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NEW HAMPSHIRE CHARTERS--CONTROVERSY WITH NEW YORK.

BENNING WENTWORTH was appointed governor of New Hampshire, in 1741, with authority from the King to issue patents of unoccupied lands within his province. Claiming that that province extended the carne distance west as the provinces of Connecticut and Massachusetts, that is, to within twenty miles of Hudson River, on the third day of January 1749, he granted the charter of Bennington, on that line, to which he claimed the province extended, and six miles north of the line of Massachusetts. This grant occasioned a correspondence and mutual remonstrances between the governors of New York and New Hampshire, in relation to the rights of their respective provinces. The governor of New York claimed and contended, that the grant to the Duke of York in the year 1663, which was confirmed to him in the year 1674, after the conquest of the Dutch in 1673, and extended to the west bank of Connecticut River, settled the claim of New York.*

Notwithstanding the controversy between the governors of these two provinces, and the opposition made by New York, to the issuing of grants by New Hampshire, Governor WENTWORTH continued to grant charters of townships, as applications were made for them. During the following five years, from 1750 to 1754 inclusive, sixteen townships were chartered, principally on the east side of the mountains. From that time to the year 1761, during the prosecution of the French war, the territory became a thoroughfare for the excursions of French and Indian scouting parties, and was, on that ac-

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count, in so disturbed a state, that no grants were made or asked for. After the conquest of Canada, in the year 1760, and after quiet and security had been restored to the territory, numerous applications were made, and in the year 1761 no less than sixty towns were chartered. In that year, all the towns in the County of Addison were chartered, except as follows: Ferrisburgh, Monkton and Pocock, now Bristol, were chartered in 1762, Orwell, and Whiting, in August 1763, and Panton, was re-chartered on the 3d of November 1764. And this was the last charter granted by the governor of New Hampshire, within the territory. The whole number of charters of towns granted by him in this State, is one hundred and thirty-one, besides several others to individuals.

Lieut. Governor COLDEN of New York, disturbed and alarmed by the great number of grants made by New Hampshire, issued his proclamation on the 28th day of December 1763, warning all persons against purchasing lands under those grants, and requiring all civil officers 'to continue to exercise jurisdiction in their respective functions, as far as to the banks of Connecticut River," and enjoining the sheriff of Albany to return to him "the names of all and every person or persons, who under the grants of New Hampshire, do or shall hold possession of any lands westward of Connecticut River, that they may be proceeded against according to law."

On the 19th of March, 1764, the governor of New Hampshire, issued a counter proclamation, in which he contends, "that the patent to the Duke of York is obsolete, and cannot convey any certain boundary to New York, that can be claimed as a boundary, as plainly appears by the several boundary lines of the Jerseys on the west, and the colony of Connecticut on the east," and encourages the grantees under New Hampshire, "to be industrious in clearing and cultivating their lands," and commands "all civil officers to continue and be diligent in exercising jurisdiction in their respective offices, as far westward as grants of land have been made by this government, and to deal with any person or persons that may presume to interrupt the inhabitants or settlers on said lands, as to law and justice cloth appertain."

At an early period of the controversy, and soon after the first

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grant was made by New Hampshire, it was agreed by the governors of the two provinces, to refer the question in dispute to the king; but no decision had yet been made. The king had, on the 7th of October 1763, issued a proclamation in behalf of the reduced officers and privates of the lately disbanded army, directing bounty lands to be granted them. In view of this order, and the great number of grants made by New Hampshire, in the disputed territory, Governor COLDEN, about the time of issuing his proclamation, above mentioned, wrote several pressing letters to the board of trade in England, insisting on the grant to the Duke of York, as conclusive of the right of New York, and urging a speedy decision of the question. In his letter of the 6th of February 1764, he represents, that great numbers of the officers and soldiers had applied to him for grants; and in his letter of the 12th of April, of the same year, he says, "about four hundred reduced officers and disbanded soldiers, have already applied to me for lands, pursuant to his Majesty's proclamation, which at this time are to be surveyed for them in that part claimed by New Hampshire. Your lordships will perceive the necessity of determining the claim of New Hampshire speedily." It was charged also, at the time by the claimants under New Hampshire, and stated by historians of that period,--on what authority we know not,--that a petition, with forged signatures of many of the New Hampshire settlers, was sent with the governor's letters to England, requesting that the territory should be annexed to New York. In the public remonstrances of the New Hampshire, claimants, conjectures were expressed, that there were "more or less wrong representations made to his majesty to obtain the jurisdiction," and that his "majesty and ministers of State had been egregiously misinformed." However that may be, in pursuance of the urgent solicitations of Governor COLDEN, the king in council, on the 20th day of July, 1764, without notice to the opposite party, adopted an order, settling the west bank of Connecticut River as the boundary of the two provinces.

The only charter of which we have knowledge, as being issued, by the governor of New Hampshire, after the king's order, was that of Panton, as herefore mentioned, dated November 3, 1764, which

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was before notice of the order had been received in this country, that not arriving until the following spring. On the receipt of the order, Governor Wentworth, as well as the governor of New York, issued his proclamation, giving notice to all persons concerned, of the decision of the King in council, fixing the boundary. And in all his subsequent transactions, he seems to have acquiesced in the decision, and recognized the jurisdiction of New York over the territory. The claimants under New Hampshire expressed no opposition to that jurisdiction at the time, not suspecting that the titles, which they had derived from the British government through one agent, and had paid for, would be superceded by grants from the same authority, through another agent, and that, under these circumstances, they should be compelled to re-purchase their lands, under much more oppressive conditions, in order to hold them.

And such would seem to have been the views of the British government at home. The order in council settling the boundary does not seem to be a decision, as to what had been or legally was the boundary, but it says, the King "doth hereby order and declare the western banks of the river Connecticut," to be the boundary line between the said two provinces." On the 11th of April 1767, Lord SHELBURNE, president of the board of trade, wrote to Governor MOORE, of New York, reciting that two petitions hard been presented to the King, "one by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the other by SAMUEL ROBINSON, in behalf of himself and more than one thousand other grantees," says, "In my letter of the 11th of December, I was very explicit upon point of former grants; you are therein directed to take care, that the inhabitants lying westward of the line, reported by the Lords of Trade, as the boundaries of the two provinces, be not molested, on account of territorial differencee, or disputed jurisdiction; for whatever province the settlers may belong to, it should make no difference in their property, provided their titles to their lands should be found good in other respects, or that they have been long in uninterrupted possession of them." And he adds, " the unreasonableness of obliging a very large tract of country to pay a second time the immense sum of thirty three thousand pounds in fees, according to the allegation

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of this petition, for no other reason than its being found necessary to settle the line of boundary between the colonies in question, is so unjustifiable, that his majesty is not only determined to have the strictest inquiry made into the circumstances of the charge, but expects the clearest and fullest answer to every part of it."

On the 24th of July 1767, the King in council, adopted an order on the subject. This order, after reciting at length the report "of the committee of council for plantation affairs," says, "His Majesty, with the advice of his privy council, doth hereby strictly charge, require and command, that the governor of New York, for the time being, do not (upon pain of His Majesty's highest displeasure) presume to make any grant whatever, of any part of the lands described in said report, until His Majesty's further pleasure shall be known concerning the same."

While the controversy was pending between the two governments, and before the King's order settling the boundary was known, a collision arose out of it in Pownal. But the facts in the case presented a different question from that, which so extensively prevailed afterwards among other patents granted by New York. One called the Hoosick patent was granted as early as 1688. The charter of Pownal, when granted by New Hampshire, included part of this patent; and the New Hampshire grantees claimed possession of certain lands, on which several Dutch families had settled under the Boosick patent. In August 1764, the sheriff of Albany, in pursuance of the proclamation of Governor COLDEN, before mentioned, hearing that the New Hampshire claimants had dispossessed several of the Dutch families, and were about to drive off others, went in pursuit, taking with him "two of the justices and a few other good people," and arrested "SAMUEL ASHLEY, who called himself a deputy, SAMUEL ROBINSON, a justice of the peace," and others, who claimed the land, and committed them to the jail in Albany. But they were afterwards bailed and not further prosecuted. Governor WENTWORTH being informed of this transaction, wrote to Governor COLDEN, remonstrating against it, and requesting him to release the prisoners. To which the governor, with the advice of the council, replied, that as the offence was committed "within the

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undoubted jurisdiction of New York, he could do no further therein, than to recommend that the bail be moderate," and added that the controversy respecting the boundary "already lies with His Majesty."

As soon as the boundary was settled by the king's order, a large number of grants were made by the governor of New York, to reduced officers and disbanded soldiers, and others, who made application for them, and soon extended over nearly the whole territory chartered by New Hampshire. The valleys of Lake Champlain and Otter Creek, were granted principally to reduced officers, and a large territory, north of Addison County, was reserved for noncommissioned officers and .soldiers. A small tract was also reserved for them in the County of Addison, near the bend of the creek in Weybridge and New Haven, and perhaps some contiguous territory.

At first the governor and council of New York, seemed desirous to encourage actual settlers under the New Hampshire grants to take out new charters under New York, in confirmation of their former titles. On the 22d of May 1765, the following order was adopted:

"The council taking into consideration the case of those persons, who are actually settled on the grants of the governor of New Hampshire, and that the dispossessing of such persons might be ruinous to themselves and their families, is of opinion, and it is accordingly ordered by his Honor, the Lieutenant Governor, with the advice of the council, that the surveyor general do not, until further order made, return on any warrant of survey, already or which may hereafter come to his hands, of any lands so actually possessed under such grants, unless for the persons in actual possession thereof as aforesaid."

Another order was adopted, July 11, 1766, by which it was ordered, that all persons holding or claiming lands under "the New Hampshire grants, do as soon as may be, appear by themselves or their attorneys, and produce the same, together with all deeds, conveyances, or other instruments, by which they derive any title or claim to said lands, before his Excellency in council, and the claim of such person or persons, which shall not appear as aforesaid, within the space of three months from the date hereof be rejected."

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In pursuance of these orders, several individuals in the towns west of the mountains, made application for a confirmation of their New Hampshire titles; but much larger numbers, and nearly all in some towns east of the mountains, took confirmations of their titles from New York. We have no documents which enable us to ascertain the number or dates of the grants made, from the time of the order establishing the boundary to that which forbid further grants. It seems there was some delay on account of the stamp act then in force, the governor being "determined not to issue any papers except such as were stamped," and "the people refusing to take them on that condition;" "of course the offices were shut up," as represented by Governor MOORE, in his letter of the 9th of June 1767, in answer to Lord SHELBURNE'S letter above mentioned. But he adds, "No sooner was the stamp act repealed and the offices opened again, but petitions were preferred, by many of the inhabitants here for grants of land lying on Connecticut River." Again, refering to the order limiting the time for making application, he says, "This had the desired effect, and in a few months, petitions, memorials, &c., were lodged by persons sent up from thence, setting up claims to ninety-six townships."

Petitions had been sent up from the towns east of the mountains, for establishing one or more counties in the territory, and on the 22d of October 1765, the committee made a report to the governor and council, that, on account of the state of the country, it was inexpedient to establish counties, but they recommended to the governor to "appoint a competent number of fit persons for conservation of the peace and administration of justice in that part of the province." And on the 11th day of July 1766, an ordinance was adopted," for establishing a court of common pleas and a court of general sessions of the peace," and judges and other officers were appointed. On the 19th of March 1768 "a large tract of land containing forty townships," was by letters patent "erected into a County by the name of the County of Cumberland." This County was bounded east by Connecticut River, south by Massachusetts, west by the highest part of the Green Mountain, and north by the same, or nearly the same, line which divides the present

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Counties of Windsor and Orange. On the 23d of December 1772, it was ordered, that writs issue for the election of two representatives to the general assembly from that County.

On the 16th of March 1770, all the territory east of the mountains, and north of the County of Cumberland, was formed into a County, by the name of Gloucester, and the usual county officers were appointed. Soon after the territory west of the mountains, and north of the north lines of the towns of Sunderland and Arlington, and embracing considerable territory also west of the lake, was established as a County by the name of Charlotte; and the remainder of the New Hampshire Grants was embraced in the County of Albany. Previous to this division into counties, the whole territory was regarded as belonging to the County of Albany, and justices of the peace, and other officers of that County, exercised authority in that territory. By order of the governor and council, September 8, 1773, an ordiance was issued establishing courts, to be held in the County of Charlotte annually, "at the house of PATRICK SMITH, Esq., near Fort Edward."

The order of the king in council, staying further grants of land, seems not to have been very satisfactory to Governor Moor, but he and his successors professed to regulate their proceedings by it, and applications were frequently made by succeeding governors to the board of trade, urging that the order might be rescinded. But the board of trade, instead of rescinding it, complain that the governor of New York "had taken upon him," contrary to the instructions, "to pass patents of confirmation of several of the townships," and had "also made other grants of lands within the same."