were 119, and the nays 56, and that the bill had received the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution." It was a moment or two before the House or the galleries recovered from their surprise and recognized the fact that we had triumphed. When they did, a shout went up from the floor and galleries, and the vast audience rose to their feet, many members jumping on their desks, with shouts and waving of hats and handkerchiefs, and gave vent to their feelings by every demonstration of joy. It was a scene such as I had never before witnessed and shall never witness again.

Mr. Ingersoll, of Illinois, said: "Mr. Speaker, in honor of this sublime and immortal event, I move that this House do now adjourn," which motion was carried.

When this vote was taken, the House had but 183 members, 94 of whom were Republicans, 64 Democrats and 25 border-State Union men. If the vote is analyzed, it will be seen that of the 119 votes recorded for the amendment, 13 were by men from the border States, and eleven (11) were by Democrats from the free States. If but 3 out of the 24 who voted with us had voted against the amendment, it would have failed. If but four (4) of the 8 members who were absent had appeared and voted against, it would have been lost. Had all the northern Democrats who supported the amendment voted against it, it would have been defeated by

twenty-six votes. Had all the border State men who voted for it, voted against, it would have failed by thirtytwo votes.

If the border State men and northern Democrats who voted for the amendment had voted against, it would have failed by sixty-five votes.

Mr. Lincoln was especially delighted at the vote which the amendment received from the border slave States, and frequently congratulated me on that result.

Bancroft, the historian, has drawn. with a graphic pen the characters of many of the able and illustrious men of the Revolution which achieved our independence. In writing of George Mason, of Virginia, he said: "His sincerity made him wise and bold, modest and unchanging, with a scorn for anything mean and cowardly, as illustrated in his unselfish attachment to human freedom." And these identical qualities of head and heart were pre-eminently conspicuous in all the border statesmen who voted for the Thirteenth Amendment.

It would be difficult in any age or country to find grander or more unselfish and patriotic men than Henry Winter Davis and Governor Francis Thomas of Maryland, or James S. Rollins, Frank P. Blair and Governor King of Missouri, or George H. Yeaman of Kentucky, or N. P. Smithers of Delaware, and not less worthy of mention for their unchanging fidelity to principle are all the northern Democrats who voted for the amend

ment, prominent among whom I may name Governor English, of Connecticut; Judge Homer A. Nelson and Moses S. Odell of New York; Archibald McAllister of Pennsylvania; Wells A. Hutchins, of Ohio, and A. C. Baldwin of Michigan.

Of the twenty-four border State and northern men who made up this majority which enabled us to win this victory, all had defied their party discipline, and had deliberately and with unfaltering faith marched to their po

litical death. These are the men whom our future historians will honor, and to whom this nation owes a debt of eternal gratitude.

But seven of this twenty-four are now living, the others have gone to

"Join the choir invisible

Of those immortal dead, who live again
In minds made better by their presence; live
In pulses stirred to generosity,

In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn
For miserable aims that end with self."
JAMES M. ASHLEY.

OLD

Provision was made for courts for the appointment of sheriffs, and for surveying the county to be divided,

etc.

10 Hening, pp. 315-316. October, 1766, 1st of Commonwealth, 9 Hening's Statutes at Large, p. 257.

An act for dividing the county of Fincastle into three distinct counties, and the parish of Botetourt into four distinct parishes.

Whereas, from the great extent of the county of Fincastle many inconveniences attend the more distant inhabitants thereof, on account of their remote situation from the court house of the said county, and many of the said inhabitants have petitioned this

present general assembly for a division of the same:

Be it therefore enacted by the general assembly of the commonwealth of Virgi nia, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the last day of December next ensuing the said county of Fincastle shall be divided into three counties, that is to say: All that part thereof which lies to the south and westward of a line beginning on the Ohio, at the mouth of Great Sandy creek, and running up the same and the main or northeasterly branch thereof to the Great Laurel Ridge or Cumberland Mountain, thence southwesterly along the said mountain to the line of North

Carolina, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Kentucky; and all that part of the said county of Fincastle included in the lines begining at the Cumberland Mountain, where the line of Kentucky county intersects the North Carolina line, thence east along the said Carolina line to the top of Iron Mountain, thence along the same easterly to the source of the south fork of Holstien river, thence northwardly along the highest part of the highlands, ridges and mountains that divide the waters of the Tennessee from those of the Great Kanawah, to the most easterly source of Clinch river, thence westwardly along the top of the mountains that divide the waters of Clinch river from those of the Great Kanawah and Sandy creek to the line of Kentucky county, thence along the same to the beginning, shall be one other distinct county, and called and known by the name of Washington; and all the residue of the said county of Fincastle shall be one other distinct county, and shall be called and known by the name of Montgomery.

And for the administration of justice in the said counties of Montgomery, Washington and Kentucky after the same shall take place, Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That after the said last day of December a court for every of the said counties of Montgomery, Washington and Kentucky, shall be held by the justices thereof respectively, upon the following days in every month,

to wit: For the county of Montgomery on the first Tuesday in every month, for the county of Washington on the last Tuesday in every month, and for the county of Kentucky on the first Tuesday in every month, in such manner as is by law provided for other counties, and as shall be by their commissions directed. Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to hinder the sheriff of the said county of Fincastle, as the same now stands entire and undivided, from collecting and making distress for any public dues or officer's fees which shall remain unpaid by the inhabitants thereof at the time such division shall take place, but such sheriff shall have the same power to collect and distrain for such dues and fees, and shall be accountable for them in the same manner, as if this act had never been made, any law, usage, or custom, to the contrary thereof, in anywise notwithstanding.

And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the court of the said county of Montgomery shall have jurisdiction of all actions and suits in law and equity which shall be depending before the court of Fincastle county at the time the said division shall take place, and shall and may try and determine all such actions and suits, and issue process and award execution in any such action or suit; and the justices of the said county of Fincastle who shall reside within the bounds of Montgomery county after the division, and all

hold a court within the said district on the third Tuesday in every month at such place as they may appoint, and shall exercise their office, both in court and without, in the same manner as the justices in the several counties are by this ordinance empowered to do.

V. Provided always, That upon complaint made to the governor and privy council against any justice of the peace, now in commission, of misfeasance in office, or disaffection to the commonwealth, it shall and may be lawful for the governor, with advice of the privy council, on a full and fair hearing of both parties, to remove such justice from his office, if they shall be of opinion that the said complaint is just and well founded.

VI. And be it further ordained, That the common law of England, all statutes or acts of parliament made in aid of the common law prior to the fourth year of the reign of King James the First, and which are of a general nature, not local to that kingdom, together with the several acts of the general assembly of this colony now in force, so far as the same may consist with the several ordinances, declarations and resolutions of the general convention, shall be the rule of decision, and shall be considered as in full force, until the same shall be altered by the legislative power of this colony.

VII. Provided always, and be it further ordained, That all quit-rents and

arrears thereof, and all duties, aids, penalties, fines and forfeitures heretofore made payable to the king, his heirs and successors, shall be and inure to the use of the commonwealth, and all bonds for securing the same shall be made payable to the person or persons having the executive

power.

May, 1776, Interregnum.

Dec. 6, 1776, the whole territory was formed into the county of Kentucky.

In 1784-5, an agitation commenced for a separation from Kentucky, and three conventions of the people were called for that purpose, but the final act of the Virginia legislature, allowing it, was not passed until Dec. 18, 1789, and congress, by an act of Feb. 4, 1791, admitted the State, the admission to take effect June 1, 1792. THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY, IL

LINOIS.

In the issue of this paper of August 3rd, we gave a full and succinct account of the successful expedition of Col. Geo. Rogers Clarke to the Illinois country in 1778, his capture of the English stockades and forts at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, and of the erection of all that territory into a county of Virginia, called the county of Illinois, which act was published in full by us at that time, and which was, we believe, the first time that it had ever appeared in printed form in this State. We may be mistaken, but we have never been able to find said statute in any of the published laws of this State or anywhere else, except