rand, "Colonel commandant and
President of the Court," and was made by the authority granted to the
magistrates of the court of Vincennes by John Todd, "Colonel and Grand
civil Judge for the United States." The purpose of the grant, which
comprised four hundred arpents "in circumference," was to induce
immigration.(85) The grants made by the court of Vincennes became
notorious from the fact that thousands of acres were granted by the court
to its own members.(86)

On March 1, 1784, Virginia ceded her western lands to the United States,
thus transferring to the general government the question of land titles.
The country had been in a state of unconcealed anarchy for more than two
years, all semblance of Virginia authority having ceased, and the cession
is quite as much a tribute to Virginia's shrewdness as to her generosity.
Never was so large a present made with less sacrifice. The cession was
made with the following conditions, some of which were to have a direct
and potent influence upon the settlement of the ceded region:

1. The territory should be formed into states of not less than one hundred
nor more than one hundred and fifty square miles each;

2. Virginia's expenses in subduing and governing the territory should be
reimbursed by the United States;

3. Settlers should have their "possessions and titles confirmed;"

4. One hundred and fifty thousand acres, or less, should be granted to
George Rogers Clark and his soldiers;

5. The Virginia military bounty lands should be located north of the Ohio
River, unless there should prove to be enough land for the purpose south
of that river;

6. The proceeds from the sale of the lands should be for the United
States, severally.(87)

In the year of the Virginia cession, Congress passed the Ordinance for the
Government of the Western Territory, but as it never went into effect, its
importance is slight except as indicative of the trend of public feeling
on the subjects which it involved. Should Jefferson's plan, proposed at
this time, have been carried out, Illinois would have been parts of the
states of Polypotamia, Illinois, Assenisipia, and Saratoga.(88)

Carbonneaux, the messenger from Illinois to Virginia, carried his petition
to Congress. Congress paid the messenger, referred the petition to a
committee, and upon the report of the committee voted to choose one or
more commissioners to go to Illinois and investigate conditions there.(89)
No record of the ap