CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.
385
& Willard Deane for the s d Trespasses in the Court of Vice Admiralty for the Province of NewYork , and having by full, and clear possitive Evidence, supported his Complaint His Honour theJudge of Vice Admiralty after a full & open Trial, did solemnly adjudicate, and decree them thesaid Will™ Deane, William Deane jun r ;;yr 1 Willard Deane, to have been guilty of cutting Whitepine Trees as aforesaid; and to have incurred the penaltys of the Statute in that case made andprovided—as by the Decree of-said Court may at large appear but the Execution for said Penaltysbeing directed only against the Goods & Chattels of the aforesaid Trespassers, which it appears werealienated (while the suit was yet pending) to Samuel Wells Esq 1 ' a Judge of the Court of Commonpleas in & for the County of Cumberland in the Province aforesaid, by the trespassers aforesaid,Whereby the Recovery of the penaltys in the Statute aforesaid is evaded, tho’ legally adjudicated.
Wherefore your Memorialist relying on your Honors ready Dispositions to afford all legal aid, &assistance towards carrying the Laws into due, just & effectual Execution; begs leave to represent—•that by the express Terms of y e Grant or patent of said Lands under the public seal of New Hampshire ,the property reverts to the King with right of re-entry, upon cutting any pine Timber from off thepremises, without Licence , as by the Second Article of the Condition in the annexed Copy may morefully appear. That therefore the said Lands upon committing the Fact prohibited, revested in theCrown.
Wherefore your Memorialist (being also informed that the said Lands have not been grantedUnder the public seal of the Province of New York ) prays that it may be declared they are forfeited,and such public Reservation of the Premises made as may to your Honors seem meet—wherebyYour Memorialist apprehends, that the Statute for preserving White pine Timber to His Majestywill be in some degree carried into Execution ; which otherwise in this Instance may be frustrated,and the most open convicted, and pernicious Violation thereof, which in this Case was perpetrated inavowed Defiance of the Laws , will elude that Penalty of the Statute which was wisely formed, andwhich by the Experiance of nearly half a Century has in other Provinces been found effectual tothat End—But if such insiduous Artifice, which in fact adds to their Criminality, may unhappilycover, and Secure them from the Infliction due to such Trespassers, Offenders will exult in theBreach of the most benficial Laws, and in committing a National Injury' with Impunity.
All which is submitted,-and your Memorialist prays such Relief on the premises as to yourHonours shall appear just and expedient.
And your Memorialist shall ever pray & c
J. Wentworth.
AFFIDAVITS.
Benjamin Whiting Esq r of Newbury in the County of Albany and Collony of New York of fulla ge Testifies and says that on the twenty eighth day of August 1769 he Received several Writswhich had been Granted by the Hon ble Richard Maurice Esq r Judge of the Court of Vice Admiraltyfor the Province of New r York , against several persons for Committing Trespasses in the King’s Woods(by destroying White pine Timber within the County of Cumberland and Collony aforesaid) theDeponents also Received a deputation with full power to Execute the before mentioned Writs fromThomas Ludlow Esq 1 ' Provost Marshall of the said Court of Vice Admiralty for said Collony and onVol. iv. 49