Washington, George, 1732-1799. The writings of George Washington from the original manuscript sources: Volume 3
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*To GEORGE MERCER
Williamsburg, November 7, 1771.

    Dear Sir: Since you first left this Country, 43 I have been favoured with two Letters from you one of them dated the 28th. of March, 1770; Serving to enter your own, and the claims of Captains Stobo and Vanbraam, to part of the 200,000 Acres of Land granted under Governor Dinwiddie's Proclamation; and the other, of the 18th. of December, which did not come to

[Note:Mercer had been in England for upwards of six years as the agent of the old Ohio Company, Failing to establish the claims of the company, he approached the organizers of the new company, known as Walpole's Grant, and sought to merge the interests of the two claimants. This he accomplished, as on May 7, 1770, the following agreement was made: "We the Committee of the Purchasers of a Tract of Country for a new Province on the Ohio in America, do hereby admit the Ohio Company as a co-purchaser with us for two shares of the said Purchase [equal to two seventy-second parts of the entire purchase], in consideration of the engagement of their agent, Col. Mercer, to withdraw the application of the said Company for a separate grant within the limits of the said Purchase." This agreement was repudiated by the old company. Mercer wrote to Washington from Dublin (Dec. 18, 1770): "Before I left England, I mentioned my having agreed with, or I may rather say prevailed with, the great Land Company [i.e., Walpole's Grant] there, that the 200,000 Acres, claimed by the officers of the Virginia Troops, should be allowed out of their small Grant." ]
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my hands till about the first of last month, urging the expediency of prosecuting our Right to those Lands with Spirit.

    In respect to the first, I have only to inform you, that your own claim, as well that for your Brother as yourself, was entered before the receipt of your Letter, and that Stobo's and Vanbraam's are also put in. In answer to the Second, I can only add, that the same backwardness, which has ever appeared in our Honorable Board to recognise our right to these Lands, seems still to prevail, and that our business in this Affair, is by no means, in that forwardness, which I could wish, owing (I believe I may say) to other Causes, as well as to a lukewarmness in those from whom we seek redress. The unequal Interest and dispersed situation of the Claimants make a regular Cooperation difficult. An undertaking of this kind cannot be conducted without a good deal of expense and trouble; and the hazard of obtaining the Lands, after the utmost efforts of both is such, as to discourage the Major part from lending a helping hand whilst a few are obliged to wade through every difficulty, or relinquish every hope.

    Circumstanced in this manner I did in behalf of those, who had contributed to the expence of exploring and Surveying the Lands, (of whom you are one by means of your Brother). Petition the Governor and Council, that the quantum of each Man's share, according to his Rank, should be ascertained; and each Claimant suffered to Locate and Survey distinctly by which means every Man would stand upon his own bottom and not a few burthend with the expence of the whole whilst the Major part are standing aloof waiting the Event; if favourable to come in for part of the Prize but to pay nothing for the Ticket in case of a Blank. This petition I thought so reasonable, and so consistent with every principle of common justice, to say nothing of the disadvantage of being forced into large

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Tracts, and the manifest inconvenience of dividing them afterwards, that I conceived it could not possibly be rejected; but to my great astonishment it was so, and we are now compelled to be at the expence of Surveying our whole quantity in twenty Surveys, and then each Individual subjected to the charge of Surveying his own Separately; by which means we are doubly Taxed, whilst the whole is held as a kind of joint Interest, and no man is certain of his property, or can tell how, or in what manner to dispose of it. In short, so many glaring obstacles opposd their mode of proceeding, that they did not even attempt to remove them, but contented themselves with putting the Soldiery upon a worse footing, than the meanest Individual in the Community, rather than be thought to give a License for the pillaging of his Majesty's, or the Proprietary Lands; when it is a fact well known, and every age evinces it, that no Country ever was, or ever will be settled without some Indulgence; What Inducements have Men to explore uninhabited Wilds, but the prospect of getting good Lands? Would any Man waste his time, expose his Fortune, nay, life, in such a search, if he was to share the good and the bad with those that come after him? Surely no! and here we have Surveyed Ten of the largest Tracts we can find in the district allowed us, and have been able to get 61,796 Acres, and for this we have been obliged to go between 2 and 300 Miles below Fort Pitt, as the Lands thereabouts are thought to be within the Pensylvania Government; at least, are Survey'd under those Rights, and held by such a number of Individuals, that it was thought to be Impolitick to engage in private disputes, whilst there appeard but a gloomy prospect of getting any Land at all.

    The Claims, which have been presented to me, are now all given in, and the Governor and Council have determind, that each officer shall share by the Rank in which he enter'd the

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Service, and that the Land shall be distributed in the following manner, viz., to each Field Officer 15,000 Acres; each Captain 9,000; each Subaltern 6,000, the Cadets 2,500 each, 600 to a Sergeant, 500 to a Corporal, and 400 to each private Soldier. They have made a reserve of 30,000 Acres, as well to provide for any Claims, which may hereafter come in, as to compensate those, who have been and must necessarily continue to be saddled with this expence; which we find will not be very inconsiderable, as we have already advanced and expended near £200 and the Surveyor not paid.

    This expence must now be greatly augmented, as we shall be run to a considerable charge in exploring the Lands, before we can proceed to Survey any more, as it appears from every thing we know at present impossible to get 200,000 Acres in 20 Surveys without Including Mountains and Inhospitable Hills to the amount of near one half of it, which will render the grant of little value, and be the source of much discontent at a division. It behooves Us therefore to examine the Lands well before we Survey. And give me leave to add, that it will be very proper for you to give Messrs. Stobo and Vanbraam a hint that, something more than entering their Claims is necessary for this Work cannot be carried forward without an advance, and I dare say they will hardly think it reasonable to profit by the labour and Purse of others; it is highly incumbent on them, therefore, to appoint an Agent in this Country to transact their business and advance their quotas of the expence if they expect to share in the Lands.

    To give you a minute detail of the proceedings respecting this Grant, would be a Work of time to me, and afford little entertainment to you; what I have here said will serve to give you an idea of the matter and this is all I have aimed at in this Letter; which I shall readily acknowledge is the first I wrote

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you since you left this Country. It was my sincere wish, and full Intention to have kept up a regular and friendly intercourse with you by Letter, and I only waited to be advised (according to promise) of your arrival in London, and address to begin this; but in waiting for this pleasure, I waited long enough to be convinced that you had forgot your old acquaintance; for tho' I could hear of your Letters to almost every Gentlemen in this Country I never had the satisfaction of being favored with one. At first I attributed it to accident, or miscarriage of Letter's but finding it invariably the same I did not incline to drag you into a corrispondence you seemd desirous of avoiding. I should not however have delayed answering your first Letter till this time, had you not advis'd me therein of your Intention of Imbarking soon for this Continent; which being frequently corroborated by your Brother, of whom I often enquird after you, I thought a Letter could have little chance of finding you in England; and the Reason of my giving you the trouble of this long Scrawl now is that I have just been told by Mr. Mercer, that you are to remain in London for some advices from him, respecting the Affairs of the Ohio Company. Mrs. Washington makes a tender of her Compliments to you, and I am, with very sincere regard, dear Sir,