The Consequence was what might be expected. The application was rejected as chimerical, the Crown being divested of the Lands long before; and they were soon afterwards ordered to withdraw their Settleement, which they did; but not without being put into the utmost Terror by the Indians, who had never given them any Right to settle the said Lands. The last Evidence I shall mention of what the Colony of Connecticut has ever held forth to the Public as their own Bounds, is a Map published, Nov. 24, 1766, under their own Direction, and, it is said, at their Expence; dedicated--“To "the Right Honorable the Earl of Shelburne, his Majesty's "principal Secretary of State, &c."

This Map or Plan is divided into Counties, Townships, &c. and underneath is written as follows;

EXPLANATION."

"The Colony of Connecticut is bounded West on the Pro"vince of New-York; North on the Province of the Massa“chusets Bay; and East on the Colony of Rhode-Island.”

But what has happened in this Case, is not without Precedent. Men of sanguine Tempers, who often start a Notion merely as a Point of Speculation, will think and talk so much about it, as, at length, to persuade themselves into a firm Belief of the Reality of what is, all the while, merely the Creature of their own Brain. Strange as it may seem, I am almost tempted to believe, that some of the Connecticut Leaders in the Susquehanna Scheme, have at last brought themselves to think, that, besides breaking through the Charter of Pennsylvania, they can extend their own lame and weak Charter, not only over the Western Crown Lands and Crown Conquests, but also over whatever the Crown may in future conquer or acquire from the Natives, or any European Powers, quite across to California and the South-Sea.

With great Pains, golden Promises, and the Help of some Law-Opinions procured, as I shall shew, on a partial and wrong State of the Case, (and after all nothing to their Purpose) many Persons of little Property have been drawn to their Side, and even a Majority at last got in their Assembly, who have ventured upon Resolves, and a legislative Act, of a little bolder Nature than those of 1755.

Not content, as heretofore, with advising an Application to his Majesty for Lands one hundred Miles West of Pennsylvania, or for re-granting to them Part of Pennsylvania itself, they seem now resolved to do all in their own Right, by open Force, and under Color of their Charter, not only making Settlements, but exercising Jurisdiction, far beyond what has been

so long their fixed and acknowledged Bounds. This, as far as I can understand them, seems to be the Purport of the late Resolves and Acts of their Assembly. And if I am right in this Construction, which their Conduct will soon shew, I think it will speedily bring their Charter to the Test; which is, indeed, the only Fragment of all the old impracticable New-England Charters now left; and it is high Time (for the Peace of America) that we should know where, or in what, its Strength lies? Or, whether immense Tracts of Country are to be left open, through many Generations, for Claims or Settlements to be made by the unborn Progeny of Connecticut? It is to be hoped, that the Decision of this may not be left for future Times; else it may be probably written in Blood!

The Resolves referred to, are as follows, viz.

“At a General Assembly of the Governor and Company of "the Colony of Connecticut, in New-England, in America, "holden at New-Haven in said Colony, on the second Thurs"day of October, 1773."

Resolved, That this Assembly at this Time will assert their "Claim, and in some proper Way support such Claim, to those "Lands contained within the Limits and Bounds of the Char"ter of this Colony, Westward of the Province of New"York."

A true Copy of a Record; examined by

George Wyllys, Secr. Resolved by this Assembly, that the Committee who shall "proceed to Philadelphia, to treat with the Honourable John “Penn, Esq; Governor of Pennsylvania, relative to the West"ern Lands belonging to this Colony, within the Claim of the "Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania, do also treat "with the said Governor, with Respect to the Peace of the In"habitants settled upon said Lands, and to agree upon such "Measures as shall tend to preserve good Order, and prevent "mutual Violence and Contention, while the Boundaries be"tween this Colony and the said Province shall remain unde"termined."

Dated and attested as above.

The Act of Assembly is of the same Date and appoints "the "Honourable Matthew Griswold, Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sher"man, William Samuel Johnson, Samuel H. Parsons, Silas Dean, "William Williams, and Jedidiah Strong, Esqrs. to be a Com"mittee to assist his Honour Governor Trumbull in stating "and taking proper Steps to pursue the Claim of this Colony *This is the first public Instance in which Connecticut ever mentioned any Western Bounds, but the Province of New-York itself.

"to the Westward Lands; and any three of them to proceed "to Philadelphia," for the Purposes mentioned in the foregoing Resolve-that is, "to treat with Governor Penn, and the "Agents of the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, respecting an "amicable Agreement, concerning the Boundaries of this Col"ony and the Province of Pennsylvania; and in Case they shall "agree, to ascertain the Boundaries between this Colony and "the Claim of said Proprietaries, to lay such Agreement before "this Assembly for Confirmation; but if said Proprietaries "shall prefer joining in an Application to his Majesty for Com“missioners to settle said Line, then said Committee are au"thorized and directed to join in Behalf of this Colony in such "Application."

The Colony of Connecticut seem to have ended where they should have begun, and to have acted much the same preposterous Part, which New-Haven accused their Fathers with acting, from the first Moment they became vested with a Charter; viz. first to "lop off an Arm, a Leg, &c, from their Neigh"bour, and then propose treating with him about Peace"-They first endeavoured to get those Susquehannah Lands lopped off from Pennsylvania, by an Application to the Crown, and failed in the Attempt-They then sit down upon them by Force, even Southward of where their Lines would probably ever reach, were they to be suffered to extend them Westward, agreeable to what they have hinted, would abundantly satisfy them and lastly they now offer to treat, and keep Possession.

The Gentlemen who came to Philadelphia, in pursuance of the Appointment of the Assembly, were Col. Dyer, Dr. Johnson, and Mr. Strong. Their Negotiation was chiefly managed in Writing, and with much mutual Complaisance; but the Issue of it was what might have been expected—

Governor Penn told them that he knew of no Lines that could be the Object of a Negotiation between him and them; that their "Western Bounds had been fixed about two Years after "the Date of their Charter, under the Authority of a Royal “Commission, and solemnly assented to, ratified and confirmed "by the Governor and Commissioners of their own Colony; "that, after this Settlement, the Grant of Pennsylvania was "made to William Penn, and that it was not understood at "that Time by the Crown, nor by the Grantee William Penn, "nor by any other Persons since, so far as he had heard, that "the said Grant any Way intrenched upon, or approached near, any of the New-England Grants, till the late Claim "was set up on the Part of Connecticut; and that he could not "enter into any Negotiations about Lines, without giving their "Charter a Construction and Extent, different from what has

"been determined to be the Sense of other Charters of the like "Kind, nor without allowing its Limits to extend far beyond “those heretofore fixed by the Royal Authority; that he could “not join with them in an Application to the Crown, for an 'Appointment of Commissioners to settle Lines or Boundaries, "because that would be admitting what he totally denied, "namely, that the Lines of Pennsylvania and Connecticut in"trenched upon, or interfered with, each other; that his Ma"jesty in Council, was the only proper and constitutional Tri"bunal, for a Decision of this Kind; that he was earnestly "desirous of bringing the Matter speedily to this Issue, upon "such Petition as they might prefer to his Majesty; and that "if there should be any Delay on their Part to exhibit such "Petition, the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania will immediately "make their Application to his Majesty, to take the Matter "under his Royal Consideration; and that, in the mean Time, "the only proper Method to preserve Peace, will be for their "Colony to use all possible Means for withdrawing their People "from those Settlements, which they have made in a lawless "and violent Manner, within the known Bounds of Pennsyl"vania."

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As to the Charge in the last Part, namely, the lawless Manner in which the Connecticut People had settled upon Lands within this Province, the Commissioners replied, that the Violences which had commenced, were perhaps on neither "Side justifiable in the Degree, but on both Sides founded on "a real Idea of Right -and that Connecticut had been advised "that they could not try their Right, but upon the Ground of "an actual Possession, which should put the Proprietaries to “such an Action at Law for the Recovery of the Possession, as "might bring the Title in Question." In their Letter of Dec. 24th, they offered sundry Arguments in Support of their Claim ; to which Governor Penn did not think any reply necessary, as it could not tend to the Settlement of a Matter that must come before another Tribunal, if the Colony of Connecticut shall persist to support those Intrusions.

Most of the Arguments made use of by the Connecticut Commissioners, are I think fully answered in this Work; which would be swelled to too great a Length, if I were to insert their Papers entire; and I would not attempt any Abstract or Abridgement of them, lest I may be thought not to do them Justice. I should have been glad to have seen the excellent Temper and Abilities of their Penman engaged in another Cause; but he probably undertook this as the Cause of his Country, and in Deference to its public Determinations.

But altho' such at last have been those Determinations, it

is certain that a very large and respectable Part of the Colony view them in the Light wherein they are considered by one of their own* Writers; namely, as leading their Government into a Controversy "that will bring them under a heavy Load "of Expence, which they are not able to bear, without the "most distant Prospect of Success; and which, if obtained, "would be of no real Advantage, as it would drain the Colony "of its Inhabitants, lessen the present Value of their Lands, "and involve them in inextricable Difficulties, with Regard "to the Exercise of their present Form of Government, which "could not be exercised in so extensive a Territory. He re"minds them further that this Dispute will not be between "Connecticut and the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania; but be"tween Connecticut and the Crown."

In what Sense the Crown has ever considered those impracticable South Sea Limits, may partly appear from the preceding Pages. There is not one of all those old Grants that can now claim its Parchment Boundaries. The Crown has molded them into reasonable Shapes and Dimensions, as their original Design and the public Good required. The great Plymouth Grant had hardly subsisted a Year, before it began to be curtailed by the Grants to Sir William Alexander and Sir David Kirk. For, as Harris tells us, "it was suggested to King James, that "as the Tract of Country (within the Plymouth Grant) be“longing to his Crown, was not likely to be planted in any "reasonable Space of Time by the English, or Western Com"pany, it would be a prudent Measure to grant, under the "great Seal of Scotland, a Part of it to his Subjects of that "Country."

But further, what will become of the Connecticut Claim, if it can be shown that even all the Province of Pennsylvania was granted by the Crown, 40 Years before Connecticut had any royal Grant? and yet this is certanly true. About the Year 1623 Sir Edmond Ployden obtained such a Grant, by the Name of New Albion, from the 39th Degree of Delaware Bay, for 200 Miles towards New England. -Sir Edmond made divers Efforts to dispossess the Dutch, &c. and plant Delaware Bay, and the Bounds of his Claim are very particularly described in a Pamphlet published in 1648; viz. "Beginning at Aquats, or the Souther"most or first Cape of Delaware Bay, running three hundred "Miles due West, and thence Northward to the Head of Hud"son's River fifty Leagues, and so down Hudson's River to the Smiths History of “Ocean, and thence to the Ocean a cross Delaware Bay, with all Hudson's River, Long-Is"land, or Pamunke."

New-Jersey.

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* Connecticut Journal, Dec. 3, 1773.