please to acquaint the Honble Boord, that theire Answer to ye Remonstrance & Peticon (of those Seditious complainants from E. Jersey) has been ready these 6 or 7 dayes; but there being Another paper to be also laid before theire Lopps wch is to be signed by certain Members of the Province of West Jersey as well as East Jersey, the difficulty of getting y" together is such, as takes upp so much time (severall of them living in the Country) that I could not have y closed fitt for delivery, till another meeting weh was appointed (before I had the favour of yo) to be tomorrow evening, and I hope on Monday we shall bee able to dispatch them to attend their Los there haveing been no delay in any thing relating thereto, wth in the power of Sir, Yo! most humble Serv 5° x 700 WM DOCKWRA Answer of the Proprietors of East Jersey, to the Re- The Answer of the Propriets of East New Jersey in America to the Remonstrance and Petition lately prsented to his Majty in the name of the Inhabitants of that Province.1 The Propriet humbly acknowledgeing yo' Lordships fav! and Justice, in allowing them a Copy of y Accusation against them, and time for makeing their 1 See Page 322.-Ed. defence to it, and reserving to themselves the benefit of a further defence after they shall have transmitted this Remonstrance to, and received an Answer from the Govern of that Province; for present Answer to the same, in Obedience to your Lordships Com❜ands, they say, and humbly hope to satisfye Yo' Lordships, that this Complaint is not sent from the whole body, or any Considerable Number of ye Inhabitants there, but from a few factions and Mutinous people, impatient of any Government; and doth not proceed from any just cause administred by the Propriet's or their Govern or Agents, but from a designe of these men to deprive the Proprietors of their Right to the Soyle and Quit-Rents of the Province derived to them by Grants from the Kings of England, and purchased by them with great sumes of money; and to strip his Majty of his Regall Right to that and other Plantations and to render them independent of the Crowne. In order to justify which Assertion, y Propriet crave leave to premise to yo! Lordships, that by the Law of Nations Kings and Princes have a Right to all Savage Country's either Conquered or discovered by their Subjects, and to dispose of them at their pleasure. In pursuance of which Right the American Country's (whereof East New Jersey is part) being first discovered by the English in the Raign of King Henry 7th and afterwards more fully in the Raigne of Queen Elizabeth, have ever since, by Vertue of Letters Patents from that Queen, and the Succeeding Kings of England, been granted to Planters under small Quit Rents payable to the Crowne, or Its Grantees, And though the Kings of England and their Grantees have permitted, and sometime Encouraged the Planters to purchase the Soyle from the Indians, (which they doe for trifles) yet that method was not used of necessity, or for defect of sufficient title in the Crown, or Its' Grantees; but merely to avoid wars with the Savage Natives, who were formerly more Numerous there than the English, and with a prospect to bring them over by such Gentle Usage to the Christian ffaith. neither is this method of purchasing from the Indians Universally practised in all his Majestys Plantations, and not at all in those of Virginia and Maryland, the Planters there sitting downe by Vertue of the Govern Warrant only, without the Leave, or Consent of the Natives. The Proprietors acknowledge that the late King James who when Duke of York, was the first Grantee of this Province from King Charles the Second, and the Lord Berkley St George Carteret and the present Proprietors Claiming under him, have for the reasons above mentioned generally, by themselves, or by Licensing y Planters to doe soe, purchase the Soyle from the Indians, and afterward confirmed the same Lands to the Planters by Patents or Grants from the Propriet's under small Quit Rents. This was the method of granting Lands within this province from the first planting It, and the Grantees usually paid their Rents till some of the Planters broached and advanced an Opinion, that the Kings Right to the American Countrys discover'd by English Subjects was only Notionall and Arbitrary, and, that the Indian Natives are the Absolute Independent Owners and have the sole disposall of them, In Consequence of which Opinion some of the Pets who after their Purchase from the Indians took Patents of the same Lands from the Proprietors for the time being, now refuse to pay their Quit Rents, and others of them who have lately made purchases from the Indians, refuse to take Patents from the Proprietors, If this Notion receive Encouragement, and prevail, the proprietors are advised that all pretences of the Crown to, and their Grants of the American Colonys, have been wholly illusory, and Royall ffrauds; and the Pet may, and in all probability, will, deny his Majty Right to the Government, as well as to the Soyle of those Countrys, & set up a Government of their own, which the Proprietors hope your Lordships will think It worthy yo' consideration to prevent. These matters of fact being promised, & ready to be proved by them, the proprietors humbly conceive that the severall Articles of the Pets Complaint are pregnant of such a designe, as will appear by a particular examination of them and Answer to them. To y 1st Besides the disingenuity of its being a generall Accusation without descending to particular Instances; the Pets have stated the Case partially, and conceal'd the principall matters upon which the merit of It depends; and therefore the Propriet" to set it in a true light, humbly acquaint your Lordships, that though Coll Richard Nichols was in One Thousand Six hundred Sixty four Govern of this Province under the then Duke of York, he had no power by his Com'ission to grant Land, and if he had such power was determined above five Months before he made any Grant to the Pets (which was in December One Thousand Six hundred Sixty four) the Duke of York having in the month of June preceding granted this Province to the Lord Berkley and S' George Carteret, And yo Licenses granted to the Pets by Coll Nichols then, and by the Propriet" since, were expressly under a Condition to hold the Lands So purchased, of the Propriet's by Patent, and a Certain Rent; and all Claiming under the Licence of Coll Nichols actually took Patents of the same Lands at certain Rents, as by the Records thereof appears, which ye Pet's have artfully forborn to mention, and rely wholly on the Indian title, And though the Proprietors might in strictnesse of Law have avoided the Patents granted by Coll Nichols for his want of sufficient Authority to make such Grants; yet the Proprietors Offer'd to confirm those crazy titles and never molested the Pets in their possession, till they refusing to pay their Quit Rents, the Propriet" as they were advised was lawfull for them to doe distrain'd upon some of them who had Patents, and brought an Ejectment against one Jones who had noe Patent, nor would take any, and therefore could not be prosecuted in any other manner, in which Action the Jury being all Planters gave a Generall Verdict against the Pro prietors Contrary to y direction of the Court, and the consent of the Councill on both sides, who had agreed upon a Speciall Verdict. To ye 2 This Article being likewise Generall, the proprietors can make no direct Answer to It, but to Obviate any particular Instance that may be hereafter partially represented to yo! Lordships, the Propietors humbly acquaint yo! Lordships, that when the Proprietors or their Agents grant a Licence to purchase Lands of the Indians, they usually Oblige the Grantee to purchase a Certaine Tract agreed upon, and to allow the Purchaser a certain Portion of It to his own use, and take the rest of It to the use of the Proprietors: This was done in the case of one John Royce a great Asserter of the Indians sole Right, and a Ringleader of that faction, He had a Lycence from the Govern! to purchase, and by vertue of it did purchase a large Tract of Land from the Indians, containing about Twenty Thousand Acres, and had about Six Thousand Acres of it allowed and granted to him by Patent from the Proprietors at five Pounds Yearly Rent. The Rest of It has since been set out to the use of three of the present Proprietors, and been reputed their particular property for severall Yeares; but now Royse puffed up with ye Notion of the Sole Right of the Indians, and of noe Right in the King, and his Grantees, refuses to pay his Quit-Qent for the Lands patented to him, and Under his Indian title Claimes all the Lands he bought of the Indians though soe great a part of it was brought for the use of the Proprietors. |