CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.
361
REPORT ON PRECEDING PETITIONS.
May it please your Honour '
In obedienee to your Honours orders in Council referring to this Committee, three several Peti-tions, exhibited by Thomas Chandler and others, in behalf of themselves and their associates,Inhabitants of the Northeastern part of this Province , praying that for the better administration ofJustice, and the greater Convenience and Encouragement of the Setters there, One or more Coun-ties maybe erected and Constituted in that part of the province, with the Priviledges usually grantedto other Counties within the same : The Committee have had this matter under their Considera-tion, and humbly conceive it to be of too much Importance, as the Informations they have beenable to obtain, are very contradictory and unsatisfactory, to advise the Establishment of any NewCounty on that side of the Province , more especially as the Inhabitants there, have as yet only anEquitable Title to the Lands they possess ; are utterly unacquainted with the Laws of the Province ,and the Modes of dispensing Justice therein; whence it must in our opinion be attended withgreater Inconvenience to invest them with those Ample Powers, that will necessarily be lodged intheir hands on their being formed into a separate County; than by the appointment of proper andfit persons as Justices for the Conservation of the Peace: the Mode of Justice to which they havebeen accustomed, having had no other Jurisdiction among them since their first Settlement andbeing always obliged to travel to Portsmouth, where all the Courts of Justice in the Province ofNew Hampshire are held, a distance far more Considerable, than to the Courts in Albany . Andshould the Committee, to suit a present convenience advise the forming a part of the Province solittle known into a County, when it must shortly become expedient to new model it, private pro-perty would be greatly injured, by altering the seat of the Courts of Justice, and other Places ofPublic Resort. Upon the whole therefore, the Committee are humbly of opinion, that your Honourdo appoint a competent Number of fit persons for the Conservation of the Peace and the adminis-tration of Justice in that part of the Province :
All which is nevertheless humbly submitted
By order of the Commmittee
To His Excellency Sir Henry Moore Baronet Cap* General Governor and Commander in Chief inand Over the Province of New York and Territories Depending thereon in America .
In Council
According to your Excellency and Honours orders of yesterday to give an acco> of the Names ofthe several? persons Living on the Severall Townships of Land we Represent and according toWhat we can recollect are as follows viz* In the Township of Pownal, George Gardner Esq', Liev>Asa Alge, Ensign Benj a Briggs, Isaac Venornum, Derick Smith, Luke Venornum, Charles Wright,Line’ John Venornum Abraham Venornum, Isaac Venornum Jm-, John Dayford, David Perigo,Noah Prat, Jhn Prat Marsh, Hix, Curtis, Perigo, Wittum, Wittum Jam,Noble, Noble, George Gardner Jim", Paul Gardner, Williams Malary, Malary,Carey Parmeter, Hunt, Eben Comins, Steet, Jonathan Card, Rufus Putnam , MatthewVon. iv. 46