(2.) Order of the General Court of Massachusetts, May 15th, 1672. [Col. Bds. III. 3.]

Upon the motion of the Gent" Mr. John Allyn & Mr. Waite Winthrop, commissionated from the General Court of Connecticut to treat about the line betweene vs & them, & settling their bounds; Although our south line hath bin stated & setled many yeares since, yet to shew our readines to an amicable & loving complyance with them touching that affaire, & in order to the accomodating their auncient towne of Windsor, whose bounds as they say are too much streightned & some men's propertyes prejudiced by our south line bordering so neare vpon the said townes of Windsor & Symsbury; This Court do therefore grant to Conecticott that the bounds of Windsor may come Northward into our line to the foote of the Falls in Conecticot River aboue Windsor, & so much vp the ryver into the falls there as to state & setle the bounds betweene vs forty rodds below the foote of the great Island against the falls in Connecticot ryver; And that from thence a line be runn from the great Ryver Conecticott, fower miles east and then to runn south to our line already runn & setled many yeares since; And for the west side of Connecticott ryver, also, that at forty rods below the foote of the Isl. and aforesaid the line runn & continue from the great River aforesaid ten miles west, & then to runn south to our line where it was run last year by Major Pynchon at the appointment of this Court. And in this concession of ours, we declare that no former grants by this Court to particular persons shall be prejudiced, and that there shall be free liberty of tymber for the vse of the saw mill on Stony Ryver neere these bounds or line. And in case of the Generall Court of Conecticott's non-acceptance of this our neighbourly & amicable condiscention, this concession and condiscention shall by no person or persons, way or meanes whatsoever be any wayes construed to the least question or prejudice of our indubitable right in our line for aboue thirty yeares since runn & setled. And on their acceptance heereof, that the said grant & concession be runn by Major Pynchon or his order, giving notice to the Gent" of Connecticott to order some of theires to joyne him therein; and that this be donn before winter; and that there be once in three yeares a runing the same & keeping vp the markes & bounds thereof by some of the next townes adjoyning or bordering on the same. That this is a true Copie, taken out of the Court's booke of Reccords, Attests, Edward Rawson, Secret'.

(3.) Letter from Massachusetts, October 24th, 1673. [Col. Bds. III. 4.]

Honoured Gent". Your letters, one of them dated May 8th, and the other, 17th inst.,* haue bin read and considered by us. In answer to the former, consisting of two branches; the 1st conteyning an answer

* Of the letter of May 8th, no copy is preserved: that of Oct. 17th, may be found in Col. Bds., II. 17, and an abstract of its contents, in Appendix No. XIV. 4.

to ours directed to yourselves, dat. Oct. 15th, 1672,* referring to the vnjust intrusion made by some of yours on that part of the conquered land neere Pawcatoque. Be pleased, Gentlemen, to reminde that propriety in those lands was orderly setled & after sundry debates from time to time had about the same, was finally determined for this Colony, as the records of the Commissioners' acts will fully shew you. And why, after all this, those that by grant from this Court haue a legall propriety therein should suffer so great an interuption as their petiçon exhibbited to this Court and heerewith sent vnto you doth declare (reflexion thereby being made vppon the Commissioners' acts in setling thereof & vpon this Court also,) wee must assure you wee see not the ground thereof; and if the proprietors thus damnified should now be put vpon it to sue for their owne right, be not offended Gent" if in your owne words wee speake plainly, that this neither is, nor, in our apprehensions, ought to be sattisfactory to vs. For whereas the fynall determination made by the Commissioners limitted and bounded such a part to this Colony, we judge that the said lands were & are by that act, at our dispose; and if, by priority of grant, any part thereof doth belong to any of yours, it ought orderly to haue been pleaded & made to appeare; & those that had an orderly & peaceable possession thereof given them by this Court ought not to have been in so violent a manner dispossessed. For the issue heereof, wee shall only propound two things, whereunto wee craue your answer: 1st. Whither the setlement made by the Commissioners be owned by yourselves, & so declared to be pleadable & binding in your Courts. 2dly, In case that dissattisfaction in this case should still continue, whether you will submitt the determination thereof as is provided in the articles of confœderation.

The second branch, referring to the Pattent line, the setlement whereof, so farr as it hath been run, you well know was long since issued & wee apprehend that we dealt very freindly and neighbourly with you, in granting for the accomodation of Windsor & the new village so many thousand acres as the order of this Court doth expresse. And therefore we hope that vpon further consideration, yourselves will judge that your proposall of a further extent to be made vpon us, & prohibbition of our improovement of those lands adjacent by those that haue had an orderly grant thereof and not wthout some expense begun to improue the same, is not reasonable on your part to desire, nor win our power to grant, wout doing injustice to the proprietors thereof.

*

*

[The remainder of this letter, (in reply to the General Court's letter of October 17th, respecting the protection of the English towns on Long Island, against the Dutch,) will be found in Appendix No. XIV. 5.]

*In Towns & Lands, I. 49.

No. XII. (pp. 164, 229.)

NEW LONDON AND LYME RIOT; 1670.

In Vol. I. of Towns & Lands, are a great number of papers relating to the controversy between the towns of New London and Lyme, about the ownership of a strip of land some two miles wide, lying between Bride Brook and Niantic River, and including Black Point. (The tract in question is now in the township of East Lyme.) The origin of the controversy was, briefly, as follows:

In June, 1649, the General Court, on the report of a committee appointed under the agreement with Mr. Fenwick, fixed the bounds of Saybrook, "from the river eastward, five miles ;" and at the same session, granted to the town of Pequot, four miles west of Pequot River. [Col. Rec. I. 185, 187.]'

66

In March, 1651, the plantation of Pequot desired " a further addition of meadow," at Niantic; and the Gen. Court, in May following, granted 'that their bounds shall come to Bride Brook, (the former graunt excepted,) provided that it doe not come within the bounds of Saybrooke." [Col. Rec. I. 221.]

Upon measuring, from the River, the five miles east, originally granted to Saybrook, their bounds were found to extend about a mile or, (according to another measurement,) a mile and a quarter, beyond Bride Brook, and within the territory conditionally granted to New London (Pequot,) in 1651.

After the incorporation of a new town (Lyme,) from that part of Saybrook lying east of Connecticut River, the General Court, May, 1668, suggested to the Deputies of the two towns, New London and Lyme, that they should come to some agreement for the establishment of their bounds and a final adjustment of conflicting claims to the lands east of Bride Brook. Such an agreement was accordingly drawn up, and subscribed, May 21st, 1668, by Mathew Griswold and Wm. Waller for Lyme, and James Avery and Cary Latham, for New London; and was submitted to, and approved by the Court. (p. 91, ante.) It did not however end the controversy; the town of New London protesting against it, as a surrender of their rights, and declaring that their Deputies, in assenting to it, exceeded the powers delegated to them by the town.

A

By this agreement of 1668, a portion of meadow at Black Point was reserved by Lyme, for the use of the ministry in that town. similar reservation had been made by New London at the same place and for a like purpose. It was upon this tract of "ministry land," that the affray between inhabitants of the two towns took place, in August, 1671. About thirty New London men (with whom were Major Palmes and Ens. Clement Minor,) going to Black Point meadow to mow grass for their minister, were met and resisted by a party who had come from Lyme on a similar errand. A good many hard words and some blows were exchanged between the parties. The Lyme constable, provided with a warrant from Mr. Mathew Griswold, carried Ens. Minor away prisoner; and, in return, Major Palmes gave to the constable of New London a warrant for the arrest

of Mr. Griswold. But, after a conference between the leaders of the two parties, Major Palmes (as he testifies,)" making it his business to pacify the people on both sides, that they might part friends, and let the law decide the controversy," the Lyme men agreed to release Ens. Minor, and hostilities were, for the present, suspended. "Soe, drinking a dram together, with som seeming friendship, every man departed to his home." The particulars of this affray are given in several depositions, preserved in Vol. I. of Towns & Lands, Docs.

114-126.

At the County Court in Hartford, Mar. 12th, 1671-2, Mr. Mathew Griswold and Lieut. Wm. Walier, presented complaints against "sundry of New London," for attempts "by violence to drive them off their lands," resistance to authority, and assault. The persons charged were John Baldwin, Clement Minor, Manasseh Minor, Peter Stickland, John Beebe, Samuel Tubbs, Christo. Christophers, Tho. Stafford, Geo. Chappell, John Keeny, Wm. Peake, Isaac Willy, Goodman Hough, George Tounge, Old Keeny, John Stebbing, Mr. Dowglass, Hugh Mould, Sam. Chester, Thomas Bowles and Charles Haynes.

John Prentice complained, at the same Court, of Mr. Mathew Gris. wold, Lieut. Waller, Math. Griswold Jr., Woolston Brockway, John Lay Jun., Reynold Marvin, Rich. Smith, Wm. Measure, Joshua Baker, John Tilliston, Edward Woolfe, Henry Champion, Rich. Smith Jun., Tho. Lee, John Huntly,-for "riotous practices" and assaults on New London people, &c.

The Court imposed a fine on the town of New London, of £9; and on Lyme, of £5. [Rec. of Co. Court, III. 122.] These fines were subsequently remitted by the General Court: (see page 229, ante.)

Among the depositions exhibited in Court, on the trial of these cases, is one made by Gov. Winthrop, which records the origin of the name of Bride Brook.

[T. & Lands, I. Doc. 99]

"When we began the plantation in the Pequot country, now called New London, I had commission from the Massachusett Government, and the ordering of matters concerning that plantation was left to myselfe. Vpon the veiw of the accommodations of those parts, there could not be found meadow in the least measure sutable for a small plantation, except such meadowes & marshes to the westward of Niaiantick River were adioyned, and therefore I determined y' the bounds of that Plantation should be to y brooke wch is now called Bride Brook, weh was looked at to be certainly wout Saybrooke bounds; we was an incouragem' to proceede in carrying on that plantation to those who were willing to ioyne in y' worke; otherwise there could not have appeared reason to goe on, there being no sutable accomadation neere the place. It fell out, the first winter of our setling there, that Jonathan Rudd being to be maried at Saybrooke, there falling out at y' time a great snow, the magistrate intended to goe downe thither was hindred by the depth of y' snow; whereupon they desired me to assist them there in y businesse. But I saw it necessary to denye them in y' way, but told them y' for an expedient for their accommodation, if they come to ye plantation it might be done but that being too difficult for them, it was agreed they should come to y place wch is now called Bride brooke; and accordingly I mett them

there, at the tyme appointed (others of our plantation being wth me, knowing the place) and there those persons were then maried, as being a place win the bounds of y' authority wherby I then acted; otherwise I had exeeded ye limits of my commission. And at that tyme, that place had the denomination of Bride Brooke. And the gentlemen were well satisfied with what was done there in the premises (as far as I could ever vnderstand,) as with a legall act. And afterward, that plantation being (vpon treaty, or advise of the Commissioners, or otherwise,) disposed to be ioyned with the Colony of Connecticutt, their matters have bene as firme to them as before; and so y' bounds before mentioned to Bride Brooke was afirmed by grant from the General Court, as appeares upon record.*

The neck of land called Black Point lieth a good distance to the eastward of that wch is called the Giants Cove.

Exhibited in Court, Mar. 12th, 1671-2, by the Governour;
as attests, John Allyn, Secret'y."

No. XIII. (p. 180.)

LETTER FROM THE KING, ANNOUNCING THE DECLARATION OF WAR WITH THE STATES GENERAL, &C.

CHARLES R.

Trusty and Well beloved, We greet you well. Hauing found Our selfe oblidged for the just vindication of the antient and vndoubted Rights of Our Crowne, and for reparation as well of the many affronts and indignities done to Our Royall Person & Dignity, as of the frequent wrongs and injuries done to Our subjects by the States General of the Vnited Provinces, to declare warr against them, Wee haue thought good hereby to giue you knowledge thereof, willing you forthwith upon receipt hereof, in the vsuall manner to cause the said warr to bee proclaimed within that Our Colony according to Our Declaration, (coppies of which Wee haue directed to bee herewith sent you,) and that at the same time you cause seizure to bee made of all shipps, goods and marchandises belonging to the said States Generall or their subjects. And because Wee haue reason to beleeue from the constant euell mind they haue been always known to bear to Our Forreigne Colonies and plantations, and haueing likewise [vnder]stood that a considerable number of priuate men of warr are now prepareing in Holland & Zealand to bee forthwith sent into the West Indges to infest and annoy Our plantations there, Wee haue thought fitt, out of Our Princely care and regard to the safety of those remote parts of our Dominions and for the securing Our good subjects inhabiting there or tradeing thither, to recommend it to you, as Wee doe by these, very particularly, forthwith to apply yourselues jointly to consider of the condition thereof,

Some remarks respecting the authority given to the New London Deputies or Agents, to act for the town in matters of consequence, (such as the agreement with Lyme,) are here omitted.