and became insensible to the demand of ordinary justice, in their desire to escape the payment of honest dues.

This question of quit rent affected all the land holders in the colony. The people of Newark met the demand in rather a peculiar manner. A town meeting was called on February 3, 1669-70. The regular annual meeting had been held only a few days before, on January 26, This fact and other circumstances show conclusively that that meeting held February 3rd, must have been specially called to consider and answer the demand for the payment of the quit rent. The very first question discussed was the action of the Lords Proprietors relative to the rent. The record of the meeting begins very abruptly and thus continues: "Town Meeting, the 3rd February, 1669, the Governors Writing was read, and After some debate upon it they by their votes agreed as Follows: After all due Sallutations to be presented by the Constable to Our Worshipfull Governor, we the Inhabitants or freeholders of the Town of New Ark, do by him make Return to the said Governors Writing, as followeth, Viz: That they do Hold and Possess their Lands and Rights in the said Town, Both by Civil and Divine Right, as by their Legall purchase and Articles doth and May Shew. And as for the payment of the Half Penny per Acre for all our Allotted Lands According to our Articles and Interpretations of them, You assuring them to us, We are ready when the Time Comes, to perform our Duty to the Lords or their Assigns."

This was at the very outset of the controversy relative to the quit rent, which, by the terms of the grant from the Lords Proprietors was not payable until the 25th day of March, 1670. That time was fast approaching and the Governor, acting for his principals had given notice. that its payment would be demanded according to the terms of the grants. On the 20th of March, 1670, which would have been 1671, according to the modern method of computing time, the town meeting again. took action on the subject and it was then agreed that Henry Lyon and Thomas Johnson should tender the Governor payment, "in good wheat," of the half penny per acre, "in like Manner as they did the Last Year at the day appointed." In case the Governor accepted the offer, then the Inhabitants were directed to bring their proportion of the "corn" to the Constable's house on the day appointed by seven or eight o'clock in the morning, so that it might be sent to the Governor and take a discharge of him for the same; and they are at Least to Bring as Much as they did the Last Year, and More if they see a Cause."

The action of the Town in "the last year," 1669, was determined at the Town Meeting held March 24, 1669, when it was "by their Joint Vote agreed, that Henry Lyon and Ths. Johnson should Take and receive every Mans Just Share and Proportion of Wheat for his Land; the Summer wheat at 4s. pr. Bus'l and Winter Wheat at 5s. according to the order and Time perfixed to them to Bring it to Johnson's House Before the day be over, or else if they fail they are to Double the quantity; which Corn the said Lyon & Johnson is to Morrow to Carry to Elizabeth Town and Make a Tender Thereof to the Gouvernor upon the account of the Lords Proprietors rent for the Land we make use of, according to Articles 25th March 1670."

Henry Lyon was the Treasurer and Thomas Johnson the Constable elected the previous year, and the date, March 25, 1670, undoubtedly referred to the time set in the grants for the payment of the quit rents. There was other action afterwards taken by the people of Newark, continuing over a period of several years, until, at last, the ferment caused by the persistent demand of the Lords Proprietors for the payment of the rent culminated in an actual riot and rebellion.

Governor Carteret was true to his duty to his principals and manfully strove to stem the torrent. It was, however, in vain that he endeav. ored to enforce the demands of the government and the payment of the For two years disorder and misrule held sway in the province, the authority of the Lords Proprietors was openly set at defiance and payment of the quit rent utterly refused.

rent.

At last, the climax was reached; the disaffection spread and the dissatisfied people determined to establish a separate government of their own. Delegates to what was called a Legislature, were elected in the different towns. This Legislature met at Elizabeth Town, on the 14th of May, 1672; it made bold assertions and claimed to be the regularly constituted law making power in New Jersey, created by the action of the people, who were the fountain of all sovereignty and who alone had the authority to create governments. But it must have a head; there must be some officer to assume the place of Governor. Philip Carteret could not acknowledge the factious movement of his rebellious subjects, besides he was inimical to those who were thus conspiring against the legally constituted authorities and, by this time, had made himself most unpopular to all classes.

Of course,

There was then residing in the colony a weak and dissolute man. called Captain James Carteret, by some said to be an illegitimate son

of Sir George Carteret, who was selected by the rebels as their figure head. He was elected Governor and instantly accepted the appointment and assumed the duties of the position. But he thought it necessary to claim some authority outside of the will of the people, giving him a right to the office, and he pretended that he had a warrant from his father, Sir George Carteret, appointing him to the place. It was never produced, however, and it is safe to say it never had any actual existence. Philip Carteret behaved with great courage and some wisdom; he issued proclamations, he warned, he entreated, he argued, but all in vain; proclamations were scoffed at; warnings were unheeded; entreaties availed nothing; arguments were unanswered or jeered at; the people were in no humor to listen; the province was almost in a state of riot, certainly of rebellion. There were no courts to which the Governor could apply for relief with sufficient authority or competent jurisdiction to meet the case. There was a court at Newark, established by the settlers there, but, of course, it was subservient to the disaffected citizens and the government could hope for little aid from that tribunal. There were one or two other courts of the same character as this one at Newark, but their authority could not be stretched so far as to meet the case.

Some illegal acts were committed by the legislature constituted by the opponents of the Governor; much injustice was done under its authority; legal officers, for performing legal acts, clearly within the scope of their authority, were imprisoned and their property confiscated; it seemed as if the province would be given over to misrule and chaos.

The Governor's Council, at this juncture of the affairs of the colony, advised him to leave the country and go over to England and give full information to the authorities there and advise with them as to the future course to be pursued. Accordingly, he and James Bollen, the Secretary of the Council, went to England.

For many years there had not been very intimate relations between the inhabitants of the settlements on the east bank of the Delaware River and those of other parts of the province. The authorities of Maryland, at one time, claimed jurisdiction over the country on both sides of the river and there was danger of a conflict of authority between them and the Governor of New York, who disputed the claim of Maryland. The Governor of New Jersey also claimed the same territory and between him and the Governor of New York there was to be

a conflict of jurisdiction. Maryland soon abandoned any pretentions of a right to the land within the bounds of New Jersey. As early as 1639, there were several small settlements controlled by the Swedes. The number of inhabitants in these settlements was small, but in one of the three was to be found one hundred and thirty Swedish families and twelve hundred Europeans, in all, were scattered at different points. on the west side of the river. These people do not seem to have sym

pathized with the rebels.

Perhaps they were too far removed from the scene of actual strife to be influenced by the dissensions between the Lords Proprietors and their representative, the Governor, with the citizens.

Perhaps--and this seems more probable-no demand was made upon them for the payment of any quit rent. In fact, it is doubtful whether any demand could have been rightfully made, for such payment. The title to the land in Southern New Jersey was not originally held from the Proprietors. It, or a large portion of it, had been bought from the aborigines before the grant to Berkeley and Carteret, and there does not seem to have been any disposition on the part of the English to disturb individual settlers in the possession of their property. When the government was wrested from the Dutch, by conquest, not a single settler was required to surrender his land; all that was demanded was that they should acknowledge allegiance to the Duke of York.

These settlements sent no deputies to the first session of the first legislature, and there is no proof that proclamation was ever made any where south of Middletown or Shrewsbury, by the Governor, or his agents, for the election of representatives; but, to the second session came these two men, Peter Jegon and Fabrus Outout, from the "Delaware River."

The Swedes and the Dutch, who settled in South Jersey, were at first antagonistic to each other, but they soon amalgamated, and, at one time, joined their forces in opposition to the English. The Swedes, for a time, acknowledged the supremacy of the Dutch and entirely abandoned any government either by Sweden or by themselves. But the English, for many years prior to the close of the seventeenth century, had undisputed control of all the settlements both Swedish and Dutch, in the southern part of the province. There were distinct villages, known by name, along the east bank of the Delaware River. Some of these, however, were mere hamlets and no one of them contained a sufficient number of inhabitants to be entitled to representa

tion in the Legislature. So, it seems that all these settlements must have combined and sent two representatives who were recorded as having appeared "for Delaware River." The names of these two men are significant; Peter Jegon is undoubtedly Swedish and Fabrus Outout is Dutch; one, of course, represented the Swedish element and the other, the Dutch. Jegon was rather a noted character; he kept a house of entertainment "over Matinicunk Island," in the Delaware River, eight or nine miles below the Falls, and is mentioned in the Legislative and other records of the province by three different names, Jegon, Jegow and Jegou. Neither of these men appears afterwards as deputy, so far as can now be ascertained; nor does there seem to have been any representatives from the settlements on the Delaware in the subsequent meetings of the Legislature held for the whole of New Jersey.

After the second session of the first Legislature it did not again convene until the 5th of November, 1675, a period of seven years, when Philip Carteret appeared as Governor with his six Councilmen, of whom only one was present at the first session and that was the Frenchman, Robert Vauquellin. The new Councilmen were Captain John Berry, Captain William Stanford (this should be Sanford), Captain John Pike, Lawrence Andrison and John Bishop, Sr. James Bollen was the secretary, the same man who acted in that capacity at the first session. New men also appeared as deputies from the towns: Henry Lyon and Benjamin Price, from Elizabeth Town; Hans Dedrick and Elias Michelson from Bergen; Thomas Johnston (this should be Johnson) and Lieutenant John Ward, from Newark; Samuel Denis and Thomas Bloomfield, Jr., for Woodbridge; John Gillman and Hopewell Hull, for New Piscataqua; Captain John Bound and John Throgmorton, for Middletown; William Shatlock and John Stocum, for Shrewsbury. The record states that all of these except William Shatlock subscribed or swore to the oath of allegiance, but that he refused to do either and was dismissed.

This hiatus in the meetings of the Legislature is attributable to several causes. The Governor, Philip Carteret, went to England and was there for some time. James Carteret had assumed the office of Governor, and riot and discontent pervaded the province. Peace was not completely restored in 1675, but better counsels were beginning to prevail and the Legislature was called together. The time appointed. for the first meeting of this second Legislature was the 13th of No