390

CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

ORDER IN COUNCIL FOR ERECTING THE COUNTY OF GLOCESTER.

At a Council held at Fort George in the City of New York on Wednesdaythe twenty eighth Day of February 1770.

Present

The Hono ble Cadwallader Colden Esq r Lieut: Govt

M 1 ' Watts

M r SmithM 1 ' CrugerM r WallaceM r White

M r DeLancey

M r ReadeM r Morris

The Petition of the Proprietors or Inhabitants of the Lands on the West Side of Connecticut River ,to the Number of one hundred and twenty Persons in the whole, was presented to the Board andRead. Setting forth, among other things, that there is a vast and valuable Country between Con-necticut River and Lake Champlain, and extending from the County of Cumberland on the South, tothe Latitude of forty five Degrees North, capable of subsisting many Inhabitants, to the greatIncrease of the Strength and Prosperity of the Empire in general, and the Province of New York in particular. That the Establishment of the County of Cumberland, as it conduced to theMaintenance of good Order, has greatly promoted the Improvement of that District, which is dailyadvancing and will soon become an important and flourishing County : That such of the Petitionersas live to the Northward of Cumberland are exposed to Rapine and Plunder from a lawless Banditti ofFelons and Criminals who fly thither from other Places. And that it is impossible to obtain Justicewhile they remain a part of the County of Albany as the Magistrate can have no Eye upon those distantParts, nor can the Petitioners procure officers to come thither, or they in their present state go tothem : That there are upwards of seven hundred souls to the Northward of the County of Cumber-land, and that such is the Quality and situation of the Land that under proper Encouragement, andby the Help of the Overflowing of the neighbouring Colonies the whole Country may in a few yearsbe under actual Cultivation : And therefore the Petitioners humbly pray that a new County may beconstituted to the Northward of the said County of Cumberland.

On reading and due consideration whereof it is ordered by his Honour the Lieutenant Governorwith the advice and consent of the Council that his Majesty’s Attorney General of this Province doforthwith prepare and lay before his Honour the Lieutenant Governor in Council the Draft of anOrdinance Erecting into a separate County by the Name of Glocester, with such Powers as arenecessary for the due Administration of Justice within the same, All that certain Tract or Districtof Land Situate lying and being to the Northward of the County of Cumberland : Beginning at theNorthwest Corner of the said County of Cumberland : and thence running North as the needle pointsfifty Miles : thence East to Connecticut River ; thence along the West Bank of the same River as itruns, to the Northeast corner of the said County of Cumberland on the said river and thence alongthe north bounds of the said county of Cumberland to the Place of Beginning : And that theTownship of Kingsland be by the said Ordinance declared and appointed the County Town,jrec.ed 3hhhh