Sir Walter Raleigh obtains for himself and heirs a patent from Queen Elizabeth, to possess for ever whatever lands they might discover not possessed by a Christian prince, nor inhabited by a Christian people. In virtue of this patent, Sir Walter settled a colony in Carolina; and, in honor of his patron and virgin queen, gave the name of Virginia to that whole country now extending from Maine to Virginia. The only memorable result of this colony was the introduction of that vile weed, tobacco, into England, and some lectures to his royal mistress on the various delights and benefits of its use.

Without any regard to the rights of Raleigh, James I. granted a new patent of Virginia, as above described, to two companies, called the London and Plymouth companies, which met with but little success in their attempts to colonize it. A suit was entered in the King's Bench in reference to these patents, which resulted in their forfeiture; and the title. to Virginia reverted to the crown, which was again at full liberty to grant it to others in whole or in part.

Up to this time New Jersey was a part of Virginia. Subsequently, however, it was a part of the province of New-York, which, in 1664, extended "South to Maryland, East to New-England, Northward to the river of Canada, and Westward as far as land could be discovered."

Because of the discovery of Cabot, the English claimed the right and title to the whole country from Maine to Florida; but the Dutch gained possession

of what is now called New-York, and claimed it as theirs in virtue of a discovery made in 1609 by Henry Hudson, who, in the employment of the Holland East India Company, was in search of a Northwest passage to China. This gave great offence to Charles II., now filling the British throne; and for the purpose of dispossessing them he gave a patent to the Duke of York, his brother, for a large portion of the whole country, in which was included the whole territory now known as New-York and New-Jersey. To place the Duke in the possession of this country, Sir Robert Carr is sent over with a small fleet; and as the Dutch were ignorant of his object, and were unprepared for defence, he quietly takes possession of NewAmsterdam.

On the 24th of June, 1664, the Duke of York, now the possessor of the soil under patent from the crown, granted and conveyed to Lord John Berkley and Sir George Carteret, the tract of land lying between the Hudson and the Delaware rivers, and extending from the ocean to the present Northern line of our State, for the yearly rent of "twenty nobles, lawful money of England, to be paid in the Inner Temple, London, at the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel." It is to be regretted that we know so little in reference to these individuals, so high in royal favor, the influence of whose laws and acts is yet felt in our commonwealth. We only know that Berkley was one of the Privy Council; and that Carteret was a member of the same body, Treasurer of

the Navy, and Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household. Carteret, it seems, did not always enjoy an unspotted reputation, as he was expelled from the House of Commons in 1669 for confused accounts as Chamberlain. For some time previous to the grant to Berkley and Carteret, the district now included. within the boundaries of our State was called NewCanary; but after the grant it was called New-Jersey, in honor of Carteret, who was a native of the Isle of Jersey, and who defended it with great valor against the Long Parliament in the civil wars.

Berkley and Carteret are now the proprietors of New-Jersey, and their first care is to invite settlers to the province. In the pursuit of this object they manifest great sagacity. They prepared and published a Constitution, which, considering the day in which it was formed, contains many admirable provisions.* And although the first Constitution of New-Jersey, and granted by Lords Proprietors, it guards as carefully the civil and religious rights of the people as that under which we now live. Whilst prelatical Virginia and puritanical Connecticut had each their blue laws, and those of the former no less absurd than those of the latter, it was an organic law of New-Jersey, that "No person shall be molested or questioned for any difference of opinion or practice in matters of religious concernment." And it further provides, that the Assembly shall have power to appoint as many preachers as

*This may be seen at large in the "Grants, Concessions," &c. by Leaming and Spicer.

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they see fit, and to establish their maintenance.

CARTERET SETTLES AT ELIZABETH-TOWN.

It

grants to every settler "armed with a good musket, bore twelve bullets to the pound, with ten pounds of powder and twenty pounds of bullets, with bandaliers and match convenient, and with six months' provision for his own person, one hundred and fifty acres of land English measure." It further grants to every parish two hundred acres of land for the support of the ministry, to be located under the direction of the Assembly, and secures to the people the right to select their own ministry. This is one of the many instances in which avarice has paid its homage to freedom.

With this charter, Philip Carteret, brother of Sir George the proprietor, came over as governor of the province. With thirty English settlers he reaches Elizabeth-Town, in August, 1665, which he makes the capital of the province, when it yet contained only four houses; and gave it the name of ElizabethTown, in honor of the wife of his brother, Lady Elizabeth Carteret. He soon despatches messengers through all the adjacent provinces, and especially to New-England, to make known the "Concessions" of the proprietors, and to invite settlers. These came in considerable numbers from New-England, and from Long Island. And soon their number was increased "by the accession of the Scotch, of whom there came a great number.* New-England Puritans, English Quakers, and Scotch Presbyterians, were the chief

* Smith's History, p. 62.

settlers of this portion of New-Jersey, and the formers of its moral character.*

Previous to the arrival of Carteret, and before the grant of the Duke of York to Berkley and Carteret was yet known, John Bailey, Daniel Denton and Luke Watson, of Jamaica, Long Island, purchased of certain Indian chiefs residing on Staten Island, a tract of land, on part of which Elizabeth-Town now stands. For this tract, Governor Richard Nicolls granted a patent to John Baker of New-York, John Ogden of Northampton, John Bailey, Luke Watson, and their associates. The party to the purchase on the part of the Indians, were the sachems Mattano, Manomowanne and Connescomen. The tract extended from the Raritan to the Passaic river, and from Arthur Cull bay, which separates the main land from Staten Island, twice the length of its breadth into the country. This tract, now embracing Piscataway, Amboy, Woodbridge, Rahway, Elizabeth-Town, Union, Springfield, Westfield, and how much beyond the Short Hills we cannot affirm, and containing five hundred thousand acres of land, was purchased for "twenty fathoms of trading cloth, two made coats, two guns, two kettles, ten bars of lead, twenty handfuls of powder, four hundred fathoms of white wampum, payable in one year from the day of entry upon said lands." This is what is afterwards known as "the Elizabeth-Town Grant;" and Baker, Ogden,

* Bancroft, vol. ii. 32.

+ Leaming and Spicer, 673.