LIST of Townships formerly granted by New Hampshire for which applications have been made by petitions to the Government of New York praying Confirmations of the Said Townships under the Seal of the Province of New York and which petitions were on the 15th Day of June 1772 advised to be granted whenever his Majesty's Instructions will permit Grants to be made of said Townships.

A memorial of Benjamin Spencer, Jacob Marsh, Ebenezer Cole, Bliss Willoughby and Jacob Pringle, in behalf of themselves and other freeholders and Inhabitants of the Counties of Albany and Charlotte, was laid before the Board and Read, setting forth the distresses of the People in that part of the Country, arising from the Riotous proceedings of the Inhabitants of Bennington and of that vicinity: And praying his Excellency would take into Consideration their distressed situation, and grant them all that Relief and Countenance and Protection, which their present Circumstances require, and which as faithful and obedient Subjects they have just reason to expect from the Wisdom and Justice of Government.

Ordered that the Consideration of the said Petition be deferd until the next meeting of the Board.

REPORT OF COUNCIL ON THE DISORDERS AT BENNINGTON.

In Council July 1st 1772.

Mr Smith from the Committee to whom by order of the 29th of June last, were referred the Letter of 19th of June last, from the Inhabitants of Bennington and that Vicinity, and the several papers mentioned in the said Order relative to the Disorders and Disturbances at Bennington and the Towns adjacent thereto presented to his Excellency the Report of the said Committee thereupon, which being read was on the question being put agreed and approved of, and Stephen Fay and Jonas Fay with the other persons who attended at the Board on the 29th of June were called in and the Report Read in their presence, and they being withdrawn.

It is ordered that the said Report be entered in the Minutes, and the Council humbly advised his Excellency to deliver to the parties an extract of so much of the said Report, as relates to the Conditions to be observed by the parties on both sides: Which Report is in the words following— MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY.

Among the Papers referr'd by your Excellency to this Committee for their Report, is an answer to your Excellency's Letter of the 19th May last, calling on the Inhabitants of Bennington and the Towns Adjacent, for the Reasons of their late illegal and unjustifiable conduct in dispossessing by Force and Violence the Setlers who had quietly and Peaceably seated themselves under the Grants of this Province.

In this answer which is dated the 19th of June Instant,' it is urged in Behalf of those Towns, that they hold the Lands they possess by virtue of Grants made by the Province of New Hampshire-That they deem'd the soil to be within the Jurisdiction of that Government until the year 1764, when his Majesty was pleased to declare the Western Banks of Connecticut River to be the Boundary between his two Colonies of New York and New Hampshire. That the Property in the soil was not altered, but the Jurisdiction only established by the said Order-That since the said Order sundry Grants have been made by this Government on the Lands granted to the Claimants under New Hampshire, which they conceive to be contrary to the Prohibition contained in his Majesty's Instructions to his Governor of this Province-That the proprietors of such Grants had brought repeated ejectments to dispossess the Settlers under New Hampshire, whose proofs on Trials of their Titles, Tho' taken from authentic Records, were rejected, and sufficient Time refused to be allowed for collecting Evidence to support their Cause, contrary as they think to the Laws and usages of this Province, That many persons have been groundlessly accused and indicted as Rioters and thereby greatly harassed and distress'd by Imprisonment, unreasonable Costs and long and unnecessary attendance, particularly one Man, who had attended eight Courts successively without being discharged from his Bonds-And that as the Matter in Contest is now before his Majesty in his privy Council, they earnestly pray your Excellency to quiet them in their Possessions until his Majesty shall be graciously pleased to determine the Controversy.

Could we think it necessary to enter on a Refutation of Facts unsupported by Proof, and grounded merely on the suggestion of the parties accused, the committee must unavoidably suspend their Inquiry as to what relates to the Prosecutions and Ejectments in Question until the Return of the Judges, the Attorney General, the Clerk of the Crown, and the Gentlemen of the Bar, now absent on the Northern Circuit, from whom the proper Information as to these Matters can only be obtained; and we beg leave to refer your Excellency for such Information to the Judges and officers of the several Courts.

His Majesty's Order declaring the Limits of the two Provinces, is dated the 20th July 1764, and on its arrival which was not until about the 10th April 1765, was communicated by the Governor to the Council, and a Proclamation issued on that Day notifying the same throughout the Province— In Consequence whereof numerous applications were made principally by reduced officers, and some by his Majesty's subjects of this Province for Lands on the East side of IIudson's River; and that no Setler under New Hampshire might be dispossessed by Grants in that Quarter, this Government thought fit by Order so early as the 224 of May 1760, to direct that the Surveyor General should make no Return on any Warrant of Survey then, or which might thereafter come to his Hands, of any Lands possessed under the Grant of New Hampshire, unless for the persons in actual Possession thereof.

Several of the New Hampshire Grantees availing themselves of this Order, applied for and obtained Grants of the Farms they had setled and improved, while others confiding in the Validity of their New Hampshire Titles, rejected the Offer with Contempt, as appears by one of the Depositions referred to us, wherein it was declared that Samuel Robinson in the Fall of the Year 1765, made application in Behalf of himself and the other Inhabitants of Bennington for a confirmation of that Township, but this part of the said Township being included within the Patent of Wallumschack, prior in Date to any Grant of New Hampshire Westward of Connecticut River, Lieutenant Governor Colden told Robinson other Lands should be granted as a Compensation for what they might loose by that Patent, which he declined; and that the Inhabitants of Bennington

1 For this letter see Slade's Vermont State papers, p. 23. where it is dated 5th June. ED.

soon after came to a resolution to prevent any survey of their Township, and to support their Possessions by Force even against any Judgment at Law.

As a farther Manifestation of the favourable Intentions of this Government towards the Grantees of New Hampshire, an Order was made by the Governor in Council the 6th June 1766, reciting that the Board having under Consideration sundry petitions for Lands lying on the West side of Connecticut River, which were formerly granted by Letters Patent under the Seal of the Province of New Hampshire, but which were then actually, and did by his Majesty's said Order of the 20th July 1764 appear to lie within the Limits of this Province, calling upon all Persons holding or claiming Lands under such Grants, to appear by themselves or their Attornies and produce the same, together with all Deeds Conveyances or other Instruments by which they derived any Claim to the said Lands, and declaring that the Claims of such as should not appear and support the same within the space of three Months, should be rejected: which order was notified by its Insertion three weeks successively, in one of the public News Papers printed in this Colony.

The Grants of New York which comprehend any part of the Lands of Bennington, are the Wallumschack Patent dated in 1739, the patent of Schneyder dated the 24th March 1762, and the patent of Michael Schallata a reduced Staff Officer dated the 30th May 1765, all prior to the application made in behalf of the Bennington proprietors. The last of these is subsequent but a few Days to the order of the 22d May 1765, in favor of the New Hampshire settlers, but the survey of that Tract must have been prior to that order, and if it is true as now alledged, that there were several settlers within the Limits of that Grant at the Time issued we doubt not this Fact was then unknown to Government; For whenever such settlements were discovered it has been usual to reserve the Land to be granted to the Possessors, who in many Instances refused to permit their Farms to be surveyed, and have hitherto declined taking their Grants, which nevertheless remain to be issued when applied for, of which there is a notorious Instance in the case of Remember Baker, who has nevertheless distinguished himself as a Leader in the late violent opposition to the government of this Colony.

The Earliest Instruction restraining the Governor of this province from making Grants of Lands patented by New Hampshire, bears date the 24th July 1767, and the Grants which principally affect the Claimants whose Case is now under our Consideration, were made prior to the date of that Instruction, and except the abovementioned Patent to Schneyder, and the Grant of Prince Town, which is dated the 21st of May 1765 (antecedent to the order in Favour of the actual occupants under New Hampshire) are almost wholly confined to Officers and Soldiers intituled to his Majesty's Bounty, by virtue of the Royal Proclamation of the 7th of October 1763.

To prevent the people of New Hampshire from extending their Settlements Westward of Connecticut River, a Proclamation was issued the 28th of July 1753, when few if any had seated themselves there under that Government. In 1763 when the first Information was received of the numerous Grants made by New Hampshire and that no one might plead Ignorance of the Claim of this Province, a like Cautionary Proclamation was published on the 28th of December that year, at which Time the Number of Settlers on the contested Lands was inconsiderable.

His Majesty's Order being declarative of the ancient Boundary of this Province, the Courts of Justice can as we conceive shew little Regard to the recent Claim of New Hampshire to Jurisdiction Westward of Connecticut River, but this Point as well as the legality of the Grants of both Governments must be left to the Judgment of Law; We shall only observe, that the Charters of that Province appear to us to have been made without express Authority from the Crown, after due Notice of the ancient Limits of this Colony, and without waiting for the Royal Decission as had been stipulated between the two Governments: On the other hand That the Grants of New York were

made under very different Circumstances, for the Royal Patents of the Duke of York left no Doubt as to the Eastern Limits of this Colony, and many of the Grants of New York were made even before New Hampshire claim'd Jurisdiction as far as to Connecticut River, and (where the Grants of the two Provinces interfere) our Grants rarely extend farther Eastward than the Ancient Patents granted by this Province.

The Townships at present under Consideration are confined to a small District more immediately connected with Hudson's River. The Body of the Inhabitants lie Eastward of these Towns, are obedient to the Laws, many have taken and the rest are in general soliciting Confirmations under this Government; while the People of Bennington and that vicinity, are Riotous and Disorderly, and tho' their Number is at present considerable We humbly conceive it would be both Impolitic and unreasonable to apply any Remedy to them, that might be Injurious to others, and its Consequences prove a source of perpetual Contest and Confusion. Indeed We are at a Loss to conceive upon what grounds the people of Bennington and that neighborhood can flatter themselves even by their application to the Crown, with any other hope than of obtaining Confirmations of such Parcels of their New Hampshire Grants as are not comprehended in any patents under this Colony, the rights of the New York patentees being as uncontrovertable as the claim of this province to the Jurisdiction of that country, and the Question of Property determinable only in the King's Courts of Law.

The Committee in great tenderness to a deluded people who are in danger of forfeiting the Favour of the Crown by resisting the authority of the Laws, and with a prospect of restoring Peace in that District are nevertheless desirous that your Excellency should afford the Inhabitants of these Townships all the Relief in your Power, by suspending until his Majesty's pleasure shall be known, all prosecutions on Behalf of the Crown, on account of the Crimes with which they stand charged by the Depositions before us, and to recommend to the Owners of the contested Lands under Grants of this Province, to put a stop during the same Period to all Civil Suits concerning the Lands in Question, and to agree with the Setlers for the purchase thereof on moderate Terms.

And the Committee are humbly of opinion that your Excellency do adopt Measures so extremely lenient on their submission to the following Conditions.

That the Inhabitants of Bennington and the adjacent Towns concerned in the late Disorders, conform themselves to the Laws of this Government-That the Setlers on both sides shall continue undisturbed—and that such as have been dispossess'd or forced by Threats or other means to desert their Farms, do in future enjoy their possessions unmolested.

And on Failure of the Observation of these Conditions on the part of the Inhabitants of the said Towns, that your Excellency do take all such legal and effectual Measures as shall be thought necessary to bring the authors of the late Violent Disorders in that part of this province, to speedy justice.

REPORT OF A PUBLIC MEETING AT BENNINGTON.

At a public meeting held at the Meeting House in Bennington on Wendesday 15th July A. D. 1772. Present of the Committee appointed to answer His Excellency William Tryon Esqr Governor of the province of New York to his Letter dated New York 19, May last, & directed to the Inhabitants of Bennington & the adjacent Country on the East side of Hudson's River.

Reuben Harmon for Rupert.

Daniel Comstock for Sunderland.

We as Messengers laid before the above Committee an Extract of the Minutes of His Majesty's Council of the aforesaid Province of N. York the 20 Instant together with his Excellency Govr Tryon's Letter of the same date directed to the Inhabitants of Bennington, &c and after reading the same to the above Committee & a numerous Concourse of the Inhabitants of the adjacent Country, & other Spectators, a full and unanimous vote was given in favor of the papers aforesaid, and the Thanks of the People returned to us for our Diligence in procuring those Papers. Peace was also recommended in the Whole of the New Hampshire Grants by all who were present; when the whole Artillery of Bennington with the small arms were several Times Discharged in Honor to the Govt & Councill of N. York After which the following Healths were drank. Health to the King.

Health to Govr Tryon.

Health to the Council of N. York.

Universal peace & Pelenty Liberty & Property, By sundry respectable Gentlemen some of Which were from the neighbouring Provinces.

STEPHEN FAY,
JONAS FAY.

The above is a true Copy

STEPHEN FAY.

GOV TRYON TO THE INHABITANTS OF BENNINGTON.

Albany August 11th 1772. Gentlemen, At the same time I express to you my satisfaction, by the opportunity of Mr. Fay, on the grateful manner in which you received and accepted the lenient measures prescribed by this government, for your peaceable conduct, until his Majesty's pleasure should be known, respecting the disputed claim to lands within this government, I cannot conceal from you my high displeasure at the breach of faith and honor, made by a body of your people, in dispossessing several settlers on Otter Creek, and its neighbourhood, of their possessions, during the very time the Commissioners you appointed to attend me at New York were waiting the determination of government on your petition, that you might remain unmolested in your possessions, until the King's pleasure be obtained. Such disingenuous and dishonorable proceedings, I view with great concern, considering them as daring insults to government, a violation of public faith, and the conditions granted to you on petition. To prevent, therefore, the fatal consequence that must follow so manifest a breach of public confidence, I am to require your assistance, in putting, forthwith, those families, who have been thus dispossessed, into re-possession of their lands and tenements, in the same manner, in which they were, at the time Mr. Fay and his son, waited on me at New York. Such a conduct on your part, will not fail of recommending your situation to his Majesty, and insure a continuance of my friendly intentions towards you.

To the Inhabitants of Bennington, and the adjacent Country.

WM TRYON.