CHAPTER II.

GRANTS AND COLONIZATION OF TERRITORY.

1497-1662.

Colonization by the Dutch and English-Their conflicting claims to territory-The English claim from Labrador to Florida, and deny any right in the Dutch Different classes of English colonial governments Grant of the first and second colonies of Virginia in 1606— Of New England to the council of Plymouth in 1620-Grant by that company to Massachusetts in 1627 with territory extending to the Pacific-Colonies of Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven - New England confederacy Boundary treaty between their commissioners and the Dutch governor of New Netherland at Hartford in 1650, and its ratification by the States General of Holland — Charter of Connecticut by King Charles in 1662, including New Haven and reaching west to the Pacific.

NEW

EW York was originally settled by the Dutch under the name of New Netherland, and was conquered by the English in 1664. The charter of King Charles, by virtue of which the territory of Vermont was afterwards claimed by the rulers of New York to constitute a part of that province, had been issued to the Duke of York, a few months previously, in contemplation of such conquest. The charter was undoubtedly designed to embrace the Dutch colony as it then existed, and without any intention of the king to interfere with existing rights under previous grants of the English crown. A knowledge of the extent of that colony, at that time, will therefore be necessary in order to determine the proper effect to be given to the language of the charter in regard to boundaries, and in deciding what were subsequently the extent and limits of the province of New York. A proper understanding of this matter, will require some account of the origin and progress of colonization by both the Dutch and English, prior to that period.

It has been previously stated, that Henry Hudson, sailing under the authority of the Dutch, had, in 1609, discovered and partially explored the river which bears his name. That enterprising commercial people soon opened a trade for furs with the natives along that river, and about the year 1614, established a trading post on an island near the present site of Albany, and another on Manhattan island. This trade gradually increased in activity and importance, and in 1623, settlements for purposes of cultivation were commenced near the ocean, under the direction of the Dutch West India company, to which, by a charter from the United Netherlands, had been

granted a monopoly of trade to the African and American continents. The Dutch from Manhattan, which afterwards bore the name of New Amsterdam, and subsequently that of New York, made an early exploration of Long Island sound, and of the coast further eastward; and they claimed that New Netherland extended from Delaware bay to Cape Cod, especially embracing the river Connecticut, which they named Versch, or, Fresh river. This claim was always denied by the English government, who as early as 1621 "having been informed that within the year past the Hollanders have entered upon some parts of North Virginia, by us called New England, and there left a colony, and given new names to the several ports appertaining to that part of the country, and are now in readiness to send for their supply six or eight ships," instructed Sir Henry Carlton, their embassador at the Hague, to represent to the States General that his majesty had "many years since by patent granted the quiet and full possession of the whole precinct unto particular persons," and to require of them "that as well those ships as their further prosecution of that plantation be stayed." Which representation and request were accordingly made, but without any other apparent result, than information from the States General that the matter had been properly referred, and would be inquired into. The English, however, ever afterwards insisted that the Dutch of New Netherland were intruders upon territory which belonged to them, 1

The English claimed the whole of North America, from Labrador to Florida, by virtue of its prior discovery by the Cabots under their authority in 1497, and of subsequent explorations and efforts to colonize it, though their claims had to some extent been interfered with by the occupation of Canada by the French, and New Netherland by the Dutch. By the English constitution, the title to all. the lands belonging to the natives was vested in the king, who might grant them at pleasure. The king also exercised the power of creating corporations by charter, and prior to this grant of King Charles to the duke, extensive portions of North America had been granted by the crown, either to individuals or to corporations thus constituted. The charters to corporations not only passed the title of the crown to the lands they described, but also conferred on the grantees certain powers of government over the people that should thereafter inhabit them. Some of the king's charters to individuals also con

1 Colonial Hist. N. Y., vol. 3, p. 678, and vol. 1, p. 27, 28. Brodhead's N. York, vol. 1, p. 140, 142.

ferred on them powers of government, while others only conveyed the title to the soil.

These charters were irrevocable by the king, who while they remained in force had no authority to recall the titles or the political privileges with which he had thus parted. The charters might, indeed, be declared forfeited for a violation by the grantees of some of their express or implied conditions, but this forfeiture could not be taken at the pleasure of the crown. It could only be ascertained and declared by a judicial proceeding instituted in the courts of law or equity for that purpose; the usual mode being by what was termed a writ of quo warranto. The grants of the king with corporate powers constituted what was denominated charter governments. To this class belonged those of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, and also some of the more southern colonies. Where the lands of a province with political authority were granted to an individual the government thus constituted was termed a proprietary government. Of this character were the grants of Maryland to Lord Baltimore, of Pennsylvania to Mr. Penn, and also the grant now under consideration, that of New Netherland to the Duke of York.

There was still another class of English colonial governments which were styled royal governments, of which it is necessary that special notice should be taken. Those were governments in which the king, untramelled by charter grants of the soil or of political privileges retained over them all his original authority. They were presided over by a governor, assisted by a council, appointed by the crown, and removable at his pleasure. The governor had a negative upon the proceedings of any assembly of the people which he might convene, with power to prorogue or dissolve it, whenever he saw fit. To the governor also was committed authority to grant, for and in the name of the king, any unchartered lands in his province. The king retained full power over the boundaries and extent of these royal colonies, and might enlarge on or contract them at pleasure. These changes in the limits and extent of royal provinces were not unfrequently made, sometimes by creating new charter governments in portions of the territory, sometimes by the adjudication of boundary disputes between provinces, at others by descriptions of territory in commissions to governors, and sometimes by mere informal recognition or usage. To this class of royal provinces belonged both New Hampshire and New York at the time of the territorial controversy between them in relation to Vermont; for although the latter province had originally been chartered to the Duke of York, with

political authority, yet on his accession to the throne in 1685 his title merged in the crown, and the colony was ever afterwards governed as a royal province.

Owing perhaps to the imperfect knowledge in England of the geography of this country, and especially of its interior; or to the small value which was placed upon its remote and uncultivated lands, or to the carelessness or dishonesty of draughtsmen or transcribers of patents or others, many of the descriptions of territory in the early English charters were confused and of uncertain meaning, so much so, that new grants were frequently found to clash with others of previous date, or to be of very indefinite and doubtful extent. Thus the grant of New Hampshire to Mason in 1629, which reached southerly to the middle of the river Merrimack plainly clashed with that of Massachusetts, which had been made two years previous, and which extended northerly to a line three miles to the northward of every part of that river. The descriptions of their boundaries were also so confused in other respects as to produce a long and tedious controversy which was finally settled by the king in council, by establishing an arbitrary line that neither of the parties claimed. So likewise there was a direct conflict between the two charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island, the former granted in 1662 and the latter, the year after. By the first charter Connecticut was bounded east by Narragansett river and bay, and by the latter Rhode Island included the whole of that river and bay, and extended west twenty miles farther to Pawkatuc river. Notwithstanding the priority of the Connecticut charter, the disputed territory, after a tedious controversy, was retained by Rhode Island by the final decision of the king. Indeed there were scarcely any two of the original English colonies adjoining each other, between which serious controversies did not arise, growing out of the ambiguous or contradictory language of the evidences of their title under the crown.

1

The charter of King Charles to the Duke of York when brought into comparison with those of adjoining colonies, was found from its indefinite language to be peculiarly exposed to disputes of this character. Not only did it occasion sharp and tedious controversies with the several New England colonies, of which full accounts will be given hereafter, but also with the two adjoining provinces of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which bounded it to the west and south.

In pursuance of the English claim to the whole northern part of this continent, King James the second, in 1606, granted in one

1Story's Com., vol. 1, p. 75, 83. Hutchinson, vol. 2, p. 313.

charter to two separate companies, the one denominated the London and the other the Plymouth company, the right to colonize any part of North America between the latitudes of thirty-four and fortyfive degrees north. The London company, whose settlement was to be distinguished as the first colony of Virginia, might plant any where between the thirty-fourth and forty-first degrees of north latitude, or between cape Fear and the east end of Long Island. The Plymouth company, whose settlement was to be called the second colony of Virginia, might plant any where between the thirty-eighthand forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, or in other words between Delaware bay and Halifax; but neither company was to begin its settlement within one hundred miles of any spot previously occupied by the other. Each colony was to extend along the coast fifty miles each way from the spot first occupied, and one hundred miles inland. Under this charter the first permanent English settlement on this continent was made at Jamestown in Virginia, the following year. In 1609, the London company obtained from the crown a new charter, with powers of government, comprising a territory which reached two hundred miles south and the same distance to the north of Old Point Comfort; that is, from about latitudes thirty-four to forty degrees north, and extended west to the Pacific Ocean. This charter was however vacated in England, in 1624, by writ of quo warranto, and Virginia becoming thereby a royal colony, several new provinces, and among them Maryland and North Carolina, were subsequently carved out of its territory, by charters from the king.

The early operations of the Plymouth company were not of an encouraging character. Attempts were made in 1607, 1610, and 1616, to establish colonies on the coast of "North Virginia," the latter under the famous Capt. John Smith, but all of them proved unsuccessful. The company however, under date of Nov. 3, 1620, obtained from the crown a new charter, incorporating them by the name of "the council established at Plymouth in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New England in America," by which there was granted them in full property with exclusive jurisdiction, settlement and traffic, all that part of America "lying in breadth from 40 to 48 degrees north latitude, and in length by all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the main land from sea to sea." The whole of North America, as claimed by the English, was thus divided into the two provinces of Virginia and New England, by a line very nearly corresponding with that which now separates the late slaveholding from the non-slaveholding states,