These grants included all the present county of Cumberland, except the towns on the sea coast, which had been granted under Gorges and Rigby, and a few detached strips and parcels of small amount; with 12 townships, amounting to about 310,000 acres, in Oxford; and several tracts in York, some of which were of considerable extent, not covered by the claims under the Indian deeds and other grants, before alluded to, which occupied the principal part of that county. The whole quantity contained in these grants collectively, in the western section of the State, as near as can be at present ascertained, is nearly 750,000 acres.

Those acquainted with the inaccuracy of a large portion of the original surveys made in all parts of the State, will perceive the difficulty of obtaining a correct account of the quantity of the lands included in the various ancient grants which have been mentioned. It might be supposed, however, that the law requiring a statement under oath, of the quantity of land, of every description, in every town, would have produced an account, so far at least as respected the towns which have been sometime settled, and repeatedly surveyed, which might be relied on as perfectly accurate; yet it is found that, in about 60 towns, respecting which there were other means of determining the true quantity, the account rendered in the returns of 1820 were, in the aggregate, about 191,000 acres deficient. This deficiency has been made the basis of computing that of the rest; yet, even with this aid, there is still much uncertainty, and different modes of computation give somewhat different results. From the method whieh is considered the most nearly accurate, it is computed that the quantity of land contained in the tracts which are now holden under the ancient grants from the Council of Plymouth, and those under purchases originally from the Indians, including also some smaller tracts intermixed with them, and which could not easily be ascertained separately, is not far from 2,481,000 acres ; and the quantity alienated by the Province of Massachusetts, after

the charter of 1691, and prior to the peace of 1783, is computed to be about 1,304,500 acres ; making, in the whole quantity alienated before the territory came fully into the possession of the Commonwealth, 3,785,000 acres. Other modes of estimating the quantity make it about 130,000 acres less, and some make it rather more; but the former is thought to be nearest the truth.

The local and relative positions of these several descriptions of grants, prior to 1783, so far as they have been adjudged valid, and still form the bases of the present land titles, are exhibited in Plate V. where they are indicated by the Roman numerals I. to VI.

The foregoing account, though comparatively of less moment at the present day, yet it is thought will not be uninteresting nor improper as introductory to a more specific and detailed account of the sales and grants which have been since made, and which form part of a system or systems in the political economy of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and, more recently, of the State of Maine, respecting which their citizens have, at times, felt a strong interest, and the results of which may have had, and may still have, important relations to their fiscal concerns, and to the general wealth and resources of the State.

At the termination of the long and arduous struggle for the independence of the nation, Massachusetts found herself a sovereign State, it is true; possessing in common with the other States, her proportion of materials for a great and powerful empire; but at that time, exhausted by the efforts and sufferings of the war -her people borne down with the weight of taxes-her treasury empty--her credit that of a bankrupt―her paper currency worth, in the market, scarcely 10 per cent of its nominal value -her commerce next to nothing-her utmost exertions barely able to discharge the ordinary expenses of government, in time of peace; and no resources for the payment of the debts created by the war, except what might possibly be derived

from the sales of her wild lands, or from direct taxes on the people. The latter they had already borne to the extent of their ability, and they could not be increased. The former seemed to promise some relief.

The attention of the Legislature was, at an early period, called by Governor Hancock, to the eastern lands, as a fund from which they might hope to obtain some relief from the presure of the public debt. Accordingly in 1783 a land office was established, and measures were taken to survey the lands, and open them to the market. In 1786, finding that the sales proceeded slowly the public debt still unpaid, and accumulating-and the credit of the Commonwealth below par, the Legislature resolved to make an effort to redeem the public debt, by a lottery sale of 50 townships, which had been recently surveyed, between the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy. The land intended to be sold was represented by 2720 tickets, the price of each of which was fixed at £60, payable partly in specie, and partly in evidences of the public debt, or what were termed consolidated securities; by which it was expected to redeem upwards of half a million dollars of the debt.

The effects of the war, however, were too recent, and the value of the lands too little known, and too lightly esteemed, to encourage very extensive purchases at that time, and the tickets in the land lottery were not all disposed of. At the conclusion of the sales it was found that but 437 tickets were sold, which had produced the sum of £26,220, or equal to $87,400. On the drawing of the lottery the prize lots amounted to 165,280 acres. The average price therefore received for these lands, was nearly 52 cents per acre.

The sales still continued slowly, for a number of years, until the increasing prosperity of the country, and a farther acquaintance with the intrinsic value of land, excited the attention of purchasers and speculators; when sales were made so extensively that, in 1795, the Legislature found it expedient to put a stop to them entirely.

About the year 1790, the value of the lands was rising fast in the public estimation, and the attention of those who were interested in the establishment of literary, and other public institutions, was attracted towards them, as a fund from which the Legislature might easily endow those institutions, without any burden upon the community. Applications were accordingly made for those objects, and lands were readily granted.

ap

After the sales were suspended in 1795, the thirst for speculation not subsiding, and having no longer any opportunity to gratify itself, by purchasing from the Commonwealth, it incorporated itself with the ardor which was then exhibited for the establishment and endowment of literary institutions; and plications for grants of land, for their endowment and support, increased, and were not frequently rejected. Other objects however soon came in for their share; and, for a time, the Legislature was continually, and, in general, successfully importuned, not only for grants to Colleges, Academies and Schools; but to roads, bridges, canals and other purposes. A large proportion of these grants were immediately purchased of the trustees of the institutions to which they were made; but some of them still remain in the hands of the original grantees. It was found after a time, that more land had been thrown into the market than the exigencies of the country, for the time, required; more purchases had been made with a view to a speedy profit from re-sales in smaller parcels to actual settlers, than was sufficient to meet the demand of the increasing population; and more families were contracted to be placed, in a given time, on the lands thus purchased, than could easily be obtained. Of course the fever for speculation abated, and the purchasers were left at leisure to employ themselves in improving the value of their property, or waiting until the progress of the population of the country should bring it again into demand.

An account of the grants and sales will be most conveniently exhibited in a tabular form-and, with a view to comprehend the whole in one connexion, a list is given, in table 1, of all the

towns and townships, as they existed in 1820, with a reference to the period and general origin of the titles under which the lands in them are now holden.

TABLE I.

Statement of all the lands which have been alienated in the State of Maine prior to the year 1820.

The quantity stated in the towns which were alienated before and during the revolutionary war, and the quantity granted in small parcels, is from the inventories of towns, taken by order of the Legislature in the year 1820--the quantity sold and granted between the years 1783 and 1820, with the names of the several original grantees, is from the records of the Land Office, and Acts and Resolves of the Legislature of Massachusetts-except some few instances of small grants, and others, quantity uncertain, which are included in the return of towns in 1820. It is known, however, that in many of the towns the number of acres returned in the inventory of 1820, is less than the true number. This error, as far as it is known, is carried into the recapitulation at the end of the table, under the title of ascertained deficiency. From the known deficiencies, an estimate is made for those which are unknown, in cases where circumstances appeared to require it; and this is carried into the table, under the title of computed deficiency. It will be seen, therefore, that as a part of the amount is a matter of estimate, there may be some errors in the result; but it is believed that they cannot be very extensive.