USA > New Jersey > Documents relating to the colonial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume VIII > Part 16
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XXVII. On the 24th October 1743. Robert Hunter Morris, Chief-Justice of New Jersey, and Son to the Governor thereof, delivered to his Excellency the Hon- ourable George Clinton, Governor of New-York, a Letter from his Father, inclosing a Copy of the said last Petitions, and Copies of the several Addresses aforesaid from your Memorialists; and on the 28th waited on Governor Clinton for his Result on those Matters; who recommended a Meeting between the said Robert, and the Gentlemen concerned in the Lands in New-York, on the Line. And accordingly on the 29th he had a Meeting with a Number of those Gentlemen, when Nothing was agreed to, but that they would meet again, and communicate their Reso- lutions to your Memorialists, which they have never done, And from the Conduct of one of those Gentle- men at that Meeting, Mr. Morris was of Opinion, that he was against running any Line.
XXVIII. Your Memorialists finding all these and many other their Endeavours, for accomplishing the running the Line, pursuant to the Acts of both Pro- vinces, to be ineffectual, and remembering that the Province of New-York had, in the Year 1719, made an Act for running the Line of Connecticut, exparte, in Case the Colony of Connecticut would not join amica- bly in the doing of it; to which Act the Royal Assent was had, and which Act had induced Connecticut to join amicably in settling that Line; Your Memorialists then thought, that that method which New-York took with Connecticut, would be the most rational method for putting an End to the Grievances so much and so often complained of without Redress: And in Order to it, on the Seventh of September 1744, a Memorial was presented to the Governor of New-Jersey, by your Memorialists, signifying their Intention of pursuing that method, and praying his Recommendation thereof to the next Assembly, and to order such notice thereof
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to the Government of New-York, as he should think proper.
XXIX. Your memorialists finding, that some Peo- ple of New- York, had settled to the Southwestward of the Line, by the Observations of 1719, claiming the Lands as in New-York, and being informed that one Thomas Dekey, Colonel of a Regiment of the Militia of Orange County, and one of the greatest Instruments of the Oppressions complained of, as before, had seated himself several miles South Westward of that Line, and was using his Endeavours to persuade others to do the like; your Memorialists conceived it their Duty to bring an Action of Ejectment against him, and some other Actions of Ejectment in every other Place where People of New-York had made Settlements Southwestward of that Line; which they did, and had Judgment by Default in every one of the Actions of Ejectment so brought, being about ten in number.
XXX. The said Thomas Dekey being, on the twenty- sixth Day of July 1745, served with the said Declara- tion in Ejectment by Daniel Harrison, he, the said Dekey, thereon beat, abused, and greatly threatned the said Harrison, and the Judges of the Supreme Court of New-Jersey; and, by Force, imprisoned the said Harrison in the House of him the said Dekey, and set a Guard over him all the following Night; and the next Morning he, the said Dekey, with a number of People armed, carried the said Harrison as a Criminal to the Goal of Orange County, at Goshen, and there committed him without any Warrant from any Person for that Purpose; nor did ever any Warrant of any kind appear till about Midnight of the 27th of July, when a Writ of the County Court of Orange, was de- livered by the said Dekey to the Deputy Sheriff, in an Action of the Case at the Suit of the said Dekey, Dam- ages One Thousand Pounds; tho' the said Harrison owed him nothing, nor ever had seen him before: And
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by which Writ the said Harrison was confined many Days in the said Goshen Goal, seventy miles from Newark, the Place of his Abode, and would have been much longer, had he not prevailed on one Charles Stringham, on the 30th of July, to go Express to the Attorney at Newark, who had employed him, to ac- quaint him with the Usage he had met with, and to procure his Discharge; all of which, and much more, the said Daniel Harrison made Affidavit on the Six- teenth Day of August 1745; and thereon an Attach- ment for Contempt of the Supreme Court of New Jer- sey, was awarded by that Court against the said Thomas Dekey.
XXXI. Bail having by the Procurement of your Memorialists Attorney, been given for the said Daniel Harrison, he was, at length, discharged out of Goal, and the Cause was removed, by Habeas Corpus, to the Supreme Court of New-York, where Bail was again given: But the said Dekey there declared in Trespass only, and not in Trespass on the Case; and to which Declaration in Trespass, a Plea to the Jurisdiction, and Affidavit, were, on the 16th of February 1745, filed, like to those before mentioned under the 24th Article. And no further Proceeding has been in that Cause.
On the two last Articles, and the twenty-fourth, your Memorialists beg Leave to observe the Difference of the Behaviour of the People of New-York and New- Jersey: For when Mr Wileman served eight People of New-Jersey, with Declarations in Ejectment, as in Article 24th, no Body in New-Jersey conceived that he had done any Thing unjust or unlawful in so doing; but upon the People's bringing those Ejectments to your Memorialists, they took the proper and legal Course of Defence, by pleading to the New-York Jurisdiction, and Supporting that plea by Affidavit; and tho' the bringing Actions was so first begun by New-York, and your Memorialists had showed them
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the rational and peaceable method of defending against such Actions; had they believed the Lands in Question were in New-York: Yet, for serving this one Declara- tion against Thomas Dekey, the Messenger of the Court is abused, as before; the Authority of his Maj- esty's Courts of New-Jersey, and the Judges thereof contemned; will not appear to plead to Jurisdiction, because they knew they could not support such Plea by Affidavit; and rely intirely on Force and Violence, which, ever since 1740, they had used without mercy, but with Success, and with Impunity.
XXXII. In March 1745-6, three of your Memorial- ists Members, having been appointed to confer with a Gentleman of the Law of New-York, (who had been of Council for Your Memorialists for many Years) con- cerning the Actions commenced near the Line: Upon that Conference he declined being concerned as Council therein, but signified his Willingness to become a Mediator in that Affair; which being reported to your Memorialists, they appointed the said three Gentlemen, or any two of them, to be a Committee, to treat with New-York in Writing, by the Means of that Gentle- man as a Mediator: and accordingly, by Letter of the 10th of April, 1746, they communicated their Powers to that Gentleman, with sundry Propositions for ami- cably settling the Line; both which that Gentleman delivered to the Gentlemen of New-York, concerned in the Line; in order for their Answer thereto: And tho' an Answer was often called for from the proposed Mediator, for above a Year after the Delivery thereof, yet he as often declared he had received none; as by Copies of the said Letter, Powers, and propositions herewith appears, (No. 6.) But the Oppressions and Complaints of the People of New-Jersey still continu- ing, and no Hopes whatsoever, remaining of the People of New York's agreeing to the settling of the Line amicably without an Act; therefore, the Gover-
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nor, Council and Assembly of New-Jersey, in Feb- ruary, 1747-8, pass'd an Act for running the Line exparte, if New York would not join in the doing of it; to be in Force when the Royal Assent was had thereto; providing, that your Memorialists should be at the whole Charge thereof. The enacting Part of which Act, was made agreeable to the said Act of New-York, for running the Line of Connecticut, Ex- parte, mentioned in the Twenty-Eighth Article; and Commissioners were appointed for running the Line, with Consent of New-York, pursuant to the Act of 1718, mentioned in the Ninth Article.
XXXIII. The Assembly of New York had no Agent in London for a Dozen Years before; but on the 19th of March, 1747, they voted £200, for an Agent; and on the 9th of April following, the Agent is requested by them, to use his Endeavours to hinder the Royal As- sent to the said Act, until they were heard against it: And £200, has yearly been voted ever since to that Agent, of the Public Monies of [to] that Province, which to many People seemed extraordinary; seeing by the New-Jersey Act, that it was expressly provided, that the whole Charge of negociating the Royal As- sent of that [this] Act, should be at the private Ex- pence of your Memorialists, the Owners of the Soil on the New-Jersey Side of the Line: And whatever Rea- son was for your Memorialists to be at the Whole Charge on that side, there was like Reason for the Owners of the Soil in New-York, to be at the whole Charge on that Side.
XXXIV. On the 28th June, 1748, two of the New- Jersey Commissioners for running of the Line, served the Governor of New-York with a Copy of the Act, by showing him an Exemplification of it under the Great Seal of New-Jersey, and delivering him a Copy, and by showing him their Commission; and at the same Time delivered to him a Letter signed by them,
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containing the Purpose of that Service; and request- ing, if any Objections were to the Assent to the Act, to communicate them, hoping they could obviate them to his Excellency: And if in two Months, that Gov- ernment would signify their Consent to run the Line amicably, by the Acts of 1717, and 1718, that they would wait so long, or any further reasonable Time, before sending home the Act for the Royal Assent.
XXXV. On the same 28th of June, 1748, the same Persons served, in like Manner, the said Act, on the President of the Council, and the Speaker of the As- sembly of New-York; and gave to each of them a Copy of the said Letter to the Governor of New-York, with a Letter containing the Purpose of the Service, and requesting the communicating them to their re- spective Houses then sitting. And on the same Day, the Assembly of New-York, by their Minutes, own the said Service; and on the next Day, make a Minute, deferring the Consideration of the Matter, till their next Meeting, after the first of September next, with- out any Desire of enlarging the Time of two Months before proposed, or Offer of communicating any Objec- tions to the said Act.
XXXVI. Your Memorialists being then left with- out any the least Hopes of getting the Line run amicably, by Virtue of the Acts of 1717, and 1718, without his Majesty's Approbation of the said Act, procured Proofs under the Great Seals of New-York, and New-Jersey, of most of the preceding Facts, and in the Winter of 1748, transmitted Duplicates of them, and of the said Act, by the Captains Bryant and Waddell, to Mr. Paris, their Agent at London, in Order for obtaining the Royal Assent. And tho' Mr. Paris used his utmost Endeavours for that Purpose, and to bring the Matter to a Hearing; yet the New- York Agent got the Time of Hearing put off from Time to Time, for Four Years running, to the very
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great Charge and Delay of Your Memorialists; and which Charge and Delay, its improbable, would have arisen, if the Charge of procuring those Delays had been at the private Expence of the Gentlemen con- cerned in the Line on the New-York Side: And during all that Time, neither the Gentlemen of New York, nor their Agent in England, offered any Objections to the said Act, to your Memorialists or their said Com- mittee, or their Agent in London; nor made any Proposition whatsoever, of any other Method more proper for ascertaining the Line; nor did the New-York Agent, on the two Hearings before the Lords of Trade, offer any one Piece of Evidence from New-York, that the Want of could have given Cause for his said Mul- titudes of Delays; but insisted on the reporting against the Act from what appeared on the Face of it, without any extrinsick Evidence; and upon reporting against the Proceedings of the Year 1719, hereinbefore set forth, and recited in the said Act: Against both which, the Lords of Trade were pleased, on the 18th of July last, to report; and your Memorialists learn from Mr. Paris, that he upon petitioning for a Re-hearing of the Matters reported before the Lords Committees for Plantation Affairs, and has given Security accordingly.
XXXVII. Numbers of People having, from Time to Time, settled near to the Line, by the Observations of 1719, without Title from either New-York or New- Jersey; your Memorialists have, from Time to Time, obliged such of them as were on the South-West Side of that Line, either to purchase, or lease the Land they had settled upon; and such as would do neither, or such as pretended Title under New-York, brought Ejectments against them, and obtained Judgments thereon; as before; and from Time to Time, made Partitions and Appropriations of those Lands, pursu- ant to the Laws of New-Jersey, as it was and is lawful for your Memorialists to do.
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XXXVIII. Complaint having been made to your Memorialists at their Half-yearly Meeting in March last, by some of those People settled on the South- West Side of the said Line, abreast of the Wawayanda Patent, of their being threatened by the said Thomas Dekey, (against whom your Memorialists have Judg- ment in Ejectment as before) to be taxed as in New- York. Whereon, after due Consideration had, your Memorialists came to sundry Resolutions thereon, which they conceive it was lawful for them to do, and their incumbent Duty to do; and which they had longer than was consistent with Prudence delayed doing. But that these Resolutions had any the least Tendency to encroach on New-York, or to any Breach of the Peace, as is complained of by the Assembly of New-York, they do deny; and that they have no such Tendency, will best appear by them; And they are in these words, viz.
March 30th, 1753.
Richard Gardner, and John Herring, represented to this Board, that Dekey, and others, of New-York, do greatly threaten those who have taken or shall take Leases of this Board, and that they shall be taxed, and obliged to train in New York, which would be an ex- treme Hardship to them, to be obliged to those Things in both Provinces; and desiring the Protection and Sentiments of this Board on that Head.
Which being maturely considered, this Board rec- ommends, that Richard Gardner, shall desire the Lessees First by all Means, to keep the Peace; but that they refuse to pay Taxes, or train under New-York Officers, and refuse to serve as within New-York Province.
Secondly, If the People of New-York will, by Rea- son of their Refusals aforesaid, distrain the Lessees, that they suffer the Distress to be taken; but get
.
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Friends to buy the Distress, deducting therefrom the Taxes, Fines, and Charges of Distress.
Thirdly, That at the Time of the Distress, those who shall distrain, be forewarned of their Danger by com- ing into New-Jersey to distrain, and that its a Tres- pass in them, and utterly unlawful; and no Warrant from any Person or Persons of New-York can justify them, and that they will be liable to be prosecuted, not only as Trespassers, but obliged to repay the Money distrained for, and all Charges and Damages, which in due Time they may expect to be compelled to pay by Suits.
Fourthly, In the mean Time that the Persons dis- trained may not be delayed of their Remedy; this Board agrees now to put into the Hands of Richard Gardner, the Sum of Thirty Pounds Proclamation, out of which he is to pay to the Sufferers by such Distresses all their Damages, taking a Receipt for these Pay- ments, to the Purpose following, viz.
Whereas holding his Lands by Lease from
the Proprietors of East-Jersey, No .- -had his Goods lately distrained by an Officer of the Province of New-York, for the Payment of -to New-York, by which not only the said Sum but also the Sum of for the Charges of Distress was levied of his Goods, by which the said- -has suffered Damages,
the Sum of Now, I the said do hereby acknowledge, to have received of Richard Gardiner, in Behalf of the Proprietors of East-Jersey, the aforesaid Sum of for my said Damages; and do hereby assign to the said Proprietors, all my Right of Action for the same.
Witness my Hand, the Day of -- 17- Witness
Fifthly, This Board agrees to advance what further sums may be necessary for the Purpose aforesaid, and desire Mr. Johnston, the Treasurer, or James Alex- ander, to advance and pay the same.
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Sixthly, That this Board will in like Manner, pay all Charges and Damages, that any of the Lessees may be put to, by any Suits of New-York; and if Richard Gardner advances any Thing on that Head, he shall be repaid.
Seventhly, That Mr. Gardner, keep a regular Ac- count of the Monies so paid as aforesaid, and deliver it once a Year with the Receipts aforesaid, to this Board.
Your Memorialists further, in Answer to the Com- plaint of the Assembly of New-York, of June 28th last, beg Leave to say, that they know of no sinister or irregular Practices of their Agents to the Prejudice of any one of New-York; nor have the Complainants pointed out any sinister or irregular Practices they have been guilty of: And your Memorialists say, That to the Westward of the Long Pond, from whence these Complaints have come, they have no Agent but Richard Gardner, their Deputy Surveyor, in that Part, who by Profession is a Quaker, and consequently, one very unlikely to cause any Quarrel or Contention, or Bloodshed, otherwise than by doing his Duty up to the Line by the Observations of 1719; over which your Memorialists never gave him Directions to go: nor do your Memorialists believe, he has gone or pretended. Your Memorialists so far agree with the Freeholders and Inhabitants of Orange County, in their Petition to the Assembly of New-York, That by Reason of the Delay in the Settlement of the Line, incredible Hard- ships have arisen; but these your Memorialists appre- hend, have been only suffered by the People of New- Jersey, from the People of Orange County, and often since the year 1740; and tho' often complained of, they to this Day, remain without Redress; Some par- ticular Instances of Multitudes that could be assigned, are herein set forth; but no particular Instance has New York assigned, or, we believe, can (with Truth) assign, of such Sufferings beyond the Line, by the Observations of
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1719, though that be so far Southward of the Line run and mark'd in 1719, as herein is set forth. And your Memorialists further say, that the Delay of running the Line, can, in no Way, be attributed to your Mem- orialists, but to the People of New-York; as from this Memorial they doubt not, will be evident to the World, from the many Endeavours of your Memorial- ists, to have the Line settled, and the continual Oppo- sition of New-York, for above Thirty Years past, to the setting any Line. And your Memorialists further say, they believe that those People of New-York, who have settled in New-Jersey, to the Southward of the Line, by the Observations of 1719, and against whom your Memorialists have recovered Judgments in Eject- ment, being conscious that Writs of Possession might, at any Time for these Eight Years past, have been served, and they turned out of Possession, have pro- vided Arms to maintain those Possessions by Force; which instead of being a Cause of Complaint on their Part, is an obvious Cause of Complaint on your Mem- orialists Part: And your Memorialists well hope that the Government of New-York, will in no wise coun- tenance those Men, either in the providing or using that Force; and besides those Persons against whom Judgments have been had as before, no Cause had any other Person from your Memorialists to guard his pos- sessions by Force. And your Memorialists further say. That would the Owners of the Patents of Minisink and Wawayanda, have followed the Opinion of the Judges of the Supreme Court of New-York, in Article 19, before; or the Example of the Owners of the Patent of Cheescocks, in discovering and not possess- ing themselves, or oppressing others over the Line, by the Observations of 1719, as in Article XX before; and had they not been encouraged to pretend over that Line, by Means of the Letter of 1740, said to be from Lieutenant Governor Clark, and to oppress the People
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of New-Jersey, settled to the Southward of that Line, by distreining for Taxes of New-York, and for not training there, &c. (as in No. XXII.) there would have been little Room for Complaints of Encroachments of either Side. But its People, under Colour of those two Patents of Minisinks and Wawayanda, that have been the chief Aggressors, and who hitherto have been deaf to the Complaints, of the People oppressed by them: But now they see a Method fallen upon by your Memorialists, by their Resolutions of March last; to call them to an Account by due Course of Law for their Oppressions, if they continue them; those op- pressors, for that cry out, and threaten Bloodshed, &c. and have since put their Threats to that purpose in Execution, as hereinafter is pointed out in Article XLI.
XXXIX. Tho' your Memorialists, and many of the Owners of Patents in New York, bounding on the Line of New-Jersey, have strictly confined themselves on each Side, in their Settlements, Leases, and Sales, to the Line by the said Observations of 1719, agreeable to the Opinion aforesaid, of the Judges of the Supreme- Court of New York, in the Causes of Swaartwoots and Westfalls, in Article XIX. before: Yet as to Matter of Jurisdiction, your Memorialists conceive, that that Line run and mark'd in 1719, as in Article XII. ought to stand, be, and remain, as the Temporary Line of Juris- diction of the two Provinces, until another Line be run for it, by as great an Authority; tho' that mark'd Line falls upon Hudson's River, Seven Miles to the North- ward of the Line by the Observations of 1719; and tho' that mark'd Line be on the South-Eastermost Part of the Wawayanda Patent, Three Miles distant on a Per- pendicular from the Line by the Observations of 1719, and on the North-Westermost Part of the Wawayanda Patent, Two Miles Distance. And your Memorialists have great Reasons to believe. that had that mark'd Line fallen to the Southward of the Line by the Ob-
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servations of 1719 it would have been insisted on by New York, not only as a Temporary Line of Jurisdic- tion, but as a Line of Property; for they have not so much as such a Colour for Possession in all the Cases where your Memorialists have recovered Judgments in Ejectments, as before; and the Executions of which Judgments, they have now for many years delayed, and intended for Peace Sake, to have delayed till the Line was settled: But if the unreasonable Obstruction of New York to the Settlement of the Line, and the Behaviour of some People there, shall be much longer continued; your Memorialists will think themselves bound in Duty to alter that their Intention, whatever be the Consequence.
XL. In April 1753, the People of Orange County in New York, chose one Arnold Basset, (living several Miles South-Westward of the Line by the Observa- tions of 1719, who holds his Lands by Leave from your Memorialists) to be a Constable of Orange County ; who on Notice thereof, refused to serve as such; whereon about the first of May, 1753, two Justices of Orange County, sent a Warrant to Anthony Vanatta, a Constable, to bring the said Basset before them; whereon the said Basset, told the said Vanatta, (accord- ing to your Memorialists Directions aforesaid) that their Warrant was not sufficient to defend him in that Affair, and advised him as a Friend, not to proceed without some other Protection; for that the Council of Proprietors would certainly sue him for all Charges and Damages that he caused on that Head: Whereon the said Vannatta, went back to the said Justices, and told them he was afraid to take Basset, unless they would defend him against the Proprietors: But he was answered by them with Threatenings, and that they would send him immediately to Goal, if he did not forthwith execute the said Warrant, and take as- sistance with him, the better to do it: Whereon the said
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Basset was taken and brought by Force before the said two Justices, and refused before them to serve as a Constable of Orange County; upon which they fined him Forty Shillings, and committed him to Prison; and at the same Time, issued an Execution against his Goods to the Constable of Minisink, for levying of Four pounds Fourteen Shillings, which that 9th Day of May, they adjudged against him the said Basset, for Fine and Charges, for refusing to be Sworn into the Office of Constable, and likewise all Cost that should accrue about that Execution thereafter; and that he the said Constable, should have those Monies before them the 12th Day of that Instant: In pursu- ance of which Execution, while he the said Arnold Basset remained in Prison, the said Constable came, and took three Horses of the said Prisoner, while they were at Work in his Plough, and his Gun, and wear- ing Apparel, of the Value of above Thirty pounds; which the said Justices and Constable sold at Vendue, and out of the Proceeds thereof, kept Ten pounds Six- teen Shillings and a Penny, for the Four Pounds Fourteen Shillings in the Execution mentioned, and the further Cost accrued about that Execution, at which Sum the said Justices taxed the same; when, and not before, they discharged the said Basset out of Prison: And whereupon your Memorialists' Agent, Richard Gardner, paid the said Sum to the said Basset, together with Four pounds Fourteen Shillings and Three Pence more, for the Damage that the said Basset had suffered by his Loss of Time and missing of Planting, and sowing his Oats and Flax seed, &c. at which Time they chose to perform this extraordinary Exploit; as by Copies of the said Warrant, Execution, tax'd Bills of Cost, and Receipts of the said Basset, will appear.
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