actions formerly there is not one now. And the Council had soe good an opinion of Capt Palmer that hee was thought the fittest to be the Judge of ye court for the King's affairs. As for sloops &c going from this to Newfoundland, if it was against the act of navigation hee did ill to admit so many to clear & enter to & from thence without soe much as taking notice of it, till he and Major Brockhelles falling out, he took occasion to sieze his sloop, which the Council & I looking upon to be only malicious discharged taking security from him till his Matys further pleasure were known. Mr. Mayne coming here & showing mee his instruction, noe vessel has gone from hence thither since, And had I not relyed soe much upon Capt Santen none had gone, & for his sake I'll not trust to another soe much again Mr Santen was in the right I was angry to find a cart-load of goods going off the bridge after shutting up the Custom House without entry & demanding of the man how long they had been there, he answered from seven in the morning, without any officers taking notice of them, Upon my speaking to Mr. Santen he fell excusing his officers & gave me ill words. What thereupon happened I refer to My Lord Neal & Mr Mayne's testimonies that were then witnesses of it As for Woolsford's case I have already referred your Lops to the account given thereof to Sr Benjamin Bathurst. The negro-story I refer to the record herewith sent I never did anything since I came into the government without the advice & consent of the Council The ship Charts was cleared upon trial Mr Santen had nothing to allege against her The sloop Lancaster is the same with that of Gov. Heathcot before mentioned The Boat of D'Morex was condemned for going to the Mill with Corn without the Governmt & seized by Capt Santen The Sloop Fortune was condemned & my own share as well as the Kings forgiven, the poor man having done what he did innocently The Sloop Lewis came from Pettiquaves, & brought here some of our people who had been taken by the Spaniards, in going to Jamaica with provisions & had fled to Pettiquaves & the sloop coming hither the master sent up word from Sandy Hook that hee would willingly come & live here which I willingly granted him liberty to doe, & in consideration of his service in bringing home our people I forgave the Kings & my own part in the sloop after shee was condemned with the proviso that if his Maty did not approve of it hee should pay that share according to apprizement for which Bond was accordingly taken, as will appear to yr Lors by the attested copie herewith sent In short all that I'll say, hee's fitter for a retired life, than to be the Kings Collector To the three & twentieth What estimate you can make touching the estates &c What persua The answer thereof is referred to the next In answer to the tenth & four & Twentieth querie Every Town ought to have a Minister New York has first a Chaplain belonging to the Fort of the Church of England; Secondly, a Dutch Calvinist, thirdly a French Calvinist, fourthly a ions in Reli- Dutch Lutheran-Here bee not many of the Church of England; few Roman Catholicks; abundance of Quakers preachers men & Women especially; Singing Quakers, Ranting Quakers, Sabbatarians; Antisabbatarians; Some Anabaptists some Independents; some Jews; in short of all sorts of opinions there are some, and the most part of none at all gion &c The Great Church which serves both the English & the Dutch is within the Fort which is found to The Church bee very inconvenient therefore I desire that there may bee an order for their building an other ground already being layd out for that purpose & they wanting not money in store wherewithall to build it The most prevailing opinion is that of the Dutch Calvinists To the five and twentieth It is the endeavor of all Psons here to bring up their children and servants in that opinion which What course themselves, profess, but this I observe that they take no care of the conversion of Every Town and County are obliged to maintain their own poor, which makes them bee soe careful that noe Vagabonds, Beggers, nor Idle Persons are suffered to live here But as for the Kings natural-born subjects that live on long-Island & other parts of the Government I find it a hard task to make them pay their Ministers. MY LORDS THO. DONGAN. Since my writing of this, on Perusal of some Papers in the Secretary's office, I found some Memorandums of Sir Edmond Andros whereby I understand that in the year 1675 hee sent home Captn Salisbury for England to let his Royal Highness now his Maty know how impossible it was, for this Government to subsist without the addition of Connecticut. And hee himself went with some soldiers to surprise them, intending when he had done it to keep possession by a Fort he designed to make at a place called Seabrook but was prevented by the opposition of two companys of men then lodged there ready to goe out agst the Indians with whom they were in Warr Much less it can subsist now without it, being at more expense than in the time of Sir Edmond & having lost Delaware & soe consequently the Peltry Trade which is not much inferior to that of the Beaver, besides much Quit-rents & the Excise which would have been a very considerable Revenue And too, what helps, he had these from East & West Jersey. Weighing this with the reasons aforementioned, I hope his Maty will be gracionsly pleased to add that Colony to this which is the Centre of all His Dominions in America. And the people thereof have been more inclined to his Matys service and have expressed upon all occasions more Loyalty than any other of these parts Likewise I am to give yr Lops an account that since I received my Instructions, I caused a Vessel which came to Amboy to come hither & enter It being the opinion of the Council, that it was both agreeable to my Instructions and former practise especially in the time of Sir Edmd Andros I am now informed that the people of Pensilvania have had last year from the Indians, upward of Pensilvania 200 packs of Beaver down to the Skonshill & will have more this, as I have reason to believe which if not prevented, his Maty must not expect this Governmt can maintain itself, besides that it will wholly depopulate both this Town & Albany One Rogers the Weighmaster being found indebted to the King in £190-17- I demanded the money from him to which hee returned for answer; that he was Mr. Santen's servant & would live & die by him & would not pay it without his order. On which an Extent was made out against him & hee taken thereupon and put into Prison; Where after many endeavors of Mr. Saten to the contrary as will appear by the Minutes of Council hee at last paid £140 of it which I was willing to take rather than lose the whole I am afraid we shall not have soe good an account of the rest of the debts Being informed that Mr. Smith has never accounted with Mr Santen & having the opinion of Capta Palmer & Mr Graham that he is accountable to the King at least for soe much of the money as he has received to his own use on pretence of Salary without any authority for the same. I have caused him to be arrested in an action of account at his Matys suit, upon which hee lies a prisoner to answer it at the Court appointed for the management of his Matys Revenue Mr Santen since his commitmt hath been soe unruly & abusive to mee and the Council that in our own defence, Wee are force't to send him home, threatening us with Chains at least for what wee have done The Council thought fit not to give Mr. Santen his oath as appears by the Minutes of Council John Young had his oath given him but hee lives 150 miles from this, & has no estate of his own and very old, that it is a thing impossible for him to serve There being a clause in my Instructions wherein I am limited not to act without five, therefore Mr John Spragg & Major Jervis Baxter going for England, and there not being a sufficient number to make a quorum, I have by Vertue of a clause in my letters Patents, impowering me in case of absence out of the Government death or Suspension to add of the principal Freeholders) given the oath to Judge Palmer and Nicolas Bayard the present Mayor to serve in the Council until his Matys pleasure be known And whereas there is a clause in my instructions to send over the names of six persons more fitt to supply the vacancy of the Council six of the fittest I find in this Government are as followeth Mathias Nichols Judge James Graham William Smith Gabriel Minvielle Francis Rumbouls Major Nicolas Demyre |