Att A Councill held at perth-Amboy 3a august 1695 11 A Message by Sam Leonard Richard Berry, Benj: Burden, John Treat, Elias Michielson, Will Laing, & Thomas Higgens, To acquaint this board that Their house did Intend to writt to the proprietors in England about the opening ye ports here, and their selling of the quitrents &c. A Message by James Dundas & Thomas Gordon Clerk of this board, to Informe ye house of Deputyes that ye Gover" & Councill expected their answer to ye rest of ye proposalls, and that they Intend to writt to ye proprietors & Show ye house ye letters, & therefore they Expected that ye house would Communicate to ye Gover & Councill ye letters wch they said they were writting to ye prop'rs A Message by David Mudie & Thomas Gordon Clerk of this board, to desire a Generall Conference of ye house of Deputyes, at 2 a Clock in ye afternoon, in ye usuall place. Adjourned to two a Clock afternoon Post meridiem Att a Generall Conference of both houses, The Gover" told The members of ye house of Deputyes, that he & ye Councill Expected to see the letters wch they said they were writting to ye prop'rs, for if they be Concealled it seems to be because they Complain of ye Goverment, or Else writts untrouths and mistakes, weh if they do not they ought to Communicate their letters, for he & ye Councill are very ready & willing to Joyn in and assist in every thing weh may any way tend to ye Generall good of ye province, and unlesse they writt Joyntly to ye prop'rs how Could they expect to effect any thing. Mr Speaker answered that they had nothing to Complaine of agst ye Gover & Councill, nor would they willingly writt any thing but what was true, and if they should Complain of ye prop'rs themselves they hoped it would wrong no body. The Gover desired an answer to ye proposall in writting, wch Mr Speaker refused, but if the Gover & Councill pleased, he would speak what he had in Commission from ye house upon that Subject, Viz: i To ye first article of ye proposalls, (to witt ye raiseing of a peice of money for Encurradging of ye Souldiers, Come from England for defence of ye frontiers) They say ye Country is in great arrears of quitrents, & have done a great deal already, and ye Gover of new-Yorke refused 500 offered by that province we had it been needfull they think he would not have denyed it. The Gover answered yt ye Country may as well Complain of their particular debts as of ye quitrents, ye one being as truely due as ye other, and ye Gover of new-Yorke had refused ye sd 500 Not because it was not needfull, but because that bill was burthened wth other things wch he Could not in honor Grant. 2. To ye Second (to witt ye raiseing a peice of money for Clearing of our ports at home) They Say that ye Country have payed their quitrents, or are to pay them, and therefore ye prop'rs ought to open ye ports, and ye Country have been at 800 Charge to Support ye frontiers & ye prop'rs have don nothing, and if they were in a Capacity to raise a peice of money for this end, they are but tennants at will & ye prop'rs may Surrender ye Goverment to ye Crown when they please, they haveing no Certainty of ye Goverment 3 To ye Third (to witt The proposeing a method for Collecting y quitrents wthout truble & Charge to yo prop'rs) they say if they Cannot Compell ye master to pay, they cannot Compell ye Servant to Serve. To ye 2a & 3d The Gover answered yt if ye Country had alwayes payed their arrears of quitrents, as they ought to have doon, and Supported ye Goverment, The prop'rs would never have desired their assistance on these two heads 4. To ye fourth (to witt ye proposeing a fund for ye future Support of ye Goverment) They say that they have taken care for one year, and they have no Certainty for any longer time of ye Goverment. The Gover" answered that they ought at least to have Continued it for so long time as ye prop'rs keep ye Goverment, it being their own Interest so to do, and as to ye bills, ye Gover told them, That he believed that about ye Lumber act would amount to a Monopile & therefore Cannot pass it till he writt to ye prop'rs & have their answer, as to yt about Attorneys it would have a very ill aspect, & arraign ye Ignorance & partiality of our Courts; as to ye money bill of 150 for Support of ye Goverment, if they thought that he must pass all ye rest only for ye Sake W Sake of that, he would return it also, tho he Judged it lame also, being only for one year wch ought to have Continued at least so long as ye prop'rs keep ye Goverment, and as to ye rest he would Consider of them. A Message by James Dundas & Thomas Gordon Clerk of this board, desireing a Comittie of that house to be appointed to meet two of ye Councill, to Conferr upon Some of ye bills Sent this board, to witt Andrew Bowne & James Dundas from this board were appointed to meet Edward Earle, Richard Berry & John Enslie, and after a full debate they returned & reported to this board, That they had aggreed on ye amendments of ye bill for translateing all Conveyances ont of forraign Languages into English. A bill for raiseing 150s for Support of ye Goverment was read here & past this board, & ye bill for translateing Conveyances out of forraign Languages into English was read here & past this board, A Message by James Dundas & Thomas Gordon Clerk of this board, wth ye Six bill wch are not past this board returned to ye house of Deputyes, & to acquaint them yt ye money bill & ye bill for translateing all Conveyances out of forraign Languages into English were both past this board, and also to Inform them that ye Gover and Councill had writt to ye prop'rs in England, wch letter they had ordered ye Clerk of this house to read publickly in ye house of Deputyes to Show them that this board are neither ashamed nor affrayed to own publickly what they do, notwithstanding yt house had denyed ye like Civility to this board; wch letter ye sd Thomas Gordon Clerk of this board did accordingly read publickly, and also acquainted them, that ye Gover & Councill desired to know if they had any further business to do for ye Country at this time, for if they had they should be adjourned for some Convenient time, otherwise they should be dissolved, and desired that whole house to attend ye Gover & Councill presently. The house of Deputyes attended ye Gover" & Councill, and Mr Speaker told yt he was ordered to give ye thanks of that house to ye Gover & Council for their favour in Causeing read to them ye letter wch they had writt to ye prop'rs in England, and said that they knew of no further bussiness wch ye Country had at this time, and ordered yt ye Secretary do record the two laws that are now made & transcribe 4 Copies, viz: one for each County, & that John pike when ready do with ye Secretary revise & examine them, and then the Gover" dissolved ye assembly and ye assembly was dissolved accordingly, THOMAS GORDON D Secr'y & Regr Att Att A Councill held at Perth Amboy the 20th day of ffebruary 1695 Governour Hamilton Present Andrew Bowne of the Councill James Dundas The Members of the house of Deputies being most of them mett, Came before this board, And told the Governour the Major part of them were conveened. And the Governour desired them to withdraw and choose their speaker, And present him Either to Night or to Morrow. And In A short time presented & Returned Richard Hartshorne theire Speaker, who was Accordingly Received, And the Governour told them he thought fitt to Acquaint them that the reason of Calling them together was to Informe them of Thomas Gordons goeing for England. And also he Acquainted them that the Proprietors had beene at A great charge In supporting the Goverment, And never Received any thing out of the Province, which he desired them to take Into theire consideration Adjourned till to morrow at 8 A Clock &c Att A Councill held ar Perth Amboy 25th ffebr: 1695 Present Governour Hamilton John Bishop of the Councill James Dundas A Message from this board to the house of Deputies by John Bishop & Thomas Gordon, to take the Oathes of the Deputies as is usuall, And In a Short time Returned gave Accp't to this board that they had done it Adjourned till to morrow at 8 A Clock &c Att A Councill held at Perth Amboy 26th ffebr: 1695| Governour Hamilton Isaac Kingsland Present Andrew Bowne James Dundas of the Concill A Message from this board to the house of Deputies by John Barclay, Clerk of this board, with A bill for the tryall & Execution of Negros or other Slaves guiltie of murder or any other Capitall Crime. Adjourned till to morrow at 8 A Clock &c Att Att a Councill held at Perth Amboy 27th ffebr: 1695 A Message to this board from the house of Deputies by John Royce, Benjamen Griffith & William Looker, with A bill concerning gaiming and tipling In publick houses A Message from this board to the house of Deputies by Isaac Kingsland one of the Members of this board, & John Barclay Clerk, with two bills passed this board (viz) one for Establishing of fees for the Members of this board, And an other for Regulating of ordinaries. Adjourned till to morrow Att A Councill held the 29th ffebr: 1695 Present (Governour Hamilton Andrew Bowne James Dundas of the Councill A Message from the house of Deputies to this board by John Royce, William Looker, Thomas Hilburne, Richard Salter, Jedediah Higgens, William Lawrence, Clause Janson, with five bills, (viz) A bill for opening our ports &c, A bill Impowering one Justice to sum'ons towne meetings, A bill oblidgeing Constables chosen to serve, A bill for killing of Woolves, A bill for punishing & Releeving Negros Adjourned till monday at 8 A Clock Att A Councill held Perth Amboy 2d March 169% Governour Hamilton Isaac Kingsland Present Andrew Bowne James Dundas of the Councill A Message from this board by Isaac Kingsland & Thomas Gordon to the house of Deputies, with two bills, (viz) one for Supporting the Goverment, And one concerning Negros, also three bills past both houses (viz) one concerning Woolves, one concerning constables, one concerning appoynting of towne meetings. 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