To the FIFTH concerning the Dogger.

This Mr Beekman having a Sloop went from this place to Nevis & Sr William Stapleton hearing of a dutch privateer gave him a commisson to goe after him, which hee did & took a great ugly vessel ye dutch have for fishing with one deck & went back with her to Nevis. Whereupon Sr Wm in reward of his good service gave him the Kings & his own share in her soe hee brought her hither where shee being a Dutch built & and the man having a mind to sell her, had her condemned at a Court of Admiralty. Upon which I forgave him the Kings share which by appraizement amounted to as doth appear by Mr Beekman's testimony

To the SIXTH concerning Heathcot's Sloop.

Mr. Santon does me wrong in this for upon the word of a Christian, I know not at this minute who were the appraizers they having been appointed by the Court where the sloop & goods were condemned, & they too upon their oaths. Neither had I any advantage by that vessel as Mr Santon knows tho' he had by making George Heathcot pay him ninety pounds & charges which was more then the third part the condemnation came to soe that I hope this is not the voyage he charges the King with soe much for, tho' it is the only remarkable one hee ever made & yet but ten miles distant from this place

To the SEVENTH concerning my Lord Neill Campbells goods

My Lord Neill Campbell its true desired my bill of store for the 10 Pr cent which I did grant, but Mr. Santen does mee wrong to say that I ordered they should bee entered without examination to the best of my remembrance there was noe such thing: but here hee forgets what hee has done himself what goods he has admitted to entry without examination contrary to Act of Assembly & my order as appears by his own books to the great diminution of his Matys revenue in this Province: neither does he remember what bills of store he has granted notwithstanding several orders to the contrary

To the EIGHTH concerning one Riddell

Mr Santen does mee wrong in this, One Mr Riddell a poor Gentleman that brought into this city without entry (as a great many others have done without Mr Santen or his officers taking notice thereof) a small parcel of linen afterwards appraised to be of the value of 3 or 5 pounds, And after that this Riddell & one of the officers of the Custom House drinking drunk together, fell a quarrelling, on which the Officer went out & meeting with Vaughton about one or two in the morning, compelled him to goe along with him to seize uncostumed goods at Riddell's lodging, where when they came they broke open the door upon this Riddell who being still drunk endeavoured to keep them out & and in the struggling stabbed Mr Vaughton. Whereupon he was secured in prison where hee lay a long time till Vaughton recovered. Afterwards the poor man being in a starving condition on the application of Mr Vaughton & himself & Mr Sprag & several others hee was set at liberty, and on a petition of his to the Council his goods were ordered to bee released, he paying all charges which being more than the value of the goods Mr. Sprag in charity to Riddell paid the Surgeons their demands which was ten pounds without taking any thing from him

To the NINTH concerning Capt. Santen's warrants to the Sheriffs &c

Mr Sarten knows himself that from time to time by order of Council, all the Sheriffs have been obliged to account with him for all rents, Quit rents & arrearages of rent &c yet this would not doe to make himself seem great, he would needs issue forth his own warrants, which poor man was

done in one of his fitts & indeed they met with such reception as they deserved, the sheriffs took noe other notice of them than to send them to mee Whereupon I being somewhat surprised at his manner of procedure called him before the Council where (being asked how he came to issue forth such warrants) his answer was that to his knouledge the Lord Treasurer did soe in England, But here I would ask Capt Santen why he hath not given a better account of Such Quit rents &c as have passed through his hands

To the TENTH concerning my covetousness as he is pleased to term it

Here (if Mr. Santon speaks true in saying I have been covetous) it was in the management of this small revenue to the best advantage, & had Mr Santen been as just as I have been careful the King had not been in debt, as I had more in my pocket than now I have

It may be true when I called for the King's money & accompts from Mr Santen & I met with unbecoming returns I might use some passionat expressions

And as for my pinching Officers if hee means himself it was because he took it very ill that I would not allow him 7 or 800 pounds extravagant expenses, As for Fran. Barber I never spoke a word to him of salary in my life & leave it to the audit what acct hee gives of the Revenue of that County for three years & on half

To the ELEVENTH concerning the excise of Long Island &c

What Mr. Santen says concerning the offer of £52 for the excise pr a year may bee true I thought it very unreasonable that the excise of three Countys should be farmed for soe little, therefore I fixed upon Mr Vaughton & Mr. Nicolls looking upon them to bee honest men & agreed with them for £20 P Ps & what they could make over & above they should deliver to Mr Santen That Dan. Whitehead offered me three pounds for my license it is false, or that I had £10, from Nicolls & Vaughton is likewise false as doth appear by Mr Nicolls testimony & would by that of Mr Vaughton were hee here. Neither had I even any money for licenses since I came into this Government except from Albany & this place £24, but on the contrary gave it all to the collectors of the respective countys for their encouragement

To the TWELFE concerning Mr Pretty &c

Mr. Pretty is Sheriff of that County & having a great deal of other concerns upon his hands for the King & countreys service, that being a frontier County to Canada, soe that hee could not possibly attend the Surveyors place I put in William Shaw who had that place before in the time of Sr Edmond Andros & as Mayor Brockhelles informs us behaved himself faithfully therein. And as to his allegation in his memorandums that Shaw was put in for satisfaction for two or three years pay due to him, it is wholly untrue as does appear by the testimony of Mayor Baxter, Mr Coker, & by the receipt under Shaws own hand

To the THIRTEENTH concerning the deprivations of officers &c

This John Smith is a man that if he were as honest as hee is able the king had had more justice done him & Mr. Santen more money in his pocket. What account Sr Ben Bathurst gave mee of him I have already acquainted yr Lopps with, & for what reason hee was turned out of the Custom House is herein before given to your Lops.

To the FOURTEENTH concerning the Pasture of Albany &c

As for this of the Pasture, he is mistaken, it was never yet in the King's hands, but hee that was the commander took some profits of it, which was a great grievance to the people it having been patented by governor Nicolls to several people & by them built upon whose buildings have been

since carried away by the overflowing of the river, It does not contain above fifteen or sixteen acres. I doubt not but I shall make it appear that I have done nothing in this to his Matys prejudice I conceive I have done the King very good service in Albany. The town of Albany lyes within the Ranslaers Colony, and to say truth the Ranslaers had the right to it for it was they settled the place, & upon a petition of one of them to our present King about Albany the petitioner was referred to his Matys council at law who upon a perusal of the Ranslaers papers made their return that it was their opinion that it did belong to them Upon which there was an order sent over to Sr Edmund Andros that the Ranslaers should be put in possession of Albany, & that every house should pay some two beavers, some more some less according to their dimensions pr annum, for thirty years, & afterwards the Ranslaers to put what rent upon them they could agree for-What reason St Edmond Andros has given for not putting these orders in execution I know not.

The Ranslaers came & brought me the same orders which I thought not convenient to execute judging it not for his Matys interest that the second town of the Goverment & which brings his Maty soe great a Revenue should be in the hands of any particular men. The town of itself is upon a barren sandy spot of land, & the inhabitants live wholly upon trade with the Indians. By the meanes of Mr James Graham Judge Palmer & Mr Cortlandt that have great influence on that people I got the Ranslaers to release their pretence to the town & sixteen miles into the country for commons to the King with liberty to cut firewood within the Colony for one & twenty years. After I had obtained this release of the Ranslaers I passed the patent for Albany wherein was included the afore mentioned pasture, to which the people apprehended they had so good a right that they expressed themselves discontented at my reserving a small spot of it for a garden for the use of the Garrison That the people of Albany has given me £700. is untrue I am but promised £300, which is not near my Prquisits, viz, ten shillings for every house & the like for every hundred acres patented by me, established by a committee appointed by the Assembly for the establishing of all fees, where Capt Santen may remember himself was chairman, Alsoe what they have given to those other Gentlemen I know nothing of it & upon my word in Gen' I have not got the fourth part of my Pquisits, chusing rather to want them than take from the poor people that cannot spare it

To the FIFTEENTH concerning a farm at East Jersey belonging to his Maty &c

Mr Santen might have given a better account of this if his malice had suffered him The Farm at East Jersey paid £10, p2 annum to his Maty & at a Rack-rent, the proprietors of East Jersey putting us to more trouble than the value of it, they constantly disturbing the Tenants on pretence that his Maty had granted that to them, so that I conclude it would be more inconvenient to keep it than to part with it. Therefore Judge Palmer having an interest in East-Jersey & an influence with the Governor there, on his giving mee his obligation to pay as a fine the summ of £60. to the King in case hee should not think fit to forgive it & the rent of twenty shillings pr ann. & to defend the title, I gave him a lease of the Reversion of it

To the SIXTEENTH concerning Rockaway Neck &c

Mr Santen poor man neither understands his own nor others concerns, hee was one of the Council himself when Capt Palmer petitioned for licence to purchase this land, lying without the meers & bounds of Hempstead & when the same was granted, & before hee had had his patent granted, the people of Hempstead were summoned to appear to show cause, if they had any why it should not bee granted, Thereupon one person came to mee & told mee that it was his land & that it was within the meers & bounds of Hempstead on which I ordered him to put a Caveat in to the Secrys office against the passing of Judge Palmers patent, and then the Surveyor went to survey the lands accompanied by some of the Inhabitants of Hempstead, to show him their bounds who returning [VOL. I.]

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this lands to bee without their meers & bounds the patent was passed in which Captn Palmer is expressly bounded where hee adjoins to Hempsted by their line, And, wherein hee says the Hempsted people were frighted to let their Suits fall, its quite otherwise, for this Pearsall, upon the granting of this Patent got into possession of this land, inasmuch as Judge Palmer was forcet to commence suits against him Where after it had sometime depended, Pearsall finding that to insist on his pretence would not avail him, suffered judgement to goe against him, and as for his being frightened into it by Captn Palmers being Judge, there's noe such thing for on purpose he withdrew himself & left the management of that Court to his Collegue Judge Nicolls and as for the lands being the only pasture of the town its wholly false for its noe pasture at all, being all woodland, and that town having a plain of upwards of 40,000 acres of good pasture without a stick upon it & as for its value I believe Judge Palmer would think himself obliged to Capt Santen or any others that would give him £200. for it.

To the SEVENTEENTH concerning Mr Grahams insinuation

Mr Santen is in the right that Mr. Graham is Attorney-general and supervisor of all Patents & soe made upon Mr Rudyard's going from this place to Barbadoes & is a person understanding in the law, it being his whole business Wherefore I thought it not fit to pass any patents without his perusal least I might doe prejudice to the King. It is likewise true that I have called in former patents & still continue to doe so, that I might see by what Tenure they hold their lands, which I find generally to be by none, they paying noe acknowledgment to the King Whereupon being convinced of that defect by the resolution of ye Judges the people for their own ease & quiet & that of their posterity which otherwise might have fallen under the lash of succeeding Governors, without the least murmuring have renewed their patents with a reservation of a certain Quit-Rent to the King to the noe small advancement of his Revenue, & this done with general satisfaction & of which none will in the least complain but on the contrary express themselves thankful for it

Mr. Santen sure when hee wrote this article against mee did not consider the obligation that was upon us both to advance the Kings interest in our several stations, far less how inconsistent it was with his office to bee the only pson aggrieved at the advancement of his Matys revenue, when the people themselves that are concerned are not only satisfied but pleased with it.

Again hee forgets that hee was a member of the Council when they gave it for their opinion that those former patents were insufficient & were then dayly consenting to the passing of new ones. As for sums of money exacted I own I have received £200 from Ranslaer, but its nothing to what my perquisits would have amounted to according to the aforementioned regulation he having a vast tract of land

From Hempted I recd one hundred pound by forty & that in Cattle which is far less than my pquisits they hauing upwards of 100,000 acres, I own alsoe I have received £300 from the citty of New York, & have granted them nothing more than what they had from my predecessors, & is now before his Maty for a confirmation.

The land that Mr Santen complains of to bee such a grievance, is the Dock which the town at their own proper charge have taken from the sea, & dayly are at vast expense to maintain, & what use they make of it is not my business to inquire, but as to their selling to the value of £1500 for my use its wholly false, And as for those other sums of 50, 30 & 20 pounds, its not soe. I was never covetous to take from the poor people what they could not well spare, the Secratary is my witness, but if I had it never amounted to my pquisits, according to the regulation aforesaid Besides the charge herein before answered were found several memorandums of what Mr Santen intended to complain against me. Among which there being some things not mentioned Capt Santens in the said charge, the same as I presume not being perfected, I presume further to trouble Mem❜dums your Lops with what I have to say therein in my vindication

Answer to

I am sorry Mr. Santen has not a better memory. The Kings share of Cobbys Ship came by apCobbys Ship prizement to £19 7s 6d which was by Judge Palmer paid into Captn Santens own hands as appears by the testimony of Capt Palmer

Meritus house As to Mr Merrits house it does not pay soe much rent as Capt Santen pretends & is too quite out of repaire, ready to drop down

And as to the Farm hee might have remembered that I showed him a letter from Sr B Bathurst wherein was intimated that his Royal Highness now his Maty was pleased I should have both the farm & the house during the time of my government of this place.

Coker's
House

For Coker's house I am glad Capt" Santen has found so considerable a rent, for my part I never received a peny for it, therefore I shall now charge £72, more, being four years rent to Capt Santens account for which he has not yet given the King credit. There was a cooper liv'd in the next house to it and paid 12 or 15 pound pr ann for which I find no credit given to the King in Capt Santens books, since the cooper left the poorest p'son in town would not live in it it being ready to drop down & Cokers is not in a better condition, soe bad they are that its a wonder to every body that they stand yet, in soe much that when Dr. Junes brought me my Lord Middletons order to let him have them & I showed them to him hee would not live in them.

Antill's business

Two or three years agoe Sr John Worden sent me an order to give a long lease of them to any that would take it, I have not met with any such person & I am sure if rebuilt by the King, it would not give him the interest of his money & Merrits house is in the same condition, as appears by the return of the Survey made by some of the Council and Carpenters sent to view it. As for the business between Mr. Santen & Mr. Antill its a thing so scandalous that I will not trouble your Lops with an account of it, only this I'll say that Mr Antill sent severall to him and I spake to him myself to let him know that Mr. Antill would be satisfied with an acknowledgment that he had done him wrong in speaking those scandalous words & that it was the effects of drink. But Mr. Santens pride was such that hee would not doe it, but continued to justify what he had said. Whereupon Mr. Antill took out the execution against him (he not being then of the Council) but before the serving sent him ye like message as before with the same effect whereupon the execution was served.

Larkins Case. As for Larkins case I refer to the orders of Council herewith sent.

As for the King's concerns going in a right channel I am sure they never can where he has powers. As for desiring a list of his Matys Quit-Rents & my denying it to him, its wholly untrue for he has a book with an acct of all the Quit-Rents that then were to bee found mentioned in the records of Patents kept in the Secretarys office, which I caused Coker to draw out on purpose for him.

Smith kept the key of the Granary & what corn I received for my own use or the use of the Garrison was taken out by Coker & it was shown to Mr. Smith where I gave credit to the King for it in my books. Afterwards finding that Santen gave no credit to the King for what corn came into the Granary I took the key from Smith & gave it to James Larkens with order to him to give receipts for what should be brought in & to give an account of it to Smith that he might enter it upon the books.

Capt. Palmer

IIee does Judge Palmer & Mr. Graham wrong for they are psons look't upon by the Council as fittest for those employments they are in, viz. Palmer Judge & Graham attorney for the & Mr. Ja Gra-King, And if Mr. Santen would speak truth he must needs say they both have been very serviceable for the King in the advancement of his Revenue, & that they still continue with their utmost endeavors soe to bee And though their way of living is by the law, yet their management has been such by arbitration & such other mild courses that where there was ten

ham.