City of Washington.

upon paying such gross value, or securing to the possessor the payment of the annual valuation. at the option of the proprietor or possessor, the Commissioners shall be, and are hereby, vested with the whole estate of such tenant. in manner and for the uses and purposes aforesaid.

chase money having been paid, with a proper ar phabet in the same book of the deeds and entries aforesaid; and the same book shall carefully preserve, and deliver ever to the Commissioners aforesaid, or their successors, or such person or persons as Congress shail hereafter appoint; which clerk shall continue such during good behaviour, and shall be removable only on conviction of misbesuch, he shall take an oath, or affirmation, well and truly to execute his office, and he shall be entitied to the same fees as are or may be allowed to the clerks of the county courts for searches, copying, and recording.

8. And be it enacted, That acknowledgments of deeds made before a person in the manner and certified as the laws of this State direct, or made before and certified by either of the Commissioners, shall be effectual; and that no deed hereafter to be made of or for lands within that part of the said territory which lies within this State, shall operate as a legal conveyance; nor shall any lease for more than seven years be effectual, unless the deed shall have been acknowledged as aforesaid. and delivered to the said clerk to be recorded within six calendar months from the date thereof.

5. And be it enacted. That all the squares, lots. pieces. and parcels of land, within the said city. which have been or shall be appropriated for thehaviour in a court of law; but before he acts as use of the United States, and also the streets, shall remain and be for the use of the United States; and all the lots and parcels which have been or shall be sold to raise money as a donation as aforesaid, shall remain and be to the purchasers. according to the terms and conditions of their respective purchases; and purchases and leases from private persons claiming to be proprietors, and having, or those under whom they claim having. been in possession of the lands purchased or leased, in their own right, five whole years next before the passing of this act, shall be good and effectual for the estate, and on the terms and conditions of such purchases and leases, respectively, without impeachment, and against any contrary title now existing; but if any person hath made a conveyance, or shall make a conveyance or lease, of any lands within the limits of the said city, not having right and title to do so, the person who might be entitled to recover the land under a contrary title now existing may, either by way of ejectment against the tenant, or in action for money had and received for his use against the bargainer or lessor, his heirs, executors, administrators, or devisees, as the case may require, recover all money received by him for the squares, pieces, or parcels, appropriated for the use of the United States, as well as for lots or parcels sold, and rents received, by the person not having title as aforesaid, with interest from the time of the receipt; and, on such recovery in ejectment, where the land is in lease, the tenant shall thereafter hold under, and pay the rent reserved to, the person making title to and recovering the land; but the possession bona fide acquired in none of the said cases shall be changed.

6. And be it enacted, That any foreigner may, by deed or will hereafter to be made, take and hold lands within that part of the said territory which lies within this State, in the same manner as if he was a citizen of this State, and the same lands may be conveyed by him, and transmitted to, and be inherited by, his heirs or relations, as if he and they were citizens of this State: Provided, That no foreigner shall, in virtue hereof, be entitled to any further or other privilege of a citizen. 7. And be it enacted. That the said Commissioners, or any two of them, may appoint a clerk for recording deeds of lands within the said Territory, who shall provide a proper book for the purpose, and therein record, in a strong legible hand, all deeds duly acknowledged, of lands in the said Territory, delivered to him to be recorded, and in the same book make due entries of all divisions and allotments of lands and lots made by the Commissioners in pursuance of this act, and certificates granted by them of sales, and the pur

9. And be it enacted. That the Commissioners aforesaid, or some two of them, shall direct an entry to be made in the said record book of every allotment and assignment to the respective proprietors, in pursuance of this act.

10. And, for the encouragement of master builders to undertake the building and finishing houses within the said city, by securing to them a just and effectual remedy for their advances and earnings, Be it enacted, That for all sums due and owing, on written contracts, for building any house in said city, or the brick work, or carpenters' or joiners' work thereon, the undertaker, or workman, employed by the person for whose use the house shall be built, shall have a lien on the house and the ground on which the same is erected. as well as for the materials found by him; provided the said written contract shall have been acknowledged before one of the Commissioners, a justice of the peace, or an alderman of the corporation of Georgetown, and recorded in the office of the clerk for recording deeds herein created, within six calendar months from the time of acknowledgment as aforesaid; and if, within two years after the last of the work is done, he proceeds in equity, he shall have remedy as upon a mortgage; or, if he proceeds at law within the same time, he may have execution against the house and land, in whose hands soever the same may be; but this remedy shall be considered as additional only, nor shall, as to the land, take place of any legal incumbrance made prior to the commencement of such claim.

11. And be it enacted, That the Treasurer of the Western Shore be empowered and required to pay the seventy-two thousand dollars agreed to be advanced to the President by resolutions of the last session of Assembly, in sums as the same may come to his hands, on the appointed funds,

City of Washington.

without waiting for the day appointed for the payment thereof.

12. And be it enacted, That the Commissioners aforesaid for the time being, or any two of them, shall, from time to time, until Congress shall exercise the jurisdiction and government within the said territory, have power to license the building of wharves in the waters of the Potomac and the Eastern Branch, adjoining the said city, of the materials, in the manner, and of the extent, they may judge durable, convenient, and agreeing with general order; but no license shall be granted to one to build a wharf before the land of another, nor shall any wharf be built in the said waters without license as aforesaid; and if any wharf shall be built without such license, or different therefrom, the same is hereby declared a common nuisance; they may also, from time to time, make regulations for the discharge and laying of ballast from ships or vessels lying in the Potomac river, above the lower line in said territory and Georgetown, and from ships and vessels lying in the Eastern Branch; they may also, from to time, make regulations for landing and laying materials for building the said city, for disposing and laying earth which may be dug out of the wells, cellars, and foundations, and for ascertaining the thickness of the walls of houses, and to enforce the observance of all such regulations, by appointing penalties for a breach of any one of them, not exceeding ten pounds current money, which may be recovered in the name of the said Commissioners, by warrant, before a justice of the peace, as in case of small debts, and disposed of as a donation for the purposes of the said act of Congress; and the said Commissioners, or any two of them, may grant licenses for retailing distilled spirits within the limits of the said city, and suspend or declare the same void; and if any person shall retail or sell any distilled spirits, mixed or unmixed, in less quantity than ten gallons to the same person, or at the same time actually delivered, he or she shall forfeit for every such sale three pounds, to be recovered and applied as aforesaid.

13. And be it enacted, That an act of Assembly of this State, to condemn lands, if necessary, for the public buildings of the United States, be and is hereby repealed.

was desired. They deem, it, however, their duty to submit the result of their inquiry, so far as the same has been made.

By the general account of receipts and expenditures, hereunto annexed, it appears that the Commissioners have expended more than one million of dollars on various subjects, which are partially detailed in that statement. Whether those expenditures have been made with economy, or not, it is not necessary for the committee to decide, as the House will possess the same information which the committee possess on this point. It may, however, be proper to remark that the principal objects of expense have been the Capitol, the President's house, and the two buildings erected for the accommodation of the Executive Departments; and that the situation of those buildings, being under the eye of every member of the Legislature, cannot want a particular description.

As large as these expenditures have been, it is understood that the accounts of the Commissioners have not been regularly audited by any public officer, but have rested on their own statements.

By the report made by the Commissioners to the President of the United States, and by him transmitted to Congress during the present session, it appears that the site of the City of Washington was conveyed by the original proprietors to certain confidential persons, in trust, for certain uses which were defined in the deeds delivered to the trustees, a copy of which is annexed to the Commissioners' report; that the trustees have conveyed to the Commissioners, for the use of the United States, agreeably to the provisions of those deeds, the building lots which belonged to the public, and were laid down on the plan of the city, but that the trustees have declined to convey the streets of the city and the public squares and other grounds designated and appropriated for public uses.

The committee have thought it their duty to ascertain the causes which induced the trustees to refuse their deeds of this part of the public property; and, without pronouncing whether the trustees have conducted correctly or not, they understand that the trustees claim that they held these lands as well for the benefit of the proprietors as for the public; that the price allowed to the proprietors for those squares and public grounds being comparatively small, it was expected that these grounds should forever remain unoccupied, except [Communicated to the House of Reps., Feb. 27, 1801.] by necessary public buildings; that the areas which they furnished should remain open for general conMr. GRISWOLD, from the committee who were appoint-venience, and thereby increase the value of the ed to inquire into the expenditure of money made by the Commissioners of the City of Washington, the disposition of public property made by them, and generally into all the transactions of the Commissioners which relate to the trust confided to them by the President of the United States, made the following report: That the short period which has elapsed since they have been possessed of the documents relating to the transactions of the Commissioners, the imperfect situation of those documents in several particulars, and the complicated nature of the inquiry, will prevent the committee from presenting to the House that full view of the subject which

building lots, and particularly those lots which adjoined those public grounds; that, under these impressions, and after receiving a remonstrance from some of the proprietors, they deemed it proper, in faithfulness to the parties concerned, to require that, before they made a conveyance of this property, the principle should be settled that the public grounds should not, after the same were conveyed, be converted by the Commissioners into building lots; that the Commissioners, however, declined establishing that principle, and claimed the right of converting such parts of the public ground into building lots as should be afterwards judged proper.

City of Washington.

The trustees further state that the plan of the city has satisfied them that, as the Executive Departhas been varied more than once, and that some of ments of the Government are now established at the public grounds which are delineated upon a the City of Washington, the expense of the Board plan which was engraven and circulated by the of Commissioners may very well be saved; that Commissioners as a true plan of the city, and is the business of that board may with propriety be now in the hands of the members of the Legisla- transferred to the Treasury Department; and that ture, have since been surveyed by the Commis-it will be proper to require that the Commissioners sioners into building lots; that, under these cir- account with the accounting officers of the Treacumstances, the trustees did not believe that, in sury for the moneys received and expended by justice to the proprietors, they could convey these them. public grounds.

The committee likewise believe that a plan of The committee have likewise understood that, the City of Washington ought to be prepared, and, in consequence of the contracts entered into with at the next session of Congress, to receive the sanc Morris, Greenleaf, and Nicholson, for the sale of a tion of the Legislature, and means taken to obtain large number of the building lots belonging to the from the trustees a deed of the streets and public public, and the failure of payment on their part, grounds, conformably to such plan, for the use of and the subsequent transactions which have grown the United States; and that a law ought to pass for out of that contract, some doubts have been enter-quieting titles in the District of Columbia, by autained respecting the titles to a considerable part of those lots. These doubts, whether well or ill founded, must necessarily embarrass the sale of those lots, and ought, in the opinion of the committee, to be removed by a law of the National Legislature to establish titles both in law and chancery, where lands shall be resold, under proper regulations, to raise the purchase money which shall fall due from the first purchaser.

The Commissioners undoubtedly possess much better means of judging of the value of the building lots belonging to the public than the committee; but it could not escape the observation of the committee that the actual sales which have been made for cash since the Board of Commissioners was established cannot, in their opinion, support the estimate which the Commissioners have made of this property; and, whatever may be the product of sales hereafter, the committee believe that the Government cannot rely upon that fund for completing the objects which the Legislature may deem necessary for the accommodation of Government. The view which the committee have taken of this subject has been necessarily imperfect, but it

thorizing the sale of lands contracted to be sold where the purchase money shall not be paid within the time limited for payment.

Conformably to the opinion herein expressed, the committee respectfully submit to the House the following resolutions:

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare and report a bill to abolish the Board of Commissioners of the City of Washington, and to direct that the business of that board be transferred to the Department of the Treasury.

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare and report a bill directing the Secretary of the Treasury, under direction of the President of the United States, to prepare a plan of the City of Washington, delineating the streets, squares, and public grounds therein, and to report the same to Congress, in December next.

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare and report a bill to authorize the sale of lands in the District of Columbia, under proper regulations, to raise the moneys which may at any time be due and unpaid on contracts for the sale of such lands.

$106,261 84

83 00 849,375 24 877,596 13 897,854 99 8137,613 27 $40,535 50 $406,261 84

City of Washington.

THOMAS MUNROE, Clerk Com.

Notes to the table on the preceding page.

City of Washington-Includes commissions, discounts, recording squares in the district office, salary of a principal overseer, and all expenses of persons employed for general surveys.

Surveying Department-Includes survey of the District and city, opening and ascertaining level of streets, purchasing and planting bound-stones, and registering and calculating squares, as divided into lots.

Rafting Account-Expense of rafting the timber for the different buildings, and other public purposes indiscriminately.

Freestone Quarries at Aquia-Six thousand dollars paid for the island containing these quarries, and balance for quarrying the stone and incidental expenses.
White-oak Swamp-The Commissioners purchased the timber standing, had it cut down, and prepared for public use.

Brick-making Account-The bricks were made and used for public purposes generally, and no particular account kept of the number used on the respective

buildings. Stone Bridge at the Mouth of Rock Creek-Deducting the sums paid and secured to the public for ground ceded for the erection of this bridge twelve hundred dollars, refunded by the contractor for defective work, the real cost to the public will be only two thousand two hundred and eleven dollars and fifty-five cents.

(Errors and omissions excepted.)

COMMISSIONERS' OFFICE, WASHINGTON, February 6, 1801.