patriotism and that spirit of appreciation of our Revolutionary ancestors if it were not for the Daughters of the American Revolution."

The President General replied to the speech of presentation and among other things, said: "I need hardly say that for me to receive a gift from Maryland, and from the hands of one who has been our family friend, in addition to our statesman, there comes to me a peculiar sense of tenderness. I desire, first to express, as your President General, my formal sense of gratitude for this clock and to the representative of the Baltimore Chapter here to-day, who has performed so gracefully the unveiling ceremony, (a ceremony which usually fills the soul with nervous dread, but has been most successfully accomplished on this occasion).

"I cannot express my gratification at seeing this clock placed here in our Hall. It is a great pleasure to have it, not only as a gift from one of our most prominent Chapters, but because we absolutely need it here in the conducting of our Continental Congresses. Therefore, it is with an unusual feeling of appreciation that we receive it from the chapI know the former regent, Mrs. Knott, and her deep interest in our Memorial Continental Hall. Miss Greenway is the present regent, with a new Board of Officers recently elected; so it is doubly gratifying to know that this chapter's interest continues. Your President General extends back her loving, loyal greetings to her Maryland Daughters. Although true to every State in the Union, there is a peculiar feeling of devotion for 'Maryland, My Maryland.'

"The clock also reminds us of the value of time. I recall those days of the past, when in my youth I considered it almost an insult to be told that Time is Money,' when, in the prodigal, lavish waste of time, the hours went by unheeded. I now realize that every hour is full of responsibility, of the outgoing of energy and effort in the many duties of life, and I know, too, that the hours are more to me now than money. But the loving enthusiasm that comes to me from this organization; its aid and encouragement, support me in the work, and as the priceless hours go by, and I strive to give my best

energies to its aims and objects, I feel that we shall be amply rewarded by the magnificent results of our labors."

The President General then presented to the audience Mr. Randall, the author of "Maryland, My Maryland," who spoke at some length regarding the changes made in his poem written so long ago.*

A very happy address was then made by Admiral Winfield Scott Schley, U. S. N., who extended his best wishes to the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and expressed his admiration of the beautiful clock, which he hoped to come and watch from time to time during the meetings of the Continental Congress. The President General assured him that he would be warmly welcomed at every meeting held.

Some interesting statements in regard to the building of the Hall were then made by the President General, who said, in conclusion: "The Continental Hall Committee will hold no further meeting at this time; but reports progress upon what was decided upon at the last meeting. As Chairman of the Committee, I consulted with the architect, and everything is going on as well as possible under the conditions of the market. I will report from a business stand-point at the regular business meeting of the Committee to be held later.

"I would now say that with the permission of Governor Warfield and Admiral Schley, all Daughters and any of the public present, who desire to meet these gentlemen, will be received on the platform. We will now sing a patriotic song, worthy of following the speech we have just heard from our distinguished hero. Admiral Schley. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was then sung, the audience rising and taking part in the chorus. The benediction was pronounced by Right Reverend Henry Gates Satterlee, D. D., LL. D., Bishop of Washington.

The President General then formally declared the meeting closed, after which a large number of those present went to the platform, to be presented to the distinguished speakers. FRANCIS M. TERRY, Secretary.

* Since writing the above we learn with deep regret of the death of Mr. James Randall, author of "Maryland, My Maryland."

VIRGINIA AND THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY

By Mrs. James Mercer Garnett, Historian

Thomas Johnson Chapter

Mrs. S. P. Lee says, in her "School History of the United States: "In 1776, the men of the settlements in Virginia sent Gabriel Jones and Rogers Clarke to the convention then sitting in Williamsburg, to represent the need of some local government and to ask that the country beyond the mountains, which was still a part of Fincastle county, might be set off into the county of Kentucky, with its own courts and county officers. When Jones and Clarke reached Botetourt they learned that the convention had adjourned. Jones joined Christian's expedition against the Cherokees, but Clarke determined to go to see the governor, Patrick Henry, and try to get powder for the Kentuckians to defend themselves against the Indians, who were being urged by British agents to destroy them.

"Governor Henry was sick at his home not very far from Clarke's native place in Albemarle county. His representations induced Governor Henry to write and advise the council of Virginia to furnish Clarke with 500 pounds of powder. Clarke stated that if a country was not worth protecting, it was not worth claiming. The council had no intention of relinquishing so fair a portion of Virginia's possessions, and ordered the commander at Fort Pitt, then in Virginia, to furnish Clarke with 500 pounds of powder to be taken down the Ohio to the Kentucky people. The legislature which met in the fall, also set off the county of Kentucky and gave a regular government to the people. Thus was Kentucky county organized and defended. The Indian attacks upon Kentucky came from north Ohio, and Clarke was convinced that they were originated by the British agents, and conceived the idea that if some of the forts which governed the country were seized, the influence of the British would be destroyed.

"When he learned that Burgoyne had been defeated and

the invasion from Canada brought to an end, Clarke thought his plan might be practicable. He, therefore, went again to Virginia and laid the project before Governor Henry and three other leading Virginians, Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe and George Mason. They were much pleased with the idea, and Clarke was empowered by the governor to raise 350 men in the western counties for the purpose of capturing the forts at Kaskaskia and other points. It was in the spring of 1778 before Clarke set out down the Ohio carrying the 150 men he had raised for his enterprise and a number of emigrants with their families and worldly goods. Some of these families plunged into the new country, others stopped at the Falls of Ohio, where the city of Louisville now stands. There Clarke explained the object of the expedition to his Some became disheartened, but their places were filled by others eager for the enterprise." The hardships endured by these men, unsupported by the Continental Army, the capture of Fort Kaskaskia in 1778, the seizure of Vincennes in 1779, with a handful of men in midwinter, and half the country under water, through which they waded up to their chins for several days at a time, are matters of history. Clarke's great desire was to march on Detroit, but so distant an expedition was impossible.

men.

The territory taken from the British by Clarke was at once set off as the county of Illinois, with its local government like that of the other Virginia counties, and remained in the possession of Virginia until she generously presented it to the United States.

The British never again possessed the forts in Illinois, and when peace was at last made, it was in consequence of Clarke's conquest and Virginia's government of it, that the northwest was given up to the United States.

Clarke fought afterward in Virginia and again in the west. He was made a brigadier-general and died in 1818 in Kentucky, with which state he had identified himself early in her history. Virginia bestowed upon him a large tract of land, and afterward gave him a pension sufficient to make him com

fortable in his declining years. He was also presented with a handsome sword by Virginia.

Dr. J. William Jones in his "School History of the United States," says: "The northwest territory belonged to Virginia under original grant in her charter, but the British now held it, having established strong posts in commanding positions all over the territory, from whence they encouraged the Indians to make forays on the white settlements along the frontier. The Continental Congress could spare no troops to reconquer this territory, though appealed to by Virginia to do so, and the governor, Patrick Henry, accepted the earnestly proffered services of George Rogers Clarke, of Albemarle county, who enlisted volunteers in the western counties, marched into that region and by real ability, rare skill, and heroic courage and patience in bearing hardship and privation, he captured Forts Kaskaskia and Vincennes and other posts, and floated the flag of the 'Old Dominion' over the whole of that 'Northwestern Territory,' it being named ‘Illinois county, Virginia.' The result of the retaking of this vast territory was that, when peace came, the British boundary line was forced back to the lakes instead of coming down to the Ohio, as it otherwise would have done, and the state of Virginia had a clear title to this vast domain out of which the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and a part of Minnesota were afterwards carved, and the old commonwealth gave, without money and without price, as a freewill offering to the establishment of the Union, the most imperial gift that state or nation ever laid on the altar of country."

Dr. J. William Jones says: "There having arisen complaint among some of the smaller states that Virginia would have overwhelming influence and control in the confederation as soon as her vast territory should be settled, and Maryland especially refusing to sign on that account the articles of confederation, the Old Dominion with self-denying patriotism and prodigal liberality donated to the confederation her northwestern territory, to which she had indisputable claim both by grant in her charter and by the fact that her troops, unaided