whole of the Journal, from 1703 to 1776, it was deemed best under the circumstances to reprint this portion. So far as ordinary type will admit, every peculiarity in the original manuscript has been scrupulously reproduced here. One exception is the case where a character closely resembling is very frequently used for the syllable per, pre or pro. These syllables are printed here in full. The use of this contraction led to many errors in the edition of 1872, notably in one case where the word im Piously was transcribed and printed as impiously, instead of imperiously! The original manuscript is for the most part in a very clear and neat court-hand of the period. Other portions are in different handwriting, not so easily decipherable. The ink, though faded, is still distinct. A good idea of the manuscript is given in the frontispiece herewith.

The present volume also contains the Journal of the Governor and Council of the Province of New Jersey, from the surrender of East Jersey and West Jersey to the Crown, and their union as one Province under a Governor and Council appointed by Queen Anne. The records of this body do not appear ever to have been printed. Undoubtedly the original record was kept in the Province, and an authenticated copy was regularly transmitted to England by the Governor for the time being. What has become of the original Journal it has been impossible thus far to ascertain. From 1703 to 1776 it would fill six or eight folio volumes. It has been conjectured that these records, with other papers, were carried off by Governor Franklin when he was conducted from New Jersey to Connecticut. What became of his papers is unknown. It has also been suggested that possibly the Secretary of the Province in 1776 might have retained these records. Search in the New York State Library, at Albany,

has failed to reveal the missing Journals. It is true that they may have been destroyed during the troublous times of the Revolution, or they may have gone the way of waste paper at a later time, but the unexpected turning up of the earlier Journal, from 1682 to 1703, shows that it is possible that the other records may yet be found reposing upon some shelf or in an out-of-the-way corner in some ancient house in New Jersey. For lack of the originals, recourse has been had to the contemporary copies sent to England by the Royal Governors, now preserved in the Public Record Office in London. Copies of these copies were procured by the New Jersey Historical Society some years ago through the agency of the late Henry Stevens. They fill twelve large portfolios. The printed sheets of this volume were sent to Benjamin F. Stevens, whose familiarity with the public record offices of Europe is unequaled, and he has caused them to be compared with the copies in London, and has noted every deviation, no matter how slight, from the records there. The appended table of Errata and Addenda gives the result of this careful comparison.

It will be observed that there is a hiatus in the Journal from August 20th, 1703, to December 20th, 1708. Much effort has been made to discover whether any records existed of the transactions of the Governor and Council during this period, and if so, where they might be found.

B. Fernow, the accomplished historiographer of New York State, wrote in reply to an inquiry on this subject: "I find that Lord Cornbury went to New Jersey on public business, from June 19th to 29th, 1702; August 10th to 31st, 1703, to publish his commissions; November 9th to December 23d, 1703; August 28th to October 6th, 1704; November 7th, 1704, to February 6th, 1705; May 8th to June 9th, 1705;

April 22d to June 19th, 1707; probably from April 27th to June 22d, 1708, and from November 2d to 16th, 1708. This is from the New York Council minutes. It is therefore probable that he sat with the New Jersey Council during these various periods, and that the minutes must be in New Jersey."

Benjamin F. Stevens writes from London: "Now for the serious part of your letter-the missing volume of your Journals, 1703 to 1708. When Nova Cæsarea was annexed to the Crown in 1702, a great many disputes followed with the Governor, and I think there is evidence that the missing minutes were never retained by the Board of Trade, but were laid before the Queen and not returned, because in the strictly contemporary arrangement and binding of these minutes, those for 1703-8 are not included in the lettering, viz., 1702 and previous are tabbed 'A,' 1709, &c., 'B,' &c. I suggest the possibility of their being at Windsor, but the chance is small of ever finding them.

"Mr. Hubert Hall, the efficient officer at the Record Office in the Government search department, has been through everything in the Record Office, whether Proprieties, Plantations General, or New York, or America and West Indies, in the hope of finding your volume out of place. He has always found the red tabs of the State Paper Office clerk who was responsible for the material of the printed records of New Jersey.

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Cornbury was Governor of both New Jersey and New York pro tem., and search in this direction did not disclose your volume.

"The Minutes of Council are stout folio despatches of various length and thickness, each mounted on guards and bound (in contemporary vellum) some dozen in a volume.

"I have seen no printed ones of New Jersey. Those in the Record Office were, of course, transcripts of the original Journals of the Council transmitted in the Governors' original despatches and taken out of those to be bound in a separate series.

"I cannot yet answer your old conundrum about William Franklin's papers. I am looking for them."

The original manuscript "Journal and Votes of the House of Representatives of the Province of Nova Cæsarea or New Jersey in their first Sessions of Assembly" at Perth Amboy begins November 10th, 1703, and continues until December 13th, 1703, covering twenty-two closely-written pages. The second session, held at Burlington, began September 1st, 1704, and continued until December 12th, 1704, the Journal covering thirty-five pages. On page 59 of the same volume begins the "Journal of the House of Representatives for the Province of New Jersey in the 2a Sessions of their 2a Assembly held for the said Province Begun at Perth Amboy y 15th day of October 1705," continuing until November 8th, 1705, and covering eight pages. The "3a Sessions of the Second Assembly" began at Perth Amboy October 25th, 1706, but there being no quorum, was adjourned from day to day until November 1st, 1706, and in fact did not meet at all. The first session of the third Assembly began at Burlington, April 5th, 1707, and continued until May 16th, 1707, covering fifty pages, many being filled with speeches of the Governor and the replies of the Assembly, on the numerous matters of controversy between them. The same Assembly met again at Perth Amboy, October 23d, 1707, and continued until October 31st, the chief business being the adoption of a scathing arraignment of the Governor, who thereupon adjourned them until the second of April ensuing. The next

session began May 5th, 1708, continuing until May 12th, but the body being "Factious & mutinous and would do nothing," Cornbury adjourned them until September. The Journals up to this date cover 149 pages, less a few blanks. They tell of bills passed, of frequent conferences with the Council, of the action of that body upon bills, and generally of the doings of a Legislature, with both branches simultaneously sitting. The inference is inevitable, that the Council sat, and that a Journal was kept of its proceedings. The Assembly minutes from 1703 to 1709, and probably later, were evidently kept on loose sheets of paper, which were folded lengthwise and ultimately bound up with other sheets on which the minutes were continued. If the Council minutes were kept in the same way, the loss of a portion is easily accounted for, although it would not explain the failure of the Governor to transmit copies to England.1 It is possible that Lord Cornbury may have retained the original Journals and taken them with him on his return to England.2

A word as to the system of editing these records: It was deemed safest to print them precisely as found, errors and all. In some cases a letter or a word has been supplied, but these are always enclosed in brackets.

The usefulness of this volume is greatly increased by the full index prepared by Judge Ricord.

It was not thought wise or necessary to add many notes. For those inserted Mr. Nelson is responsible.

1 Some notices of the sittings of the Assembly from 1703 to 1708 will be found in N. J. Archives, III., passim.

See N. J. Archives, III., 357.