words in the same grants that respect the Boundary on Delaware are of quite Different Frame they are up the said River Delaware in the one as far as and in the other to the Northermost Branch thereof which necessarily import that the beginning of the Northermost Branch of Delaware is the Boundary there and that the words, which is in forty one Degrees & forty Minutes (being relative Terms and plainly referring to which Northermost or Beginning of the Northermost Branch) are added as descriptive of the beginning of the Northermost Branch or the spot where the Boundary was intended to be; and therefore the beginning of the Branch and not the Latitude being intended to be the Boundary and the Latitude being only descriptive if such Latitude was mistaken in the description and the Beginning of the then esteemed Northermost Branch can be shewn that and not the True Latitude must be the Boundary; and Therefore 2 Our extrinsic Proofs will be calculated to shew that the beginning of the Northermost Branch of Delaware in the estimation and intention of the Duke of York and his grantees was at the Place now called the York of the Delaware-These extrinsic Proofs we Shall introduce Principally under the influence of this observation to wit that considering the Dates of the Grants from the Duke of York to his grantees considering also that both grantor and Grantees were in England at the time of those Grants they must have been framed not by actual observations & mensurations on the spot but from a View of maps which maps must (considering the above mentioned possession of the Country by the Dutch) have been Antient Dutch Maps or Maps compiled from them by the English. Having thus stated our demands and pretensions against New Jersey as far as respects the Seignory and property of the Crown to consist either in a line running on a Course from the given Latitude on Hud sons River to the Forks of Delaware until such a line Intersects the above mentioned line from the Head of Connecticut River to the Head of Delaware Bay and from the said place of Intersection along the last mentioned line to the Head of Delaware Bay or in a straight line from the given Latitude on Hudsons River to the Forks of the Delaware We proceed to state the Quantum of the Seignory and property in the Crown which is affected by this Controversy and this we shall do by showing that a Vast Body of Land lying upon Either of those suppositions within the Colony of New York still remains Vested in point of property in the Crown To s'pport this we insist and shall prove that in the Year 1686 East and West Jersies being then distinct Governments they in Conjunction with the Government of New York fixed and agreed upon a Station on the West side of Hudsons River Due West of Frederick Philips's lower Mills, which to this Day are standing on the East side of the said River which Station was then esteemed to be in the Latitude of forty one Degrees on Hudsons River and also another Station on Delaware River at certain Marked Trees and that a straight line from the said Station so fixed on Hudsons River to the said Trees had such line been actually run would have been on a Course North sixty two Degrees West according to Natural position and that in reference to those stations and the said necessarily supposed Line from the one to the other of them all the patents within this Colony that are expressly or implicatively bounded on the Line of Partition are Limited and as far Southward as those Stations this Government has uninterruptedly exercised its Jurisdiction until of Late Years a considerable tract of Country near and about Minisink was by Violence on the part of New Jersey torn from the Jurisdiction of the Colony of New York. These facts we shall prove by a great Variety of evidence Extracted from Ancient Maps Public Records and act of Legislatures of both Colonies and the testimony of Witnesses whensoever the same shall on a reasonable Day to be fixed by the Commissioners be required. Letter of Acknowledgment from Governor Franklin to the Earl of Hillsborough-He fears the evil effects of the action of the Assembly of South Carolina. [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 174 (192).] BURLINGTON, Sept 27, 1769 The Right Honble the Earl of Hillsborough. My Lord I am honoured with your Lordships Letters N. 19, & 20. The first containing His Majesty's Directions in respect to the Bill for making current One hundred Thousand Pounds in Bills of Credit; and the latter enclosing an Additional Instruction concerning Lotteries both which I shall be careful to observe. By Advice of the Council I have summoned the General Assembly to meet here on the 10th of next Month. I shall omit nothing in my Power to keep them in a proper Temper, and to induce them to grant a farther Supply for the Support of the King's Troops in this Colony: But I am not without some Apprehensions that the late Resolves of the Assembly of South Carolina, wherein they refuse to make any such Provision, & declare that those Expences ought to be defray'd out of the Revenue arising from the American Duty Acts, while those Acts continue in Force, will have an ill Effect on the Minds of the Assembly of New Jersey, and occasion them to act in the same Manner. I have the Honour to be, with great Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient & most humble Servant W FRANKLIN Letter from Governor Franklin to the Earl of Hillsborough, announcing the death of Mr. Ashfield, a member of the Council, and recommending three persons as fit to fill the vacancy. [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 174 (192).] BURLINGTON Oct 5, 1769: The Right Honble the Earl of Hillsborough, &c. My Lord, Mr Ashfield, one of His Majesty's Council for this Province, died last Week, after a long Indisposition.' I take the earliest Opportuuity to acquaint your Lordship with this Circumstance, and at the same Time beg leave to recommend William Bayard, Esq to Sup 1 Lewis Morris Ashfield was the oldest child of Richard Ashfield and Isabella. daughter of Governor Lewis Morris. His father (bap. Dec. 15, 1695; will proved July 27, 1742), was the fourth child of Richard Ashfield, who was a nephew of Thomas Hart, one of the twenty-four East Jersey Proprietors, and came to America about 1683.-N. Y. Gen. & Biog. Record, January, 1875, 21; Elizabeth-Town Bill in Chancery, 11, 83. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar, May, 1746, and eighteen years later was licensed as Sergeant.-Vroom's Sup. Ct. Rules, 1885, 54, 58. Doubtless through the influence of his uncle, Robert Hunter Morris, Lewis Morris Ashfield was recommended, March 26, 1751, by the Lords of Trade, for appointment to the Council of New Jersey, which gave rise to a long and acrimonious controversy with Governor Belcher. Ashfield got into a discreditable street encounter, for which he was indicted in August, 1751, but was acquitted in the following March. However, Governor Belcher on this and other pretexts kept him out of his seat in the Council until April, 1753. -N. J. Archives, VII., VII., Part I, passim. He was continued in office under successive Governors.-Ib., 41, 274.-W. N.] ply the Vacancy occasioned by M Ashfield's Death. His Character & Abilities are such as will do credit to that Station, and tho' he at present resides at New York, yet he assures me that it is his Intention to remove into this Province, where he has a very considerable Estate. But as my Instructions require that I should, on these Occasions, transmit the Names of Three Persons whom I esteem best qualified for that Trust, I therefore recommend as such William Kelly, Esq': a Gentleman now in England, who has a large Estate in this Province on which he proposes to reside when he returns to America, and Michael Kearney, Esq' a Gentleman who has a Commission in His Majesty's Navy, but resides at present on his Paternal Estate in Monmouth County, and is related to some of the principal Families in the Colony. Their Characters and Qualifications are unexceptionable, and I think it will be for His Majesty's Service if they should all acquire Seats in the Council as Vacancys may happen, tho' I am induced to request that on this Occasion a Preference may be given to M' Bayard. I have the Honor to be, with great Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient & most humble Servant W FRANKLIN. Deputization of Charles Pettit to be Deputy Secretary of the Province of New Jersey. [From Book AB of Commissions, Secretary of State's Office, Trenton, fol. 37.] To all to whom these Presents shall come Maurice Morgann of parliament Street Westminster now in New Jersey Esq. sendeth Greeting, Whereas His present Majesty by his Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain bearing date at Westminster the |