This may it Please your Lordships is A short Naration of Fact, and deffence of Coll Hamilton against his Acusers, and I beg your Lordships wont admit Such generall, and (Possibly) untrue allegations, to Lesson a Person in your L'ps Esteem, who has so well deserv'd of the Crowne as Collo Hamilton has, & Since ye Proprietors have Agreed to Pay the Governour till a Sufficient fund be rais'd in ye Country for that End (provided they have the naming of him) its hop't your L'ps will Judge it reasonable, to oblige them in it; Especially when they name A Person, yt will be So generally acceptable to ye people, who (Excepting A Small number) have no Avertion to A Scotch man, nor to y Coll in Particuler. The Inhabitants there (I am Sure) and I believe ye Proprietors here, have receiv'd no Injury from Coll Hamilton, nor in his Male administration ye motive to their Surrender, but because the maintaining their Government is A charge, and no Proffit to them, their authority not Obey'd, the Province in Confusion, and no Prospect of its being otherwise, till its put under his Majesties more Imediate Administration. A Governour Skill'd in Military affaires, is not Amisse in any of the King's Plantations, at any time, Coll Hamilton is not unskill'd; and to Opose Forreign Enemies, and Quiet Intestine feuds, a whole Regiment So Skil'd will do more Service. The whole is offer'd to: your Lordships, to do as your Lordships in your wisdom Shall thinke fit by: My Lords: Your Lordships most humble Servant LEWIS MORRIS. Representation from the Lords of Trade to the King, transmitting drafts of a Commission and Instructions to the Governor to be appointed over New Jersey. [From P. R. O. B. T., Proprieties, Vol. 27, p. 319. Printed from an early certified copy in the Library of the N. J. Hist. Society.] TO THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY. May it Please your Majesty. Having been directed by their Excellency's the Lords Justices, upon a Representation which We humbly laid before them, concerning the Disorders in Your Majestys Provinces of East and West New Jersey in America, to prepare Draughts of a Commission and Instructions for a Governor to be sent thither by Your Majesty, and to Consult therein the Proprietors of those Provinces, in Order to the Surrender of their pretended right to the Government of the same; We humbly lay before Your Majesty the Draughts, which We have prepared accordingly, with such Clauses as We conceive proper to enable the Governor (for whose Name We have left a Blank) to proceed in Settling a Government in that Country, comformable (as near as the Circumstances of the Inhabitants will permit) to the methods of Government Settled by Your Majestys respective Commissions, in Your other American Plantations, and withal to prevent the interfering of that Colony, with the Interest of those other Plantations. We have, also, in Pursuance of their Excellency's directions, communicated the said Draughts to Sir Thomas Lane and others, the Principal Proprietors of West New Jersey, and to Mr William Dockwra, Secretary, and others the principal Proprietors, of East New Jersey, in behalf of themselves and the rest of the Proprietors of both those Divisions; Which Draughts they have Unanimously approved; And, in Confidence that Your Majesty will be graciously Pleased, accordingly, to Constitute a Governor, over those Countrys, they have declared themselves willing and ready to Surrender all their Right, or pretence of Right, to Government, which they have hitherto claimed. Whereupon, We humbly represent to Your Majesty that the reducing those Colonies to an Orderly Form of Government, under a Governor Constituted by Your Majestys immediate Commission, will be of great Service to Your Majesty, in preventing illegall Trade, and the Harbouring of Pirates, and will be of good influence, throughout the other Plantations. And We humbly offer that Mr Attorney General be directed, forthwith, to Prepare a Form of Surrender of their said Right, or Pretence of Right, to Goverment, which may be most effectual to the extinguishing their said Pretensions, and present the same to Your Majesty. And Whereas they have desired that the first Governor, to be thus appointed by Your Majesty, may be a person fitly Qualified for that Service, But cannot Agree in the Recommendation of any Particular Person, We humbly propose that, when the Surrender shall be made, Your Majesty would be Pleased to Nominate some Person, wholly unconcern'd in the Factions which have divided the Inhabitants of those Parts. All which, nevertheless, is most humbly Submitted. Whitehall) Wm Blathwayt. Janu the 6th John Pollexfen. 1709 Stamford. Mat Prior. From the Council to the Lords of Trade, enclosing the Attorney General's draft of the surrender of the Government of East and West Jersey for the signatures of the Proprietors. [From P. R. O. B. T. Proprieties, Bundle G. H. I. & K, H. 8.] Order of Council upon ye Draught of a Surrender of Govt prepared by Mr Atty Gen! to be executed by ye Proprietors of East & West New Jersey. At the Court at Kensinton the 29th of January 1701 [1701-2] Present. THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MATY IN COUNCILL Vpon reading this day at the Board a Report from M: Atturny Generall, with the Form of a Surrender, Prepared by him, to be made by the Proprietors of the Provinces of East and West New Jersey in America, to His Ma, of all their Right or Pretence of Right to the Government they have hitherto Claimed of the said Provinces, His Ma in Council Approving the same, is pleased to Order that the said Form of a Surrender, which is hereunto annexed be, as the same is hereby Referred to the Lords Comms of Trade and Plantations, who are to Call upon the said Proprietors to Execute the said Surrender according to the said Forme. JOHN POVEY Lords of Trade to Lord Cornbury. From N. Y. Col. Docts: Vol. IV, p 948.1 To the Rt Honble the Lord Viscount Cornbury. My Lord. Whereas your Lordship is commissionated to take upon you the Command of the Militia of East and West New Jersey, and to be Vice Admiral of the same; and these Colonies having been and continuing to be without any settled Government, your Lordship is to cause the High and Mighty Princess Anne to be proclaimed Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland and all the Dominions thereu[n]to belonging & in the most solemn manner and most proper places of those Colonies, to the End there may be no failure there in the speedy acknowledging her Majestys Title and Authority, and for your information we further send you. Her Majestys declaration at her first sitting in Privy Council. Her Majestys Proclamation for continuing all officers &c. The Address of the House of Lords to her Majesty. The Address of the House of Commons to her Majesty and Her Majesty's speech to both Houses of Parliament. You are upon this occasion to assure all Her Majesty's subjects in those Colonies of her Majesty's especial care and Protection and to exhort them to do on their parts what is necessary for their security and defence in the present con uncture, and you are to return a speedy account of your proceedings therein. We are My Lords Your Lord's most humble Servants Whitehall March the 20, 1702. STAMFORD LEXINGTON W" BLATHWAYTE MATT: PRIOR |