CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

371

hare just mentioned; I do not speak of this from ostentation, for I think that no Parade shouldbe made of acts of this kind, as the satisfaction they give is a sufficient reward in itself and amonly concerned that this Relation should be extorted from me in this manner which nothing but thedefence of my own Reputation, and the hopes of making it appear how little I deserve the Characterthe Petitioners are pleased to draw of me, could have effected. I shall say nothing of the Extraor-dinary sum of thirty three thousand Pounds sterling mentioned in tin's Paragraph. The whole Tableof my Fees having been lately transmitted to England your Lordship will see how gross a misrep-resentation this must be even if I had ever mentioned Fees, and it should seem as if particular carehad been taken to exceed all bounds of Truth in every thing they have advanced more especially inthis article which could have been so easily ascertained.

The assertion in the ninth Paragraph, that there are now upwards of one Thousand Familiessettled on the West side of Connecticut River in consequence of the said Grants is as great an untruthas any set forth in the whole Petition ; There is not the half of that number there, nor do I reallybelieve the quarter part; I have already shewed in what manner the settlements there are carryingon, but the real land holders of the greatest part of that country actually reside in Boston andConnecticut Governments, and so far from being turned out of possession as is set forth in thePetition , that the greatest part of them never were there ; They have been invited to settle there,by all the encouragement this Government could give, but it is still a matter of doubt as to greatnumbers of them, whether they ever had any intentions of residing there or not; Two persons agentsfor some others who came to Town yesterday to solicit a Grant of two Townships under the NewHampshire charters, (whose claims have been laid above a Twelve month but were never pro-ceeded on) have confirmed what I now write in regard to the number of Families, and havedeclared ingenuously to me that there are no settlements on the Lands they came now to Claim, norwere there any ever made in consequence of the former charters, but that if the Governm* wouldindulge them in their Grants they would proceed immediately to the making of Improvements, andthis is the case with the greatest number of them; These men who both reside in the Boston Gov-ernment informed me that they were solicited to join in this Petition but refused it, as many of themost considerable people there had done already, and were not a little surprized at some of the boldassertions in it which they themselves know to be false.

I can give no opinion or account of their being engaged in the actual service of His Majesty in thelute War., which they sett forth being a stranger to it, but Robinson can plead but little merit fromhis service, which J am told here was nothing more than that of driving an Ox cart for the Suttlers,and I think it must be obvious to every one that very few Levies could be made at that time in aFrontier Country exposed to all incursions, and which had scarce any Inhabitants at all in it.

I shall now proceed to that Allegation that some of the Petitioners have expended the whole andothers the greatest part of what they were worth in purchasing the said Grants %'c. How far any creditis to be given to this assertion will be left to your Lordship to determine after it is made to appearhow much has been the real original expence of these Charters, for as to the Improvement of theLands as the greatest part of those now Petition* 3 for are still uncultivated, certainly no claims can bemade for money laid out on them. From the best informations I have been able to obtain from theClaimants themselves, there appears to have been a sum of money paid down on the taking out ofthe charter which varies much (occasioned as I suppose from the Situation of the Lands) and thatthe whole amount of these sums have been from Twenty to forty Pounds New York Currency foreach Township so that at an average, Thirty Pounds (about 17 lb sterling) maybe deemed thereal expence of a Township which was to include a Tract of Ground six Miles square, but veryoften took in a great deal more; it is very obvious that on this Plan, the Expences of a Township