History: PA Archives: Second Series, Vol. 18: Part I - AN EXAMINATION OF THE CONNECTICUT CLAIM : DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE CONNECTICUT SETTLEMENT IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson and Sally. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm _____________________________________________________________________________________________ NOTE: An html version of this volume may be found at http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/paarchivesseries/series2/vol18/paarch2-18toc.html <>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<>~~<> DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE CONNECTICUT SETTLEMENT IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. EDITED BY WILLIAM HENRY EGLE, M. D. HARRISBURG: E. K. MEYERS, STATE PRINTER. 1893. [Page numbers indicated in carats.] TABLE OF CONTENTS. _ _ _ _ _ _ Minutes of the Susquehanna Company, 1-123 An Examination of the Connecticut Claim, 125-214 Connecticut Records examined by Pennsylvania, 215-276 The Dutch Records of New Netherlands, 277-322 Letters from the Pennsylvania Claimants, 323-388 Letters from Secretary of Land Office, 389-430 Letters from the Commissioners, 431-514 Book of the Fifteen Townships, 515-572 Journal of the Commissioners, 1810, 573-609 Miscellaneous Papers relating to the Wyoming Controversy, 611-780 Index, 781 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ MAP of the Colonies: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island appears here. [ <125> AN EXAMINATION OF THE CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 1774. <126> [The following important document, written, it is stated, mainly by Rev. William Smith, D. D., Provost of the University of Pennsylvania in 1774. It so admirably refutes the claim of Connecticut and withal is so important a paper in the Wyoming controversy, that we here give it in full.] <127> AN EXAMINATION OF THE CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. _ _ _ The Notion of extending the Claim of the Colony of Connecticut to Lands Westward as far as the South Sea, thereby including a considerable Part of the Royal Grant of Pennsylvania made to WILLIAM PENN, Esq; as well as of the western Crown Lands yet ungranted, seems to have been first started about twenty Years ago, by a certain Schemer; and has since generally treated as the wild Chimera of a visionary Brain. In this Light it would deserve still to be considered, if it was not render'd more serious by a late Resolve of the Connecticut Assembly to support that Claim-a Resolve which, after long declining to interfere in the Matter, seems at last to have been obtained from them with much Difficulty, in the Strength of some late Law-Opinions from England. It is porposed therefore, in the following Sheets, without calling in Question the great and acknowledged Abilities of the Gentlemen who have signed those Opinions, to examine the State of the Case laid before them. Previous to which it will be proper. 1st. To take some Notice of the different American Grants, and particularly those of New England. 2dly. To enquire under what Circumstances the Settlement of Connecticut was made, and its present Charter obtained. 3dly. What is the true Construction of the Charter Limits of that Colony, what has been their own Construction of them, and the Construction made by the Crown, as well as by their neighbouring Colonies, for more than a Hundred Years? Some incidental Remarks will be interspersed, and on the whole it will be submitted whether their Charter at first could, and much less after the Acquiescence of near a whole Century, it now can, be extended in the Sense they claim, thereby vacating other intermediate Crown Grants, and numerous Settlements of Boundaries since made by the Royal Authority- And lastly, whether on this full and true State of the Case, those learned Gentlemen in England would have given the same Opinions, or indeed any Sanction to the Connecticut Assembly for voting their Support to a Set of Men, who, in a lawless and <128> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO hostile Manner, have invaded this Province, and dispossessed many of its peaceable Inhabitants, settled at least a hundred Miles within its known Bounds? _ _ _ SECTION I. The Crown of England acquired a Title to NORTH AMERICA by Discovery; and the [Hackluyt, p. 677 Fol. Edit. printed in 1589.] first Grant was Letters-Patent by Queen Elizabeth dated June 11th, 1578, to Sir Humphry Gilbert, Knt. "for the inhabiting and planting of our [Ibid. p. 725.] People in America." The next was to Sir Walter Raleigh half Brother to Sir Humphrey, March 25th, 1584, entitled "Letters-Patents by Queen's Majesty to Mr. Walter Raleigh, now Knight, for the discovering and planting of new Lands and Countries, to continue the Space and Time of six Years, and no more." Other Grants followed, but they seem all to have been considered as void by James I. who on the 10th of April, 1606, [Patent for South and North Virginia, 1606.] erected two several Colonies, granting to Sir Thomas Gates and others, by the Name of the 1st Colony, Leave to plant any where between 34 degrees and 41 degrees, in North-America, then generally called Virginia; and 2dly, to Thomas Hanham, Esq; and others, by the Name of the 2d Colony, the like Leave to plant any where between 38 degrees and 45 degrees North Latitude. Each of these Colonies were to be limited to one hundred Miles Square, viz. fifty Miles on each Side of their first Plantation along the Sea Coast, and one hundred Miles back into the Country, "directly over against the Sea Coast." "Such of the said Colonies as should last plant themselves, was not to come within one hundred Miles of the Colony that should first plant, nor might plant on the back of them without express Licence." [2d South Virginia Patent. May 23d 1609.] May 23d, 1609, King James gave a 2d Charter, to the first Colony, or South Virginia Company, with 400 * Miles of Sea Coast; which he [Mar. 12th 1612. 3d Patent.] further confirms by a third Charter, March12th, 1611-12, granting them further all the Islands within 300 Leagues of their Sea Coasts, which are described to lie "within and between the 41st and 30th Deg. Of North Lat." extending 5 degrees still farther South, but always including the 41st Degree. Both these Charters are [From the public Records of Virginia. SMITH'S Hist.] with this Proviso, that "the said Islands or any of the Premises, were not actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian ________________________________________________________________________ *This would have been nearly six Degrees of Latitude, if the Coast had been directly North and South. <129> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. Prince or State, nor within the Northern Colony heretofore by us granted to be planted by divers of our loving Subjects in North Virginia"-These Grants were also to extend "up into the Land throughout from Sea to Sea, West and North-West;" and under them South Virginia (now Virginia proper) was settled and governed till 1626, when the Company was dissolved, [Col. Beverley's Hist. of Virg.] and the Country erected into a Royal Government. The North Virginia Company had no new or distinct Grant from 1606 till 1620, nor made any Attempt to settle, except a very feeble one at Sagahedoc in 1607, which was deserted the following Spring all who survived in Winter having returned to England. Even as late as 1618, when South Virginia began to make some Figure, Captain Argal its [Ibid.] Governor, coming on a Cruize to the Coast of North Virginia, now New-England, found a French Settlement and Fort a little North of Cape Cod, and near the very Place where the first Settlers of New-England landed and began their Colony two Years afterwards. Captain Argal destroyed this Fort, broke up the French Settlement and obliged them to surrender their Charter. Indeed the planting Colonies seems not, for a long Time, to have been even in Contemplation among the North Virginia Company, but the only Establishment of little Factories, like those of other trading Companies, for Traffic with the Indians and managing [Hutchinson.] Fisheries on the Coast. This was long since observed by Richard Blome, who in 1687 published, and dedicated to King James IId an account of the English Territories in America. No greater Improvement, says he, speaking of the North Virginia Grant, "was made of those grand Portions of Land, than the erecting a few Cottages for Fishermen." And a judicious Historian of our own time observes, that if "Religion had not become at last the Inducement, it is doubtful whether Britain would have had any Colonies in America at this Day. One hundred and twenty Years had passed since the Discovery of this northern Continent by the Cabots, "without any English Colony being planted there, except that of South Virginia, which was then in its Infancy, struggling for Life." It was not till August, 1620, that the first real Planters of New England embark'd from Old England, consisting only of Part of a single Congregation. Their original Purpose was to settle near Hudson's River, which they rightly considered (if it had not been for the Pre-occupancy of the Dutch) as within the Grant to the South Virginia Company; from whom they accordingly procured some Right of Settlement. They did 9-VOL. XVIII. <130> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO not however proceed to Hudson's River, their Pilot, it is said, being bribed by the Dutch to carry them farther North; but it is as probable that, in their weak State, they did not even wish to be set ashore in a Part of the Country, where they would, on their first Landing, have to contend with a Power already in actual Possession. This Emigration revived the Project of settling their Part of America among the North Virginia Company, who accordingly got a new Patent dated November 3d, 1620 incorporating them by the Name [1620. Patent to the Council of Plymouth.] of the Council established at Plymouth, &c. "for the planting, &c. New-England in America"-This Council, as the Name implies, was rather a Board of Trustees, for parcelling out Lands to the King's Subjects, (which they were authorized and commanded to do) than real Proprietors of the Soil themselves.-And altho' they might transfer Lands within their Grant, they could not * transfer the Power of Government to any, nor constitute any subordinate Corporation. As the Patent to the Council of Plymouth is the Foundation of other New-England Grants, it is necessary to give its express Limits, viz.: "All that Part of America lying, and being in Breadth, from 40 degrees North Lat. to 48 degrees inclusively; and in Length of and within all the Breadth aforesaid, throughout the main Lands from Sea to Sea, provided any of the Premises were not then actually possessed, or inhabited, by any Christian Prince or State; nor lay within the Bounds, Limits, or Territories of that Southern Colony heretofore by us granted." But the Dutch had then, and long before, actually possessed Hudson's River, and were now extending their Trade and Settlements as far East and North as Connecticut River; so that nothing could pass, by this Patent, West of that River, as has been urged in the Contest between New-York and New-England Colonies, and Determinations of Boundaries made on that Distinction. And if the Preoccupancy of the Dutch had not limited this Patent, the prior Grant to the Southern Colony, then in full Force, included the 40th and 41st Degrees; so that nothing of the Southward of the Beginning of the 42d Degree could pass by it, unless, that in Virtue of the Patent of 1606, which gave fifty Miles on the Sea on each Side of the first Settlement, the North-Virginia Company had made some Plantation on the Sea Coast, within less than fifty Miles North of the Completion of the 41st Degree, that is somewhere South of 41 degrees 44¢ . But this is not pretended; the Attempt at ________________________________________________________________________ *This was admitted before the King in Council 100 Years ago. See Sir William Jones's State of the New Hampshire Dispute and Opinion in Hutchinson's History. <131> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. Sagahedoc, if that could be called a Settlement, being far North of this. The first Grant by the Council of Plymouth was that of Massachusetts Bay to Sir Henry Roswel and others, March 19, 1627; the Limits of which are material, as bounding one Side of the subsequent Connecticut Charter, viz. [First Bounds of the Massachusets Colony.] "All that Part of New-England in America between a great River called Monomack, alias Merimack, and a certain other River, there called Charles River, being in the Bottom of a Bay called Massachusets; with all, and singular, the Lands, &c. lying within three English Miles on the South Part of the said Charles River, or of any and every Part thereof and all, and singular, the Lands, &c. lying within three English Miles to the Northward of the said River called Merrimack, or to the Northward of all and every Part thereof; and all Lands, &c. lying within the Limits aforesaid, North and South in Latitude, and in Breadth, and in Longitude of and within all the Breadth aforesaid, throughout the main Lands there from the Atlantic and Western Sea and Ocean on the East Part, to the South Sea on the West Part." But as the Council of Plymouth could not constitute the said Sir Henry Roswel and his Associates a Body Corporate, nor convey to them the Powers of Government, they obtained from Charles I, a Royal Patent dated March 4th, 1628, for the Purposes aforesaid, as well as for the Confirmation of their Right in the Soil. This Patent is bounded and limited exactly as above, with the like Proviso as in the Patent to the Council of Plymouth itself; viz. of the Land or any Part thereof "not being actually possessed by any other Christian Prince or State." [Hutchinson.] The first Design of these Grants was, as hath been hinted, only to constitute Trading Companies, like that to the East-Indies. But, considerable Settlements being soon made within the Massachusetts Grant, it was resolved to transfer the Patent and Government to New-England. How far this was a legal Measure, need not now be enquired. It was certainly an useful one. We come next to the Colony of Connecticut, with which we are more immediately concerned. The first Grant made of any Part of this District is said to have been to the Earl of Warwick, but from whom is not certain. Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 64. in the Note, says only in general, that "he had obtained a Grant of the Sea-Coast, from Narraganset River to the South-West, forty Leagues, to keep the Breadth to the South-Sea;" but does not say from whom the Grant was obtained. <132> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO However, in Vol. II. p. 203, he adds, that it "was obtained from the Council of Plymouth in 1630." Neale says, he obtained "it about the Year 1630 from Charles I."-Probably both may be right. The Council of Plymouth may have granted, and the Crown confirmed, as in the Case of Sir Henry Roswel's Grant; but neither of those Grants to Lord Warwick are to be found in America, nor could they long since be found in England; though some say the latter of them, viz. that from the Crown is to be found inrolled in the Petty Bag Office in England. Others still think that Lord Warwick, who conveyed his Right to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, Pym, * Hampden and others, March 19, 1631, acted only as President, or one of the Members, of the Council of Plymouth, empowered so to do.-But no Authority or Right, of this or any other Kind, is set forth in the Deed itself, by Lord Warwick. _ _ _ SECTION II. Sir Henry Vane the younger, and John Winthrop Son of John Winthrop, Esq: Governor of Massachusetts, were the first who are said to have been empowered to plant under this Grant to Lord Say and Seal, &c. Sir Henry came to Boston on this Project about the Year 1636; but, without beginning the Connecticut Settlement, soon returned to England, to act in a different Sphere. Others** however prosecuted the Design. The first Set of Adventurers, who went out, were about 100 in Number, with Mr. Hooker at their Head. They push'd Westward till they came to Fresh-water (now Connecticut) River; and sat down at Hartford, where the Dutch had a Trading- ________________________________________________________________________ *These Men, who afterwards became so famous in England during the Civil Commotions, it seems then aspired no higher than for a Retirement in America. **The most desirable Places in the Massachusets were now settled; and what would be strange to tell, (if any of the Obliquities of human Nature can be accounted strange) they who profess'd to have settled a Wilderness for Liberty of Conscience, in the short Space of 16 Years, forgetting their own Principles, refused Liberty to others, and began to fine, banish, and disfranchise those who dissented from, or questioned any of, their established Modes and Doctrines. Those who thought themselves persecuted, withdrew chiefly to Rhode Island, to be wholly out of the Massachusets Jurisdiction. Others who only wanted Lands, and some who disliked the immediate Scene of those religious Confusions, went to Connecticut River, about Hartford, &c. which they at first rather believed to be within, than without, the Massachusets Jurisdiction. <133> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. House, called Fort Good Hope, which had been erected about * 13 Years before. But to quiet the Dutch, it was agreed that they should continue their Trade there as well among the English as the Indians; [Hutchinson.] and in Return the Dutch allowed the English to trade at Manhadoes, now New-York. All this was friendly; and the Dutch seemed the less alarmed, as Connecticut River was their most easterly Settlement and generally considered as the Extent of New Netherlands on that Quarter, although sometimes they would claim as far as Cape Cod. But the next Year, viz. 1637, when Mr. Eaton led out another Company and settled, still more Westward and Southward, at New-Haven, the Dutch were alarmed, and charged the English with Encroachments, claiming (as the undoubted Right of the States-General, long held by the Name of New Netherlands) all the Sea Coast from Cape Henlopen on the West Side of Delaware Bay, to Connecticut River, and even to Cape Cod; and as far back into the Country as could be discovered, towards the Heads of all the Rivers that emptied into the Sea within those Limits. These Disputes continued for several Years, while the two new Colonies of Hartford and New-Haven kept extending their Settlements, and each of them formed themselves into a Kind of voluntary Association for the Purposes of Government, chusing their respective Governors, and **uniting with Massachusetts and New-Plymouth for mutual Defence, &c. For though the Hartford Colony first had a Sort of Commission for Settlement and Government under the Massachusets, they soon understood themselves to be beyond their Jurisdiction, and New-Haven was still farther beyond it; and neither Colony had yet any better Title to their Lands than what Possession gave them. ________________________________________________________________________ *This Fort or trading Place was begun by the Dutch in 1623. Smith's Hist. of New-York. It was not till 1633, that the Massachusets sent John Oldham, &c. upon Discoveries Westward, "who travelled 100 Miles, till they struck a great River which they afterwards found to be Connecticut, or the Fresh-River;" and on this River they reported that they found good Interval Lands, &c. Hutchinson. It was with Reason, then, that the Dutch contended that they "were "actually possessed of Connecticut River, long before any other Europeans knew of the Existence of such a River; and were not only possess'd of the Mouth of it, but had discovered it 100 Miles up, had their People trading there, and had purchased of the Natives almost all the Lands on both Sides of the said River."'report of the Committee of Council, to the Governor of New-York. Smith's Hist. **See the Articles of Union and Confederacy entered into by Massachusets, Plymouth, Connecticut and New-Haven, in 1643. Neale, Vol. I. p. 223. 2d. Edit. <134> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO The Dutch were not passive under those Encroachments, but set up the Arms of the States-General in different Places to assert their Right; and in 1642, the Connecticut People having overspread Long Island as far as Oysterbay, Kieft, the Dutch Governor, broke up their Settlements. These Disputes occasioned the Colonies of New-Haven and Connecticut to send Deputies to the Dutch Governor, at New-Amsterdam (New-York) to treat about Boundaries. The Dutch offer to let the English continue at Hartford on the Payment of a certain * Rent for the Land. But this was not complied with; and the English trusting to their superior Strength, still kept extending their possessions till in 1650, a final Settlement of Boundaries was made at Hartford; the Account of which is as follows, and ought to be attended to as a very material Transaction: Four Delegates, Willet and Baxter on the Part of the Dutch, Bradstreet and Prince on the Part of the united Colonies, met at Hartford as Arbitrators of the Dispute about Bounds and Limits; before whom, says the Author of the Susquehanna Case, "Peter Stuyvesant, Esq; Governor of the Dutch New Netherlands, came personally and continued the Claims his Superiors, their High Mightinesses of the united Provinces and the Right Honorable the West-India Company had to the Lands in Question, (viz. the Connecticut Lands, Long Island, &c.) of which he desired a full Surrender and Satisfaction, according to the Quality of the Case."- The Arbitrators or Delegates agreed and determined thus, viz. 1st. "That the Bounds upon Long-Island be, &c. [this is not material to the present Question.] 2dly. "The Bounds upon the Main, to begin upon the West Side of Greenwich Bay, being about four Miles from Stamford, and so to run a northerly Line twenty Miles up into the Country; and after as it shall be agreed between the two Governments of New-Haven and the Dutch-provided the said Line come not within ten Miles of Hudson's River-The Dutch shall not any Time hereafter build any House or Habitation within six Miles of the said Line-The Inhabitants of Greenwich to remain (till further Consideration thereof be had) under the Government of the Dutch." 3dly. "The Dutch shall enjoy all the Lands at Hartford that they are actually possess'd of, known, or set out by certain Bounds; and all the Remainder of the said Lands, on both Sides of Connecticut River, be and remain to the English there." ________________________________________________________________________ *Pro Agro Nostro Hartfordiensi annuo persolvent Decimam Partem Reventus Agrorum, &c. SMITH's History of New-York. <135> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. "The aforesaid Bounds and Limits, both upon the Island and upon the Main, shall be observed and kept inviolable, both by the English of the united Colonies, and all the Dutch Nation without any Encroachment and Molestation, until a full Determination be agreed upon in Europe, by mutual Consent of the two States of England and Holland." This Determination bore hard upon the Dutch Rights, and it is evident that they submitted to it only out of Necessity, as the English were then become able to take the whole Country from them. This further appears by a letter of the Dutch West-India Company, to Governor Stuyvesant of 24 Dec. 1660; in which they say that "they were not inclined to stand by the Treaty at Hartford, and proposed to sue for redress on Long-Island and the Fresh-Water (Connecticut) River, by means of the States Ambassador."- With the above agreement respecting Limits in full Force between the English and Dutch, and the latter still in actual Possession of New Netherlands; Mr. Winthrop solicited and obtained the present Connecticut Charter, dated 23d April, 1662, the Limits of which, are in the following confused, defective and unintelligible Words: "All that Part of New-England in America, bounden on the East by Narraganset River, commonly called Narraganset Bay, where the said River falleth into the Sea; and on the North by the Line of the Massachusets Plantation, and on the South by the Sea; and in Longitude as the Line of the Masssachusets Colony running from East to West-that is to say, from the said Narraganset Bay on the East, to the South Sea on the West Part." And the Author of the Susquehannah Case allows the same saving to be intended in this Charter, as in the grand Plymouth Charter, and the other derivative Grants under it; viz. that the "granted Premises, or any Part thereof, be not "then actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian Prince or State." Thus, for twenty-six Years the Connecticut Settlers had continued without any Charter, and, for a considerable Time also, without any Sort of Title to their Lands. It will be proper, then, to enquire what Extent of Title they had acquired, or set forth to the Crown, at the Time of passing the Charter; because that will better enable us to determine what Tract or Space of Country their Charter might be designed to cover. In 1635, as has been hinted, John Winthrop, Esq; the younger, (the same mentioned above, who was afterwards Governor of Connecticut) had a Commission under Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, &c. appointing him Governor of Con- <136> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO necticut River, with Instructions to make a Settlement on that River, and build a Fort on an Island near its Mouth; which he [Appendix No. II.] did, and named it Fort Saybrook, after the two Lords, Say and Brook. George Fenwick, Esq; succeeded Mr. Winthrop, as Governor of the Fort, and Settlements made near it at the Company's Expence. But the Chiefs of that Company, becoming deeply engaged in the Scene of Things then carrying on in England, laid aside all Thoughts of an American Settlement. Mr. Fenwick, therefore, in 1644, sold the Fort at Saybrook and its Appurtenances to the Hartford Colony. Those Appurtenances are decided to be, "all the Land on Connecticut River," which could not mean the whole River, because the upper Parts of the River [Appendix No. III.] were in the prior Massachusets Grant, &c. He could only mean "all the Lands in the Saybrook Jurisdiction," which might be about twelve Miles on the River; for an Extent of twelve Miles was generally considered in those Days, as appurtenant to a Fort. Nor did he give them any other Right, but by a Committee of five, (of which himself was to be always one) to give or set out to others what Lands were undisposed of, in the Tract he meant to convey. That the Extent of this Tract could not be far on each Side of the River is certain. New Haven Bounds would not have permitted them to go far Westward of the River, and the Deed or Writing of Mr. Fenwick, shews that he could not convey to them any Lands far Eastward of it. He says- "The Lands, from Narraganset River to the Fort at Saybrook, shall fall in under the Jurisdiction of Connecticut, if it come into my Power"-a plain Proof he had not Power then to give them a Title to those Lands; nor does it appear how he came by his Power even for the Sale of Fort Saybrook. This then is all the Right, under Lord Say and Seal, &c. which they could pretend to have, when they applied for their Charter. Mr. Winthrop, when he got to England, was in hopes to obtain some further Right under that Lord; but it seems his Lordship did not then know what was become of his own Deed. He appears now to have neglected, or forgot, his American Right; and was willing that Mr. Winthrop might get carved out of it, what the old Colony of Hartford had settled and improved. His Words are-"Concerning that of Connecticut, I am [Lord Say and Seal's Letter Appendix, No. 5.] not able to remember all the Particulars.-Mr. Jessop, when we had a Patent, was our Clerk, and he, I believe, can inform you best about it. I have desired my Lord (Chamberlain) to wish him so to do."-It will appear afterwards, that New-Haven Colony absolutely refused to be included in this Patent; and <137> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. that Lord Warwick, Lord Say and Seal, &c. had long before given them to know, that it was not intended they should be under Connecticut. [Appendix No. 20.] The Bounds of Connecticut Patent then, were to be as his Majesty pleased, so far as the Lands were in the Power of the Crown to grant, or the Petitioners could shew any Right vested in them from former Grantees. But that Part of the Country lying between Naraganset and Connecticut Rivers, we have seen, was not included in the Purchase made from Mr. Fenwick. And if the King might grant it, on Account of Lord Say and Seal, &c. having waved their Right, such Grant was made long before by Charles I. to Duke Hamilton, extending from Naraganset to Connecticut River sixty Miles back into the Country. And if this Argument had been vigorously pressed, in Behalf of the Duke, when his Claim came to be discussed in 1665, before the Crown Commissioners, Connecticut, who could produce no legal Right or Title under Lord Say and Seal, would perhaps have been reduced to such scant Bounds, as would have left that Colony to be but of little Importance at this Day. These being the Circumstances under which Mr. Winthrop obtained the Connecticut Charter; it is evident, that the Saybrook Purchase, and some small Purchases and Conquests from the Pequot Indians, contained all the Lands, for which he and his Associates could have any Pretence to solicit a Charter. And even with Respect to those Indian Lands, so far as they lay out of the Saybrook Purchase, they had no proper Right. For if the Acquiescence of Lord Say and Seal could give such Right, without a legal Conveyance, the same Acquiescence might be construed to be good in Favor of Duke Hamilton. This enables us, then to account for the Lameness of the Connecticut Charter, as well in its Preamble as in its Limits. For, although in the Massachusets Charter, King William recites the whole Title, viz. the first Grant to the Council of Plymouth, and that Council's Grant to Sir Henry Roswel, and the Royal Confirmation of the same, with the whole Process whereby it became void; yet the Connecticut Charter does not attempt to trace any Title from the Plymouth Company, but only sets forth in the Preamble, "that the said Connecticut or Hartford Colony, or the [See the Petition and Charter in the Appendix.] *greatest Part thereof was purchased, and some other Part thereof gained by Conquest, at the only Endeavours and Expence of the said John Winthrop, &c." ________________________________________________________________________ *There being no Purchases but that from Fenwick, and some small Pieces from the Indians, surely if these made up the greatest Part of the Colony, the other Part could not reach Pennsylvania, nor any great Distance from Connecticut River. <138> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO _ _ _ SECTION III. We proceed now to the Construction of the Connecticut Charter Limits. And, first, supposing not only the Saybrook Purchase, but all the Country from Naraganset to Connecticut River, and likewise New-Haven Colony, willing to be covered by it; yet that will give it no other Efficacy, with respect to other Places, than it had at first. By the original Saving in the great Plymouth Patent, which has always been expressed or understood to operate through all the Grants parcelled out of it, nothing could pass, which was "actually possessed, at the Time of such Grants, by any other Christian State."-And, therefore, it has been long held, by Men of the greatest Law-Abilities, that nothing could pass, by the Connecticut Charter, to the Westward of Connecticut River; the Dutch as already observed, having so long claimed and possessed that River, from its Mouth, at least one hundred Miles up. Connecticut and New-Haven Colonies, could only claim a Right in Lands, Westward of the said River, by Virtue of the Agreement subsisting between them and the Dutch, at the Time of obtaining their; and not by Virtue of the Charter itself, which is quite silent as to Limits or Extent on that Quarter. Nay, the King could * not grant, and it is certain he did not intend to grant, what lay under the Dutch Claim, in Virtue of their prior Settlement, between Hudson's and Connecticut Rivers; because, two Years afterwards, when a Resolution was formed to expel the Dutch, he granted to the Duke of York all the Country which was considered as the Dutch Claim, making the West Side of Connecticut River, one of the Boundaries of the Grant. The Treaty at Hartford was but a temporary Agreement, which was only to be binding "until a full Determination in Europe, by the States of England and Holland;" and, therefore, without the ratification of the latter, which they refused, could vest no Right under them, to the Lands West of Connecticut River. Upon the Whole, then, if it had not been for the subsequent Settlement of Boundaries, made by the Royal Authority, after the Conquest from the Dutch, (by which Settlement, pursuing the Spirit of the Hartford Agreement, the Limits of the Con- ________________________________________________________________________ *This is acknowledged by the Connecticut Commissioners, in their Letter to Governor Penn, dated December 18, 1773, as will appear afterwards. <139> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. necticut Charter were fixed) no just Claim could ever have been founded under it, to any Lands Westward of Connecticut River and the Charter would have remained the same defective unintelligible Thing it was at first. If the Connecticut Claimants now adhere to those Limits, which, as finally adjusted and settled, never approach nearer than twenty Miles to Hudson's River, they can never approach to Pennsylvania. Again, if they reject those Limits, they leave their Charter in its first State, so unintelligible and defective of Limits, that none of their Neighbours, whose rights are guarded by clear and decisive Crown Grants, need be under any great Concerns about it. On this single Argument, I might here rest the whole Matter. It is trifling to say, that the English had a Right of Discovery in those Lands prior to the Dutch; for whatever might be the Arguments of War, (which must always find a Plea to justify Convenience or Necessity) when Colonel Nichols came with an armed Force to expel the Dutch; yet, at the subsequent Peace, those Arguments were forgotten; and the Dutch were allowed Surinam in Exchange for New-Netherlands. Three distinct Colonies, or Governments, have since been formed out of those Dutch Rights or Claims; and the Connecticut Claimants, acknowledging themselves barred by those Rights, have no other Expedient but to split their Charter, (which is weak enough when entire) and laying out one End of it Eastward of two of these Colonies, to carry the other End, by a large Leap across them, so as to lay it on Pennsylvania, and a vast Extent of Crown Lands Westward. Let us enquire what Countenance their Charter gives to such a Construction. By its Preamble, reciting their Petition, it is clear, that their highest Wish was to obtain, and the Intention of the Crown was to grant, the Powers of Government, and a Confirmed * Right of Soil, in a Colony or Country, the greatest Part purchased, and other Part by Conquest, subdued and improved at their sole Expence, which was not within any other English Government, not interfering with the actual Possession of any other Christian State. This being the express Description of what they prayed might be granted to them, viz. a Country then actually improved by them, and under their Subjection, it can only be understood that they meant to point out to the Crown, the Lands which they occupied and had purchased of Mr. Fenwick, or gained from the Pequot Indians, and not comprehended in any other Government; bounded East and North by other New-England ________________________________________________________________________ *They confess that they were unwilling to "rely on their Right under Lord Say and Seal." <140> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO Colonies, West by * New Haven Colony, or at farthest the Dutch New-Netherlands. It could never have been in Mr. Winthrop's Imagination (unless we would charge him with putting such a Deception on the Crown as would vitiate his whole Grant) to leap over the Dutch Settlements, as now contended, and to take in far remote Countries of 3000 Miles Extent, then and now unsubdued by them; and which, instead of being the Object of one Government, are large enough to constitute twenty such Governments as that described to be exercised under the Charter, and in which there is no Provision for erecting subordinate Governments. The Country to be granted, and the Government to be erected, were certainly intended by the Crown to be absolutely bounded and barred Westward by the Dutch Settlements, if not by New Haven Colony, and that in the same Sense as it was to be bounded Northward by Massachusets. The least Suggestion of a Design to go further, would have brought the Ambassador of the States-general, who had yet no Breach with England, to oppose the Grant. Hence it was, that Mr. Winthrop thought it prudent rather to leave the Extent of his Grant open and undecisive along the Coast Westward, than give any Alarm to the Dutch, or retard its passing. Another Reason we shall fully prove he had-namely, his solemn Engagement not to extend his Charter farther West, than the fixt Bounds between Hartford old Colony and New-Haven, which were but a little Westward of Connecticut River, between Guilford and Killingworth-For New-Haven Colony was about to apply for a distinct Charter and absolutely refused to be under the same Jursdiction with Connecticut. Thus we have found a Clue which unravels the Mystery of this singular Contrivance, of leaving a Royal Charter loose and destitute of any Limits or Extent towards one Side; for Mr. Winthrop, altho' bound as he was by his solemn Promises to New-Haven, appears still to have had a secret Hankering and Hope to include that Colony, and reach the old fixt Station with the Dutch. This might have proved a fatal Policy, if, through his good Management with New-Haven, and Address with the Crown Commissioners, he had not soon got Limits fixed by them; who, in their great Indulgence, allowed Connecticut Charter to cover all that possibly could be claimed as the Object of it; under the Notion of Improvements, Purchases, or subdued Countries, not then erected into any other Government. And I will venture to repeat, that Mr. Win- ________________________________________________________________________ *It will be shewn, agreeable to Mr. Winthrop's Confession, that he was content and had promised to be bounded West by New-Haven Colony. <141> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. throp's Policy may even yet be found fatal to that Charter, if Connecticut will strive to overleap those Limits, construing the Charter in a Sense which has never been allowed to any other of the like Sort in America, and claiming, to the Disturbance of other Colonies, an Extent of Country, that could not be settled or ruled by many such Governors and Companies. Their Charter, it is presumed, will be found but a feeble Basis to support such an enormous Superstructure. This is not meant to convey any Threat; for, in the present Discussion, we disclaim all Arguments which sober Reason will not justify; and call on any Mathematician or Geographer, to lay down the Connecticut Limits from the Charter-Description of them. An Eastern Boundary, it is true, is given "on Naraganset River or Bay, which can be found. A Northern Boundary is also implied, as, or perhaps upon, Massachusets Southern Line," which we know how to find, as that Line ought to have been in 1662, by Sir Henry Roswell's Grant, altho' very different from the Line settled long afterwards, amidst numerous Bickerings, scarcely yet composed. But every Tyro in Mathematics knows the Axiom-that "two right or strait Lines will not comprehend a space." But it may be said, the Charter gives two Sea-Boundaries, viz-"South by the Sea," and "the South Sea on the West Part"-But, to keep these two Sea-Boundaries, must we go round by Cape Horn, and all along the Shore of the vast Pacific Ocean, till we meet the Production of the Massachusets Line? In this Case, the little Connecticut Charter, which was solicited, and intended, to cover a narrow District about Connecticut River, will be stretched to a stupendous Size, constituting the Governor and Company of Connecticut, into the high and mighty Lords of all South America, and the greatest Part of North America too! This is no ludicrous Construction of their two Sea-Boundaries; for they will bear this as well as any other I have heard. But, say they, we desire only a reasonable Construction of Limits or Breadth on the Sea, and from thence to set off Inland throughout, to the other Sea in a West Direction-But then they would not be bounded South on the Sea; for, on the Contrary, soon leaving the Sea or Sound, their South Boundary would be a long Line of at least 3000 Miles. And what would be their Breadth? Small, very small, as will be shewn! Again, when they speak of a reasonable Construction of Limits, has not the Crown given, above one hundred Years ago, what they then thought a very reasonable Construction and Settlement of their defective Limits; and can it now be thought <142> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO reasonable, to take away what the Crown gave above ninety Years ago to another, and has been enjoyed ever since without any objection made, or Claim put in, on the Part of Connecticut, till the * Resolve past by their Assembly in October last? And how do they now know that any of the lands in Pennsylvania, upon which they have violently intruded themselves, would fall within their Lines, if suffered to extend them beyond their ancient fixt Limits? Where will they leave the Sea, and begin to run to the other Sea? Their Charter says, at Naraganset Bay on the East. But does their Colony now begin at that Bay and run West? By no means. They come about twenty five Miles Westward from that Bay to Pakatauk River, for their Place of Beginning, and then set off Northerly not Westerly. Moreover, I would further ask, where on the Sea or Sound will they begin their other Line? They will say, where the Crown finally fixed us, about Byram Brook. And in what Direction?-They ought to say, in the Direction the Crown gives us, which (as might well be expected) was Northerly too, at about right Angles from the Shore, and parallel to their other offset from the same. This is a Direction however, which they do not chuse; and therefore, casting their Eye towards the rich Susquehanna Lands, they say we will run due West-But this gives such an irregular many-sided Figure as could never have been intended, and what is worse, they wholly depart from the Lines given by the Crown; for if they reject one of those Lines, they reject the whole Settlement made by the Royal Authority, solemnly assented to by themselves; which brings them back again to their Charter in its original State, which I have already shewn to be so loose and vague, that no prudent Man would chuse to hold a single Plantation, by such defective Limits; it being totally silent as to any Extent on the Shore, or Place of running off, except at Naraganset on the East. But, in order to help out the defective Limits of their own Charter, they have formerly claimed those of the Grant to Lord Say and Seal, Lord Brook, &c; contending that all included in that Grant, was intended to be confirmed to them by their Charter, altho' it appears, that when they obtained their Charter, they were entitled to but a very small Part of what was granted to those Lords. This was their grand Defence against Duke Hamilton's Claim in 1665; when they ventured to contend before the [Appendix, No. X.] Crown Commissioners "that Lord Say and Seal's Patent was pur- ________________________________________________________________________ *The visionary Schemes of Individuals, not avowed, but disowned by the Powers of Government, could not be called a Colony Claim. <143> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. chased by them at a dear Rate, and lately confirmed to them by their gracious Sovereign." This Grant to Lord Say and Seal is also entered among the ancient Records of Connecticut Colony with this Title- [Appendix, No. I.] "A Copy of the old Patent for Connecticut." Why they should of late drop this Grant, to Lord Say and Seal, may seem a little mysterious.-The Author of the printed Susquehannah Case, stated for the Opinion of Council in England, keeps this Grant wholly out of Sight; and is content to found his Claim on nothing better than the said unintelligible, loose, and defective Charter, from Charles the IId. But this Mystery may be explained; which I shall the rather attempt, in order to shew the Duplicity and dexterous Management of those Connecticut Claimants, than for the Sake of the Arguments to be drawn from thence in the present Contest; for the Rights of Pennsylvania can be fully maintained on other Grounds. The Truth, however, is that when Connecticut Colony desired to stretch Eastward and Northward, Lord Say and Seal's Grant was a good Thing to hold up to the Crown Commissioners; but when they now want to go the other Way, viz. Westward towards Pennsylvania, it makes directly against them. It has ever been the Construction of Sir Henry Roswel's Grant for the Massachusets, as well as of Lord Say and Seal's, that they were intended to keep their Front Breadth on the Sea, throughout the main Land, Any other Construction would, at first, have been deemed an illiberal one. No Person could imagine, had there been no unforeseen Interfering in the Execution, that the Crown would give a Sea Front of one hundred and twenty Miles in Breadth, and locate the Length, from the said Front, in a Direction that would contract the Breadth to forty or fifty Miles! It has never been understood in that Way. Hutchinson, who may be mentioned as a good Authority, for what has been the general Sense of this Matter, among the New-England Colonies themselves, says expressly of Lord Say and Seal's Grant-as already quoted, that it was "from Naraganset River to the South-West forty Leagues, to keep the Breadth, to the South-Sea." [Appendix, No. I.] There is no Ambiguity in the Words of the Grant itself--viz-- [Lord Say and Seal's Grant, Mar. 9, 1631.] "All that part of New-England in America, from a River there called Naraganset River, the Space of forty Leagues, on a strait Line near the Sea-Shore, South-West, West and by South, or West, as the <144> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO Coast lieth towards Virginia, accounting three English Miles to the League; and also all the Lands, &c. within the Lands (read Limits) aforesaid, North and South, in Latitude and Breadth; and of land within all the Breadth aforesaid, throughout the main Lands there, from the Western Ocean to the South South Sea." Here is a very explicit Description. The Beginning is at Naraganset River, near the Sea; viz. about Judeth-Point, towards the lower End of Kononikut Isle, in Naraganset Bay. The Front is a strait Line to be drawn also near the Sea, and not a Curve, following the different Inflections of Bays and Shores, but keeping clear of the deepest Bays, and yet as near as might be to them, so as to keep the said front Line strait; and the Extent of this Line was to be one hundred and twenty Miles; and the granted Premises were to extend, in Length or Longitude, from this Front throughout the main Lands; being, of all the Breadth aforesaid, that is no where narrower than one hundred and twenty Miles; and within all the Breadth aforesaid, that it is no where wider than one hundred and twenty Miles. In short, an Oblong of one hundred and twenty Miles Front, keeping that Breadth Inland throughout, is evidently described. Now to satisfy this Grant, and keep the Breadth of the Front, through the whole Length Inland, there is no possible Direction, but two Parallels run off, at right Angles to the front Line, from each End thereof. And this Front is the general Direction of the Shore, keeping just clear of the Sea or Sound; which, from Naraganset Bay towards Mamoraneck, is West-South-West. The two Parallels must therefore be run in a North-North-West Direction, from the two Places of Beginning, which would carry the Connecticut Lines far North of Pennsylvania. Thus the Oblong, marked * A, is a true Plan or Location of Lord Say and Seal's Grant. But, say the Connecticut Men, whose Fathers, one hundred and nine Years ago, served themselves with this Grant, to cover the Land in Dispute with Duke Hamilton; we will now reject it, and trust to our long Possession of those Lands, or showing the Figure of it sixty-seven Degrees and a Half West-about; we will leave the chief Part of Duke Hamilton's Lands out of it. Nay, we will leave Hartford, our very Seat of Government out, and contract our Province into a narrow Strip, of about one-third of the given Breadth and Quantity ________________________________________________________________________ *See the annexed Plan, which is only a rough Sketch for marking out the Places referred to in this Work. Those Places, however, and the general Course of the Coast, are laid down from the best Maps. <145> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. of Land, in order to get due West to the Susquehannah Lands. All this would be the case, as in the Figure C, by running due West, from the two Stations, on the Sea and Sound. The Northern Boundary would cross Connecticut River at least twenty Miles below Hartford; their Colony, instead of running in Length from the Sea, would be of an irregular Breadth, proceeding in Length from a Point in Front, and widening in a triangular Form as far West as Mamaroneck, where it will have obtained little more than one-third of the required Breadth, viz. forty-five Miles; and this is all the Breadth it can afterwards carry to the South-Sea. This certainly is not the Country called for in Lord Say and Seal's Grant, which is to be of the Breadth of one hundred and twenty Miles throughout. But if the Coast had been West and by South, which is one of the Courses supposed probable in the Grant to Lord Say and Seal; then by bounding the Grant with two West Lines, it would leave out the greatest Part of the Settlements on Connecticut River, crossing that River not ten Miles above the Mouth, and reducing the Breadth of the Grant to about twenty three Miles, all the Way from Mamaroneck to the South Sea. However, it would be some Consolation that these twenty three Miles Breadth, would run through the North Part of Pennsylvania. But further, suppose the Coast to have run due West, which is also mentioned as possible in the Grant, then, the End of one hundred and twenty Miles differing nothing in Latitude from the Beginning, there would have been no Lands granted at all; but only a Line, or rather two Lines falling one upon the other throughout, to the South Sea. And if the Coast had turned but half a Point to the North of West, the Grant would have been thrown so far wholly into the Sea. There is another Construction of Lord Say and Seal's Grant, which Connecticut Colony may probably propose as being something like their present Lines and Bounds, viz. by following Naraganset River seventy-five Miles up, if it extends so far, and if it does not extend so far, then northerly from its Head till seventy-five Miles be completed, as at the Point X; and then to run off westerly in the Line XY, to the South Sea. This would indeed include one hundred and twenty Miles Breadth, with the West Line from Mamaroneck; but East of that we should not have an equal Breadth, but an irregular Figure, of more Sides than four, and therefore disagreeing with the Grant not only in this respect, but likewise in another; viz--that the Length of the Grant would not run off from the Sea in Front, but from a River and Land Line, having the Sea partly as a side Line. And, what is still worse, in order to come to the required Breadth, they must run almost to the North 10-VOL. XVIII. <146> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO Line of the prior Massachusets Grant, And instead of stopping at the South Line of the same. For if they stopped at that Line, the Breadth of the Grant, West of Mamaroneck, would be but about eighty Miles instead of the one hundred and twenty; and, East of that, narrowing all the way as before observed. Moreover, if there be any Rule of Construction which requires or allows them towards the Narraganset Side, to set off northerly, as they now do, about forty-five Miles to the Massachusets Line, they ought certainly on the Mamaroneck or West Side, by the like Rule, to run the same Distance northerly, before they turn Westward; and indeed this is the present Course of their western Boundary as finally fixt by the Crown, and established by their own Laws, viz. running northerly in the general Direction of Hudson's River, about * seventy-two Miles to the Massachusets Line. There is another way, more extravagant if possible, than any of the above, and yet it has been thrown out lately, even by the Connecticut Commissioners to Governor Penn, as what might probably be a reasonable Construction; namely, leaving the Sea or Sound at Mamaroneck, to run on West-South-West. But this would be such a Shape or Figure for a Colony as, perhaps, was never before thought of; constituting a Triangle, having no Sea Front, but beginning in a Point at Naraganset Bay, and widening forty-five Miles Southward, for every hundred and eleven Miles Westward; so that it would become twelve or thirteen hundred Miles in Breadth, before it could reach the South-Sea. And thus, although it would leave out Hartford and a great Part of the present Connecticut Colony; it would make large Reprisals, in the way, upon Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and the Ohio Lands, &c. In short, upon all these Hypotheses (except the first, which runs the Grant off at right Angles to the Shore) the granted Premises would be of an unequal and irregular Breadth, and would not run off in Length from the Sea, as was the Idea and Intention of all those old American Grants, and is particularly required, in order to satisfy this particular Grant to Lord Say and Seal. Any other Construction of it is purely imaginary, without any Foundation in the Grant itself; or, indeed, in the Connecticut Charter, which is built upon this Grant, as that Colony, till of late, has always contended. ________________________________________________________________________ *See in Appendix 26, the Length or Extent of the different Boundaries of the Colony as they now stand. It will appear afterwards, that from the Front of one hundred and twenty Miles so often mentioned, Rhode Island took twenty-five Miles from one Side, and New-York about seven Miles from the other, leaving about eighty-eight Miles for the present Front. <147> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. But it will be asked--What must be done with the Words North and South, in Latitude and Breadth, which are to be found in Lord Say and Seal's Grant; although dropped in the Connecticut Charter? I answer, that in a Grant, as is the Case in that under Consideration, where the Length is to commence from a Front, described to run South-West, West and by South, or even West, the Word Latitude can have no Meaning, if taken in its geographical Sense, and not inserted, by the Ignorance of the Clerk, (as it appears to be) as a synonimous Term with Breadth. Nor will the Words, North and South, apply to the Breadth, unless meant to express, that all the Lands lying in every Direction within the two Land-Lines, whether North or South, East or West, were actually intended to be conveyed; which agrees sufficiently with the Words of the Grant. These Words, North and South, can only be taken as a general Designation for Northerly and Southerly; just as New-York may be said to lie South of New-Haven, though not directly so; and West may be explained Westerly, or on the West Part, which are Words in the Grant. Some Words in the Grant must be rejected, or understood in a qualified Sense, in order to allow the essential Parts their full Operation. The Breadth of the Grant is its very Essence--forty Leagues, and all that Breadth throughout. It may seem trifling to repeat the utter Impossibility of keeping all that Breadth throughout, in a North and South Direction, considering Breadth and geographical Latitude as the same; nor can the Breadth be kept in any other Direction but West-South-West, and East-North-East, the general Course of the Shore. The Grant must have the most liberal Construction; and this the Connecticut Claimants would contend for, if it served their present Purpose. We must reconcile the Words Latitude and Breadth, if possible, so as to sacrifice neither of them. If the Breadth of the Grant is to be due North and South, as the Line GH, in Figure C, we have forty-five Miles difference of Latitude between the two Sides of the Figure; but then we sacrifice near two Thirds of the requisite Breadth. On the other Hand, if the Breadth be West-South-West, as the Line EF, in Figure A, we sacrifice nothing; for we have the whole one hundred and twenty Miles in Breadth; and the Latitude, North and South, between the Ends of the Line EF is just the same, as between the Ends of the Line GH, viz. forty-five Miles in each Case. Moreover, if we run off in any other Course, between West and North North-West, no more Latitude can be got than forty-five Miles, viz. the Difference of Latitude between the two Ends of the Front Line. Thus the Latitude, North and <148> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO South is the same in all these Cases; but the Breadth can be preserved in none of them, but by running at right Angles to the Shore. It is therefore abundantly plain, that this is the true Construction of the Grant; and much more has been said on this Head than will be necessary to such Readers as have the least Tincture of mathematical and geographical Knowledge. If any Thing further might be added, to shew the Absurdity of construing the Word Latitude into Breadth North and South, let us recall the Case already mentioned, which the Grant allows to be possible; namely, that the Course of the Shore had been due West. Then, if the Word Latitude was to be construed into Breadth North and South, there would be no such Breadth at all, and consequently no Land granted; and if any Persons had insisted on this, as the true Construction of the Words Latitude and Breadth, so as totally to have defeated the Grant, Connecticut would have called it a most unreasonable Construction. Yet every Deviation from a Course at right Angles to the Shore, is an Approach towards the same unreasonable Construction, on their Part. But altho' the Words of the Grant may be thus reconciled, it is most probable that the Word Latitude was never intended to have any meaning but Breadth. Whoever drew up the Grant to Lord Say and Seal had, without doubt, before him, the great Plymouth Grant, out of which those other New England Grants were to be carved; in which finding the Words "Latitude, and all the Breadth aforesaid," used in the same Sense, he imagined that he ought to do so likewise. He had not sufficient Knowledge to distinguish, that in the Plymouth Patent, where Degrees of Latitude, viz the 40th and 48th are given as Points of Beginning, and all that Latitude or Breadth to be kept throughout, the Breadth and Geographhical Latitude must be the same Thing; but that were a certain Extent or Breadth is given on the Shore, and that Breadth to be carried throughout, the Breadth and Geographical Difference of Latitude, with Respect to the Sides, can never be the same, except where the Course of the Shore lies North and South. By long considering a Thing in one Point of View, we contract a Prejudice towards our own Notions. But it is by no means a Rule, that all American Grants are to lie due East and West in Length. They never can do so, unless where bounded by Parallels of Latitude, if they are to carry their Front-Breadth throughout; some in Fact do lie in other Directions, even within the old Plymouth Patent. Indeed it never was supposed at first, that they could all lie West. The great Patent to South Virginia expressly mentions West and North- <149> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. [Vid. Supra. p. 4.] West from Sea to Sea; making Allowance for what might be the Course of the Shore; and the Colony of Connecticut, as long as 1653, before they had any Charter, supposed that the Lines from the Shore might be North, or North-West, or West. Speaking of the Dutch Claim of all the Lands from Cape Henlopen to Cape Cod along the Coast, they say, "from which, drawing any Line to the North, North-West, or West, wholly takes in, or encroaches upon, all the [Appendix No. XIX.] united Colonies." In Fact, Connecticut itself, as observed elsewhere, has never had any Lines set off from the Shore, but North and North-North-West; or nearly at Right Angles. That it was the original Plan of Government thus to lay the American Grants at Right Angles to the Shore, cannot be doubted. Douglas says expressly, the first Notion was to "lay out Settlements of one hundred Miles on the Shore, and one hundred Miles back into the Country, so as to make Districts of one hundred Miles Square." But they could not have been Square without running directly into the main Land; as the Words expressly are. Douglas did not assert this without the best Authority; for the great Parent-Grant of all, namely, the Patent to the South and North Virginia Company as already quoted, expressly locates the Lands to be granted, in these Words "directly over against the Sea Coast;" and directly into the main Land, "by the Space of one hundred Miles"--and this was supposed, in the subsequent Grant three Years afterwards, might be West or North-West. An Inconvenience, it is true, arose in this which was not at first foreseen, or perhaps was not thought worthy of Attention; as the Crown knew that if any interfering should afterwards be found it had a Power of explaining and rectifying its own Grants, according to Reason, Equity, and their plain Intention. This Power must have rested with the Crown, else no Grants at all could have been made in those early Times, till a compleat Survey of the Coast and Country could be made; and such Surveys were impracticable till Settlements were first made. The Inconvenience I mean is this--that when two given Fronts on the Sea incline to each other, making an Angle inward, the Lines produced from those Fronts, so as to keep the same Breadth, will soon intersect and mix with each other. Hence arose the Confusion in all the New-England Grants; whose Places of Beginning were not fixt at Degrees or Minutes of Latitude. For had they been so fixed, and directed to carry their Breadth or Latitude throughout, no Contest could have arisen, unless the same Latitude had been twice granted. <150> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO The Massachusetts Colony seem to have been the Parent of these Confusions. Though now retrenched in their Bounds, they were once as exorbitant in their Claims as Connecticut now is. They claim, [See Hutchinson's Collection of Papers.] says an early Writer, "Fort Albany, and beyond it all the Land to the South-Sea. By their South-Sea Line, they intrench upon the Colonies of New-Plymouth, Rhode-Island, and Connecticut; and in the East, they have usurped Captain Mason's and Sir Ferdinando Gorges's Patents."--And elsewhere--"They (viz. Massachusets) take the Liberty to claim as far as their Convenience and Interest direct; never wanting a Pretext of Right to any Place that is commodious for them'declaring they do not know the Boundaries of their Commonwealth." "It is," says Dr. Douglas, "frequently very difficult, and almost impossible, to reconcile the Letter and Boundaries of two old Grants, because, generally, more was granted than had been surveyed, and perhaps more than had been discovered--Therefore, Lines were ill expressed--in loose and general Terms, and frequently interfering." To the like Purpose writes Mr. Blome, as early as 1687, in his Account of the Colonies, already quoted. Speaking of the great North-Virginia Grant, he says, "this vast Tract of Land, was cantoned and divided, by Grant, into many lesser Parcels, according as Adventurers presented; which Grants, being founded upon uncertain and false Descriptions, and Report of some that travelled thither, did much interfere one with another, to the great Disturbance of the first Planters."--And he says further, "that Charles II, in 1664, sent over four Commissioners to set Bounds to those that had encroached upon each other." All this is confirmed by the Commission itself, which sets forth, that Complaints had been made to the Crown of Disputes that had arisen about the Bounds of the New-England Colonies, and that Addresses had been made for remedying the Inconveniences arising on this Head. The following is an Abstract of the Commission, with a Determination of the Commissioners, respecting the Bounds of Connecticut: [Abstract of the Commission to Colonel Nichols and others, for hearing and determining Complaints in New-England, dated April 26, 1664. From New-York Records] "Charles II, &c. To all whom, &c. "Whereas We have received several Addresses from Our Subjects of several Colonies in New-England--with their humble Desires, that We would renew their several Charters, and receive them into Our Favor and Protection and several of our Colonies there, and other our <151> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. loving Subjects, have complained of Differences and Disputes arisen upon the Limits and Bounds of their several Charters and Jurisdictions, whereby unneighbourly and unbrotherly Contentions have and may arise, &c--Upon which Motives, and as an Evidence of Our fatherly Affection towards all Our Subjects in those Colonies of the Massachusetts, Connecticut, New-Plymouth, Rhode-Island, and Providence Plantation, and all other Plantations within that Tract of Land, known under the Appellation of New-England--We have constituted and appointed, &c. Colonel Richard Nichols, Sir Robert Carre, Knt, George Cartwright and Samuel Maverick, Esqs; Our Commissioners--granting unto them, or any three or two of them, (the said Colonel Nichols, during his Life, always to be one) full Power and Authority to hear, receive, examine, and determine all Complaints and Appeals--and proceed in all Things for settling the Peace of the said Country."-- One chief Design of this Commission then, was to determine Bounds, where uncertain or disputed; and the Determination of the Commissioners when once made was to be final, as well to put an End to Contentions that had arisen, as to prevent such as might in future arise--All this is further evident by the King's * Letter sent by the Commissioners to the different New England [See Neale, Vol. I. p. 362.] Colonies; in which there is no Restriction, but in Case of any great Difficulties, to be referred to his Majesty. With Respect to the Bounds of Connecticut, whose Charter was absolutely defective in Limits, towards the West and South-West, as has been fully shewn, the Commissioners determined as follows, viz-- "By Virtue of his Majesty's Commission--We have heard the Difference about the Bounds of the Patents granted to his Royal Highness the Duke of York, and to his Majesty's Colony of Connecticut; and having deliberately considered all the Reasons alledged by Mr. Allen sen. Mr. Gold, Mr. Richards, and Capt. Winthrop, appointed by the Assembly held at Hartford October 13th, 1664, to accompany John Winthrop, Esq; the Governor of his Majesty's Colony of Connecticut, ________________________________________________________________________ *The King tells them, that "to the End there may be no Contentions and Differences among them in Respect to the Bounds and Jurisdictions of their several Colonies, he had sent Commissioners to determine--as the Right might appear by clear Evidence, or as they can Settle it by mutual Consent of Parties--Or in Case of Difficulties, they shall present the same to us, who will determine according to our own Wisdom and Justice." Letter to Plymouth Colony. <152> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO to New-York, and to agree * upon the Bounds of the said Colony, why the said Long-Island should be under the Government of Connecticut, which are too long here to be recited--We do declare and order, that the Southern Bounds of his Majesty's Colony of Connecticut is the Sea, and that Long-Island is to be under the Government of his Royal Highness the Duke of York¾ as is expressed by plain Words in the said Patents respectively"--But this part of the Determination is not material to the Point in Hand--What follows is the Part we are concerned with--The Commissioners go on and say-- "We also order and declare, that the Creek or River called Mamaroneck, which is reputed to be about ** thirteen Miles to the East of West Chester and a Line drawn from the East Point or Side, where the fresh Water falls into the salt, at high Water Mark, North North-West to the Line of the Massachusets, be the Western Bounds of the said Colony of Connecticut; and all Plantations lying Westward of that Creek and Line so drawn, to be under his Royal Highness's Government, and all Plantations lying Eastward of that Creek and Line, to be under the Government of Connecticut. Given under out Hands, at James's Fort in New-York, on the Island of Manhattan, this 1st Day of December, 1664." Richard Nicolls George Carteret, S. Mavericke. This Determination of their Limits was assented to, and accepted in the most public and solemn Manner, in the Words following, without any Reservation or further Claim, viz "We the Governor and Commissioners of the General Assembly of Connecticut, do give our Consent to the Limits and Bounds above mentioned, as Witness our Hands," _ _ _ Gold, John Winthrop, John Winthrop, jun. _ _ _ Allyn, sen. _ _ _ Richards. The above is taken from Copies of the Records of New-York, inserted in the Council Books of Pennsylvania; and agrees exactly with the Copies inserted in Smith's History of New-York which he certainly took from the public Records there. The Author of the Susquehannah Case, however, expresses the Assent, on the Part of Connecticut, differently. But if this Alteration was made with a View of having the Determi- ________________________________________________________________________ *The Words--"to agree upon the Bounds of the "said Colony--are left out of the State of the Case drawn up by Connecticut, for the Opinion of Council. **In the Susquehanna Case, they call it twelve Miles. <153> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. nation considered as obligatory upon Connecticut only so far as New-York Bounds were in Question, he is unfortunate in the Mode of Expression; for even if the Assent of Connecticut had been in the Words he gives us, it is equally strong, and that not only with Respect to the absolute Limits of the Colony, but of the Patent itself--The Words are, as he gives them-- "We underwritten, on behalf of the Colony of Connecticut, have assented unto the Determination of his Majesty's Commissioners, in Relation to the Bounds and Limits of his Royal Highness the Duke's Patent, and the Patent to Connecticut." It is indeed a nice Distinction which some have lately thought of, that because New-York and Connecticut only were mentioned in this Settlement, the Boundary fixed could only be obligatory upon Connecticut, so far as New-York was concerned. There is not the least Ground for this Distinction. No other Colonies or Powers, but those two, could properly be mentioned; none else being immediately concerned. Two Patents were granted; one to Connecticut, the other to the Duke. The latter included all the Country from Delaware to Connecticut River, formerly the Dutch Claim by Preoccupancy. The latter, namely Connecticut Patent, had no certain Extent along the Coast; nor was it ever intended to include any Lands within the just Claim of the Dutch between Hudson's and Connecticut River; but the Connecticut and New-Haven Colonies had over-run a great Part of the Lands in that District. The Crown, by Conquest, being now solely vested with those Lands, had the only Right to parcel them out, and settle contested Limits. The Settlement so made was absolute and conclusive as to the Parties concerned. "A North-North-West Line from a certain well-known Point to the Line of the Massachusets, shall be the Western Bounds of the Colony of Connecticut."--No Reservation here, nor Reference to any other Colony. It is as absolute and explicit as the other Boundary, beyond which they could not go. "The Southern Bounds of Connecticut is the Sea"--They do not mean the Southern Bounds of Connecticut. In the same absolute and explicit Manner, the Governor and Commissioners give their Assent, viz--"We consent to the Bounds and Limits above-mentioned"--"We assent to the Determination of his Majesty's Commissioners in Relation to the Bounds of the Duke's Patent, and the Patent of Connecticut."--That is, they agree that the Line, fixed as above, shall be the absolute Boundary of both. Had Governor Winthrop and those in Commission with him, thought that, a hundred years afterwards, their Grand-Children would claim, by Virtue of their Charter, an immense <154> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. Country West of New-York, they would not have subscribed their Assent in either of the Forms above-mentioned, but would have said, "We consent to the above Lines or Limits, so far as concerns the Duke's Patent, saving to ourselves our Charter Rights to the Westward." Such a Notion would have been treated with Ridicule at that Time, and certainly never entered into their Imagination--On the contrary, Mr. Winthrop had much Reason to be pleased at the Issue of his Negociation with the King's Commissioners. His lame and defective Charter had received a new Form and Birth, as much as if it had again passed the Royal Seals. It had now got an Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern Boundary; explicit in Length and Direction. He had also got his Charter extended Westward much farther than he durst propose, or express, two Years before; so as now to include New-Haven, and the Country from Mamaroneck Eastward, which had been so long contested with the Dutch, and had been granted to the Duke as Part of the Dutch Country. In all this, he had the Advantage of the Crown-Commissioners, as well as in persuading them that a North-North-West Line from Mamaroneck would keep on the East Side of Hudson's River, whereas it would soon have crossed it, and taken away the greatest Part of the Duke's Territory so lately [Douglas and Smith.] conquered from the Dutch. This Line was accordingly soon afterwards altered, and thrown into a Parallel to Hudson's River at twenty Miles Distance, being about a North Direction, which was finally confirmed by the Crown, March 28th, 1700, as the Western Boundary of Connecticut. The Arguments, no Doubt, made use of by Mr. Winthrop, to obtain such an Extension of his Charter from the King's Commissioners, to the manifest Detriment of the Duke's Patent, must have been the Agreement made with the Dutch at Hartford, in 1650; and more especially his claiming the full Extent of * Lord Say and Seal's Grant, as intended to be included in the Royal Charter to Connecticut. For, upon no other Principles can we account for the Commissioners fixing on Mamaroneck, a Place exactly at one hundred and twenty Miles Distance, on a strait Line from Naraganset Bay, and then setting off North-North-West, or at right Angles to the Shore; all which, we have shewn, the true Construction of Lord Say and Seal's Grant requires. Another Circumstance which rendered the Settlement more easy, was the Silence of New-Haven Col- ________________________________________________________________________ *We find the same Arguments made use of before the Crown Commissioners the succeeding Years respecting their Eastern Limits. Appendix No. 10. <155> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. ony. This they expressly say in a letter, signed by their Secretary, James Bishop, addressed to the Council of Connecticut, and dated, New-Haven, December 14, 1664, only two Weeks after the Determination of Limits by the King's Commissioners. [Appendix, No. XXII.] We have been silent hitherto--"chusing rather to suffer, than begin any Motion hazardful to New-England Settlements"--We have kept this Silence according to Promise, notwithstanding your seeking to bring us under the Government of yourselves, wherein we have had no Hand to settle the same; and before we had cleared to our Conviction the certain Limits of your Charter; which may justly increase the Scruple of too much Haste in that and former Actings upon us--surely [then] "you have the more Reason to be full with us¾ seeing that your Success for Patent Bounds with those Gentlemen, (the King's Commissioners) seems to be Debtor unto our Silence before them--and you performing to Satisfaction, we may still rest quiet"--a plain Intimation, that if New-Haven chose it, they could still break the Charter-Bounds, as settled by the Commissioners. Indeed, whoever will peruse the Remonstrance or State of the Case, sent by New-Haven * to Connecticut or Hartford Colony, when the latter served the former with the Copy of their Charter about the Beginning of the Year 1664, and claimed New-Haven, &c. as included in it, will soon discover what was their original Construction of the Extent of that Charter. The Remonstrance begins in a very solemn and pathetic Strain: "Honoured and beloved in the Lord, We, the General Court of New-Haven Colony, being sensible of the many Wrongs which this Colony hath suffered lately, by your [Appendix No. XX.] unjust Pretences and Encroachments upon our just Rights, have unanimously consented, though with Grief of Heart, being compelled thereto, to declare unto you, and to all to whom the Knowledge thereof may come, what you" yourselves do or may know to be true. They then proceed to set forth their first Settlement and Purchase from the Indians at New Haven in 1637; the extending of their Settlements on both Sides along the Sea, their maintaining a voluntary or associated Government among themselves for twenty-six Years, without any Assistance from, or Dependance upon, Hartford or Connecticut old Colony--who never questioned their being a distinct Jurisdiction, and hav- ________________________________________________________________________ *This Discontent of New-Haven with the Connecticut Charter, and denying that they were in its Limits, is mentioned by Mather, Hutchinson, and other New-England Historians. <156> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO ing distinct Bounds, fixt by mutual Consent. They further say that, independent of Connecticut, they had contended with the Dutch, who claimed New Haven and all the Sea Coast, and had erected the Arms of the King of England, where the Dutch designed to erect those of the Prince of Orange; that as a distant Colony, they had, as early as in the Reign of Charles I, received a Letter from the committee for foreign Plantations, which they had yet to produce, signed among others, by Lord Warwick and by Lord Say and Seal, by which it was clear those Lords had no purpose, after New-Haven Colony by the Sea, was settled as a distinct Government, "that it should be put under the Patent of Connecticut, nor had you (continue they) any Patent till about two Years ago"--They tell them further, that in 1644, they of New Haven sent Home Mr. Grigson to solicit a Patent, under which Hartford Colony then signified that they would gladly be included, tho' Mr. Grigson was drowned in his Way to England, and the Matter could not be taken up again on Account of the Troubles there--But that Connecticut now acted a different Part, procuring a Patent without the Concurrence of New Haven; may, contrary to their Minds expressed before the patent was sent for; contrary to the Promises made on the Part of Connecticut and the Terms * of the Confederation; and without sufficient Warrant from the Patent itself, have invaded the Rights of New Haven, and seek to involve them under Connecticut Jurisdiction--That in 1661, when Mr. Winthrop went to England to procure his Patent, they had warned him by Letter not to have his Hand in so unrighteous an Act, as so far to extend the Line of that Patent, that the Colony of New Haven should be involved within it; for Answer thereunto, he was pleased to certify in two Letters that no such Thing was ** intended, but rather the Contrary, &c--Which, continue they, "made us easy," who else could have procured a Patent for ourselves, with our own known Bounds according to purchase [from the Indians] without doing any Wrong to Connecticut in their just Bounds and Limits. They add further, "and after the Patent was brought over and shewn to us, we declared that New Haven Colony was not at all mentioned in it, and gave some Reason why we believed ______________________________________________________________________ *By the Articles of Confederation between the four Colonies, already quoted, it was solemnly convenanted, that no two of them should be included in one Patent or Jurisdiction without the consent of the whole; another Proof that Mr. Winthrop could not mean to include New Haven in the Connecticut Patent. **Here, as was suggested before, is a full Reason why Mr. Winthrop gave his Patent no Line or Extent on the Coast. <157> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. that the King did not intend to put this Colony under Connecticut." They then tell Connecticut (and they are Words worthy of Notice by the present Connecticut Claimants) "that they took a preposterous Course, first to dismember New Haven, and after that, treating with them about Union--which is, as if one Man "proposing to treat with another, should first cut off from him an Arm, a leg, and an Ear, and then come to treat with him about Union"-- The Consequence of this Remonstrance was an Appeal from New Haven to his Majesty, to explain "his true Intendment and Meaning in the Connecticut Patent, whether it was to subject New Haven Colony under it, or not?"--Mr. Winthrop, who was yet in England, found Means to keep this Remonstrance from being presented, and wrote over, [Appendix No. XXI.] desiring Connecticut to forebear "imposing in any Kind upon New Haven, without their Consent," and giving fair Hopes that all would be settled to their Satisfaction--He confesses his Promises not to "meddle with any Town or Plantation that was settled under any other Government;" and tho' he left his Charter open, and in its present defective State, wrongly thinking, perhaps, that as it was in such loose Terms, it might be shoved West or South as Circumstances might be; yet he adds, what will be a lasting and full Proof that New Haven could not have been intended, by the Crown at least, to be included in it, no indeed by himself, if he acted an honest Part. His Words are, "Had it been otherwise intended" (viz. to meddle with Settlements under other Jurisdictions, expressly speaking of New Haven) "it would have been injurious, in taking out the Patent, not to have inserted a proportionable Number of their Names in it."-- [Appendix No. XXV.] That the Crown did not consider New Haven as included in the Patent, is evident, among other Things, from a Letter of Charles II, written in June, 1663, about a Year after the Patent past, signed by Sir Harry Bennet, Secretary of State, directed to New Haven as a distinct Colony, requiring them in Conjunction with Massachusets, Plymouth and Connecticut, "to be aiding and assisting to certain Purchasers of the Naraganset Country, in the Settlement thereof." Mr. Winthrop came over a little before the Crown Commissioners, and great Pains were taken to spread Surmises, that all who were not comprehended in any Charter, would fare ill, and be subjected to arbitrary Decisions, respecting their Lands and Property. It was represented too, that the old Connecticut Colony would be likewise brought into Danger, if any Dif- <158> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO ficulties were started about the Uncertainty of the Bounds in the new Charter; and therefore, for the Sake of the [Appendix No. XXII. XXIV.] public Good, and large Promises of being included on their own Terms, New Haven consented to the Silence above mentioned; altho' they had but just past a Vote to send an Agent to England to solicit a Charter for themselves. The consequence of this obliging and brotherly Silence has been mentioned. The Connecticut Charter had bounds fixed, including New Haven; and giving it an Extent Westward, which could otherwise never have been justly claimed under it. [Recapitulation.] Thus far I have endeavoured (and I trust, with the utmost Candor, and supported by the strongest Vouchers) to shew what Tract of Country the Connecticut Charter was intended to include; that the Petitioners were never intitled to more than a Part of Lord Say and Seal's Grant about Connecticut River; that they desired only to cover what lay within their own Bounds; that altho' Mr. Winthrop left the Charter open towards New Haven, with a View to have its Limits settled more or less Westward, as the King's Commissioners might think fit, and New Haven agree; yet it could never have been his Intention, or that of the Crown, to include New Haven without their Consent, much less to pass over all the Dutch Settlements and proceed to the South Sea, through immense Countries, then neither within the Knowledge nor Contemplation of the Crown; that there is nothing in the Charter to warrant such a Construction, nor any Breadth given nor Place of Beginning, except a single Line to be carried throughout, to the other Sea; that if such a Construction could be admitted, and Lord Say and Seal's Grant be taken in to supply the defective Limits of the Connecticut Charter, the granting Premises would be carried far North of Pennsylvania, mixing with the other New England Grants, and sharing in their Confusion; that if, rejecting Lord Say and Seal's Grant, after the Services it has done them, they should plead the Settlement made by the Crown, for remedying this Confusion and Defect of Limits, they must then adhere to such Settlement, as being absolute and final; that if they reject one Line of the said Settlement, they must reject the whole; and, in such Case New Haven Colony will be in no Charter at all--Connecticut must return to what would have been its original Limits, and can claim no Lands Westward of Connecticut River. The Connecticut Commissioners have admitted this in their Letter to Governor Penn, December 18, 1773, and Say that a Settlement of their Limits became necessary, on Account of <159> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. the * Dutch Possession of that Territory, which "was afterwards granted to the Duke of York--a Possession which occasioned its being excepted out of the original Grant to the Council of Plymouth, and, in Fact, prevented its being ever vested in the Crown, until the Conquest thereof by Col. Nichols in August 1664. As that Territory, therefore, was not in 1662, in the Crown to grant, no Part of it could pass by the Patent to Connecticut." Now the Country granted to the Duke of York extended, as has been shewn, to the West Side of Connecticut River, and therefore those Gentlemen admit that nothing to the Westward of that River passed by their Patent. If then the Crown, in order to save the Possessions of the Dutch, intended to pass nothing to Connecticut, West of that River, can it be imagined that any Thing was intended to be passed or granted, through immense Tracts of Country behind the Dutch Settlements, and cut off by them from any immediate or direct Communication with the Sea? Had this been intended, why did the Crown stop Connecticut Charter by a Northerly Line, from Mamaroneck to the Massachusets, after becoming vested with the whole Country, from the Sea throughout? Why did not Governor Winthrop remonstrate to the Crown-Commissioners, upon the Impropriety of splitting his Grant into two Parts, by erecting intermediate Governments within it? Why did he not represent that only a single Jurisdiction was given to the Governor and Company of Connecticut; and that the Grant would thus be defeated in the Main, by splitting it in such a manner, as that Government could not be administered in it, without separate Jurisdictions? Why did he not insist on his Grant being kept entire, and carried quite through what is now the Province of New-York? The Patent to the Duke could not stand in his Way; for none of the Dutch Possessions had passed by that Patent, any more than by the Patent to Connecticut, both being granted before the Conquest. And the ________________________________________________________________________ *In order to pave the way for this Argument, namely, that it was not the original Uncertainty of Limits in the Connecticut Charter, but the Pre-occupancy of the Dutch, that made the future Settlement of Limits by the Crown Commissioners necessary; the Author of the Susquehannah Case says that by the Charter from Charles II, "all the Lands were granted, &c. saving what might then be actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian Prince or State"--a Saving, which, that I might argue from his own Premises, I have allowed. But there is no such "Saving" in the Connecticut Charter; and the Author would have taken it ill, if to serve the other Side of the Question, it had been said, that such a Saving was intended when not expressed. <160> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO Preference was due to the latter, as being two Years older. If Mr. Winthrop had entertained any such Idea concerning the Extent of his Patent, can it be imagined that he would have put his Hand to such an absolute and explicit Settlement of Bounds, as that inserted above? It is utterly improbable, and I am wearied with pursuing a Notion, so chimerical and Void of all Foundation! But it will be asked in the last Place--if such be the true Construction of the Charter, what must be done with the Words--"and in Longitude, as the Line of the Massachusets Colony, running from East to West, that is to say, from the said Naraganset Bay on the East, to the South Sea on the West Part?" I answer, that with Respect to the Word Longitude, it must share the same Fate with the Word Latitude. If the latter has been rightly explained, the former may be easily understood. Longitude can only mean Length; and the Words, "on the West Part," favor this Exposition. And, even in a geographical Sense, I believe it cannot easily be said, whether both the Length, and also the geographical Difference of Longitude, commonly called Departure, may not be at least as great by preserving the Breadth, as by sacrificing it. With Respect to the Words'running "as the Line of the Massachusets, &c." the Colony of Connecticut may make the most of them. We leave the Lines of both Colonies, as they ought to be, in the same Predicament; and believe that neither of them were ever intended, nor will ever be suffered, to cross the Lines of New-York, or what was reserved by the Crown as the old Dutch Rights. The Lines of the Massachusets, which are explicit, and have two Places of Beginning upon the one Sea, have been long since stopped by the Crown, without running far on their Way to the other Sea. The Lines of Virginia, which extended also from Sea to Sea, have shared the same Fate, and have been abridged in every Direction. All the Remonstrances of that ancient Colony and respectable Dominion, were of no Avail to prevent Lord Baltimore's and other Crown Grants, from being taken out of the old Virginia Patent. At a Meeting of the Privy Council, July 3, 1633, we find under their Consideration--"the Petition of the Planters of Virginia, remonstrating that some Grants had lately been obtained of a great Proportion of Lands and Territories within the Limits of the Colony there--And a Day was ordered for further hearing of the Parties, who are said to be the Lord Baltimore, and the said Adventurers and Planters of Virginia." In the End, "Lord Baltimore was left to his Patent, which had been passed the Year before; and the said <161> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. Planters were left to the ordinary Course of Law"--which certainly would have given them a Remedy against the Patent, if his Majesty had not been vested with a Right to pass it. Col. Beverly says that "this Precedent of my Lord Baltimore's Grant, which entrenched upon the Charters and Bounds of Virginia, was Hint enough for other Courtiers (who never intended a Settlement, as my Lord did) to find out something of the same Kind to make Money of; and was the Occasion of several large Defalcations from Virginia, a few Years afterwards"-- It would be needless to mention the Defalcations, made also from the Massachusets ancient Claims, and many other Transactions of the Crown in America; which, as observed before, has always been considered as having the sole Right of regulating the American Grants, according to Equity and what was their original Intention; namely, the Settlement of the Country under separate Jurisdictions of practicable Extent; and not the Reservation of immense Tracts through distant Generations, to be parcelled to for the Convenience, and under the Wing, of any particular Colony. Connecticut has the least of all Claims, nay not even the Shadow of a Claim, for any Thing of this Kind. For if its Charter could carry any Thing to the South Sea, it would only be a Line "from Naraganset Bay on the East, to the South Sea on the West Part," and not any Breadth of Country. Nay, before that Charter was three Months old, it suffered an Amputation by the Authority of the Crown. The subsequent Rhode-Island Charter is extended twenty-five Miles into that of Connecticut, and Paukatuck River is ordered to be the Eastern Bounds of the latter, "any Grant or Clause therein to the Contrary notwithstanding"--And the Crown Commissioners [Appendix No. IX.] accordingly did * about three Years afterwards order a "Line to be drawn Northerly from the midst of the Road going over said Paukatuck River;" which Line was then fixed, and remains their Eastern Boundary to this Day. And, thus we see the Crown, thought it had Power to limit them on the East as well as West Side, and in both Cases so absolutely, that they acquiesced in those Bounds till now. And, here it is worthy of being repeated, that from both Ends of their front Line the Crown set them off Northerly, or at about right Angles to the Shore, as required by _______________________________________________________________________ *It is true that Mr. Winthrop, after his Charter was passed, is said to have agreed to this Amputation; but if his Refusal could have prevented it, there is no Probability that he would have parted with a Breadth of twenty-five Miles throughout, after having got it at first included in his Grant. 11-VOL. XVIII. <162> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO Lord Say and Seal's Grant; by which they then claimed to have their own Charter regulated and explained. By what Rule, then, they can now claim a Western Course from the Shore, remains to be accounted for by themselves. Douglas had the very same Idea (which is here expressed) of the Course or Direction of the Connecticut Lines, viz--that they were to run Northerly from the Shore; and that their South-Sea Line was only meant as an Extent to the Massachusets Line. Speaking of Lord Say and Seal's Grant, he says--"it run, as the Sea Coast, forty Leagues towards Virginia, and East and West from Sea to Sea, or to the Massachusets South Line." Hutchinson acknowledges that, by the Extension of the Massachusets Line to the South-Sea--or until it meets the Settlements of some Christian Prince, it has been urged that an actual passing from Sea to Sea was not imagined; but "that it was so expressed from a particular Regard to the Dutch Settlement, and that a Line to extend (even) to the Spanish Settlements, was too extravagant to have been intended." He adds what gives great Weight to this Construction--"The Geography of this Part of America was less understood than at present. A line to the Spanish Settlements was imagined to be much shorter than it really was. Some of Champlain's People, in the Beginning of the last Century, who had been but a few Days March from Quebec, returned with great Joy, supposing that, from the Top of a high Mountain, they had discovered the South Sea." We all know what were the original Motives of our Ancestors, in the first Adventures to America. The Mines of Peru and Mexico had raised the Attention of Europe. All the Lands towards the South Sea, were considered as rich Repositories of the precious Dust; and other Nations were desirous of sharing with the Spaniards in the Golden Harvest. The Extent of this Northern Continent was not known. It was considered as a Sort of Isthmus, not much wider perhaps than that of Darien; and the Voyages of the Circum-navigators had been in such a Tract as not to discover the Mistake. In the Year 1608, the great Council of Virginia considered their Country as a Sort of Isthmus of this Kind. They fitted up, in England, "a Barge for Capt. Newport, for Convenience of Carriage, to be taken into five Pieces; with which he and his Company were instructed to go up James's River as far as the Falls thereof, to discover the Country of the [SMITH.] Manakins; and from whence they were to proceed, carrying their Barge beyond the Falls, to convey them to the South-Sea; being ordered not to return without <163> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. a Lump of Gold, a Certainty of the said Sea, or one of the lost Company sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh." The South-Sea was therefore put into the great original Patents of North and South Virginia, being considered as not very remote from the other Sea, and with a View of keeping up our Claim to the golden Country. And, out of these great Patents, the Word South-Sea was copied into the derivative Grants; but certainly not with an Intention of vesting any of the Grantees with a Country, afterwards found to be at least three thousand Miles across. As to the Colony of Connecticut, to which I now return, I have made it clear that they never had any Idea of such an Extent to their Charter, at the Time of obtaining it; and I shall now proceed to shew what has been their constant Sense of its Limits and Extent, from that Time downward through a whole Century. And first I would repeat, what hath been already observed, that it is a mere modern Notion, that the Settlement of the Connecticut Western Limits by the Crown Commissioners in 1664, was made necessary, not through any Defect of Limits in the Charter itself, but on Account of the Duke of York's Patent, to which only that Settlement had a Reference. It appears by the King's Letter, sent to Connecticut itself with the Royal Commission, that Mr. Winthrop, when he obtained the Connecticut Charter in 1662, was made acquainted with the Intention of sending Commissioners to New-England, to settle their long-contested Limits; and those of Connecticut must have been included among the rest; for that Colony had been particularly involved in Disputes about Bounds with its Neighbours of Rhode-Island, Massachusets, New-Haven, &c. The Duke's Patent could not then have been in View, as it had not an Existence till two Years afterwards. The King's Letter begins thus-- "Charles Rex, Trusty and well beloved--We greet you well, having, according to the Resolution We declared to Mr. Winthrop at the Time when We renewed your Charter, now sent those Persons of known Abilities and Affection to Us, viz. Col. Richard Nichols, &c." This Letter is not entered at large in the Connecticut Records; probably because it differed in nothing, but this Introduction, from the circular Letters of the same Date sent to the other New-England Colonies; and which expressly mention the Settlement of Bounds, &c as the Design of the Commission. But to proceed--When Bounds were thus fixed, and New- <164> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO Haven claimed the Merit of having suffered the Connecticut Patent to be extended so far Westward, we find the Connecticut People now venturing to speak out, and declaring what had always been their Expectation with Respect to the Extent of their Western Bounds--Their Words are worthy of being remarked--They give New-Haven to understand "that the good Issue obtained--their Success for Patent Bounds with the King's Commissioners, was not Debtor to the Silence of New-Haven;" but that the [Appendix, No. XXIII.] Bounds were only what they had hoped for--"Seeing those Plantations you inhabit (meaning New-Haven) are much about the Center of our Patent, which our Charter limits." Here we see them exulting in the good Issue and Success of getting their Patent carried so far Westward, without any Idea of ever going further; nay, calling New-Haven the Center of their Patent; or, as they afterwards express it, the Heart of their Colony. This was written about three Weeks after the Settlement of their Bounds by the King's Commissioners, and contains the earliest and fullest Acknowledgement that the Extent of their Patent Westward, "was limited" by that Settlement; for how else could New Haven be about the Center of their Patent? Were they to run their Patent to the South Sea, would the New Haven Plantations be its Center? On the Contrary, New Haven would lie in the angular Point of the same, and more than fifteen hundred Miles from its Center, if they run to the South Sea in any Direction but North North West; and then indeed it would be about the Center of their Sea Front, but as far as before from the Center of their Patent. Thus far as to the Sense which the old Hartford Colony had of the Extent of their Patent. New-Haven Colony, at the same Time, declared their Sense of their Western Bounds, "It was concluded," say they, "at Hartford, in 1650, by the Commissioners of the four [Appendix No. XX.] United Colonies, that Greenwich and twenty-four Miles beyond it, should belong to New-Haven Jurisdiction; and thus were our Bounds Westward settled by Consent of all." Hartford and New-Haven Colonies, being henceforward united under the general Name of Connecticut Colony, we find them, about the year 1680, and before the Grant to William Penn, answering Questions, put to them by the Board of Trade, concerning their Bounds, &c thus Quest. What are your Bounds? Ans. "The reputed and known Boundaries are--Massachusets on the North, [Appendix No. XI.] Rhode-Island Colony on the East, Long-Island Sound on the South, and New-York Province on the West." <165> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. Quest. What are your Rivers? Ans. "Between the Naraganset River, our Eastern Bounds, and Mamaroneck Rivulet our Western Bounds, are these Rivers following--the River Connecticut, the Pequot River, and the River at Stratford.--" Here we see them, in an Answer to his Majesty's Ministers, expressly limiting their Charter Bounds North, South, East, and West, making no Claim or Reservation over. They mention their Eastern and Western Bounds twice over, and both Times absolutely. New-York Province and Mamaroneck Rivulet are as much their Western, as Naraganset River is their Eastern Bounds. In their Answer to the first Question, it may be said, because New-York Province is mentioned, they meant their Western Bounds only in respect to that Province. But what reasonable Man would put that Construction upon Words delivered in such absolute and explicit Terms?--"New-York Province is our Bounds on the West." And when they mention their Western Bounds over again, in their Answer to the second Question, without any Relation to New-York, they give Rivers as their Bounds, viz "Naraganset River is our Eastern Bounds, Mamaroneck Rivulet our Western Bounds." Further, when they enumerate the Rivers within their Colony, they mention as all their Rivers, only those falling into the Sea and Sound between Naraganset and Mamaroneck. They surely knew, in 1680, Delaware, Susquehannah, the Allegeny, and many of their great Branches, had they then thought that their Western Bounds were not absolutely fixed by the Limits which they had already mentioned. Upon this and other sufficient Knowledge, that Connecticut neither had, nor [March 4th, 1681. Charter of Pennsylvania.] claimed, any Right beyond the Limits fixed by the Crown-Commissioners, the Royal Charter of Pennsylvania past, bounded Northward unto the three-and-fortieth Degree of Northern Latitude and extending Westward five Degrees in Longitude, to be computed every Way from Delaware the Eastern Bounds. It was well-known to the Crown, that this Grant could never come near the fixed and acknowleged Limits of Connecticut, but that Part of two Provinces lay between them. This Grant was made to William Penn, agreeable to his Petition, on Satisfaction for large Debts due to his Father, and as the Patent further expresses, "in Regard to his Memory and Merits in divers Services." The Intention of the Grant hath been answered, and the Country settled and improved with a Rapidity never equalled in any other Country in America, or perhaps in the World, during the same Space of Time. Connecticut saw the Grant passed, the Country settled under it, some Parts of it <166> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO (towards the Minisinks) near forty Years ago, farther Northward than where they have now made their Intrusions; and yet neither at passing the Grant, nor for near a hundred Years after obtaining their own Charter, did they make any Claim of Lands within the Limits of Pennsylvania. And now, when they have made this Claim, I would ask them, Whether they remember their own Arguments, in a similar Case, that concerned themselves; and whether, by deserting those Arguments, they will not bring their own Charter into imminent Danger? [Appendix No. X. Duke Hamilton's for Part of Connecticut.] All those Lands between Naraganset Bay and Connecticut River, sixty Miles back into the Country, which the King granted to Connecticut in 1662, had been, twenty-seven Years before, granted by clear and express Limits to the Duke of Hamilton. In 1665, they came to defend themselves against the Duke's Right before the Commissioners of the Crown; and one of their chief Arguments, was the Duke's Silence, as to his Right, for only thirty Years. "We have had peaceable Possession," say they, "these thirty Years, free from the least Claim of any other, that we have heard of, to this Day; which persuades us, that if the Duke's Highness had ever Right by Virtue of his Grant, yet that Right is extinct in Law many Years." Sir Francis Pemberton, afterwards one of the Justices of the King's Bench, gave an Opinion in Favor of "their long uninterrupted possession, &c." and they hold the Lands to this Day. But will they put a thirty Years Silence in Competition with that of a whole Century? Nay, more than a Century, so far as to any public Act of their Colony, claiming in Virtue of their own Charter. In 1754, when they first sat down on some of the Susquehanna Lands about Wioming in this Province, their Proceedings were disclaimed by their own Colony. Their Governor Wolcot writes thus in answer to Governor Hamilton on that Subject-- WINDSOR, March 13, 1754. --"There being now no unimpropriated Lands with us, some of our Inhabitants hearing of this Land at Susquehannah, and that it was North of the Grant made to Mr. Penn, and that to Virginia, are upon a Design of making a Purchase from the Indians, and hope to obtain a Grant of it from the Crown. But Mr. Armstrong informs me, that this Land is certainly within Mr. Penn's Grant--if so, I don't suppose our People had any Purpose to quarrel with Pennsylvania. Indeed, I don't know the Mind of every private Man; but I <167> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. never heard our leading Men express themselves so inclined." The rest of this Letter relates to other Matters, excepting only that it recommends the Connecticut People, as Persons who being used to War would be of good Service on the Frontiers, if they could get Lands under Pennsylvania or Virginia. Lieutenant Governor Fitch, in a Letter, dated Hartford, March 13, 1754, also writes thus-- --"I do well approve of the Notice you take of the Attempt some of the People of this Colony are making, and the Concern you manifest for the general Peace, &c. I know nothing of any Thing done by the Government to countenance such a Procedure as you intimate, and, I conclude, is going on among some of our People--I shall in all proper Ways, use my Interest to prevent everything that may tend to prejudice the general Good of these Governments, and am inclined to believe this wild Scheme of our People will come to nothing, though I can't certainly say. In a second Letter, dated Norwalk, Dec. 29th, 1754, Mr. Fitch, now Governor in Chief, writes thus to Governor Morris-- "I should be glad it was in my Power to do more Service than I am at present able to afford, to prevent the ill Consequences you have so well pointed out, as proceeding from the * Purchase of those Lands on Susquehannah, in the Manner in which some People of this Colony have presumed to act--When Governor Wolcot made public Governor Hamil- _______________________________________________________________________ *The Purchase referred to, (in the above Letter from Governor FITCH) which some people of Connecticut had presumed to make from the Indians, without any Application to, or Authority from, the Government of that colony, is said to have been "about seventy Miles North and South, and from about ten Miles East of Susquehannah, extending Westward two Degrees of Longitude," being the 42d Degree of North Latitude, and therefore wholly within the limits of Pennsylvania. That this Purchase was void in itself, and fraudulently obtained from such Indians as agreed to it, there is ample Proof to be exhibited on the Part of Pennsylvania, if such Proof should ever be thought Material in the present Dispute. The Indians in full Council, at solemn Treaties since held, have borne their Testimony with the highest Indignation against this fraudulent Purchase, made by some People of Connecticut; considering the pretended Sale in its just Light, namely, the Act of a few Indians, who without any Authority for the same, were persuaded when under the Influence of Liquor, to put their Hands to a sort of Deed. The person who managed this Intrigue is said to have abjured the Protestant Religion, and was then strongly suspected to be in the French Interest. The great Council of the Indians well knew, that by repeated Treaties, they had it put out of their Power to sell any Lands within the Royal Grant of Pennsylvania, to any Persons but the Proprietors of that Province. <168> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO ton's Letter about this Affair, I imagined it would have discouraged the further proceeding in this Matter--I know of no better Way with us at present than to represent the State of the Case in some public Way, by which all Persons concerned, may see the Consequences of such a Procedure." Thus we see that for almost a whole Century, Connecticut, as a Colony, has never thought of any other Western Limits than the Lines fixt by the Crown, from about Mamaroneck to the Massachusets Line; and that as late as the year 1754, it appears by Letters, under the Hand of two of their own Governors, that no public Design had ever been formed of interfering with the Limits of Pennsylvania. [Mr. Hazard's first Project for a new Colony.] When Mr. Hazard first set this Scheme on Foot, his Settlement was to begin "one hundred Miles Westward of the Western Boundaries of Pennsylvania; and thence to extend one hundred Miles Westward of the River Missisippi;" and also to be a new Colony, as appears by, his Petition to the General Assembly of Connecticut, and his printed Articles, dated May 2, 1755. The General Assembly of Connecticut did not pretend that they had any Right of themselves, to grant or settle those Lands, or erect any Government in them; "but humbly recommended the said Samuel Hazard and those who may undertake with him--to his sacred Majesty's gracious Notice and Favour--if it may be consistent with his Royal Wisdom and Pleasure, to order and direct the Settlement of such a Colony--and grant unto the said Petitioner, &c. such Lands, Rights, &c." If, therefore, they had no Right of themselves, without a new and Royal Grant, to settle Lands or erect a Government within the pretended Limits of their Charter, in Lands Westward of Pennsylvania, which remained in the Crown; how can they pretend any Right to Lands in Pennsylvania granted by the Crown near one hundred Years ago, and no Objection then made by them? Indeed it appears by an Act of their Assembly passed the same Year, viz. 1755, in favor of what was called the Susquehannah [Appendix No. XXV.] Company, and where Lands in Pennsylvania were the express Object of the Settlement; that they did not even then pretend a Right of themselves to grant those Lands, or erect any Government or Jurisdiction, but in the same Way, and almost in the same Words, recommended the Petitioners to his Majesty--"that if it should be his Royal Pleasure to grant said Lands, and thereon erect and settle a new Colony, in [Appendix No. XXVII.] such Form and under such Regulations as might be consistent with his Royal Wisdom, they take Leave humbly to recommend the Petitioners to is Royal Favor in the Premises." <169> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. The Consequence was what might be expected. The application was rejected as chimerical, the Crown being divested of the Lands long before; and they were soon afterwards ordered to withdraw their Settlement, which they did; but not without being put into the utmost Terror by the Indians, who had never given them any Right to settle the said Lands. The last Evidence I shall mention of what the Colony of Connecticut has ever held forth to the Public as their own Bounds, is a Map published, Nov. 24, 1766, under their own Direction, and, it is said, at their Expence; dedicated--"To the Right Honorable the Earl of Shelburne, his Majesty's principal Secretary of State, &c." This Map or Plan is divided into Counties, Townships, &c. and underneath is written as follows; "EXPLANATION." "The Colony of Connecticut is bounded West on the Province of New-York; North on the Province of the Massachusets Bay; and East on the Colony of Rhode-Island." But what has happened in this Case, is not without Precedent. Men of sanguine Tempers, who often start a Notion merely as a Point of Speculation, will think and talk so much about it, as, at length, to persuade themselves into a firm Belief of the Reality of what is, all the while, merely the Creature of their own Brain. Strange as it may seem, I am almost tempted to believe, that some of the Connecticut Leaders in the Susquehanna Scheme, have at last brought themselves to think, that, besides breaking through the Charter of Pennsylvania, they can extend their own lame and weak Charter, not only over the Western Crown Lands and Crown Conquests, but also over whatever the Crown may in future conquer or acquire from the Natives, or any European Powers, quite across to California and the South-Sea. With great Pains, golden Promises, and the help of some Law-Opinions procured, as I shall shew, on a partial and wrong State of the Case, (and after all nothing to their Purpose) many Persons of little Property have been drawn to their Side, and even a Majority at last got in their Assembly, who have ventured upon Resolves, and a legislative Act, of a little bolder Nature than those of 1755. Not content, as heretofore, with advising an Application to his Majesty for Lands one hundred Miles West of Pennsylvania, or for re-granting to them Part of Pennsylvania itself, they seem now resolved to do all in their own Right, by open Force, and under Color of their Charter, not only making Settlements, but exercising Jurisdiction, far beyond what has been <170> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO so long their fixed and acknowledged Bounds. This, as far as I can understand them, seems to be the Purport of the late Resolves and Acts of their Assembly. And if I am right in this Construction, which their Conduct will soon shew, I think it will speedily bring their Charter to the Test; which is, indeed, the only Fragment of all the old impracticable New-England Charters now left; and it is high Time (for the Peace of America) that we should know where, or in what, its Strength lies? Or, whether immense Tracts of Country are to be left open, through many Generations, for Claims or Settlements to be made by the unborn Progeny of Connecticut? It is to be hoped, that the Decision of this may not be left for future Times; else it may be probably written in Blood! The Resolves referred to, are as follows, viz. "At a General Assembly of the Governor and Company of the Colony of Connecticut, in New-England, in America, holden at New-Haven in said Colony, on the second Thursday of October, 1773." "Resolved, That this Assembly at this Time will assert their Claim, and in some proper Way support such Claim, to those Lands contained within the Limits and Bounds of the Charter of this Colony, Westward * of the Province of New-York." A true Copy of a Record; examined by George Wyllys, Secr. "Resolved by this Assembly, that the Committee who shall proceed to Philadelphia, to treat with the Honourable John Penn, Esq; Governor of Pennsylvania, relative to the Western Lands belonging to this Colony, within the Claim of the Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, do also treat with the said Governor, with Respect to the Peace of the Inhabitants settled upon said Lands, and to agree upon such Measures as shall tend to preserve good Order, and prevent mutual Violence and Contention, while the Boundaries between this Colony and the said Province shall remain undetermined." Dated and attested as above. The Act of Assembly is of the same Date and appoints "the Honourable Matthew Griswold, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, William Samuel Johnson, Samuel H. Parsons, Silas Dean, William Williams, and Jedidiah Strong, Esqrs. to be a Committee to assist his Honour Governor Trumbull in stating and taking proper Steps to pursue the Claim of this Colony ______________________________________________________________________ *This is the first public Instance in which Connecticut ever mentioned any Western Bounds, but the Province of New-York itself. <171> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. to the Westward Lands; and any three of them to proceed to Philadelphia," for the Purposes mentioned in the foregoing Resolve--that is, "to treat with Governor Penn, and the Agents of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, respecting an amicable Agreement, concerning the Boundaries of this Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania; and in Case they shall agree, to ascertain the Boundaries between this Colony and the Claim of said Proprietaries, to lay such Agreement before this Assembly for Confirmation; but if said Proprietaries shall prefer joining in an Application to his Majesty for Commissioners to settle said Line, then said Committee are authorized and directed to join in Behalf of this Colony in such Application." The Colony of Connecticut seem to have ended where they should have begun, and to have acted much the same preposterous Part, which New-Haven accused their Fathers with acting, from the first Moment they became vested with a Charter; viz. first to "lop off an Arm, a Leg, &c, from their Neighbour, and then propose treating with him about Peace"--They first endeavoured to get those Susquehannah Lands lopped off from Pennsylvania, by an Application to the Crown, and failed in the Attempt--They then sit down upon them by Force, even Southward of where their Lines would probably ever reach, were they to be suffered to extend them Westward, agreeable to what they have hinted, would abundantly satisfy them and lastly they now offer to treat, and keep Possession. The Gentlemen who came to Philadelphia, in pursuance of the Appointment of the Assembly, were Col. Dyer, Dr. Johnson, and Mr. Strong. Their Negotiation was chiefly managed in Writing, and with much mutual Complaisance; but the Issue of it was what might have been expected-- Governor Penn told them that he knew of no Lines that could be the Object of a Negotiation between him and them; that their "Western Bounds had been fixed about two Years after the Date of their Charter, under the Authority of a Royal Commission, and solemnly assented to, ratified and confirmed by the Governor and Commissioners of their own Colony; that, after this Settlement, the Grant of Pennsylvania was made to William Penn, and that it was not understood at that Time by the Crown, nor by the Grantee William Penn, nor by any other Persons since, so far as he had heard, that the said Grant any Way intrenched upon, or approached near, any of the New-England Grants, till the late Claim was set up on the Part of Connecticut; and that he could not enter into any Negotiations about Lines, without giving their Charter a Construction and Extent, different from what has <172> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO been determined to be the Sense of other Charters of the like Kind, nor without allowing its Limits to extend far beyond those heretofore fixed by the Royal Authority; that he could not join with them in an Application to the Crown, for an Appointment of Commissioners to settle Lines or Boundaries, because that would be admitting what he totally denied, namely, that the Lines of Pennsylvania and Connecticut intrenched upon, or interfered with, each other; that his Majesty in Council, was the only proper and constitutional Tribunal, for a Decision of this Kind; that he was earnestly desirous of bringing the Matter speedily to this Issue, upon such Petition as they might prefer to his Majesty; and that if there should be any Delay on their Part to exhibit such Petition, the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania will immediately make their Application to his Majesty, to take the Matter under his Royal Consideration; and that, in the mean Time, the only proper Method to preserve Peace, will be for their Colony to use all possible Means for withdrawing their People from those Settlements, which they have made in a lawless and violent Manner, within the known Bounds of Pennsylvania." As to the Charge in the last Part, namely, the lawless Manner in which the Connecticut People had settled upon Lands within this Province, the Commissioners replied, that the Violences which had commenced, were perhaps on neither Side justifiable in the Degree, but on both Sides founded on a real Idea of Right--and that Connecticut had been advised that they could not try their Right, but upon the Ground of an actual Possession, which should put the Proprietaries to such an Action at Law for the Recovery of the Possession, as might bring the Title in Question." In their Letter of Dec. 24th, they offered sundry Arguments in Support of their Claim; to which Governor Penn did not think any reply necessary, as it could not tend to the Settlement of a Matter that must come before another Tribunal, if the Colony of Connecticut shall persist to support those Intrusions. Most of the Arguments made use of by the Connecticut Commissioners, are I think fully answered in this Work; which would be swelled to too great a Length, if I were to insert their Papers entire; and I would not attempt any Abstract or Abridgement of them, lest I may be thought no to do them Justice. I should have been glad to have seen the excellent Temper and Abilities of their Penman engaged in another Cause; but he probably undertook this as the Cause of his Country, and in Deference to its public Determinations. But altho' such at last have been those Determinations, it <173> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. is certain that a very large and respectable Part of the Colony view them in the Light wherein they are considered by one of their own * Writers; namely, as leading their Government into a Controversy "that will bring them under a heavy Load of Expence, which they are not able to bear, without the most distant Prospect of Success; and which, if obtained, would be of no real Advantage, as it would drain the Colony of its Inhabitants, lessen the present Value of their Lands, and involve them in inextricable Difficulties, with Regard to the Exercise of their present Form of Government, which could not be exercised in so extensive a Territory. He reminds them further that this Dispute will not be between Connecticut and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania; but between Connecticut and the Crown." In what Sense the Crown has ever considered those impracticable South Sea Limits, may partly appear from the preceding Pages. There is not one of all those old Grants that can now claim its Parchment Boundaries. The Crown has molded them into reasonable Shapes and Dimensions, as their original Design and the public Good required. The great Plymouth Grant had hardly subsisted a Year, before it began to be curtailed by the Grants to Sir William Alexander and Sir David Kirk. For, as Harris tells us, "it was suggested to King James, that as the Tract of Country (within the Plymouth Grant) belonging to his Crown, was not likely to be planted in any reasonable Space of Time by the English, or Western Company, it would be a prudent Measure to grant, under the great Seal of Scotland, a Part of it to his Subjects of that Country." But further, what will become of the Connecticut Claim, if it can be shewn that even all the Province of Pennsylvania was granted by the Crown, 40 Years before Connecticut had any royal Grant? and yet this is certanly true. About the year 1623 Sir Edmond Ployden obtained such a Grant, by the Name of New Albion, from the 39th Degree of Delaware Bay, for 200 Miles towards New England. --Sir Edmond made divers Efforts to dispossess the Dutch, &c. and plant Delaware Bay, and the Bounds of his Claim are very particularly described in a Pamphlet published in 1648; viz. "Beginning at Aquats, or the Souther-most or first Cape of Delaware Bay, running three hundred Miles due West, and thence Northward to the Head of Hudson's River fifty Leagues, and so down Hudson's River to the Ocean, and thence to the Ocean a cross Delaware Bay, with all Hudson's [Smith's History of New-Jersey.] River, Long-Island, or Pamunke." ______________________________________________________________________ *Connecticut Journal, Dec. 3, 1773. <174> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO This Grant, which was intended to include all the Dutch Claims, was the Foundation of the Duke of York's Grant. And it is a Mistake to think that the Duke's Right in the Dutch Country West of Delaware, was considered as limited to the District which he sold to William Penn. It was even thought prudent to obtain from his royal Highness, a Release of the Province of Pennsylvania itself. But that Connecticut, or any of the New England Colonies, could extend their Lines into those Western Parts, was never imagined. On the Contrary, at the Time of passing the Pennsylvania Patent, it is well known that, upon the ablest Law Advice given to his Majesty, "the Tract of Land desired by Mr. Penn was considered as undisposed of, and the New England South Sea Lines were declared to be imaginary and impracticable." In the Year 1690, Dr. Cox proposed a Plan, and had a Charter drawn, for a new Colony to "be from 46º. 30' North Lat. to 36º. 30'. and to extend all along the Back of Massachusets, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and from thence Westward to the South Sea." Sir George Treby, Attorney General, the same who advised Connecticut to resume their Charter, after its Surrendry, advises the King "that having perused Dr. Cox's Draught of a Charter, he conceived their Majesties might erect such a Corporation as was proposed, and enable them to purchase Lands and exercise Government in that Country." This would have cut the Connecticut South-Sea Lines very short, and shews what Sense this eminent Lawyer had if the Extent of the Charter of that Colony at the Time he advised them to resume it. An eminent Lawyer of a neighbouring Province gave his Opinion in the following words to a Gentlemen of Connecticut, who consulted him upon the first Rise of the Susquehannah Scheme-- "For Connecticut to Claim any Part of what is West of the Line confirmed by King William in 1700, may be of fatal Consequence to its Charter, which it has long enjoyed without any Enquiry into its Validity; but if they disturb New York, New Jersey, or Pennsylvania, it of Course will set them to enquiring into its Validity, and to bring it to the Test by scire facias, or quo warranto; and if in the issue of these it cannot stand the Test, then it may be adjudged void,--and they by their Claims will have acted the Part of the Dog in the Fable by catching at the Shadow, let go the Substance." "When your general Court shall seriously consider this, I believe they will think they have great Reason to thank who- <175> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. ever advised them to beware of the Precipice, which they must unavoidably have fallen into, by granting the Prayer of that Petition with 400 Hands to it." "I am clearly of your Opinion, that the first Settlement of the Bounds of Connecticut in 1604, stopped all further Claim westward, by Virtue of their Charter.--You was perfectly right in refusing the generous Offers made to you to come in with those Purchasers; for I believe those Proceedings will be found not only riotous and disorderly, but a high Contempt of the royal Authority."-- The original Letters, from whence these Extracts are taken, will be found in the Hands of Mr. James Brown of Norwalk, if yet alive. The same Gentleman who gave this Advice to Mr. Brown, writing to Governor Morris of Pennsylvania, speaks thus of the Connecticut Claimants--"Vigorous Measures will be wanting to nip this Affair in the Bud--Connecticut will amuse and give good Words, till a great number be settled and then bid Defiance." If this worthy Gentleman's long Experience had not justified what he has here said, I should have considered him almost as a Prophet. But Connecticut, it seems, has since obtained some other Law Opinions, in Answer to certain Questions stated for that Purpose. These must also be noticed. "Question 1. Do the Words actually possessed and occupied, extend to Lands on the West Side of the Dutch Settlements, which were at the Time of the Grant to James I. in a perfect Wilderness State, but divided from the English Settlements by the actual Possession of the Dutch? And did the Grant to the Council of Plymouth mean to except in Favor of Foreigners, not only what they had actually planted, but all to the Westward of such Plantation?" Answer. We are of Opinion, that the Words actually possessed and enjoyed do not extend to Lands on the West Side of the Dutch Settlements, which were at the Time of the Grant of James 1st, in a Wilderness State, though divided from the English Settlements by the actual Possession of the Dutch; and that the Grant to the Council of Plymouth did not mean to except in Favor of any one, any Thing to the Westward of such Plantations. Observ. However learned Council may be, they can only answer upon the State of the Case before them. It ought not to have been made a Question, Whether by the Plimouth Grant, the Crown intended to except the Western Part of this Continent, beyond the Dutch Settlement, in Favor of Foreigners? for that was never pretended by any one. <176> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO There is a Difference between excepting and granting; and the Question should have been, Whether any Part of the Western Lands beyond the Dutch Settlements were ever granted, or could possibly pass, by the Connecticut Charter? This would probably have brought a very different Answer from the learned Council. Question 2. "Have not the Governor and Company of Connecticut the Right of Pre-emption and Title under the Crown to the Lands aforesaid, within the Limits and Bounds of their Patent aforesaid, lying Westward of the Province of New York, and not included in the Charter of King Charles II, to the Duke of York, notwithstanding the several Settlements of Boundaries between the Colony on the * East and the Province on the West, made as well by Agreement between the Parties as under the Royal Authority, and notwithstanding the subsequent Charter to Sir William Penn. Answer. The Agreement between the Colony of Connecticut and the Province of New-York, can extend no further than to settle the Boundaries between the respective Parties, and has no Effect upon other Claims that either of them had in other Parts; and as the Charter to Connecticut was granted eighteen Years before that to Sir William Penn, there is no Ground to contend, that the Crown could at that Period make an effectual Grant to him of that Country, which had been so recently granted to others. But if the Country had been actually settled under the latter Grant, it would now be a Matter of considerable Doubt, whether the Right of the Occupiers, or the Title under which they hold, could be impeached by a prior Grant, without actual Settlement." Observ. This Question, like the former is what the Logicians call Petitio Principii, and would have been needless if the first Question had been fairly stated. But the main Point in Dispute is here still taken for granted, viz.--That the Lands Westward of what was the Dutch Settlement and Claim, did pass by the Patent to Connecticut. Two different Points are also blended and confounded together, namely the primary Settlement of the Connecticut Bounds under the Royal Authority, ________________________________________________________________________ *These Words are so printed, and if they stand thus in the Original State of the Case, laid before the Council, it shews, how inaccurately that State was drawn up because it throws New-York East of Connecticut; or rather Connecticut West of New-York; and indeed they seem fond of going West. <177> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. and a subsequent * Agreement, if it may be so called, in 1683, whereby Connecticut did not acquire, but were obliged to yield Territory. Connecticut cannot call the first Settlement of their Bounds, in 1664, an Agreement, when they appeared, not to make a bargain, but only as humble Suitors before the Representatives of the Crown, empowered to settle the defecting Limits of their Charter, and fix its absolute Western Extent. This is evident from their own Language after the Settlement, which they call a good Issue, and Success in obtaining Patent Bounds. It required no Law-Opinion to determine, whether an Agreement with one Party (if there had been such Agreement) would barr their further Rights with respect to another. But it was worthy of being made a Question, Whether they now have or ever had, any further Rights? "Indeed if ever they had such Right, the learned Council make it a considerable Doubt whether that Right would not now be extinct by an actual Settlement under a latter Grant. And that such Settlement has been actually made near forty Years ago, under Mr. Penn's Grant, within what is now the Connecticut Claim, is undeniable, as has been already observed. "Question 3. What Course of Proceedings will it be legal and expedient for the Governor and Company of Connecticut to pursue, on the whole State and Circumstances in this Case, in order to terminate all Disputes and Differences relative to said Land? Answer. In Case the Governor and Company shall in Point of Prudence think it expedient to make their Claim and support it, it will be proper, either amicably, and in concurrence with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, or in Case of the Refusal of those Proprietaries, without them, to apply to the King in Council, praying his Majesty to appoint Commissioners in America, to decide the Question, with the usual Power of Appeal. E. THURLOW, AL. WEDDERBURN, RD. JACKSON, J. DUNNING." Observ. This Question is not material, as it relates only to the mode of prosecuting their Claim, still supposing it justly ________________________________________________________________________ *It having been found, as before observed, that the Line, which the Crown Commissioners had been persuaded to fix for Connecticut, would cross Hudson's River; New-York afterwards obliged Connecticut to begin at Byram Brook, about seven Miles Eastward of Mamaroneck, and run such Course as would keep twenty Miles distant from Hudson's River; which made their Place of Beginning to about the same Place where it had been fixed in 1650 with the Dutch. 12-VOL. XVIII. <178> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO founded. But the Answer, has words in it of very material Import--viz. if in Point of Prudence, the "Governor and Company of Connecticut should think it expedient to make their Claim, and support it." Whatever Opinion those learned Gentlemen may have given, on the State of the Case before them, with Respect to the Point of Law, their Idea, as to the Policy of the Claim, is pretty clearly intimated. The Connecticut Claimants, it is believed, will not venture, on the footing of their Charter, to contend before his Majesty in Council, either for the Lands in Pennsylvania, or the lands Westward of that Province to the South Sea. The Crown cannot give the former, without allowing them a Right to the latter, in all their Extent. Besides Defect of Limits, in its original State, that Charter has many other Defects, which it may be prudent and expedient for them to keep out of Sight. Having taken this Notice of the Law Opinions, on which the Colony of Connecticut have rested their Claim; it is proper to give the Opinion of a truly eminent Lawyer on the other Side, which, it is presumed, will be thought to have been grounded on a fuller and more impartial State of the Case. Opinion of the Attorney General, Now Lord Camden. If all the Colonies in North-America were to remain at this Day bounded, in Point of Right, as they are described in the original Grants of each, I do not believe there is one Settlement in that Part of the Globe, that has not, in some Measure either been encroached upon, or else usurped upon, its Neighbours; so that, if the Grants were of themselves the only Rule between the contending Plantations, there never could be an End of their Disputes, without unsettling large Tracts of Land, where the Inhabitants have no better Title to produce, than either Possession or posterior Grants, which, in Point of Law would be superseded by prior Charters. Hence I conceive, that many other Circumstances must be taken into Consideration, besides the Parchment Boundary; for that may at this Day be extended or narrowed by Possession, Acquiescence, or Agreement; by the Situation and Condition of the Territory at the Time of the Grant, as well as by various other Matters. With respect to the present Dispute, the Western Boundary of Connecticut was barred at the Time of the original Grant, by the Dutch Settlement; and the * Crown were deceived _________________________________________________________________________ *Since the Appearance of this Opinion, Connecticut has said, that the Dutch Country was excepted out of their Charter, and therefore there was no deception put upon the Crown in the Grant--But it is not true; that there is any Exception of the Dutch Country out of the Charter, either expressed or implied. <179> LANDS IN PENNSYLVANIA. when they were prevailed upon to convey a Territory which belonged to another State, then in Amity with the Crown of England. Besides this Objection, the Settlement of the new Boundary under the King's Commission in 1664, and what is still stronger, the new Line marked out by Agreement between this Province and New-York, has now conclusively precluded Connecticut from advancing one Foot beyond these Limits. It was absolutely necessary for the Crown, after the Cession of New Netherlands, to decide the clashing Rights of the Duke of York and the adjoining Colonies; and therefore all that was done by Virtue of that Commission, then awarded for that Purpose, must at this Day be deemed valid; as the Nations have, ever since that Time, submitted to those Determinations, and the Colonies of New-York and Jersey submit only upon Authority of these Acts. I am of Opinion, therefore, that the Province of Connecticut has no Right to resume their ancient Boundary, by overleaping the Province of New-York; or to encroach upon the Pennsylvania Grant, which was not made till after the Connecticut Boundary had been reduced by new Confines, which restored the Lands, beyond those Settlements Westward to the Crown; and laid them open to a new Grant. The State of the Country in Dispute, is a material State Reason why the Crown ought to interpose in the present Case, and put a Stop to this growing Mischief. But I doubt this Business cannot be adjusted very soon, because Mr. Penn must apply to the Crown for Relief, which Method of Proceeding will necessarily take up Time, as the Province of Connecticut must have Notice and be heard. March 7, 1761. C. PRATT. Upon the whole, I think it fully appears that the Claim of Connecticut Colony to Lands within the Limits of Pennsylvania, the forcible Possession which their People have taken of those Lands, and the Shelter yielded by them to the public Violators of our Laws; are measures so little warranted by their Charter, that the same may yet be found fatal to it. I have endeavoured to treat this Subject with Coolness and Candor, and altho' I would have wish'd for more Time to digest the foregoing Arguments, I hope there is no material Inaccuracy in them. Until a legal Decision of this Dispute, it is our Duty to maintain our Possession and Right, even if our Adversaries had a Colour for their Claim. But when they cannot have the least Hope of Success, but through some Concessions on our Part, it would be culpable to give Way. The Lands whereof they have possessed themselves, are chiefly private Property, taken up or <180> CONNECTICUT CLAIM TO purchased by many Individuals in all Parts of the Province; and none among us can wish to see our Country dismembered, or so valuable a Part of it torn from us. On the Contrary, it must be the Desire of every Friend to Pennsylvania, to see its Laws and Constitution extended and supported, through its utmost Limits, while its Rivers run or Mountains endure! These were certainly the Sentiments of our Governor and Assembly, when they erected that Part of the Province into a new County; and even to imagine that every future Governor and Assembly, would not be actuated by the like patriotic Sentiments, would be injurious in the highest Degree! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Appendix is in Part II