board of revenue on the twentieth day of February next, a true state of their pretensions, that such orders may issue for granting them the benefit of their respective warrants, or surveys, according to the priority thereof, as may be thought just and reasonable." ¾     On the 23d of February, 1774, Mr. Harford being then proprietary of the province, and Robert Eden, Esq. governor, a petition from Thomas French relative to the " taking off " the reserve to the westward of Fort Cumberland, except " lands actually surveyed and certificates thereof returned for " the use of the lord proprietary," was taken up by the revenue board: On this occasion, an entry was made, reciting that the late lord proprietary had been desirous of having 10,000 acres of land laid off in that part of the province for a manor, and that, in order to secure the same, governor Sharpe had thought proper to lay a general reserve until such manor should be ascertained, which had not been done, but that in lieu thereof five different tracts had been actually surveyed, and certificates thereof returned, containing in the whole the quantity of 127,680 acres. After stating those general facts in relation to the object of Mr. French's petition, they postponed the further consideration of it for the purpose of a previous enquiry into the reasons which had occasioned the quantity of ten thousand acres to be thus exceeded.     On the 26th of March following, the board took this business again into consideration, and after reciting the several surveys that had been made as aforesaid, whereby, they observed, the intent and design of the reserve had been fully answered, and after suggesting as motives for the measure the augmentation of the proprietary's revenues, and the settlement of the back country, they resolved that the deputy surveyor of Frederick county should be instructed to execute such warrants as should be put in his hands on lands westward of Fort Cumberland, provided that he did not run into or interfere with any of the surveys made for the lord proprietary, for the purpose of avoiding which he was to be furnished with copies of the lines, courses and boundaries of the said surveys:¾The governor was not present at these proceedings, but approved of them when presented to him.     The land office being thus opened in respect to the lands westward of Fort Cumberland, large warrants were immediately taken out, chiefly by persons of note, who from their situations were probably apprised before hand of the measure intended, and enabled to make preparation for benefiting by it. The proprietary's agent, Mr. Jenifer, on this occasion ventured to disapprove of what had been done and addressed