Bay or other Charter Govern", it would have been a different question; but when both, the soil and jurisdiction are in the Crown, it is 1 conceive, entirely in the breast of the Crown, to limit that Jurisdiction and to dispose of the property in the soil in such manner as shall be thought most fit; and after what had passed, and the restrictions which had been given respecting the claims, as well on Lake Champlain, as in the district to the west of Connecticut River, by which the King had reserved to himself the consideration of those claims, I must still have the misfortune to think, that no steps ought to have been taken to the prejudice of the claimants under the original Titles. At the same time confident of your integrity and impressed with the most favourable sentiments of your conduct, so far as rests upon the Intention, I will not fail to do the fullest justice to the explanation of it, contained in your letters upon this subject, and there is no one of your friends that will be more forward than myself to bear testimony of the sense I have of your zeal for the King's service, or more ready to concur in any proposition, that may induce the conferring upon you such marks of the Kings Favour, as shall be judged adequate to your great merit. I am Sir your most obed' humble serv' Dartmouth. Order in Council prohibiting all Grants of Land until otherwise instructed. [New-York Council Minutes, In Secretary's Offloe, Albany, XXXI., 71. ] Whereas it has been represented to his Majesty that the State and Condition of his Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America do both in Justice and Expediency require that the Authority for granting Lands, contained in the Commissions and Instructions given to his Majesty's Governors in the Plantations, should be further regulated and restrained, and that the Grantees of such Lands should be subjected to other Conditions than those at present prescribed in the said Instructions: His Majesty having taken the same into his royal Consideration is pleased with the Advice of his Privy Council to order, And it is hereby Ordered that the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, do take into their immediate Consideration the Powers and Authorities for granting Lands contained in the Commissions and Instructions to his Majesty's Governors in the Plantations, and that the said Lords Commissioners do represent to his Majesty at this Board, such Alterations as they shall think fit and necessary to be made therein—And his Majesty is hereby further pleased to Order that in the mean Time, and until his Majesty's further Pleasure is Signifyed, all and every his Majesty's Governors Lieutenant Governors or other Persons in Command in his Majesty's Colonies in North America who are entrusted with the Disposal of his Majesty's Lands in the said Colonies, do forbear upon Pain of his Majesty's highest Displeasure and of being immediately removed from their Offices, to issue any Warrant of Survey, or to pass any Patents for Lands in the said Colonies, or to grant any Licence for the Purchace by private Persons of any Lands from the Indians, without especial Directions from his Majesty for that Purpose, under his Majesty's Signet or Sign Manual, or by Order of his Majesty in his privy Council; excepting only in the Case of such Commission and Non Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, who are entituled to Grants of Land in virtue of his Majesty's Royal Proclamation of the 7th October 1763, to whom such Grants are to be made and passed in the Proportions and under the Conditions prescribed in his Majesty's said Proclamation. I have received and laid before the King your several Dispatches numbered from 14 to 20. His Majesty having upon a consideration of the case of John Thorpe1 been graciously pleased to extend his Royal mercy towards him; I have transmitted to the Recorder of London the proper Warrant for that purpose, an attested copy of which I herewith inclose to you, in order that you may take the steps usual on such occasions for the release of the prisoner. The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Counties of Cumberland and Gloucester, praying to be continued within the jurisdiction of the Government of New York, has been favourably received by the King, and I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that there is not at present any intention of making any alteration in the boundary line on the side of Connecticut River, as settled by his Majt'* order in Council of the 20th of July 1764. I do not well see upon what ground it was, that Mr Jay had his doubts as to the delivery of the Commission and the proceeding thereupon for running the boundary line between New York and New Jersey; I am to presume, however, from the step taken by the Legislature, that there was some foundation in Law for those doubts; at the same time I am very glad, the business has been brought to its present issue, and hope that the final confirmation by the Crown will not meet with any further obstruction. The papers inclosed in your Dispatch N° 19. respecting the proceedings in the case of Col Renslaer's petition, are so voluminous that I have not yet had time to peruse them; but I must not omit to say to you, that your conduct on that occasion appears, in the general view I have of the business, to have been just and proper in every respect, and I have not failed to represent it to the King in that light— I am ettc. Dartmouth. 'This man was convicted of the murder of hi« wife. New-York Council Minutes, XXV., 835. — Ed. Sir. N° 8. Earl of Dartmouth to Governor Tryon. [New-York P»per» (8. P. O.) CLXV.] Whitehall. 10. April 1773. The Lords of Trade, having in a report to the Lords of the Committee of Council, stated several considerations and propositions respecting the claims of property, and possession of lands lying between the River Connecticut, and a supposed similar curve line at the distance of 20 miles from Hudson's River, His Maj' has been pleased, upon a Report from the said Committee, to approve the several propositions recommended by the Board of Trade, and I have received bis Maj' Commands to give such directions to you as may be necessary thereupon. But as the carrying those propositions into effect depends upon the consent thereto of many persons having different interests in, and claims to the Lands, and upon their acquiescence therein, and as there are, I conceive, many Facts and circumstances which have never yet been stated, that if not attended to may create difficulties that will render the whole plan abortive, I think it fit, before I transmit to you His Majty'' final Instructions upon so delicate and difficult a matter, to state to you what those propositions are, and to desire your full and candid sentiments thereupon The objects that are stated to deserve attention in the consideration of this business are: First, those Townships lying in this district between the River Connecticut and the line abovementioned which were originally settled and established under grants from the Govern of Massachusets Bay in virtue of their Ancient Charter. Secondly, Those Grants of Land within the said district, made by the Govern' of New York previous to the Grants made by the Govern' of N. Hampshire. Thirdly, Those grants, which, having been originally made by the Govern' of New Hampshire, continue in the same state, or have been confirmed, by grants from New York, as also those grants which have since been made by the Governm' of New York of Lands, not within the limits of any of the grants abovementioned. On the ground of these considerations it is proposed: that all claims to lands derived from the grants of Townships heretofore made by the Province of Massachusets Bay, should be established and confirmed, and the present proprietors quieted in their possessions, and that all grants whatever, made by the Govern' of New York within the limits of the said Townships, being in their nature oppressive and unjust, should be set aside, but that the persons claiming possessions under those grants should upon conditions of their quitting such claim, receive grants under the seal of New York upon the like Terms and free of all expense, of an equal number of Acres in some other part of the District lying between the Rivers Hudson and Connecticut. And that in cases where any actual improvement has been made, the possessor should receive fifty acres of waste lands for every three acres that have been so improved. That all other Grants of Lands made by the Govern' of New York within the district beforementioned antecedent to any grants made by the Govern' of New Hampshire, be confirmed, provided it shall appear, that possession hath been taken and improvement made thereon. That all Townships laid out within the said district, either by the Governors of New Hampshire or New York, and which do not include Lands within the limits of some antecedent Grant, be established as Townships, according to the limits expressed in their respective Charters, and that all persons posessed of shares in those Townships, whether as original Grantees or by Inheritance or conveyance, and upon which shares actual settlement and Improvement have been made, be quieted in such possession, without being bound to any other condition of quit rents or otherwise, than what is contained in the original Grant. That some short and effectual mode be established, by Act of Legislature or otherwise, for ascertaining by the Inquest of a Jury, the state of possession, settlement and Improvement, upon all lands within the said district, claimed under grants made by the Govern" of New Hampshire or New York, and that all such Lands, which shall by the verdict of such Jury appear never to have been possessed or improved, as also all other Lands, which have not been granted, be disposed of in such manner as the King shall think fit to appoint for the disposal & granting of waste lands, within the Province of N. York, provision having been first made for an equivalent to such of the Claimants of Land, under Grants from New York within the old Massachuset's Townships, in manner as before directed, and also for making good to the Commissioned and non Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, the amount of their several allotments, under such warrants of Survey as they may have already received, in consequence of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. These, Sir, are in general the Propositions which have been suggested by the Board of Trade, and approved by His Majesty in Council, and it will be a great pleasure to me to find by your Report that they are satisfactory to all parties, and can be carried into execution without difficulty or Discontent. The information of the present state of affairs in your Department, contained in your Despatch of the 26th December No 2, is of very great importance. A general alliance and confederacy of the Savages, by whatever means it is brought about, has, as you truly observe, a very unfavorable appearance, and will most probably be attended with very dangerous consequences Every circumstance stated in your letter, induces an apprehension, that such a plan of confederacy is in greater maturity than I at first conceived, and that we may probably be soon involved in the dreadful consequences of an Indian War. It is true that by a detection of the different Channells through which the Indians pursue this favorite object, some advantage will be gained, and many of their designs may be frustrated and therefore you can not be too attentive to what passes amongst them; but I still fear, that, unless the ground of their jealousy & discontent could be effectually removed, which I am sensible it now can not, an Indian War is an evil which sooner or later we must submit to; and the only comfort I have under this apprehension is in the assurance you give me that you shall be able to convince those Indians who are endeavoring to create this Confederacy, that we have a sufficient number who are well attached to His Majestys Interest, and who will be eager on such an occasion to give testimony of their fidelity and attachment I am &ca. Sir Wm Johnson. DARTMOUTH. My Lord Sir William Johnson to the Earl of Dartmouth. [Plantations General (S. P. 0.) CCLIX.] Johnson Hall April 22. 1773 In consequence of my Transactions last year & proceedings which I transmitted in October to your Lordship, the cheif Sachems & principal Warriors of the Six Nations arrived here the 6,b Instant and laid before me the issue of their proceedings since that time, a Copy of which I have now the honor to enclose to your Lordship Their first step was to send Belts to the Emigrants from their confederacy living on Ohio, who being removed to so great a distance, and residing in the Neighbourhood of disaffected Tribes that are no real friends to the Six Nations became alienated from the latter, followed other councils & were guilty of many irregularities, they were therefore required to remove from thence, and settle near their own confederacy, which at their present distance can not be made accountable for their own actions, they then called a Council at Onondaga, where they at length brought the Senecas to a sense of their misconduct, and obtained from them the strongest assurances that they would in future pay due regard to the true Interests of the Confederacy, which they have likewise repeated to me, and the whole have united in declaring their resolution, to send once more to those troublesome Nations about the Ouabash and in case it is disregarded to manifest their attachment to the English by bringing those people to a due submission, and that they will without delay hold a General Congress on all these points, they likewise spoke much on the irregularities committed in Trade and declared them to be a principal cause of most of the late disturbances. I have in former letters to His Majestys Ministers pointed out the evil occasioned by the residence of those emigrants from the Six Nations in the midst of a disaffected & troublesome people, who dislike a Confederacy on whom they have been so long dependent, and seduce their people whenever it is in their power, and who are perpetually forming alliances for very bad purposes, But whatever steps are taken for War by the Indians in the Northern Department (particularly to the Northward of Virginia) they can have little effect so long as the Six Nations are unanimous, and preserve their fidelity, Indeed the Countenance of the latter would have a greater effect than all their arms, but of this I am not apprehensive whilst due care is taken to preserve them in His Majestys Interest, and greivances removed, their superior importance at present arises in a great measure from their situation next to our portages, & Frontier Settlements, and qualifies them for acting the part of our best friends, or most dangerous enemies. From these considerations, the attachment of the Senecas is of the greatest consequence particularly of the upper Senecas who alone have been suspected, they lye nearest to our grand communications |