The writings of George Washington; being his correspondence, addresses, messages, and other papers, official and private, selected and published from the original manuscripts; with a life of the author, notes and illustrations. By Jared Sparks.

348 WASHINGTON'S WRITINGS. [LET. 35.
dians consent to our occupying the lands.* Any person,
therefore, who neglects the present opportunity of hunting out good lands, and in some measure marking and
distinguishing them for his own, in order to keep others
from settling them, will never regain it. If you will be
at the trouble of seeking out the lands, I will take upon
me the part of securing them, as soon as there is a possibility of doing it, and will moreover be at all the cost
and charges of surveying and patenting the same. You
shall then have such a reasonable proportion of the
whole, as we may fix upon at our first meeting; as I
shall find it necessary, for the better furthering of the
design, to let some of my friends be concerned in the
scheme, who must also partake of the advantages.
By this time it may be easy for you to discover, that
my plan is to secure a good deal of land. You will consequently come in for a very handsome quantity; and as' The above alludes to the King's proclamation in 1763, which prohibited
all governors from granting warrants for lands to the westward of the
sources of the rivers, which run into the Atlantic ocean, and forbade all persons purchasing such lands, or settling on them, without special license
from the King first obtained. The proclamation seems never to have been
heeded in this sense by the governors, who continued to grant warrants
for lands known to be within the charter limits of their respective colonies,
although beyond the head-waters of such streams. Washington's idea,
as expressed in this letter, was, that the restriction would soon be taken off
in regard to the territory beyond the charter boundaries, and then the persons, who were best acquainted with the lands, would have a good opportunity of making the most favorable selections and purchases.
Similar views seem to have been generally entertained. Chancellor
Livingston, in a letter to Dr. Franklin, respecting the conditions of peace,
previous to the treaty of 1782, says; —" Virginia, even after the Proclamation of 1763, patented considerable tracts on the Ohio, far beyond the
Appalachian mountains. It is true, the several governments were prohibited at different times from granting lands beyond certain limits; but these
were clearly temporary restrictions, which the policy of maintaining a
good understanding with the natives dictated, and were always broken
through after a short period, as is evinced by the grants above mentioned,
made subsequent to the proclamation of 1763." —Diplomatic Correspondence of the.1merican Revolution, Vol. III. p. 270.