part of them, and fixed the point from whence the remaining part should be run: that the several things agreed on and done by the said commissioners were ratified by the respective governors; entered on record in each colony, in March 1700; approved and confirmed by order of king William, the third, in his privy council; and by his said majesty's letter to his governor of New-York. From this recital it appears to us, that those transactions were not only carried on with the participation, but confirmed by the express act and authority of the crown; and that confirmation made the foundation of the act passed by New-York, for settling the boundaries between the two provinces; of all which authority and foundation the act we now lay before your majesty appears to us to be entirely destitute.

"Upon the whole, as it appears to us that the act in question cannot be effectual to the ends proposed; that your majesty's interest may be materially affected by it, and that the proceedings on which it is founded were not warranted in the first instance by the proper authority, but carried on without the participation of the crown; we cannot think it advisable to lay this act before your majesty, as fit to receive your royal approbation.

66

Which is most humbly submitted,

"DUNK HALIFAX,

"J. GRENVILLE,

"JAMES OSWALD,

"ANDREW STONE.

"Whitehall, July 18, 1753."

THE

HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.

PART V.

FROM THE YEAR 1720 TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF COLONEL COSBY.

WILLIAM BURNET, esq. took upon him the government of this province, on the 17th of September, 1720. The council named in his instructions were

Mr. Burnet was a son of the celebrated bishop of that name, whose piety and erudition, but especially his zeal and activity for the glorious revolution and protestant succession, will embalm his memory to the most distant ages. The governor was a man of sense and polite breeding, a well read scholar, sprightly, and of a social disposition. Being devoted to his books, he abstained from all those excesses into which his pleasurable relish would otherwise have plunged him. He studied the arts of recommending himself to the people, had nothing of the

moroseness of a scholar, was gay and condescending, affected no pomp, but visited every family of reputation, and often diverted himself in free converse with the ladies, by whom he was very much admired. No governor before him, did so much business in chancery. The office of chancellor was his delight. He made a tolerable figure in the exercise of it, though he was no lawyer, and had a foible very unsuitable for a judge, I mean his resolving too speedily, for he used to say of himself, “I act first and think afterwards." He spoke however always sensibly, and by his great reading was able to make a literary parade.-As to his fortune it was very inconsiderable, for he suffered much in the South Sea scheme. While in England, he had the office of comptroller of the customs at London, which he resigned to brigadier Hunter, as the latter, in his favour, did the government of this and the colony of New-Jersey Mr. Burnet's acquaintance with that gentleman gave him a fine opportunity, before his arrival, to obtain good intelligence both of persons and things. The brigadier recommended all his old friends to the favour of his successor, and hence we find that he made few changes amongst them.* Mr. Morris, the chief justice, was his principal confidant: Dr. Colden and Mr. Alexander, two Scotch gentlemen, had the next place in his esteem. He showed his wisdom in that choice, for they were both men of learning, good morals, and solid parts. The former was well acquainted with

*Colonel Schuyler and Mr. Philipse were, indeed, removed from the council board, by his representations; and their opposing, in council, the continuance of the assembly, after his arrival, was the cause of it.

the affairs of the province, and particularly those which concerned the French in Canada and our Indian allies. The latter was bred to the law, and, though no speaker, at the head of his profession for sagacity and penetration; and in application to business no man could surpass him. Nor was he unacquainted with the affairs of the public, having served in the secretary's office, the best school in the province for instruction in matters of government; because the secretary enjoys a plurality of offices, conversant with the first springs of our provincial economy. Both those gentlemen Mr. Burnet soon raised to the council board, as he also did Mr. Morris, jun. Mr. Van Horn, whose daughter he married, and Mr. Kennedy, who succeeded Byerly both at the council board, and in the office of receiver-general.

Of all our governors, none had such extensive and just views of our Indian affairs, and the dangerous neighborhood of the French, as governor Burnet, in which Mr. Livingston was his principal assistant. His attention to these matters appeared at the very commencement of his administration, for in his first speech to the assembly, the very fall after his arrival, he laboured to implant the same sentiments in the breasts of the members; endeavoring to alarm their fears by the daily advances of the French, their possessing the main passes, seducing our Indian allies, and increasing their new settlements in Louisiana.

Chief justice Morris, whose influence was very great in the house, drew the address in answer to the governor's speech, which contained a passage VOL. I.-32

manifesting the confidence they reposed in him. "We believe that the son of that worthy prelate, so eminently instrumental under our glorious monarch, William the third, in delivering us from arbitrary power, and its concomitants, popery, superstition, and slavery, has been educated in, and possesses, those principles that so justly recommended his father to the council and confidence of protestant princes, and succeeds our former governor, not only in power, but inclination to do us good."

From an assembly impressed with such favourable sentiments, his excellency had the highest reason to expect a submissive compliance with every thing recommended to their notice.

The public business proceeded without suspicion or jealousy, and nothing intervened to disturb the tranquillity of the political state. Among the most remarkable acts passed at this session, we may reckon that for a five years' support; another for laying a duty of two per cent. prime cost, on the importation of European goods, which was soon after repealed by the king; and a third, for prohibiting the sale of Indian goods to the French. The last of these was a favorite act of the governor's; and though a law very advantageous to the province, became the source of an unreasonable opposition against him, which continued through his whole administration. From the conclusion of the peace of Utrecht, a great trade was carried on between Albany and Canada, for goods saleable among the Indians. The chiefs of the confederates wisely foresaw its ill consequences, and complained