The opportunity this expedition gave me of an acquaintance with Govr Hutchinson afforded me real satisfaction. It is a matter of much astonishment to me, that a Gentleman of such genuine worth, probity and decency, of manners, should be made so unhappy in his Govern'. Were the public Offices within the Govern's of America at the disposal of the respective Gov", I am lead to believe, His Maj's affairs on this side of the water would wear a smoother aspect, I am with all possible respect By the tenor of Your Lordp's letter N° 6. I have reason to apprehend my arrangement of the Militia is not entirely approved. The Militia Law I believe is nearly similar to what has been usually passed in this Govern', nor have I made any new arrangement under it, but in the case where Counties by their increase of settlers made it necessary for the conveniency of the Inhabitants to augment the number of the Battalions in some of the Counties. The nine independent Companies formed last year in this City, were not embodied under any express clause of the Militia Law, except one of the Cadet Companies, but purely in virtue of the delegated prerogative of the Crown. And as this Town, by its Situation lies extremely open to the insults of an Enemy, I thought, times of public tranquility were the most leisure (and best) season to form a body that might in time of occasion be of public service. I purpose, however, next session of Assembly to endeavour, under a Clause of the Militia Act, to incorporate into one Battalion seven independent Companies, keeping the two Companies of Cadets, or Governor's Guards as a distinct Corps, under a Coll: Commandant. But this or any other regulation, that may be directed, shall most punctually be obeyed. Under the consideration of the expense of Arms, Cloaths, and accoutrements, that has attended the forming these Companies, the disbanding them by a Repeal, or a discontinuance of the Militia Law, would cause great disappointment to those who voluntarily entered and equipped themselves for the public service I am ettc. Your several Dispatches numbered 21. 22. 23. 24. 25 and 26. have been received, and laid before the King. I had flattered myself that the disputes concerning Titles to Lands between the Rivers Hudson & Connecticut, and upon Lake Champlain, might have been ended upon some equitable Plan of accommodation; the utmost however that I can now hope for is, that where different Grants have been made by different Governors of the same Land, the validity of the Titles may be tried in the Supreme Court of Justice in the Colony upon some General question that shall comprehend every case, and the suit brought to such an issue, either by a special verdict or otherwise, as that the whole merits may come before His Maj" in His privy Council by appeal. With respect to the lines of Jurisdiction that are finally to limit the Provee of New York on the side of New Hampshire and of Quebec, His Majesty's pleasure has been already declared on that head; and as to all lands within the Provc* of N. York for which the Governors of that province have not granted Patents, whether they be waste Lands, or lands claimed under grants from the Gov' of N. Hampshire or from the Crown of France or its Officers, the King reserves to himself as a matter appertaining to his own Dignity and Authority, the determination of what may be advisable to be done thereupon; His Majesty however does not think fit that any countenance should be given to claims founded on Indian purchases of the nature of those to which your letter refers, and therefore the utmost those purchasers can hope for is, that His Maju may be induced out of his Grace and indulgence, to consent that they should be repaid their expences out of any monies that hereafter arise by the disposal of those lands upon such plans as will probably soon be adopted. It gives me real concern, that the motives of my conduct respecting the Indian purchases, at the last Congress, as explained in my letter N° 9. have not met with your Lordp's approbation. This transaction unhappily affects the Interest of many of his Majesty's subjects who, on the faith and authority of Govern', having expended large sums of money in exploring the Country, and in the purchases and necessary Surveys, and being now disappointed of their Grants, look up to me as the author of their misfortunes, and earnestly solicit for redress; and indeed with too much justice, as if any error has been committed, I who ought to have understood and pursued the Royal Instructions am alone to blame. But I flatter myself when your Lord is more fully informed of the course of issuing Grants of His Majesty's Lands, within this Provce, I shall still have the satisfaction of being entirely justified. Had I been so fortunate as to have conceived that the objection arose from the License, in not specifying that a Thousand acres only should be purchased for one person, by explaining the occasion of it sooner, I should have spared your Lordp the trouble of this letter. However uncivilized, there are no people more cautious and deliberate in business, than the Five Nations; and as in a Colony which begins to be so rapidly settled, there must be frequent applications for Grants; if it should be necessary to Negotiate a separate bargain and sale for every Tract of a Thousand acres of Land, there would be no end to the Time, the expense and fatigue of a Congress; and indeed it must become impracticable for the Govr whose presence by a late Instruction is rendered essential, to attend this Branch of his numerous duties without neglecting others. Besides, as the Indians have no Record but the memory, and no idea of figures or measuration, a misconception of the Boundary in such a multitude of different Tracts, must prove a perpetual source of jealousy and discontent; against which there is no effectual expedient but to consult nature, and to bound their sales by remarkable Mountains and streams of water, or some land mark notorious among themselves, or in some instances by the Magnetic course of the Compass. Hence has it become usual for the Inhabitants when they incline to purchase to form associations; and after contributing to the expense, to leave it to a few of their Number to manage the business in Trust for the rest, and in their names alone the Petition and License, and the purchase itself are negotiated. The Cession is immediately to the Crown, and the purchasers who advance the money derive no other advantage from it, than a Claim upon the honor and justice of Govern', to a preference in Letters Patent. For this purpose a second Petition is presented praying for a grant, and here the advice of Council is again as necessary as before it had been, to authorize the License. In this stage of the proceedings all the parties interested become petitioners by name, and to each is advised to be granted a Thousand acres and no more. The Surveyor General then receives the Governor's Warr' requiring him to Survey for each of those Petitioners a Thousand Acres, and their proportions are united, and laid out in one Tract or Township or in separate lots, as they agree among themselves. The return compleated it is presented to the Commiss" for laying out the Crown Lands, who are to examine and see that it corresponds with the Instruction; and having given their certificates to that effect, a Warr' issues to the Attorney General to prepare the Draft of letters Patent, and this being done and accompanies with his certificate, that they contain nothing contrary to His Maj,y'* interest, the draft is delivered to the Secretary to be engrossed, and the seal being affixed, it is registered and Docketted in the Auditor Gen"s office. Your Lord will be pleased to observe, that according to this system, which is in all cases. (except on a Mandamus) strictly pursued, the Indian Deed makes no part of the Subject's Title, who holds immediately from the Crown; and it is of no other moment, than to satisfy the claim of the Native occupants. It must therefore appear to be immaterial, whether that deed is expressed to be taken for the benefit of one, or many, since it vests no legal right; and none can be obtained but by the Royal Grant, and in the mode which the Instructions prescribe. I am sensible, that it frequently, and I believe, generally happens, that the purchasers, by making use of the solicitations and names of their Friends, eventually obtain a greater share in the Tract than one thousand acres. But if this is an evil, it is hardly to be prevented. Men of property in a Country where the soil is of little value, must have it in their power to purchase large Tracts, if they chuse this method to raise their families, tho' as the benefit seems, at present, remote, the temptation is not very strong. For my own part, I should think it good policy rather to encourage than to check such a spirit. The Subordination which arises from a distinction in Rank and fortune, I have found from experience, to be friendly to Govern', and conducive to the strengthening the hands of the Crown, and perhaps it will prove the only counterpoize against a levelling and Republican spirit, which the popular constitutions of some Colonies, and the Temper of their Inhabitants, who are spreading themselves throughout this Continent, so naturally excite. Precautions against the secret Trusts of Patentees, seems extremely difficult, nor can I think of any other, than to oblige Petitioner to swear that the Grant for which he applies, is for his own immediate benefit, and even that, would not prevent subsequent alienations, but whether the multiplication of oaths is not already one of the great misfortunes of our Govern', and to be dreaded as an inlet to perjury and a corruption of morals, seems to deserve consideration. Having thus laid before your Lord, a circumstantial detail of the method of appropriating the Crown Lands, permit me to add in my own vindication, that as in granting the lincence and consenting to the Indian Deed, I pursued and adopted the usual practice, so I never entertained the most distant thought I was deviating from my duty in the least circumstance. Embarrassed as I now am, with the purchasers who have parted with their money in a firm reliance upon. the authority and honor of this Govern', I entreat your Lord to intercede with His Maj" that I may be left at liberty to do for them what, religiously appears to me, to be no more than an act of Justice, and which they importunately solicit at my hands. Was I conscious of having erred, or offended, it would be my duty to be silent, and I should not presume to ask this Favor; but as my intentions were upright, and I was acting in the ordinary Course of the Landed Departm', I confess it would give me very great uneasiness and concern to be reduced to the necessity of dismissing those Petitioners & Purchasers without redress or compensation, and I conceive I cannot in honor dismiss them. I am sorry the conduct of this Govern' respecting the Canadian and New Hampshire claims, appears to your Lordp in an unfavorable point of light, and altho' the chief of those transactions happened before my Administrat the honor of the Council Board, and the Interests of the Officers and Soldiers, as well as many other of His Majesty's subjects under my care, call upon me to communicate every useful information, which has come to my knowledge on this subject, and this must plead my excuse for troubling your Lord with a few observations in addition to those which I have already submitted to your consideration. The Country between the Connecticut River, and the Wood Creek, Lake George and Lake Champlain, had long been the scene of war, and was first rescued from encroachment and obscurity by the conquest of Canada. Natural was it for the Military who were entitled to lands by the Bounty of the Crown, and of which they had the Election by the express terms of the Royal Proclamt of 1763, to fix upon that district, which they considered as won by their valor. Besides, as the rest of the vacant Lands were subject to the Indian claim, the Clause of the Proclam, requiring that their grants should pass without Fee or Reward, could not have been obeyed, but by complying with their Election. Indeed, I am assured, that L' Gov' Colden, who then presided represented those applications to His Majty'" Secretary of State, with his opinion of the Canadian claims, intimating, that he should withhold the Grants, for a limited time in order to receive the King's Commands, after which, being furnished with no directions to the contrary he proceeded to affix the seal. The prohibitory instruction on occasion of the Petition of the New Hampshire claimants, was not framed or communicated till the year 1767, long after the military rights had been located & surveyed, and in general appropriated by Patents. Had it accompanied the Royal decree of the 20"1 day of July 1764. which determined the controverted boundary between New York and New Hampshire there is no doubt, but it ought implicitly to have been obeyed; the jurisdiction and Soil as Your Lordship justly observes, being in the Crown and the property at His Majty' disposal, according to his gracious pleasure. Indeed, had those lands at the time. of his Royal adjudication been settled and improved either under Canadian or New Hampshire Grants, it must be admitted that no steps ought to have been taken to the prejudice of the occupants, without His Majesty's directions, and Your Lord will find from the proofs accompanying the cases which I lately had the honor to transmit, that all the Country comprized within the Counties of Cumberland and Gloucester where they now at that time chiefly settled, were reserved for their benefit; and that even to the Westward, and within what remained part of the County of Albany, a suitable provision was made by reserving out of every Grant two hundred acres for each occupant, who had strayed so far within the known limits of this Provce If those adventurous people had not encroached within the ancient N. York Grants, there could after so equitable a disposition in their favour, have remained no room for uneasiness or discontent; but here it was not in the power of Govern' to protect them, if it would have been just in itself. A small Military grant of 2000 acres in Bennington, included a few of the settlements under N. Hampshire, but it was surveyed and returned as I am informed before the Govern' was apprised of the circumstances of that part of the Country, which induced them in tenderness to the occupants to make the abovementioned provision for their security. I hope, My Lord, that these considerations will have weight in removing any unfavourable impressions with respect to general conduct of His Maj's servants within this Govern* on occasion of a contest, which has introduced so much trouble and disorder, & which I anxiously wish for a happy termination. It is with the warmest gratitude that I return Your Lord my sincere thanks, for the honorable mention you are pleased to make of my zeal for His Maju service, Your favorable sentiments of the uprightness of my intentions, and your disposition to recommend me to the King's favor Draft of Additional Instructions to the Governors in America. [Plantations General Entries, XLVI. (N.) p. 450.] Draft of Additional Instructions to the Governor of His Majesty's Colonies & [Omitted, as the Official Instructions are printed, pott, under date of 5th February, 1774. ] |