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first body of men claiming any legislative powers which met in New Jersey. It differed from that body which met at Elizabeth Town in May, 1668, in this, that the latter claimed universal jurisdiction for all legislative purposes, over the whole State.

Richard Richardson was elected secretary of the local legislature which met at Shrewsbury and was authorized to record acts, orders and deeds and hence might be considered the first county clerk of Monmouth, if that municipal organization had then been in existence. It had, however, no distinctive organization other than such as was derived from the Monmouth Patent, but was sometimes called a county before it was legislated into existence as such.

The Deputies from Middletown to the Legislature which met at Elizabeth Town, in May, 1668, were James Grover and John Bound. This name, Bound, appears in different forms in the records of the time; in the Patent it is Bown; again it is called Bound and in other places, Brown. Little dependence can be put upon the orthography of the time. The family, to-day, descended from this John Bound, is one of the most respectable in the State and is known as Bowne.

Portland Poynt, as it is sometimes written, in the oldest records, was settled by Richard Hartshorne, a Quaker or Friend, who came there in 1666. The name of Portland Poynt is still used to designate the locality where he settled, but it never rose to the dignity of a town. Until within a few years, the property originally owned by Hartshorne was still in the possession of his descendants. There is a statement, not well authenticated and which research has failed to corroborate, that there was a settlement within the bounds of Middletown long prior to the time when Hartshorne first came there.

Shrewsbury lies south of Middletown, within the bounds of the Monmouth tract. It was probably settled in 1664 by immigrants from Connecticut, but this is not certain. Red Bank and Keyport are situ ate within the original bounds of Shrewsbury. It had no district representatives in the Legislature which met at Elizabeth Town, May, 1668, but was represented by those from Middletown.

In October, 1668, a few days before the adjourned session of the first Legislature which met at Elizabeth Town was held, the inhabitants of Middletown assembled in town meeting and declared "for the satis faction of the Governor and Councils" that James Grover and John Bown who had appeared as Deputies in the "Counties" behalf were not legally chosen according to the summons. They complained that

MIDDLETOWN AND SHREWSBURY NOT REPRESENTED.

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They further

the Governor's proclamation, calling the Legislature together, was not published until the 24th of May, the day before the meeting of the Legislature and that, as the inhabitants or many of them were settled twenty miles apart, they could not be legally summoned. claimed that only a few citizens met and elected the Deputies who attended at Elizabeth Town and that, in consequence of these irregularities, they were not bound by the acts of the Legislature. Grover, one of the Deputies, was clerk at this town meeting.

James

To this adjourned meeting of the Legislature Middletown sent Jonathan Holmes, called Hulmns in the legislative records, and Edward Tart, as Deputies; Shrewsbury sent Thomas Winterton and John Hans. But these four men refused to take the oath of allegiance and fidelity, or to subscribe to them, except with provisos, and refusing also to submit to the laws already passed, or the government, were dismissed, in the quaint language of the time; in other words, were refused admission as members of the General Assembly and the two townships of Middletown and Shrewsbury were unrepresented. This, then, was the beginning of the real legislation in the province of New Jersey and these were the elements of which that first Legislature was composed. New Jersey was always foremost in every movement for liberty and the sturdy independence, the resistance to what the citizen believed to be injustice thus early manifested, afterwards culminated in the War of the Revolution and in the Independence of the colonies.

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CHAPTER VI.

CONTENTS.

Importance of First Legislature; Characteristics of Deputies; Names and Sketches of the Governor's Council: Nicholas Verlet, Daniel Pierce, Robert Bond, Samuel Edsall, Robert Vauquellin and William Pardon; Sketch of James Bollen, Secretary of Council; Laws Passed by the First Legislature; Number and Character of; Thirteen Crimes Punishable with Death; Discontent of Colonists; Governor Carteret Becomes Unpopular; His Characteristics; Character of the Thirty Immigrants who came with Carteret; Carteret Claimed the Right to Make them "Freemen;" Grievance of Middletown and Shrewsbury; The Inhabitants of the Two Towns Attack the Legality of the Election of Deputies; Second Session of the Legislature; Names of Deputies; Continued in Session Four Days; Message from Deputies to Governor and Council; Answer to the Message; Quarrel between Governor and Colonists about Quit Rent; Discussion of Propriety of Objections to Payment; Newark's Action; Carteret's Behavior and Action; Colonists Elect a Legislature, which Appoints James Carteret Governor; Philip Carteret goes to England; Settlements on East Bank of Delaware; Peter Jegon and Fabrus Outout, Delegates from "Delaware River;" Legislature did not Convene for Seven Years; Members of Legislature in 1675; Philip Carteret goes to England; Legislature of 1675 Passed Thirty-seven Acts; Thirty-seventh Act; Places of Meeting from 1675 to 1681; Oaths of "Fedility" and Allegiance; First Thanksgiving Day; Re-enacting Laws Passed; West New Jersey Proprietors Offer Terms to Immigrants; Concessions and Agreements; Quakers in New Jersey; Governmental Authority to Proprietors of West Jersey: Commissioners and their Powers; No Oath Required from Officers or Witnesses; Indians Protected; Mixed Juries; Election of Legislators; Penalty for Bribery; Liberty of Speech; Power of Legislature; Equal Taxation; Religious Tolerance; First Legislature of West Jersey; Edward Billinge; Fundamentals; Thomas Ollive; No Punishment for Capital Offences; No Specific Penalties for Certain Offences; Only one Specific Penalty; No Courts Created; Trial by Jury of Twelve Men; Commissioners to Sit with Jury; In Criminal Cases, Person Injured could Remit Punishment; Crimes Committed during former Government Remitted; Additions to Statutes; Land made Liable for Debts; Attachments; Security Required before Arrest in Civil Cases; Conveyances of Estates of Married Women; Quotations from Statutes in Both Provinces; Record of Deeds and Other Documents; Comparison of Laws of Both Provinces; Act for "Establishing" Schoolmasters in East Jersey.

The first State Legislature of New Jersey was an important body in more senses than one. It took the initiative in all legislation in the province; the deputies who composed the popular branch represented

the sentiments of the first settlers and responded to their demands. Those deputies came direct from the people. They were plain, honest men who thought and acted independently, but conscientiously; who regarded integrity, the fear of God and hatred of sin as cardinal virtues without which no man was sure of Heaven. They probably lacked culture and education as those acquirements are now estimated and were not fitted to shine at earthly courts or adorn kings' palaces, but, if they lacked the graces of fashionable life, they had none of its vices and were equipped with an intensity of purpose, with virtuous desires and with a stubborn intention to do exactly what was right according to the strictest rules of the purest morality. They had suffered much and endured hardships to secure freedom, and they knew. its worth; they appreciated its cost to them and its value to others and they were determined, having once secured it, never to relinquish it. There seemed to be, and there really was, in that beginning of the history of the commonwealth, little to be done, but, in dead earnest, they set about the accomplishment of their whole duty to themselves and their constituents. Unconsciously those few men who met at Elizabeth Town, in that month of May, in the year of grace, 1668, were preparing the way for the descendants of the few inhabitants of that sparsely settled province for the creation of the grandest empire the world ever knew. They were wise in their day and generation, but they builded better than they imagined; in their wildest flight of fancy they never could have dreamed of the real future they were moulding and shaping in that little assembly of determined men. It is to be regretted that there was no historian with graphic pen to record the proceedings of those eventful four days; to give the personnel of the members; to report their speeches, and, having sat by their sides, to tell how they looked, how they acted and talked. It would be instructive thus to learn their various modes of thought, to hear their utterances, to study their opinions and to consider their methods of arguDoubtless, they were stern logicians, not given to metaphysical subtlety, nor to fine spun, hair-drawn niceties of argument, but, when they spoke, it was to the point.

ment.

There was no historian of those times, and the only means of informing ourselves at this day, about these law makers, is to examine the laws they enacted and learn from them, if possible, what manner of men they were. They were just four days in session and during that time they passed four different, distinct, independent acts.

These are the names of the Governor's Council: Captain Nicholas Verlet, Daniel Pierce, Robert Bond, Samuel Edsall, Robert Vauquellin and William Pardon.

Nicholas Verlet, at one time, was prominent in the province of the New Netherlands, having received from Stuyvesant a grant for Hoboken, or as it was then called Hobuc. He seems to have been a man of substance and to have made considerable improvement at Hoboken, where he had settled several years prior to the time when he received this grant from the Dutch Governor. How he came to be living in New Jersey, or what induced Governor Carteret to appoint him one of his Council cannot be ascertained.

Daniel Pierce was the founder of Woodbridge. He had received a deed for that locality and had associated several others with himself, as already mentioned. He attended the first meeting of the Legislature as member of the Council, but does not again appear. He seems to have been the leader of emigrants from Newburyport, Massachusetts. Samuel Edsall, Robert Bond and William Pardon were among the settlers of Elizabeth Town, associates of the four men from Jamaica. Samuel Edsall was one of the witnesses to the payment of the consideration of the Indian deed. He had settled a tract of land at Bergen Point, of twelve or fifteen hundred acres and of considerable valuesix or seven hundred pounds.

Robert Bond was prominent in the early history of Elizabeth Town as a magistrate as well as a member of the Governor's Council. He was a "third lot right" man in the division of the land and signed the oath of allegiance.

William Pardon was a "second lot right" man; his name does not appear among those who took the oath of allegiance. He was a favorite of the Governor, and, at one time, when some land in the colony had been forfeited by a settler, Carteret granted the property to him. He was an ardent and rather unscrupulous friend of the Governor in his quarrels with the people and was openly charged with the destruction of the minutes of some sessions of the Legislature. Carteret appointed him a member of the court to try several citizens who were charged with riot.

Robert Vauquellin, who was also called Sieur de Prairie, and whose two names are found in various records spelled in twenty-two different ways, was a native of Caen, in France, and was said to be of noble descent. He was not naturalized until 1669-70, but took the oath of

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