Massachusetts Bay of the 23 of November Last transmitted to them the 24 of March with the minute of this Board thereupon, AND the said Patentees having not made any Objections against the said Resolutions,—

IT IS ORDERED by this Board that all Persons concern'd belonging to this Government be prohibited from making any further Settlements near the Dividing Lines between the two Provinces, and that all actions already Commenced against any of the people residing at Westenhook cease and they be put to no further trouble in the Law untill the further order of this Government.

ORDERED that the Patentees of Westenhook be served with a Copy of this Order.

It is the Opinion of this Board that the Setling the boundarys between the two Provinces and naming Commission" be deferred till the Siting of the Assembly of this province that provision may be made for that Service

It is the desire of this Board that his Excellency acquaint his honour the Lieutenant Governour of Boston that this Government has made the aforesaid order

Mr. Bobin, by his Excellency's Order, laid before this House, A Copy of the Resolves of the Assembly of the Colony of the Massachusets-Bay, concerning the Division Line between the Province of New York and that Colony; dated the 23d of November 1726, which were read.

Ordered, That the said Copies be referred to the Committee of the Whole House, when those Matters of his Excellency's Speech, are by them taken into Consideration.

*

*

-IN. Y. Gen. Assembly Journal, p. 559.

November 24, 1727.

Mr. Livingston, from the Committee of the Whole House, to consider of his Excellency's Speech, reported, that they had come to the following Resolutions and Opinions upon the remaining Part thereof; which being read, were agreed unto by the House, and are as follows,

to wit.

As to the settling of the Partition and Division Limits, between this and the neighbouring Colonies; Resolved, That the same shall be taken into Consideration, at the next Meeting of this House, though they are in the mean while of Opinion, that particular Directions and Instructions, ought to be had from his Majesty, before we adventure to settle the Partition Line, betwixt this Colony and that of the Massachusets, because the Concessions made to Connecticut, cannot be held as a Rule, for as much as Massachusets is vastly broader where they border upon us.

*

-IN. Y. Gen. Assem. Journal, p. 571.

Wednesday

[MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL COURT RECORDS.]

March 10. 1730. [O. S.] In the House of Represent

Whereas

sundry Disputes & Differences have of late risen between some of the Inhabitants of this Province & of the Province of New York respecting the Boundary between this Province & that (near Housatanuck or Wesson Hook so called) the settlem whereof is necessary. Ordered that the Honbles Elisha Cook & John Stoddard Esq & M: Samuel Welles with such as shall be joined by the Honble Board be & hereby are appointed Commissioners in behalf of this Government to meet Commissioners from the Governm of New York for compromising the said Affair, & with them to agree upon finally settle the said Boundary or dividing Line: and their Conclusions & Agreem" signed, sealed and perfected with the said Commiss" of the Province of New York, shall be for ever deemed & held good & valid by this Governm! Provided the said Power be given by the Province of New York to their Commissioners. And that all Processes in the Law against any Person or Persons that border on the said Line for Rates & Taxes to either Governm! be suspended in the meantime; Provided that the Governm of New York give the like Order on their part; Report to be made of the Proceedings herein to this Court.

In Council; Read & Concurred; & Samuel Thaxter & John Chandler Esq are joined in the Affair: Consented to J. BELCHER.

-N. Y. Col. MSS., lxix, 116.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS,
Secretary's Department,

Boston, August 20, 1878.

A true extract from the General Court Records of Massachusetts.

HENRY J. COOLIDGE,

Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth.

'No attention seems to have been given to this subject at the next Session of the

General Assembly. - [P.

[IN N. Y. COUNCIL.]

September 3, 1731.

His Honour the President [Rip Van Dam] Communicated to the Board a Letter from the Governour of Boston dated the 5th of July last & directed to his late Excellency Gouvernour Montgomerie Deceased Setting forth his having transmitted to his Said late Excellency An Act of Assembly of that Province for Settling the Line betwixt that Government and this

Which Letter having been read It is

Ordered, that the Same be laid before the Assembly

-[N. Y. Legis. Council Journal, p. 604.

The Deputy Clerk of the Council brought from the President and and Council a Letter from his Excellency Jonathan Belcher, Esq; Governor of the Massachusetts, to our late Governor John Montgomerie, Esq; dated in Boston, the 5th of July last, relating to the settling of a Partition Line between that Government, and this, which being read; Ordered, That the same lie on the Table for the Members to peruse.

[IN MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL COURT.]

[December 9, 1732.]

In Council; Whereas, sundry Disputes and Differences have arisen between this Province and the Province of New York, respecting the boundary or dividing Line between us: a settlement whereof is necessary: Ordered that Sam'l Thaxter and William Dudley Esq" with such as shall be joined by the Hon House of Represent be & hereby are appointed Commission" on behalf of this Governm to meet Commission from the Governm! of New York for compromising in s affair & with them to agree upon & finally settle the s boundaries & to appoint suitable persons for running & marking the same & their Conclusion signed sealed and perfected with the s Commissioners of the province of New York shall be forever deemed and held good & valid by this Governm provided the like power be given by the sa Governm of New York to their Commission & that the s Conclusions of the s

Boundary be made within the Term of eighteen months from this Date. Report to be made of the proceedings therein as soon as may be.

In the House of Represents Read & Concurred, & Elisha Cooke, John Wainwright & John Stoddard Esq" are joined in the affair. Consented to -J. BELCHER.

Tuesday, March 18, 1739.

In the House of Representes Ordered that Ebenezer Pomroy, Joseph Dwight and William Pynchon Esq with such as shall be joined by the Honble Board, be and hereby are appointed Commissioners on behalf of this Province to meet Commissioners from the Government of New York for compromising the affair of the Boundary Line between the two Governments, and with them to agree upon Preliminaries, and finally to settle the said Boundaries and to appoint suitable persons for running and marking the same; and the Determination of the said Commissioners or the major part of them, signed, sealed and perfected with the said Commissioners of the Province of New York or the major part of them, shall be forever deemed and held good and valid by this Government: Provided the like power be given by the said Government of New York to their commissioners, and the determination of the said Boundaries be made within the term of eighteen months from this date. Report to be made of the proceedings herein as soon as may be.

In Council: Read and Concur'd and John Stoddard, William Dudley and Jacob Wendell Esq" are joined in the affair.

I certify the foregoing to be true extracts from the Records of the General Court of Massachusetts.

HENRY B. PEIRCE, Secretary of the Commonwealth.

My Lords

*

[LIEUT.-GOV. CLARKE TO THE Lords of TRADE.]

I lately received a letter from Mr. Belcher the Governor of the Masathusets with a resolve of their Assembly concerning the ascertaining the boundaries between the two Provinces with my answer thereto all which I inclose that being as much as the Council thought I could say at pre

sent and I expected Mr. Belcher would wait till I had laid it before the Assembly and that they had provided for the expence on our part and hoped to have heard from him in answer to my letter, but I have as yet received none, on the contrary without staying for the sitting of our Assembly several people of their Colony have gone within 16 miles of Hudsons river near Albany with a Surveyor to lay out some lands (for one or more Townships) as I am informed some of which were granted by the Governor of this Province in the year 1688 and some of them purchased of the Indians by lycence from Gov' Montgomery and now too granted, the owners of those lands hearing what the New England people were doing went on the spot and forbad them. The Indians who had sold the lands to our people drove the Surveyor and those who were with him away being exasperated at the New England men who without any purchase pretended to survey those lands. England people have formerly taken such steps I am not surprized that they have drawn upon themselves bloody and Indian Warrs, our method is very different from that we never grant lands until they have been bought of the Indians and until deeds are executed by them and those deeds laid before the Gov' and Council

If the New

I wish with all my heart that our boundaries were settled, but in order to do that I conceive I must not only be assisted with money by the Assembly but I must have an instruction from his Majesty for that purpose and untill the boundaries are settled I presume to hope your Lordships will think it proper to obtain his Maj's order forbidding any future surveys or settlements to be made by the New England people on their frontiers towards this Province for if they go on to settle it will be more difficult on a treaty to throw them back to their proper bounds, and the more they encroach the more quite rents will the King lose in this Province and in truth my Lords I doubt whether the New Engand people really desire to have their limitts ascertained since they serve them selves in this manner without it, for this is not the first time they have made the same request as the Gov's of this Province and then without waiting have made out lands and settled them I mean some lands which many years before been granted here, besides they well know too that the Assemblys of this Province are averse to the giving of money for such purposes as the lands are the Kings and not theirs, and therefore think they may safely go on without fearing to be disturbed by our and their fixing the boundaries however they ought to beware of provoking the Indians by taking their lands either by fraud or force lest they begett a new warr with them which in its consequences may effect us.

*

-[N. Y. Col. Docs., vi, 143.

*

GEO: CLARK.