CONTROVERSY RESPECTING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS.

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fl. City of New York ss: Simon Stevens an Inhabitant of the Township of Charles Town inthe Province of New Hampshire , and at present one of the Members of the General Assembly orHouse of Representatives of the said Province , maketh oath upon the Holy Evangelists and saith,That, very soon after M 1 ' Wentworth the present Governor of New Hampshire arrived from Englandas Governor of that Province, lie laid conversation witli him, in which he inquired of the Deponent concerning the Temper of the People on the West side of Connecticut River , upon their being sub-jected to the Jurisdiction of the Province of New York . That he intimated that he could easilyhave procured their being again comprehended under New Hampshire , if they had written to himwhile lie was in England for that Purpose.

B. That he expressed his inclination that some measures should be taken, to excite them to procurea Change of Government.

C. That he proposed to promote Petitions from the People to accomplish that End, and askedthe Deponent if he would be concerned in facilitating and circulating a Petition of that kind.That the Deponent refused to be concerned in any such measures, That the said Governor has brokethe same subject to the Deponent at several Times since, Declaring that if the People could beinduced to sign Petitions, it would be easy as he conceived to procure an order for extending theJurisdiction of New Hampshire across the River , so as to include them within that Government.

D. That in the fall of the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty nine, there was a Petitionto the King, carried about among the Inhabitants of the West side of Connecticut River , praying tobe subjected.to New Hampshire, which the Deponent believes was drawn by M r Wentworth himself,the Sentiments being similar to what the Deponent has frequently heard him deliver in Language■very similar to what he used.

That this Petition was promoted by Nathan Stone, who has lately been very active against theJurisdiction of New York .

That the Deponent has also seen an attested Copy of another Petition to his Majesty, of the likeImport with that above mentioned, which has been lately circulated in that County, and which healso for the Reasons above mentioned believes was drawn by the said Governor.

E. That the Deponent has known Lands granted under New Hampshire on the East side of Con-necticut River , to be regranted to other Persons for Default of the first Patentees in not settling thesame, and that without any office being first found. And the Deponent also saith That it is verycommon in that Government to grant Shares and Interests in Patents for the Benefit of the Governorand some of his Council, whose Proportions of the Fees are born by the other Patentees.

F. And this Deponent further saith, that for many Years last past he has been well acquainted withthe Lands formerly claimed by New Hampshire, on the West side of Connecticut River , that he wellremembers that Governor Coldens Proclamation of 28'*> Dec 1- 1763, and the Proclamations of Gov-ernor Colden and the late Governor Wentworth, notifying the Kings Determination of the Boundarybetween the said Governments were all public in Print of that Country. That at the Time lastmentioned there were very few Settlers to the Eastward of the Green Mountains, claiming underNew Hampshire , this Deponent believes there were not seventy Families, and those were scatteredin about a Dozen Townships on that River, and the Chief of them in Brattleborough , Westminster,Ihiltney and Rockingham, and that in all the rest of the numerous Tracts granted by New Hamp-shire, from the North Bounds of the Massachusetts Bay on Connecticut River , Northward and North-westward, to the farthest extent of the Claim of New Hampshire on the West side of the said River ,there was not at that Time one Inhabitant this Deponent -verily believes, having frequently been overthat Country, and was at that Time and yet is well acquainted with it.