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For these reasons we must decline our concurrence with this first proposal. And, to shew that we are sincerely desirous of promoting the gracious design of the crown, and to manifest the readiness of the province of New-York, to prevent any further disorders, we propose, That the general course of Hudson's river be found, by actual survey from the line between Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut, continued to that river; and the line between that province and NewHampshire, continued in like manner; and that the line of partition be a line parallel to the line of the said course of Hudson's river, and at the distance of thirty miles therefrom.

And though this line, will be much short of the right of the province of New-York, we the more readily yield to such a partition, because it will leave all the royal grants, under the great seal of the province of New-York, to the westward, prevent any disputes about a deduction of the King's quit rents, and not include any lands intruded upon by pretext of grants under the Massachusetts Bay, made since the years 1726 and 1727, when it was agreed by both provinces, that no further possession should be taken of the controverted lands.

The commissaries on the part of New York, hope the commissaries appointed by the Massachusetts Bay, will the more cheerfully concur with this proposal, because Mr. Shute, formerly governor of that province, on the 23d of November, 1719, intimated by letter to Mr. Schuyler, the commander in chief of New-York, that the general assembly of the Massachusetts Bay, had passed a vote, that the division line between the two governments should be run according to their then respective legal grants, that there might be no trespassing (as it is in that letter expressed) from or on either government.

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TUESDAY, the 6th October.

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We received a reply to this paper about nine last night, in these words,

A reply to the answer of the commissaries of New-York.

The Massachusetts commissaries are and have been desirous of avoiding every measure which may protract the treaty: But when they were about to make such large concessions to New-York, they could not, in faithfulness to their constituents, omit a declaration of their just rights, that so no advantage might be taken in future times, of those concessions, if there should not at this treaty be a final settlement of the line between the two governments.

The same principle obliges the Massachusetts commissaries, briefly to reply to the observations of the commissaries from New-York.

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The Massachusetts commissaries, aiming at brevity, only add, that as

they do not agree with the commissaries of New-York, in their observations upon which they found their result, it cannot be expected they should agree in the result itself; and therefore can by no means consent to the proposal of a line thirty miles east of Hudson's river, nor can they see any occasion of finding out the various windings of that river, being of opinion that a straight line from the north and south bounds. of the Massachusetts province, will be much more convenient for the inhabitants of both governments, than a line with a variety of curves and different courses. As the commissaries of New-York conclude with observing, that Mr. Shute, the Governor of the Massachusetts-Bay, intimated in 1719, to the Commander in Chief of New-York, that the General Assembly of Massachusetts had passed a vote, that the division line between the two governments should be run according to their then respective legal grants; the Massachusetts commissaries cannot omit remarking, that no inference can be drawn from hence, that the Massachusetts Assembly had then in contemplation a line in any degree favorable to the present claim of New-York; but rather the contrary, as they had then, upon their records, grants of land and privileges in trade, and orders for actual surveys of land, both upon the east and west sides of Hudson's river, as ancient as the year 1660. Nor can it be supposed, that by legal grants, the assembly could intend large patents from the Governors of New-York, for lands upon which no improvement had been made by any English, and which were at that time supposed to be in actual possession of the Indian natives.

Upon the whole, the Massachusetts commissaries still conceive the twelve mile line to be very consistent with that friendly moderation which both sides profess; and the proposal of a thirty mile line, is so unexpected and extraordinary, that the Massachusetts commissaries can never accede to it. And if the commissaries of New-York intend to persist in it, there can be no prospect of success from any further treaty.

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To this we gave the following answer in the evening.

An Answer to the Reply of the Commissaries of the Massachusetts Bay, delivered last night.

The commissaries of New-York, still retaining their opinion, that the Massachusetts Bay hath no title to the lands comprehended in the patent to the Duke of York, and being willing to remove every objection that appears to the commissaries of the Massachusetts Bay, to have any weight in the controversy, we proceed with the utmost brevity, to a few remarks upon their reply.

The New-York commissaries retain the opinion, that their proposal of a thirty mile line is moderate; and hope it appears so by this time to the commissaries of the Massachusetts Bay.

It was not the meaning of the commissaries of New-York to have a crooked line of partition between the provinces; and they are sorry they have expressed themselves so as to be misunderstood. A line of thirty miles from Hudson's river, parallel to one according to the general course of the river, was intended.

We cannot imagine Governor Shute by legal grants, intended to secure lands to the Massachusetts Bay that would infringe upon patents older than the charter in 1791: and it is still more improbable that he could entertain the most distant aim of obtaining the consent of the province of New-York to a partition that would have separated the northern and southern parts three score miles from each other, and between which there could be no communication, against the leave of the Massachusetts Bay.

When the mode of proceeding in this business, was settled at the conference of the commissaries on both sides last Saturday morning, the commissaries of New York understood it to be agreed, that they were to make offers alternately; and that the rejectors of one proposal should tender another. The commissaries for Massachusetts Bay chose to make the first offer; when we declined a concurrence, we mentioned a proposal on our side. It surprises us much that their rejection concludes without another; and we beg to be informed, whether they mean to rescind the agreement as to the mode of this treaty, with their reasons therefor? or whether we are to consider their first offer, as the ne plus ultra on the side of the province of the Massachusetts Bay.

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Early this morning, we received a second proposal, and gave it an immediate answer.

The further proposal of the commissaries of Massachusetts Bay, to the commissaries of New-York.

The Massachusetts commissaries, although they are sensible that a full answer may be given to the paper received the last evening from the commissaries of New-York, yet as they are apprehensive that this argumentative method of proceeding, will prolong the treaty to an unreasonable length, and perhaps prevent a final accommodation; they therefore wave any further controversy in this way, and propose and concede to the commissaries of New-York, "that the eastern line of jurisdiction of the province or colony of New-York, where it joins to

the province of Massachusetts Bay, begin at a known heap of stones or station between Connecticut and Massachusetts, called Connecticut Old Corner, reputed twenty miles distant from Hudson's river, and extend upon a course due north, until it meets the north line or boundary of the said province of Massachusetts Bay."

This proposal is made with this caution, that if it be not agreed to by the commissaries of New-York, no improvement shall be made of it to the prejudice of the Massachusetts title or claim.

The answer of the commissaries of New-York, to the further proposal of the commissaries of the Massachusetts Bay.

The commissaries of New-York can never agree to the proposal just now received from the commissaries of the Massachusetts Bay: It will answer no manner of purpose to make new proposals on either side, unless each yields something more than the former; but the last proposal made by the commissaries of the Massachusetts Bay, is not according to this rule, as it leaves much less to New-York than the former. It yields indeed eight miles more at the south end of the line, but crosses Hudson's river, and takes from the colony of New-York, about thirteen miles more at the north end.

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As proposals of this sort do not, as we conceive, afford the most distant prospect of an amicable agreement, the commissaries of New-York, to testify their earnest desire to put an end to the contests between the two colonies, propose, that a line twenty-five miles east from Hudson's river, and parallel to its course, be the division line.

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This occasioned the following message, and a new conference at our lodgings about noon.

The Massachusetts commissaries had no intention to propose to the commissaries of New-York, a line less advantageous to them than the twelve mile line; and the line last proposed will not prove so, unless upon the course of the river being made certain, it should prove different from our apprehensions.

The Massachusetts commissaries propose a conference with the commissaries of New-York, as soon as may be, either at Beers's, or any other place more agreeable.

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At this interview, the commissaries for the Massachusetts Bay, declared their ignorance of the course of Hudson's river in the part affected by their claim.- We told them we had no complete survey, but were of opinion that it departed from the north, about twenty

degrees towards the east. They did not contest the fact; but Mr. Hutchinson then proposed, that henceforth the proceedings should be verbal: and that if the treaty did not end in an agreement, the offers on neither side should pass into a report. The reasons assigned for this alteration were, greater dispatch, and avoiding the meanness of trifling concessions in our approaches to each other. We instantly and absolutely declined our concurrence in a measure not necessary to prevent delays, as the treaty was evidently near its end, and tending to sink all that had passed, into oblivion: for if no agreement should happen to take place, nothing that had already been written, would shew the true cause. Upon this they retired, and sent us a new offer:

The Massachusetts commissaries desirous of a friendly accommodation, make a farther large concession to the commissaries of New-York, and propose a line to extend from a point distant from the river sixteen miles, due east, on the south line, unto a point from the river, the like course and distance on the north line of the Massachusetts province.

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The New-York commissaries decline the last offer of the commis saries of the Massachusetts Bay; and are so desirous of peace, that they now propose, for a partition between the two provinces, one straight line, at the distance of twenty-four miles from Hudson's river, and parallel to its general course, between the north and south bounds of the Massachusetts Bay; which line will just save to New-York the right of the Rensselaer family, which accrued in the Dutch times, so early as the year 1630. The commissaries of the Massachusetts Bay will understand us to mean, that the distance is to be taken on lines perpendicular to the general course of Hudson's river, between the north and south boundary lines of the Massachusetts, extended to Hudson's river.

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They declined this offer, and proposed another.

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The Massachusetts commissaries are not a little surprised at the last proposal of the commissaries of New-York, after the large concessions immediately before made by those of the Massachusetts. But being still desirous of taking every measure, even beyond what can, in equity, be required to settle every difference relative to the boundaries, and agreeable to the recommendation of the Right Honorable the Earl of Shelburne, by a generous manner of acting, to remove the cause of any further dissentions between the two provinces, make one proposal further.

They are well assured, that upon a rehearing of the controversy before the right honorable the lords commissioners of trade and planta

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