fair means with Tinsdale & to cause them to Lease under our title &c if not then to get them peaceably by art moved off

We were at whitestone a great part of two days where was also Mr Clarke, all the time, & much more frank than at the former meeting with him which I acquainted you of, for Since that time he assured us by Letter that he had wrote to the English patentees relinquishing & refuseing to accept of that 2000 acres was offered under their patent & is resolved to Stand & fall by our title for which & other Services he can be of to us he Lets us know that he Expects to be considered in the charge of our defense but how much he ascertains not

Att that meeting M1 Smith & I acquainted them with what Steps we had taken for the publick benefite which in Substance were these

We prepared for England Coppies 1 of the bounds of Connecticut patent 2 those of Newyork, 3 coppy Setlement of Line of 1664, 4 agreement & Survey of 1683 & 4, 5thly agreement & report of 1725, 6thly Surrender of 14th May 1731, 7thly Eyles's patent 8thly our own patent, 9thly answer to Mr Harrison Advertisement 10thly coppy of your Letter to Mr Perrie. Upon which Mr Murray Mr Smith & I with our best thinking stated 24 Questions & Sent all to Mr Paris, with 25 guineas in order to Retain two of the best Council of England for us & one Laborious Council to Consider the Said papers & answer the Queries with his reasons & book cases that Sway his opinion I made two plans as well as I could one to Express the Situation of the Connecticut & York patents the other to Express the Lines of 1664 1683 & 1731 with whats remarkable in the transactions about the matter in question, to help the imagination of the Council who should answer the questions, of which preceeding the persons mett approved

four of our Queries were concerning the Kings promise in the Gov" Commission which Queries wt the answers to them we desired Mr Paris to Lay before the Governour acquainting him now nearly that matter concerned his interest

We inclosed a Coppy of our patent & advertisement in your Letter to Micajah Perry & coppies of these we sent to Each of the English patentees in blank Sheets of paper disireing Mr Paris to deliver all we also desired him to reprint the advertisements in one or two of the London Newspapers we Sent him also Loose Half a Dozen Coppies of our patent & of the printed Advertisements here

Att that meeting at Whitestone we agreed upon the form of an agreement for mutual Defense to be Executed by all Concerned in the Equivalent Lands which is what I believe you have Seen in my hands but Sundry amendments are made to it Ireland & Thomas carried it with them in order for the approbation of the Country partners & getting Ridgefield to join in it, but with Directions not to accept of Ridgfield without agreeing to pay as much for one acre of theirs as we for the Defense of two of ours

Smith & I raised the Spirits of our partners mett by buying Lott N° 13 of Wnan [?] Roots for what it Cost him, which convinced them of the Sincerity of our opinions of the goodness of our own & badness of our Antagonists title, we should be glad to know your opinion of that Lott

Tho' Eyles's patent as to the bounds is as well worded as could have been done, yet the Last Clause of our advertisment with our discovery of the agreement of 1664 which we knew not of when I Last wrote to you, will Show you that we don't think Eyles's patent does include the Lands in question but what's there granted must be to the westward of the Line of 1683 & to the Eastward of the Line of 1664 or of the first West bounds of Connecticut, our Advertisement shows some of our Sentiments as to the Deceit of both the King & grantees in that patent

At White Stone meeting we agreed that after Signing our agreement the next Step of moment should be for all Concerned to Sign a Representation of our Case to the King & to get the General Court of Connecticut to Address the King in our behalf beseeching his Majestys intercession with the English patentees that we may be quieted Either by their releaseing to us or by haveing their patent declared void by scire facias or otherways

The Substance of the Connecticut Address we think

may be Setting forth the bounds of what was granted them how for peace Sake in 1664 they Quited with above 9/10ths of their bounds that by their fears & Superior power of the Duke of york their Comrs were Led into the agreement of 1683 which they never would have confirmed had it not been that in 1725 it was verbally agreed that the people Setled by them should have had the grant of their improved Lands & that the Govrt of Newyork by the act of the Gov' & Council on 3d Sep' 1730 did agree accordingly to grant those Lands & then & not till then they by the act of their body of October 1730 Did confirm the past transactions about their bounds without which act his Majesty could not have made title to the Lands in question, & as their intention was by that their act that their people Should be Setled in peace, humbly hope that his Majesty will interpose to remove Every thing that may obstruct their intention or disturb those people in their possessions

This we thought also you was most capable to put into Such a Light as maybe of use to us, & will best go down with the general Court, for you by your Conversation wt their Com" on these heads best know the truth of those facts & their Sentiments, & should be glad at your Leisure you would prepare a Draught of Such an address & transmitt it to us by the pass this winter that we may in March have it Communicated to the Connecticut Demagogues for their approbation before the meeting of their General Court in Aprile

We should be glad you would also make a draught of our Representation to the King & Send it at Same time if you have not & want the agreement of 1664 I shall Send you a Coppy of it, & also of the bounds of Connecticut & york patents

Smith & I had Some chat with Claws about Draining the Waywayanda drowned Lands I remember to have had Some with you about them, & Advised Claw's as he is going your way in a week or two to talk with you about it & if possible to get you to trye with a water Levell what Solid quantity of Rock is to be taken away in order to give outLett Enough to the water, for without that it

was impossible to know whether it was practicable or not, for tho it might Look Practicable & Easy to be done by inspection, yet when you come to Computation the thing might Look with a Different face & to give him an Example, I Supposed that one man might bore four times 12 inches deep in the rock in one day, that at Each time a piramed was blown out whose base was a Square foot & highth a foot which was 1/4 of a Solid foot, & so a mans work for a day was a whole Solid foot, & Suppose also the place to be dug was ten chains Long fourty foot wide & 20 foot deep, it will be found by Computation that 100 men will not do the work in Seventeen years allowing them to work 300 days in a year & thats more than they could do by 14 at Least, If you find the thing practicable to be done for 8 or ten thousand pound charge I think it might be worth while to think upon the matter & to Secure the Lands (for the greatest part of them Lye in jersey) & to get a Company of about 20 able persons to join in the work, & would that Sum defray the charge I think it would be the most beneficial to the province & to the partners of any undertakeing that can be thought of for that a [torn] would yield hemp Enough to keep the ballance of trade with England on the Side of this province which could we once Effect, we should soon flow with money, I am Yours

JA. ALEXANDER.

Dear Sir

From James Alexander.

NEWYORK Decem' 23d 1731.

I have the favour of yours of Decem 6th & 10th had either of us thought it would not have been to your Likeing to have Sent a Coppy of yours to Paris I am well assured we would have been Loath to have done it had we been never So well assured of the Service of it to the Cause, but as you Submitted it to our judgements whether the original should be Sent to Mr Perry if we thought it proper, and as Mr Perry it Seems is not the Perry who is

concerned ag us we thought it of use for the cause to Send a Coppy of it to Mr Paris, & to Submitt the original to him & the Council he Should advise with to deliver it or not as they should think it most adviseable we Saw no further care nor Caution that could be wanting as to that Letter, & I do not believe you'll upon the most Serious Consideration find any thing amiss in it or that all the world may not See

As to our Sending the printed advertisement to England & haveing it printed there Murray Smith & myself were clear of the mind that it was of use, & our partners mett at Whitestone unanimously approved it, possibly it may be wrong but if it had been so, yet we should have acted wrong not to have done it, while we thought it of use, and have not altered that opinion as yet

Nor have I altered my opinion as to the propriety of the Sending coppies of the papers themselves to be advised upon & as to the Confusion that may arise from Such a method I think & we all thought it was cured by the Queries referring each of them to the particular paper & papers & parts of the papers necessary to be Considered for the Solution, we well know the Consequence of cases Stated, & that opinions upon them are but precarious being Lyable to two possible defects whereas the other way is but Lyable to one the two defects are mistakeing, & mistake in opinion on the State, wheras the other is but Lyable to the Last, a few words in a Deed overseen by the Stater of the Case as immaterial, often does very much alter the case.

I am very Glad to hear of that paper of reasons you mention for the agreement in 1725, but do not Remember ever to have heard that there was Such a paper filed in the office, but have understood (& how I came to do so I cannot tell) that there was a Letter from the Comm" to Gov Burnet for his opinion whether they Should Consent to the Demands of Connecticut &c, & that in answer you had his approbation before you Consented, I heartyly wish you had been here to have put us in mind of that paper & to have Set us to rights in Every