CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

353

PROCLAMATION OF GOV. WENTWORTH

IN ANSWER TO THE PRECEDING OF LT. GOV COLDEN.

By His Excellency Benning Wentworth Esq r Captain General Governor and Commander in Chief ofHis Majesty’s porvince of New Hampshire in New England &c

A PROCLAMATION

Whereas His Honor Cadwallader Colden Esq r Lieutenant Governor and commander in chief ofHis Majesty’s Province of New York hath lately issued a Proclamation of a very extraordinarynature, Seting forth that King Charles the Second, on the 12 th day of March 1663[4 and the 29 thJune 1674, did by his several Letters patent of those dates, grant in fee to his Brother the Luke ofYork among other Things all the Land from the west Side of Connecticut River to the East Side ofDelaware Bay and therein also sets forth, or describes the Bounds of New Hampshire , in whichdescription there is a very material mistake, besides there is omitted the fact, on which the descriptionof New Hampshire depended, viz 1 His Majesty’s determination of the northern, and western Boundarysof the province of the Massachusets Bay in 1739 & nothing can be more evident, than, that NewHampshire may legally extend her western Boundary as far as the Massachusets claim reaches ; andShe claims no more, but New York pretends to claim even to the Banks of Connecticut River althoughShe never laid out and Settled one town in that part of His Majesty’s Lands Since she existed asGovernment. When New York Government extends her Eastern Boundary, to the Banks ofConnecticut River between New York and the Colony of Connecticut, & to the Banks of said River ,between New York & the province of the Massachusets Bay, it wou’d have been lull early for NewYork to declare that the Government of New Hampshire was fully apprized of the Right of NewYork under the before recited Letters pattent to the Duke of York .

In Virtue of the final determination of the Boundary Lines Settled by his late Majesty betweenthis Government, and the Massachusetts Bay, all the Lands capable of Settlements have beenerected into townships, agreeable to His Majesty’s Commands, and a Considerable Revenue is dailyarising to the Crown, unless interrupted & impaired by His Honors Proclamation, which New Hampshire will not be answerable for.

At present the Boundarys of New-York to the Northward are unknown, and as soon as it shall beHis Majestys pleasure to determine them, New Hampshire will pay a ready and chearfull obediencethereunto, not doubting but that all Grants made by New Hampshire that are fulfilled by theGrantees will be confirmed to them if it should be His Majestys pleasure to alter the Jurisdiction.

Eor politicall Reasons, the Claim to Jurisdiction, by New-York might have been deferred, as wellus the Strict Injunction on the Civil power to exercise Jurisdiction in their respective Functions, asfar as the Eastern Banks of Connecticut River .

The said proclamation, carrying an air of Government in it, may possibly affect & retard theSettlement of His Majesty’s Lands granted by this Government, for preventing an Injury to theCrown of this kind, and to remove all doubts that may arise to persons holding the Kings Grants,they may be assured that the patent to the Duke of York is Obsolete, and cannot convey any certainBoundary to New York that can be claimed as a Boundary, as plainly appears by the SeveralBoundary Lines of the Jerseys, on the West, & the Colony ol Connecticut on the East, which areset forth in the Proclamation as part only of the Land included in the said patent to the Duke ofYork.

Vol. IV

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