No. 154.-(Vol. 4, p. 4.)

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

October 5, 1796.

SIR The President of the United States having been pleased to appoint you to be the receiver of moneys which may be paid at Pittsburg, on sales of the lots or sections in the seven ranges of townships, surveyed in pursuance of an ordinance of Congress, passed on the 20th May, 1785, it has become my duty to furnish instructions for conducting the said sales in a regular manner, and for rendering the accounts thereof according to law. For the sake of perspicuity, these instructions will point out, not only what I conceive to be your duty, but also that of the superintendents of the sales.

The lots to be sold are those contained in a printed schedule or list enclosed, signed by me, and with the seal of the Treasury annexed. It is necessary that all sales and entries in the accounts should be made with reference to this schedule, as one or two errors of the press have been discovered in those formerly transmitted.

You are to cause a book to be prepared, ruled according to the form marked D, which is to contain a record of all the sales.

When a sale has been made, you are to receive of the sum bidden onetwentieth part in money, and thereupon to issue a certificate according to the form marked A. Blank certificates of this form will be transmitted, which are to be carefully and accurately numbered in progressive order, and filled up, as sales are made, by a good clerk; within the marginal checks the principal particulars of the certificates are to be inserted.

When a certificate for a deposite agreeably to the form A has been issued, a record thereof is to be made in the book D. In recording certificates of the form A, only the first eleven columns of the book D will be used. The example given of a supposed sale to James Frazier will illustrate what is to be done in this case. If a sum sufficient to complete a moiety of the purchase-money is not paid within thirty days after the sale, the deposite is to be considered as forfeited to the public, and the sale void. The sum deposited is then to be extended into the twentyfirst column of the book D, agreeably to the example given in the case of the supposed sale to James Frazier. If at the end of thirty days a sum sufficient to complete a moiety of the purchase-money shall be paid, a certificate is to be issued, according to the form B, to be signed by the superintendents of the sales. To save unnecessary trouble and expense, it will be best that these certificates, of which blanks will be transmitted, should be filled up under your direction.

On issuing a certificate according to the form B, a record is to be made in the book D, from the twelfth to the twenty-first column, inclusive; the entries relative to the supposed sale to John Gibson will show what is to be done in this case.

If, within thirty days from the time of a sale, the purchaser of a lot or section shall elect to make payment of the whole purchase-money, he will be entitled to a deduction of ten per centum on one moiety; and, on payment thereof, is to receive a certificate, agreeably to the form C, to be signed by the superintendents of the sales. The record to be

made in the book D, in this case, is illustrated by the entries relative to a supposed sale to John Wilkins, from the fifteenth to the twenty-first columns of the said form D.

On issuing the certificates B or C, the deposite certificates of the form A are to be taken up and cancelled. It is conceived to be most proper that the cancelled certificates A should remain in the hands of the superintendents of the sales.

Special care is to be taken to preserve accurate marginal entries respecting all certificates which may be issued.

It is recommended to the superintendents of the sales to sign no certificates of the forms B and C, without previously examining the records. thereof in the book D.

As the patents to be hereafter issued by the Secretary of State will be governed by the certificates B and C, attention must be given to a proper description of the range, township, and section of the lands which may be sold.

The form E is that of an account to be kept of the fees demandable under the eleventh section of the act directing sales; these fees become payable on issuing the certificates B or C; the second column refers to the number of the certificates on issuing which the fees accrue.

When the sales have been completed, or if they should be suspended for more than three days, the superintendents of the sales are to examine the records in the book D, and to certify the same, and are to cause a copy of the said book, with their certificate, to be transmitted to this office.

With the copy of the book D, and the account of fees received, E, you are to transmit an account current, according to the form F, in which will be credited, agreeably to the principles proposed, all the moneys which you shall have received.

I shall expect to receive a weekly statement of the sums which may be received, as also information of the probable future progress of the sales. The sums from time to time so received and exhibited in your weekly returns will be held by you subject to the drafts of the Treasurer. General JOHN NEVIL.

No. 155.-(Vol. 4, p. 20.)

[EXTRACT.]

SIR:

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

August 21, 1800.

It appears to me that questions relative to the rights of pre-emption secured by the sixteenth section of the law will generally arise under such circumstances as to be susceptible of decisions. only in the courts of law. In other cases, justice and policy recommend that the act should receive an interpretation favorable to the claimants. So far, therefore, as the public rights are concerned, I recommend that the actual and continued occupancy of a mill-seat, connected with improvements of any nature upon the land which clearly indicate an inten

tion of erecting a saw-mill or grist-mill, will be considered as sufficient to vest a right of pre-emption, at two dollars per acre. It will rest with individuals to make known their claims, and to adduce evidence in support of them.

In respect to your other question, I am clear that a mill erected, or commenced, on a fractional section, will secure the right of pre-emption to the whole section with which it is directed to be classed.

SIR: I herewith transmit certain forms which appear necessary to be observed in your office as receiver of public moneys for the district of You will be pleased to cause these forms, with this letter, to be recorded at length in the books of your office.

The papers marked A and B contain specifications of entries, to be made in a journal and leger, in which all receipts and payments must be recorded. The cases specified are such as will occur in practice, and the principles upon which the books are to be kept are detailed at length in the paper marked C.

The paper D contains forms of receipts, to be granted for moneys or stock paid or transferred for lands, and by individuals for repayments to them. The examples of entries, given in the form of the journal A, will show the circumstances under which the different kinds of receipts are to be issued.

The paper marked E is the form of an account of moneys received, which is to be stated and rendered, at the close of each calendar month, to the Secretary of the Treasury; a duplicate of the same account is, at the same periods, to be transmitted to the register of the land office for the district.

The paper F is the form of a register of all receipts and repayments. A book kept in this form will afford great security against errors in the cash and stock account; a special attention thereto is recommended.

At the expiration of each quarter, to wit: on the last days of March, June, September, and December, your books are to be balanced and closed by the general account, to be opened under the title United States, agreeably to the example, in the form of a leger. At the same periods the following statements are to be extracted from the books, and rendered to the Treasury for settlement:

1. Account of Deposites.-This statement will be an extract from the journal and leger, showing the particulars of all the debit and credit entries and balance of the account, and is to be accompanied by the receipts of individuals for all repayments.

2. Sales of Public Lands.-This statement will exhibit the names of all purchasers of lands, the tracts respectively purchased, and the consideration or sum paid or payable.

3. Account of Forfeitures-4. Account of Interest. These statements will be exact extracts from the accounts in your books.

The balances of the four accounts above mentioned will be severally carried to the credit of an account current with the United States, referring to the statements according to their numbers.

The following abstracts or statements are also to be formed from the books, the balances of which will constitute debit entries in the same

account current :

1. Cash and Stock Account.-This will be carefully stated, distinguishing receipts in money from transfers in stock, and exhibiting, in distinct columns, the amount of each kind of stock, and its value in money.

2. Account of Discounts; and 3. Commission Account.-The former will state all discounts which have been allowed; and the second, the amount of your commission.

The examples given in the forms suppose the accounts of individuals to be all closed; and, in this respect, they are calculated to exhibit the operation of the system by which your accounts are to be kept, rather than their probable state at the close of a quarter, when they are to be rendered for settlement. That full information of your affairs may be communicated to the Treasury, it will be necessary that the balances due by all individuals should be classed in one account, stating the sums due by each. The aggregate amount of these balances will constitute a debit entry in the account current. When these entries are all made, as above directed, the balance of the account current ought to correspond with the money in your hands (if any) due to the United States.

No. 157.-(Vol. 4, p. 32.)

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,
March 17, 1801.

SIR: Enclosed I transmit to you an extract from an act of Congress passed at the last session, entitled "An act regulating the grants of lands appropriated for the refugees from the British provinces of Canada and Nova Scotia," by which you will observe that the fractional townships of the sixteenth, seventeeth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twentyfirst, and twenty-second ranges of townships joining the southern boundary line of the military lands, and situated within your district, are set apart and reserved to satisfy the claims of the said refugees. I have, therefore, to request that you will not permit the lands designated as aforesaid to be sold or disposed of.

On the subject of the instructions which you have requested for your government in putting up the public lands for sale in your district, I can only say that you must endeavor, as far as practicable, to comply with the provisions of the law in relation thereto.

To the REGISTER, Chillicothe.

No. 158.-(Vol. 4, p. 35.)

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

June 3, 1801.

SIR: Your letters of the 20th April and 4th, ultimo, to my predecessor in office, have been duly received. It is surprising that the Secretary's letter of the 12th March should not have reached you till the 20th April. But a wrong construction heretofore given to the law, and your having granted receipts in full on that wrong construction, although in conformity to your former instructions, cannot alter the law itself. The register is bound by his duty not to grant certificates, unless the money shall have been actually paid according to the true construction of the law, although you may have given receipts in full. And supposing he had, through mistake, supposed himself obliged to consider those receipts as binding upon him, most assuredly this Department will not; and no patents shall issue, except when the whole purchase-money shall have been paid according to law. Of this you will be pleased, whenever an opportunity offers, to inform the purchasers to whom receipts in full may have been erroneously given. In this you acted, however, with perfect propriety, it being in conformity to your former instructions.

To the RECEIVER, Cincinnati.

No. 159.-(Vol. 4, p. 38.)

CIRCULAR.

TREASURY Department,

June 9, 1801.

SIR: In addition to the instructions heretofore sent by this Department, you will be pleased to observe, that, as you are directed by the seventh section of the act under which you are appointed, "to charge the party with the whole purchase-money, and to give him credit for all his payments, making the proper charges and allowances for interest or discount, (as the case may be,) according to the provisions of the fourth section of the act, and, upon the payment being completed, and the account finally settled, to give a certificate of the same to the party," it is your special duty, before you give to any purchaser either a certificate stating a partial payment and the balance due, or a final certificate of the payment being completed, to examine, yourself, whether the account, as stated by the receipt of the receiver, is correct; and particularly whether the proper charges and allowances for interest or discount have been made according to law. Should you discover any mistake, whether it has arisen from a miscalculation, or from a misapprehension of the true construction of the law, you will correct it, make the entry in your own books, and give a certificate to the party as rectified, and give notice of any such mistake both to the receiver and to this Department.