gov. tryon’s report on the province of new-york.

509

The proportion of the cultivated to the uncultivated parts of the Province (the Limits as stated inNo. 2) is as one to four; or one fifth only improved.

With respect to the Titles under which the Inhabitants hold their possessions; Before the ProvinceTitles under was granted on 12 March 1663)4 by King Charles the Second to his brother James Duke ofMe'heid 8 '"'* York, the Dutch West India Company had seized it, made settlements and Issued manyGrants of Land. In August 1664 the Country was surrendered by the Dutch to the English , and bythe 3*1 Article of the Terms of Capitulation it was stipulated “ That all People shall continue freeDenizens and shall enjoy their Lands, Houses, and goods, wheresoever they are within this Countryand dispose of them as they please.” Some lands of the Province are held under the old Dutch Grants without any confirmation of their Titles under the 'crown of England, but the ancient Recordsare replete with confirmatory Grants, which the Dutch Inhabitants were probably the more solicitousto obtain from an Apprehension that the Dutch conquest of the Province in 1673, might render theirTitles under the former articles of Capitulation precarious; tho’ the Country was finally restored tothe English by the Treaty signed at Westminster the 9 th Feby 1674.

From that period it has remained in the possession of the English, and the Duke of York on the29 th of June 1674, obtained a new Grant from the King, of all the Territories included within theformer Letters Patent in 1663(4. *’

During the life of King Charles the Second, the Duke of York as proprietor of the Soil, passedmany Grants (by his Governor) in Fee , and since his accession to the Throne, Grants have continuedto issue under the Great Seal of the Province, in consequence of the Powers given the severalGovernors by their Commissions and Instructions from the Crown—Two instances only occur ofGrants or Letters Patent for Lands under the Great Seal of Great Britain.—One to Sir Joseph Eyiesand others on the 15 th May in the 4 th year of His iate Majesty King George the Second for a Tractof 62,000 acres, called the Equivalent Land from its having been ceded to New York by the Colonyof Connecticut (on the settlement of the boundary between the two Provinces) in lieu of a likequantity yielded up to Connecticut by the Province of New York —The other lately, to Sir WilliamJohnson Baronet—The Lands granted to Sir Joseph Eyies and his associates are not possessed bythem or their assigns, Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Province of New York havingpassed to others for the same Lands, before it was known here that the Royal Grant was obtained;and the Lands are now in possession of the New York Patentees or their assigns. *

These are all the different inodes by which the Inhabitants have derived any legal Titles to theirLands within the Limits of this Province, whence it appears that all their lawful titles to Lan s inDee, except in cases of old Dutch Grants unconfirmed, originated from the Crown either mediatelythro’ the Duke of York before his Accession to the Throne, or immediately by Grants under tbeGreat Seal of Great Britain or of this Province. , . ‘ n , ,

Purchases from the Indian Natives, as of their aboriginal right have never been held tc.bea teg*Title in this Province, the Maxim obtaining here; as in England that the King is e ouTeal property, and that from this source all real Titles are to be derived.

Question No. 4

What Rivers are there and of what Extent & Convenience in point of Commerce?

1 This tract , otherwise ca]leil .. The Oblong,” lies along the

0>m the north line of Cortland Manor to about the south boun su> g Further particulars regarding the

R °«ge-S Map of the Prov. of N. Y. ; also in Saufhter’s Map of New

controversy may be learned by reference to Book of Patents 1.5 Deed Books xiv. US , xv , ,

Ah ° Smith’s History, ed. 1829-30. i., 285-288 ; li-, 13, 29.