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diate Authority; So that if the proprietors & owners of those Lands, refuse to Conform to the Rules & Methods prescribed them, in the Sd Act for preventing ffrauds &c: Its humbly proposd, that they Should be obliged, to accept of Such Regulac'on in Government, in reference, to Trade, as his Ma'ty Shall think necessary to make; which will in no wise, Invade their Just Rights & proprieties in those Lands, nor hinder them from Imploying their agents & ffactors, to take Care & dispose of their Estates, & to receive the Rents & profits arising from them.

The Lord Baltamore, the Proprietor of the Province of Maryland, m' Samuell Allen, the Proprietor of the Province of New Hampshire & the Inhabitants in the Province of the Massachusets Bay, have all their Rights & properties entirely Securd to them, in their respective Proprieties. They have their Agents & Attorneys upon the place, to Manage their affairs with all ffredom tho' att the Same time, the Gov's of all those provinces, are appointed by his Ma'tys immediate Commission.

All which is humbly Submitted by Etc: November 10th 1696. ED RANDOLPH Secy

Petition of Elizabeth-town People for Greater Protection from the East Jersey Proprietors.

[Printed in Grants and Concessions, p. 688.]

TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

The humble Petition of the Freeholders Inhabitants and Owners of the Land, of and belonging to ELIZABETH-TOWN, or Township, and other

Lands thereto adjacent, in the Province of EAST NEW-JERSEY in AMERICA, in behalf of themselves and many others.1

Sheweth,

That his late Majesty King Charles the Second, by his Letters Patents bearing Date the 20th Day of March, in the Sixteenth Year of his Reign, did give and grant to James then Duke of York, and his Heirs, the Government and Dominion, as well as Property of and in all those Lands in America, lyeing [between] Connecticut River, and Delaware Bay, (whereof the Provinces of New York, and of East New Jersey, aforementioned, are Part) with Power to admit who he and his Heirs pleased to inhabit and enjoy Lands there, by virtue of which Grant the said Duke of York did in April 1664, grant a Commission for the Government of these Places to Col. Richard Nicholls, whom he authorized to execute all Powers which were granted to his Royal Highness by the Letters Patents.

That the said Lands in the said Province of East New-Jersey, were at the Time of making these Letters Patents, some Part in the actual Possession of the Dutch, and other Part in the actual Possession of the Native Indian's, and so continued until about the 27th of August, 1664, at which Time Part of them were Surrendered by the Dutch, to the said Col. Nicholls, who in October 1664, granted leave to John Baily, and others, under whom your Petitioners, or most of them claim their Lands, to Purchase Lands of the Native Indians, which they accordingly did, and the Lands claimed by our Petitioners in the said Province, Part of these Lands so purchased by this Licence, all or most of which Lands so Purchased, were in December

No date is attached to this petition as printed, but from some references it contains it is presumed to have been transmitted about 1696.

1664, granted and confirmed to the said John Baily, and others, by the said Col. Nicholls.

That afterwards the Dutch conquered and regained Possession of these Provinces, and upon the Treaty of Peace Surrendered them again to his said late Majesty, who thereupon granted them again, to the said Duke -But the said Purchasers, and those claiming under them, still continued in the Possession of the Lands by them Purchased, and peaceably enjoyed the same, until about September, 1693, being near Thirty Years, and during that Time, great Labour and Expence, built, planted and improved the same; and they humbly conceive they ought according to Law, Reason and Justice, still to enjoy the same.

But certain Persons to the Number of about one Hundred, or some other great Number, calling themselves Proprietors of the said Province of East New Jersey, do pretend that they have a Title to your Petitioners Lands, by several mesne Conveyances, from and under the Lord Berkley, and Sir George Carteret (to whom as they pretend the said Duke conveyed the same by Indentures of Lease and Release, dated on or about the 23d and 24th Days of June, 1664, before his Royal Highness or any other for him had ever been in Possession of the said Lands, or any Part thereof) and that your Petitioners have no right thereto, altho those under whom they claim, Purchased of the Indians Natives by the Licence of the said Col. Nicholls, and for valuable considerations without notice of the said Conveyance to the said Lord Berkley and Sir George Carteret, (if that could be a legal Conveyance, as your Petitioners are advised it could not be of these Lands) and the said pretended Proprietors do now set up this old pretended Title to your Petitioners Lands, after they have enjoyed the same quietly for many Years, in hopes to reap the benefit of your Petitioners said

Labour, Expence and Improvement, or to force them to pay some large Quit-Rent, or Yearly Payment for the same; and for that Purpose have often urged your Petitioners (who have as aforesaid purchased their Lands, and peaceably enjoyed the same so long) now to take Leases or Grants thereof from the said pretended Proprietors under Yearly Rents.

And the more effectually to accomplish their unjust Designs, and gratify their ambitious Inclinations, the said pretended Proprietors have on pretence only of the said Indentures of Lease and Release, and the mesne Conveyances under the same, pretended to have been made to the said Proprietors, presumed to usurp and take upon them to exercise a Dominion and Government over your Petitioners, and their Lands, and to constitute a pretended Governor, a pretended Court of Justice, and contrary to the Laws and Statutes of your Majesty's Realm of England, to appoint Judges who presume without any Commission or Authority derived from your Majesty, to take upon them to try Causes.

And in this pretended Court, and before these pretended Judges of their own making, the said pretended Proprietors did in the Year 1693, bring an Action of Trespass and Ejectment against Jeffery Jones, for Part of the said Lands in Elizabeth-Town, and the same came on to be tried, and altho upon a full Evidence, the Jury (who were chosen by the said Proprietors, or their Creatures) were notwithstanding so just as to give a Verdict for the said Jones; yet the said pretended Judges being either of the Number of the said Proprietors or by them appointed, were so Partial and Arbitrary, as contrary to Law and Justice, to give a Judgment against the said Jones, and for the said pre tended Proprietors; which unjust Judgment, your Majesty upon Appeal hath in your Princely Justice.

been pleased to reverse, altho the said pretended Judges, in hopes to support their said Judgment, did transmit a Writing for a Copy of the Proceedings in the said Cause, which was false, and not according to the Truth of the Proceedings had in the Cause.

That your Petitioners are now destitute of any lawful civil Government over them, having no legal Court of Justice or Judges, that they any Legal Commissions, and the said Usurpers and their pretended Judges being so partial as aforesaid, will by their unjust and arbitrary Proceedings, deprive your Petitioners of what they have justly paid for, are legally intitled to, and with great Pains, Hazard and Expence, have planted, and improved and quietly possessed for many Years, unless assisted by your Majesty, and your Petitioners doubt not but to make out the Legality and Justice of their Titles to any impartial Judges, in or near the Country where the Facts are best known, and where the Witnesses are that can prove them.

Your Petitioners groaning under these and other great Oppressions of the said Usurpers, and in the want of a legal and well established Government, are humble Suitors to your Majesty (the fountain of Justice) that your Majesty would be graciously pleased to take them into your Majesty's Royal Protection and to let them enjoy (in this remote Part of the World) the happy influences of your Majesty's just Government. And for that purpose either to Place them under the Civil Government of your Majesty's Province of New-York, (from the Elizabeth-Town aforesaid, is but about Twenty Miles distant, and great Part of your Petitioners Lands are much nearer) and to grant to the Court of Justice at New-York, a Power to Judge all Causes in the said Province of East New-Jersey, or to appoint indifferent Judges to administer Justice between your Petitioners and the said pretended Pro

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