2*

GREAT SEALS OF NEW NKTHERLAND AND NEW YORK.

Colony of New England ” was directed to be thenceforth made use of “ for all that our Territoryand Dominion in its largest extent and boundaries aforementioned.” 1

IV.

Seal of King William and Queen Mary.

In 1689, a revolution broke out in New York, and the government of James II . was deposed.In December of that year Jacob Leisler assumed the title of Lieutenant Governor of the Province,and “adventured to make a new Seale for the province, altering the Duke of York’s Coronet, andplacing the Crowne of England in its stead.” 2

A new official Seal was, however, brought over by Gov. Sloughter , the warrant for which bearsdate 31st May, 1690. 3 It served as the model for all the Great Seals of New York subsequentlyreceived from England, and has, on one side, as will be seen by the engraving, the effigies of theKing and Queen, and two Indians kneeling offering as presents—the one, a roll of Wampum , theother a Beaver skin. Around the circumference are their Majesties titles— Gvlielmvs III. etMaria. II. Dei. Gra. Mag. Brit. Fran. Hib. Rex et Regina. Fid. Def. On the reverse are theRoyal Arms w T ith the Garter, Crown, Supporters and Motto, and this inscription— SigillvmProvinc. Nostr. Nov. Ebor. etc. in America . These arms are, it will be remembered, the sameas those on the Stuart seal, with the addition, however, of an escutcheon of pretence, containinga Lion rampant, for the arms of Nassau , of which house King William was a member. It hassome other peculiarities worthy of attention. Much importance has been attached to this sealfrom the fact that it was affixed to several patents in this country after the King’s death. But theobjections made to the validity of those patents, on that account, must disappear when the factis understood, that this seal was not superseded until Sept., 1705—three years and a half afterthe King’s demise. The engraving is from the Seal attached to the original Charter of TrinityChurch, N. Y.,1697, in the State Lib., and to the Commission of Johannis Abeel, Mayor of Albany ,1694, in the Albany Institute.

V.

Seal of Queen Anne.

There were two Great Seals for the Province in this reign.

1. The first, the warrant for which bears date the 3d May, 1705, 4 was brought out by Col. Nott,of Virginia, 5 and w r as received on 6th of September following when that of William and Mary was defaced, 6 and sent back to England broken. 7 On the one side are the Queen’s effigy and theIndians offering their tokens of submission, as before, with Royal titles Anna. Dei. Gra. Mag.Brit. Fran. et. Hib. Regina. Fid. Defen. On the reverse, the Stuart arms as already described,(see II.)—the escutcheon of Nassau having been removed on the death of the King—with Crown,Garter, Supporters and Motto, and this Inscription, Sigillvm. Provincial Nostra:. Novi. Eboraci.in. America . Motto—Semper Eadem. The Engraving is copied from the Seal in the StateLibrary to a Patent of Anne Bridges and others for a tract in Westchester Co. , dated 25th Sept.,1708.

2. The Union between England and Scotland , in 1706, rendering a new Seal requisite, a secondone was ordered on 29th October, 1709, and received on the arrival of Gov. Hunter, 14th June,

1 Loud. Doo. VI. 135. Documents relating to the Col. Hist, of N. York . III. 546.

2 LondonDoc. VII. 10. Doo. relating to Col. Hist, of N. Y. III. 656.

3 Book of Commissioners, Secy’s Off. II. 16. 4 Lond. Doc. XVI, 183.

6 Couno. Min. IX. 563. 7 Lond. Doc. XVI. 311.

5 Ihid XVI. 275.