whose people were killed by Ramsay. The Trader sold them Rum and neglecting to leave them, tho advised by themselves to do so, on being refused more liquor, they seized it got intoxicated a squabble ensued, which ended in the death of the Trader and his Servants, The Nation have promised to deliver the murderer but I doubt it much, as the murders committed by Ramsay can not be easily forgotten by them especially when disguised by Liquor which they always consider as a mitigation of the offence. As I expect to have the honor to write your Lordship soon on the subjects proposed to the Six Nations, I have only at present to request that your Lordship will honor me with His Majestys commands touching any part of this letter that may require it, and that you will pardon its immoderate length as my Zeal would not permit me to abridge a subject which appeared to me of some importance. I have the honor to be with great respect My Lord I have received your Dispatches to the Earl of Hillsborough N° 43 and 44. and have laid them before the King. The attention you have shewn to the acquiring a perfect knowledge of the State of the Colony, by visiting the different parts of it, is approved by the King; and I hope that the Congress with the Mohawks will have the good effect to remove their complaints and to convince them that there is a sincere disposition in the Govt of New York to redress any injuries they may sustain from the Inhabitants of that Colony. The engrossing of lands on the Mohawk River on pretence of purchases from the Indians, has been repeatedly and justly complained of; and therefore I was sorry to find, by the extract of the proceedings with the Mohawks, transmitted with your letter, that private persons still continue to obtain Licenses from the Govern* of New York for that purpose; but I hope no steps will have been taken to confirm to such purchasers the possession of those lands, untill by a transmission of the deeds, the nature and extent of the purchases can be known, and the King's pleasure signified thereupon. The State of the French Claims on Lake Champlain appears to me, as far as I am at present informed, to be a consideration of great difficulty and delicacy, and by no means of a nature to admit of an hasty decision. Those Claims are now before the Board of Trade in consequence of a reference from the privy Council, and I will not fail from what you say of the State of the Colony as well in respect to those Claims, as to the increasing disorders & confusion on the Eastern Frontiers in general, to press an immediate attention to both those important considerations. At the same time, confident as I am of the wisdom that dictated the Royal Instructions by which you was forbid to make any grants within the district annexed to New York by the determination of the Boundary with New Hampshire, I cannot but lament that you should have found it necessary in your own judgement to depart from the letter of that instruction; which has been the more unfortunate as it has necessarily had the effect to delay any determination upon a very full report the Board of Trade had made upon the State of the claims in that district, which must now undergo a new consideration, not only on that account but also from new matter arising from the complaints which have been made by the proprietors of the Township of Hinsdale, who assert that, notwithstanding they derive their titles from an ancient grant of the Province of Massachusets Bay and therefore are not within the description of the grants said to have been fraudulently made by the late Gov' of New Hampshire, they have nevertheless been deprived of a part of their possessions under a Patent lately passed by you. I do not mean however to convey any opinion upon the merits of the case of those proprietors on their own state of it, and I should do injustice to the sentiments I have always entertained of you, if I was, without the fullest examination, to give any other countenance to their complaints, than what the duty of my office requires. The whole of this very important business will, I am persuaded, be discussed by the Lords of Trade with that impartiality, that has always distinguished their conduct; I shall therefore avoid saying any thing more upon that subject, or upon the Canadian Claims further, than, that I think it proper to observe that the proposition in your letter N° 43. that all the territory on the south side of the River S' Lawrence was the property of the five Nations, and therefore, that every Canadian Grant on that side of the River, was an encroachment on the British possession, does not appear to me, from any information I have been able to collect, to be maintainable on any fair ground of argument; an observation which I think I am called upon to state to you, lest by my silence on that subject, I should appear to acquiesce in a proposition that, if adopted in the extent you state it, would strip one half of the King's new subjects of their ancient possessions and must spread an Alarm that may have very fatal consequences to the King's interest. I am ettc. Dartmouth. Judge Livingston to the Earl of Dartmouth. [New-York Papers (8. P. O. ) CLXIV.] New York. 5th Nov 1772. My Lord, I beg leave, tho' placed at this distance to congratulate your Lord on the great trust His Majesty has been pleased to repose in you by appointing your Lord one of his Secretaries of State; and to assure your Lord, as I am with great truth, that no appointment to an Office in which we are so much interested, could be more agreable to His Majesty's subjects on this side of the Atlantic. The reason of my presuming to write to your Lordp is to apprize you of an Affair which greatly concerns His Maj's authority in this Provce, and the more so, since if not adverted to the example will probably be followed in the other Colonies—I have in several letters stated the whole matter to the Earl of Hillsborough, and have some hopes, that he has already laid it before the Board of Trade, or His Maj' privy Council; for he was pleased to inform me, that he looked upon the Conduct of the General Assembly as uvjustifyable and disrespectful to His Maj", but that he deferred taking any resolution, till he knew what measures Gov' Tryon, who was then expected here, would take on the occasion. Since this I have given His Lord? a further account of the Conduct of the General Assembly, which was transmitted to him by Govr Tryon, who informed me, my letter was received; but that His Lordp deferred giving his particular directions, till he received the votes of the house. Had I it in my power, I would transmit to your Lord all I have written on the subject, but the copies of my letters are in the Country; and if My Lord Hillsborough has laid the affair, either before the Council or the Board of Trade it will be unnecessary. I shall therefore only lay before your Lord this short account of the matter. I have the honor to serve His Maj" in the Office of Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court of this Province, and have been five times chosen Representative for the Manor of Livingston in general Assembly; four times I have been refused admittance, and on the fifth Election, I have not yet presented myself. The pretence for excluding me, was a resolution of the House made immediately preceeding my first Election, that: no Judge of the Supreme Court should sit or vote in the House. I had sat there, three or four years after Gen1 Monckton had given me my Commission without the least objection, and before that we hardly had one Assembly, of which one or other of the Judges was not a Member. I believe there is no house of Representatives in the Colonies, where this is not the case, and in none of them, but ours, are they excluded. Tho' the 12 Judges in England are excluded in the House of Commons, the sole reason of that is their necessary attendance on the House of Lords. But our Judges are never required to attend the Council, and are not admitted there, unless Members of that Body. What renders this assumption of power in the Assembly still more injurious to His Majy'* just authority, is that they have excluded me on this Broad principle, that they have a power, to exclude any person they think proper without the concurrence of the other branch of the Legislature, a principle the house of Commons never adopted, as your Lord well knows, except when they usurped all the powers of Govern'. This dispute between the Assembly has lasted now about three years; and the several Governors we have had in that time, to wit, Lieut' Gov' Colden, Lord Dunmore and Mr Tryon, have not thought proper to do any thing decisive in the matter without His Majt'1 particular orders. I thought the duty of my office obliged me to lay the whole matter before My Lord Hillsborough, and this induced me to mention it to your Lordp Having thus discharged my duty to His Maj,y and the public, I beg your Lordp's patience, while by way of memorial, I add a few words concerning myself. I have served His Maj" in the Office of a Judge of the Supreme Court of this Province ever since the 14,h of April 1763. and from that time till within three years, the other Judges being of a very advanced ages, almost the whole weight of the business has lain on me. Since this Mr Justice Ludlow,1 who was appointed on the death of Mr Justice Smith8 has born an equal share of it. If your Lordp considers the extent of the province, the variety of business Criminal and Civil, the number of miles we must travel to perform a circuit almost equal to that, necessary to make the Circuit of all England, and the small salaries we receive, scarce sufficient to defray our traveling charges, I hope, you will think my long services in this Office give me some claim to His Maj favour, on a new appointment to the Office of Chief Justice for this Province. If on the next vacancy the appointment should be left to the Commander in Chief here, I should not think it necessary to mention my pretensions to the Office. For notwithstanding the heat of Parties, I am confident, no one would object to them, or interfere with me. That I have executed the Office to the general satisfaction of the King's representatives here, the Bar and the people in General, I need give your Lordp no other proof than this: During the violent opposition on account of my claim to a seat in the house of Assembly, which has now lasted for three years, with no small warmth on both sides, no objection has ever been made to me on account of my behaviour as a Judge. This I look upon as a testimonial from my opposers, of greater weight, than the warmest recommendation of a Friend. I hope your Lord will be of opinion, since the honor of serving His Maj' in the important office I hold, is the principal recompence, for my services, that, that ought not to be diminished by my being superceeded, or having another placed over my head. For the truth of what I have advanced, I appeal confidently to any one acquainted with this Colony, from whom your Lord, may have an opportunity of receiving an information. We are often told, that a Chief Justice will be appointed at home; this has induced me to lay before your Lord an account of my services. I rely entirely on your Lordp's justice in regarding them as you think they deserve, and on your goodness to excuse the trouble I have given you & remain with great respect. Tour Lord'* most obedient and most humble servant ROB R. Livingston. Minutes of the Attendance of Mr. Edmund Burke on the Lords of Trade. [Board of Trade Journal, LXXX., 16T.] At a meeting of His Majesty's Comm" for Trade and Plantations. Thursday Nov 12. 1772. The Earl of Dartmouth, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, Attends. Mr Edmund Burke attended and moved their Lordships that he might be heard by his Counsel, as well in behalf of the Province of New York, as of sundry persons, Proprietors of Lands within the said Province, under grants from the Governor & Council thereof, against the Confirmation by the Crown, of any grants made by the French King or the Government of Canada within the limits of the said Province of New York. Their Lordships upon consideration of Mr Burkes motion, agreed that he should be heard by his Counsel, and he was desired, so soon as his Counsel should be prepared, to acquaint the Secretary therewith, in order that an Early day might be fixed for the further Consideration of this business. Ordered that the Secretary do acquaint Monr Lotbiniere who now attends to solicit the Confirmation of two Seigneuries on Lake Champlain, of which he claims the possession, with Mr Burke's application to be heard by Counsel, and that he will also be at liberty to be heard by his Counsel in support of his pretensions if he thinks fit. Greville.1 Representation of the Lords of Trade to the Committee of the Privy Council. [New-York Entries, LXVIII., 4S8.] To the Right Honhle the Lords of the Committee of His Majesty's most HonbIe Privy Council for Plantation Affairs. 20. Novr 1772. My Lords Pursuant to Your Lordships Order of the 17th day of June last, We have taken into Our Consideration the extract of a letter from William Tryon Esq: His Majesty's Governor of New York to the Earl of Hillsborough dated the first of Feb: 1772, in which he acquaints his Lordship in consequence of his Majestys Royal Mandamus he had granted ten thousand Acres of Land to Lieut' Colonel Howard in the township of Kinsdale on the Western side of the River Connecticut, apprehending that his Majesty's 49,h Instruction by which he is forbidden to make any Grants of Lands within the limits of the Townships granted by New Hampshire on the Western side of that River was superseded by the Mandamus aforementioned Whereupon We beg leave to Report to Your Lordships. That the Township of Kinsdale 2 which appears to have been considered by Govr Tryon, as one of the Townships granted by the Gov' of New Hampshire, does not derive its origin from any such Grant but amongst several others under the like Circumstances established and settled under a Grant from the General Court of the Massachusets Bay in the year 1672; and it appears to us that the acceptance by the proprietors of that Township of a Grant of Confirmation from the Governor of New Hampshire was only with a view to prevent their being disturbed in their poss[ess]ions in consequence of the district in which it is situated having been adjudged by a determination in the year 1740 to be without the limits of the Gov of the Massachusets Bay. From their state of the Case it does appear to us that the proprietors of the Township of Kinsdale ought not to have been disturbed in their Possessions by any subsequent Grant whatever, and even admitting that Mr Tryon is warranted in his construction of the Spirit and Intention of His Majestys Mandamus in favour of Col: Howard yet the locating a grant within the Limits of a Township under these particular Circumstances, was the less to be justified as there were within the district between Hudson and Connecticut Rivers, not only many 1 George Grkville, eldest son of Francis, 1st Earl Brooke and Warwick and of Elizabeth, daughter of the Duke of Hamilton, was born 16th September, 1746. He succeeded the Honorable T. Robinson in the Board of Trade 12th April. 1770; married the only daughter of Lord Selsey in 1771; succeeded to his father's titles on the 6th July, 1773, and died 2d May, 1816, in the 70th year of his age. Dtbrett. — .Ed. |