CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

381

were afraid your People would Hush on us and Do us some mischief: we Told them they would Notand we Two had come in a friendly manner To see By what authority they Run in our Possessionand claim : they say they will not Take any advantage against us upon their words and say if we willgo with them to M r Perces where their things was they would show us ; accordingly we went, theyshew us an act of the Assembly to Divide their Great Pattens so that his Majesty might have hisQuit-rent: and an act of the Pattentees of the wallumsack grant who had apointed them to makePartition of said Grant to Each Grantee we told them there Grant lay within the County of Albany and they were out of said County infringing on our Grants made By New Hampshire and weunderstood his Majesty had fbrbide them making any Grants on ours or hindering our Settlement:they say we are fbrbide Making any Grants and stop : we Told them we did Not see as they hadany Right To Run over the Twenty mile Line Breakinridge Desired they would Not Run in hisPossession and Told them we ware appointed as Committee for Bennington and were Large Proprietorsof' Shaftsbury we therefore as such Did forbide there Running for we held our Lands By our NewHampshire Charters and had it in Possession and Supposed a good Right to it; and if they Runthey must Run it as Disputed Lands they answered then Stop us or Break our chain : we Told themwe would not Take any unlawful methods But told them if they would not stop for what we hadSed they must Run it as Disputed Land and we w r ould go home about our Bussines so parted: afterwe had got Some Distance they called us Back and ask us if our People Intended to stop them theywould Be glad they would do it, then to which we answered we Did Not think they would stop themBut Did Not No : for we Did Not intend to Break any Law or Expose our selves : they say we hadBeter stop them if we intended to we Returned the answer as Before we would not: unless theywould Tell us what way we could without Breaking any Law for we had not breaken any Law NorDid Not Intend to : they say we had not nor they would not Take any advantage against us ButDesired we would go to our People to No if they intended to stop them we told them we would goon their Desire if they would wait half an hour to which they agreed we went and Told the Peoplethe Gentlemen Requist we Told them what we had done and advise by no means to stop them towhitch they agreed if we would Take Two or three as Evidences and desire them Not to Run onlyas Disputed Lands then u'ent Back and met them in the field and Returned the answer as abovethey Told us then Break our chain or compass or Tread on our Chain to whitch we answered weshould not Tread on their chain Nor Break it or compass Nor Meddle with their Persons but givethem the honnour that Belonged to their charracters so Bide them farewell they shook hands and GodBless us wish us well and we Immediately Returned to our houses and Left them on the spot andBleve all our People Did so Return with is the whole Truth we No.

James Breakenridge

Samel Robinson.

Province of New ) February l-Rh 1770. The afores«l James Breakenridge & Samuel RobinsonHampshire ss j personally appeared & made Solemn oath that the foregoing Deposition orNarative by them Subscribed is the truth the whole truth & nothing but the truth.

Before me Samuel Livermore, Justice of the Peace.