude by any person whatso- mages, if deever; and if upon such prosecution it shall appear that the pauper is entitled to his freedom in consequence of this act, a jury shall be empannelled to assess the damages for his detention. tained in slavery. and merito. rious servi III. And whereas it has been represented to this gen- Aberdeen, eral assembly, that Aberdeen, a negro man slave, bath for his long laboured a number of years in the public service at the lead mines, and for his meritorious services is entitled to freedom; Be it therefore enacted, That the said slave lead mines, Aberdeen shall be, and he is hereby emancipated and declared declared free in as full and ample a manner as if he had free, been born free, ces, at the CHAP. IV. [Chapter CXCI in ori ginal.[ p. An act for surveying the lands given I. FOR the better locating and surveying the lands Deputation given by law to the officers and soldiers on continental of officers to and state establishments; Be it enacted by the general perintend assembly, That it shall and may be lawful for the de- ants and sur. putations of officers, consisting of major general Pe- veyors, for ter Muglenburg, major-general Charles Scott, major- surveying locating and lands, given general George Weedon, brigadier-general Daniel to officers Morgan, brigadier-general James Wood, colonel Wilon continen. liam Heth, lieutenant-colonels Towles, Hopkins, tal and state Clarke, and Temple, captain Nathaniel Burwell, and and soldiers, establish ments. captain Mayo Carrington, of the continental line, or any five of them; and brigadier-genoral Clark, colonels Brent, Muter, and Dabney, major Meriwether, captains Roane, Rogers, and Boswell, of the state line, or any three of them, to appoint superintendants on behalf of the respective lines, or jointly, for the purpose of regulating the surveying of the lands appropriated by law as bounties for the said officers and soldiers; and that the said deputations of officers shall have power to nominate and appoint two principal surveyors, to be commissioned as other surveyors within this commonwealth, and contract with them for their fees, who shall appoint their deputies, to be approved by the superintendants; and in case of their death, or inability to act, the superintendants shall have power to appoint from time to time, a successor or successors, as the case One sixth may require. Provided, That one sixth part of the of surveyors fees received by such surveyor or deputies, shall be ed to Wm. & accounted for to the use of the college of William and Mary col- Mary, in the same manner as other surveyors are dilege. rected to account for their fees, upon surveys made by them within this commonwealth. That the holder or holders of land warrants for military bounties, given for bounty by law as aforesaid, shall, on or before the fifteenth lands to be day of march next, deliver the same to the principal surveyors, at such place or places as they shall, with the advice of the deputations, direct, endorsing on the back of each warrant the number of surveys the same shall be laid off in, specifying the quantity of each Limitation survey. Provided, that a general officer shall not be as to number allowed more than six, a field-officer five, and a capof surveys. tain and subaltern four surveys, in their respective ap fees reserv Warrants delivered by March 15. portionments of land, and the staff in proportion. The non-commissioned officers and soldiers warrants shall be put into classes, as near as circumstances will admit, of one thousand acres each, numbered previous to the drawing, and the number of the lot drawn shall be endorsed on every such class; and the persons interested in each class, shall determine their be classed choice by lot, in the same manner as shall be done by Warrants to classes, and the same to be divided accordingly by the and drawn surveyors. for by lot. Priority of be, termined by location de 11. And be it further enacted, That the priority of location shall be determined by lot, as soon as may after the said fifteenth day of March next, under the lot. direction and management of the principal surveyors and the superintendants, or any three of them, according to such regulations as shall be fixed on by the present deputation, from the officers on the continental and state establishments respectively. That all warrants delivered to the principal surveyors before the sixteenth of March next, shall be first surveyed, and those delivered upon that, or any subsequent day, shall be surveyed in the same order of priority, as they may be respectively delivered to the principal surveyors. And if the proprietor of any warrant shall, either by himself or agent, decline or refuse to locate and survey agreeable to the number of lot or lots drawn thereto, such proprietor shall be postponed to those who do not refuse to locate and survey according to rotation. Locations direction of HI. And be it further enacted, That every officer and surveys and soldier, or their legal representatives; may attend to be made in person, or by another authorized for the purpose, to under the the locating and surveying their respective portions of the superinland; and the portions of such officers and soldiers not tendants. being transferred, who may not be represented, shall be located and surveyed under the direction of the superintendants, agreeable to their number or rotation; but the superintendants shall not be compelled to attend to the locating and surveying of lands claimed by purchase, unless such claimant attend in person, or by an agent duly authorized for that purpose. And that every person or persons holding officers or soldiers Assignees warrrnts by assignment, shall pay down to the princi- of warrants pal surveyors at the time of delivering such warrant or to pay one dollar,a hunwarrants, one dollar for every hundred acres thereof; dred,besides exclusive of the legal surveyors fees, towards raising a legal fees. fund for the purpose of supporting all contingent expences, or at the option of such holder or holders, the same may be held up until the warrants of all the original grantees have been surveyed; the said surveyors to account for all the money so received, to such person or persons as the said deputations may direct. lands on Cumberland ed then o north west of Ohio, between Scio to and Little Miami. Al the gord IV. And be it further enacted, That the surveyors under the direction of the superintendants, and the and Penisee claimants having a right to survey from the priority of rivers, to be their numbers shall proceed in the first place to survey first survey all the good lands, to be adjudged of by the superintendants, in that tract of country lying on the Cumberland and Tenisee rivers, as set apart by law for the said of ficers and soldiers, and then proceed in like manner to survey on the north-west side of the river Ohio, between the rivers Scioto and the Little Miama, until the deficiency of all military bounties in lands shall be fully and amply made up. Provided always, That in such surveys, the same proportions be observed in length and breadth as are directed by law in other surveys within this commonwealth, and shall be closed and marked on all sides. And whatever lands may happen to be left within the tract of country reserved for the army on this side the Ohio and Mississippi, shall be saved, subject to the order and particular disposition of the legislature of this state. And that the governor, with advice of council, be, and he is hereby empowered and required to furnish the superintendants with such military aid, at such time, and in such manmay furnish ner, as he may judge necessary for the purpose of carmilitary aid. rying this act into executon. Provided, that the aid to Limitation be ordered shall be from the Kentucky country, and not exceed one hundred men, Governor if necessary thereof. 4000 Acres of prime tract, on the Mississippi, may be laid off for a town. V. And whereas the deputations of officers aforesaid, have represented to this assembly that a certain tract of country, lying on the Mississippi and the waters thereof, is from its situation and other advantages, of too much importance to be subject to fall to the lot of any individual, and it now being the request of the said lines, through their respective deputations as aforesaid, that four thousand acres of land should be laid off on the Mississippi and the waters thereof, within the said tracts of country for a town and other public purposes, for the common benefit and interest of the whole: Be it therefore enacted. That the said deputations jointly, be, and they are hereby empowered, to cause four thousand acres of laud to be laid off in such manner and form as they may judge most beneficial for a town, without being confined to any certain length or breadth, as in other surveys, and vested in trustees, at such place on the said river Mississippi and the waters An act to authorize the congress of the original.] trade. 1. WHEREAS it appears by an order of the king Preamble, of Great Britain in council, bearing date the second reciting an order of the day of July last, made under the express authority of British king his parliament, that the growth or produce of any of in council, the United States of America, are prohibited from be- prohibiting the produce ing carried to any of the British West India Islands, of the Uniby any other than British subjects, in British built ted States, ships, owned by British subjects, and navigated accord- from being ing to the laws of that kingdom. carried to the West In bottoms, ow. ned Congress Il. And whereas this proceeding, though but a tem- dies, except VOL. XI. P2 from the The resolution passed the House-ncur.com. 4. Dec. 1783. Russell C.N Act passed House 9. Dec. Joux. 55. House request Governor to transmit Act to other states + to Congress. Jour. 81. to be no mention in House Jour · of Soute ་ |