USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth County, New Jersey. Pt. 1 > Part 19
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How this resolve of the Monmouth men to stand by their patent was received by the pro- prietors' government is not known, for no min- utes of the Elizabethtown General Assembly from November, 1668, to 1675 have been found. There is reason to believe that the Assembly met occasionally during that period, but it is probable that no business of any importance was transacted. The next entry here quoted from the Middletown town-book proves there was an occasional session,-
" December 6, 1671 .- In a legall towne meeting : the major partt being present, it was ordered that following writing shall be sent to the Governour and Counsell and Deputies of the townes of the province assembled together at Elizabethtown the 12th of this present month. Honoured Governour: the Counsell and Deputies of the generall assembly. Wee received by the hands of some of the men of Woodbridge the late acts of the generall assembly at their last adjournment bearing date 22 of November : as allsoe a sum- mons under hand and seale of the province for choice of Burgesses for a further Assembly to bee held on the 12th of this present month : both wch being enclosed in a paper sent unto us by the Honoured Governour : desiring our compliance to answere the summons : and fur- ther requiring our positive answer by the bearer: to weh wee say : that such is: and hath bin our forwardness for compliance at all times : that there hath bin: and is noe need of any ocasion : either to instigate or augment our for- wardnes thereunto : having not at any time wilfully omitted any opertunity of apearing by our deputies to doe such service as hath bin re- quired of us : besides : the sincerity of our de- sires : being soe well known to God, and our own consciences herein : in point of true Loyall submission to the government of the Lords proprietors soe farre forth as is proper to our conditon to the very utmost that can bee claimed from us: whose just power wee have formerly (as it is well known) with all . . . owned : but when we consider : (having pondered we in our minds) the late act was presented to us : and being therein charged : with noe les than contempt of authority of government: the charge being soe generall : viz. the townes of Middlesex and Shrewsbury, the forciblenes of the charge be great: viz. an Act of the generall assembly : and withall judging the charge the whole ground of the Act : for what greater force can there be than a generall act : wee say : wee (weighing these things in the ballances of equity) judge ourselves at present alltogether incapable of answearing the sum- mons : aprehending ourselves at present rather fitter to be cleared publickly of soe weighty a
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charge : then to joyne with the Gouvernour : Counsell : and deputies of the townes of the province in the exercise of any legislative power : for the settlement of any thing : need- ful and necessary for the well governing of this : province : and should have now apeared to have answered to the charge if that writt had ther be ashamed nor affrayd to declare it to be apeared amongst us weh the late asembly gave open and manifest wrong : further wee give yee to understand the cause and reason why our deputies apeared not at the last adjournment : when the time came that they should goe: our vessel was accidentally drove away, by web means they were disabled from coming and for the season of neere fourteen days toghether the Gouvernour thatt power to issue forth : further more (conceaving under correction) that noe such prerogative or privilege may bee con- ferred upon contemners and despisers of gov- ernment, much les noe such thing as either the dignity of a freeholder to elect or the dignity of. a Deputy to act for the good and welfare of noe vessell could not bee gott in any capacity to transport them : this being the very ground and reason why they came nott: and therefore wee conceive that weh providentially fall out men of reason and understanding will bee well satisfied withal .... It is further ordered : that the clarke (at present) shall signe to this above answear in the name of the towne and shall send it backe by Woodbridge men with its di- rection running thus: viz .: To the Honoured Gouvernour and Counsell : and Deputies of the townes of the province asembled toghether at Elizabethtown.
any state or province, and therefore for the full clearing of ourselves our desire is that the late act (according to the current thereof ) may bee exactly prosecuted : that so that power (web the late asembly of deputies at their last adjourn- ment tooke upon them to give the gouvernour) may now bee putt in execution : for had that writt apeared now amongst us : wee question nott : but wee should have shewed our ready and willing obedience to have answeared there- unto: being carefull of incurring upon any Attayndor of rebellion : but that writt apear- ing nott amongst us : wee judged ourselves not obliged to come to answear : and thus in briefe have wee given account of our present condi- tion : under favour waiting onely with all hu- mility (pro forma tantum) as to what is further required of us in the late act : viz: to shew cause why wee will nott pay our just propor- tion of expences of provision expended at two asemblies in the yeare (68) wee answear that which was expended at the asembly Held 25, May (68) wee had then noe deputies there to expend and further what was expended at the adjournment : in November following in the same yeare: our deputies who were there and nott suffered to act but sume how agayne re- ported to us: that the deputies for the townes
mens expences: who wee conceive rather show an evell mind in desiring itt: soe that if any- thing by the power of the province be forced from us at any time (upon this account), viz .: for the discharge of expences of provisions for those two asemblies: wee hope wee shall nei-
"Testis, EDWARD TARRTE, T. C."
It thus appears that the inhabitants of the town of Middletown would not refuse to ac- knowledge the government of the proprietors and to send deputies; but they denied the right of the proprietors to the land; nor did they ever rescind the order forbidding their repre- sentatives taking the oath, except with the pro- viso saving their patent. The allusion to the invitation to supper is amusing. It seems that this mode of procuring legislative favor com- menced at an early day. The unsophisticated men two centuries ago could not understand how expensive suppers could be paid for, unless they who gave them reimbursed themselves of the province : invited them one night to : from the public funds. It is evident that they supper weh before their departure thence they | thought the province was in some way to pay tendered them money for itt soe that : as wee | for the feast, their offer of payment having abhorre all such baseness of speritt as to eat been declined. It is probable that the supper was given at the instance of those representing any mens bread for nought: soe wee eome nott: by what wee have soe lightly as to pay other , the proprietors, to induce the deputies of Mid-
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
dletown and Shrewsbury to take the oath with- out the proviso; but they stood firmly by their patent, and could not be influenced by fine sup- pers or other entertainment.
In December, 1672, Berkeley and Carteret, the Lords Proprietors, issued declarations to the people, among which was the following, which proves that Middletown and Shrewsbury still held out: "For such as pretend to right of property to land and government within our province by virtue of patent from Gov. Col. Richard Nicolls, as they ignorantly assert, we utterly disown any such things,-a grant they had from him on condition they never per- formed. Lovelace demanded they patent their land from us and pay our quit-rent, which, if they do, we are content they shall enjoy the land they are settled on; but without their speedy compliance as above said, we do order our Governor and Counsel to dispose thereof in whole or in part." They also authorized the constables of the respective towns to take by warrant from the Governor, by way of distress, from every individual inhabitant their just pro- portion of rent due to them yearly, beginning on 25th March, 1670; and if not thus collected, the marshal of the province be impowered, etc.
In the above it will be observed that the proprietors did not base their title upon a grant from the Duke of York prior to the Nicolls patent, but upon the allegation that the patentees had not performed the conditions of their patent, in what particular is not stated. The command to collect the rents in this summary way was inconsistent with the previous action of the Governor and Council; for in May, 1672, upon the address of James Grover and others, patent- ees, and their associates, of the towns of Mid- dletown and Shrewsbury, unto the Governor and Council, for confirmation of certain priv- ileges granted them by Colonel Richard Nicolls, the Governor and Council did confirm unto said patentees and their associates these partic- ulars following, being their rights contained in the aforesaid patent, among which was the fol- lowing: " Imprimis, that the said patentees and associates have full power, license and authority to dispose of the said lands expressed in the said patent as to them shall seem meet." The
action of the Lords Proprietors in December can only be accounted for upon the supposition that they had not received information of the action of their Governor and Council the prev- ious May. They were certainly bound by the previous action of their Governor and Council confirming the Nicolls patent. The confir- mation of this patent by the Governor and Coun- cil also gave the inhabitants of the towns of Monmouth the liberty to make prudential laws and constitutions among themselves according to the tenor of the patent; and if this confir- mation was valid, it follows that they were free from the crown before the American Revolu- tion, for the proprietors could not in 1702 sur- render the government over them.
In 1670 the quit-rents as claimed by the proprietors had become due. They who held under Nicolls refused to pay them, and there followed great confusion, not only in the towns of Monmouth, but in Essex and elsewhere. At length the revolutionists determined to establish a new government, and on the 14th of May, 1672, certain delegates from the towns, calling themselves "Deputies or Representatives for the Country," met at Elizabethtown, elected Captain Janres Carteret (a son of Sir George, the proprietor) " President of the Country," and made proclamation to that effect. On the 28th of the same month Governor Philip Car- teret and his Council made proclamation, offer- ing amnesty to all persons who were concerned in the revolt, who should within ten days give in their written submission to the proprietary government ; otherwise they would be pro- ceeded against as mutineers and enemies to the peace of the province.1 The trouble, however, continued through the year, and the " President of the Country," James Carteret, carried mat- ters with a high hand, arresting and imprison- ing some of the proprietary officers and warning others against attempting to act in their official capacity. In these acts he was sustained by the revolutionary Assembly. Governor Philip Carteret was obliged to leave the province for England, where he remained more than two years, John Berry remaining in New Jersey
1 New Jersey Archives, 1st Series, vol. i. page 89.
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as his deputy, but exercising no power as such during the brief control of James Carte- ret, who early in the following year abandoned his so-called office of " President," and fled to Carolina, taking with him his wife, who was a daughter of Thomas Delavall, mayor of New York. The events of the James Carteret re- volt are told, in part, in an address by the Council of Governor Philip Carteret to the proprietors, dated July 1, 1672. In that document they set forth :
"That whereas Several persons in this Prov- ince who have a long time been discontented and Opposite unto the Governor and Govern- ntent, who have of Late by their plottings and Combinations so Carried matters that they have had such Influence into the Election of Deputies for the Assemblys as that there are such persons chosen as Deputies who having avoided taking the Oath of Assemblymen according to the Concessions, and have taken Liberty to differ from the Governor and Councill in Establishing matters for the Peace and Settlement of the People, and have now At last disorderly Assembled and pro- cured Capt James Carterett as their Pres- ident, who Joyned with them in making dis- turbance in this Province, he taking upon him to head the said persons, endeavoring not only to disengage the people from subjection unto, but also opposing and abusing the Governor and Councill, commanding their Obedience to him- self by virtue of his Warrants which he puts forth in the King's Name for that end, and also Prohibiting such Officers as act by the Governor's Commission, and commanding them wholy to cease acting in their offices untill they receive orders from himself ; and unto such a hight hath he proceeded that he hath impris- oned Several persons, in p'ticular the Deputy Secretary for Executing his Office, who, having by the Governor's order made an Escape out of their hands, we understand they have seized his goods, and the Like we Expect daily will be the Condition of all others that will not concurr with his Illegall proceedings, he giving ; to those that merrit it and Reproof to Evil forth Continual threatenings against those that : doers."
doe not obey his orders, and having persons ad- hering to him that probably will be ready to .
Execute his Will so as they may have the Plundering of o' Estates, and all these proceed- ings he carried on with pretence that he hath Power sufficient, he being Sir George Carter- ett's Sonn, and that he himself is Proprietor and can put out the Governor as he pleases, and that his Father hath given him his part of the Province ; although he doth not shew any grant or Commission or Legal Power to doe any such thing, but saith he Scorneth to Shew his Power to such fellowes as wee, neither need he do so, being on his own Land. And as for the Lord Berkeley's part, he saith that is but a small matter ; so that pretending himself to be Proprietor, his proceedings gives the greater hopes to his followers, and Consequently are the more dangerous as to your Honnours' Interest, and the Inhabitants' peace and Safety, both in respect of Liberty and Estate, if not Life also, according as their Outrage may prevail ; and those that doe not submit and yield Obedience to his Orders and Commands, but doe appear to be faithful to your Honnours' Interest and Gov- ernment, because of their Oath they have taken, they are in Continual Danger of being surprised and imprisoned by him. All which Actings of his do Evidently tend to the ruin of the Province as to your Honno's Interest, for either wee must comply with him and his fol- lowers and their proceedings, who aim to get all into their own hands, or Else we must remove out of the Province, Except he doth prevent us by Casting us into Prison ; and although he be Sir George Carterett's Sonn, and for his Father's sake wee Honnour him accordingly, yet our owne reason doth persuade us to believe that his Honbie Father will never Countenance his sonn in such dishonorable, unjust and Violent pro- ceedings, which tends to nothing but ruin. . . . Craving pardon for our boldness, wee beseech the God of Wisdom to Give your Honnours a Spirit of discerning, to see where Integrity and faithfullness are fixt, and where private designs are driven at, that you may Administer that which is Just and Equal to all, Encouragement
In response to this representation of the Council, the proprietors, Berkeley and Carteret,
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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
wrote the instructions of December, 1672 (be- fore quoted), authorizing and directing the col- lection of rents by distress from every individual inhabitant in the province, and that they be dispossessed of their lands in case of non-pay- ment. Also King Charles, on the 9th of the same December, signed instructions to Deputy- Governor John Berry, reciting that ." having been informed that some turbulent and disaf- fected Persons" had committed disorders and excesses in New Jersey, and directing the Deputy- "Governor, in the royal name, to demand and enforce obedience to the laws and government of the proprietors, they " having the sole power under us to settle and dispose of the said Coun- try upon such Terms and Conditions as they shall think fit ;" and to proceed against the mal- contents " with due severity according to Law," in case they should fail to yield submission without delay.
The conquest of New York and New Jersey by the Dutch, in 1673, and the restoration of the country to the English in the following year, as also several acts done with reference to the Mon- mouth County people by the Dutch authorities during their brief term of power, have already been fully noticed in a preceding chapter. After the conquest, King Charles gave new grants of soil and government, and on the 31st of July, 1674, Sir George Carteret1 gave new instructions to his Governor and new concessions to the set- tlers on the New Jersey lands. The new con- cessions of Carteret disowned the Nicolls patent, and ordered that if the inhabitants did not take out new patents, the Governor and Council should dislodge them. It is difficult to under- stand this action, after the previous confirmation of the Nicolls title, unless it be that it was held that the Dutch war and conquest destroyed all patents, deeds and grants.
In November, 1674, Philip Carteret returned from England, and resumed the office of Gov- ernor. The next general Assembly convened larly with regard to the latter) was very strong in November, 1675, and was loyal to the pro- prietors. The deputies from Middletown, Cap- tain John Bowne and John Throgmorton, took
the oath, as also did John Slocum, from Shrews- bury ; but William Shatock, the other delegate from Shrewsbury, refusing to swear or subscribe, was dismissed. At this session an Act of Ob- livion, as it was called, was passed, abolishing all actions against any and all those who had been in any way concerned in the attempt to change the government here settled by the Lords Proprietors at any time from 1670 to June, 1673; and the inhabitants were, by this act, ab- solutely and fully pardoned of all offenses what- soever.
On the 10th of October, 1677, the General Assembly, then in session at Elizabethtown, de- clared : "We find by constant Experience for several years past, that the Town of Shrewsbury hath been deficient, if not negligent and careless, in sending of their Deputies, or in sending such as will not conform to the Order of the Conces- sions respecting the Deputies, whereby the said Assembly is weakened and the publick Work hindered."
For several years preceding the final surren- der of the government by the proprietors, there were frequent disorders in the province, these occurring in Essex and Middlesex Counties, as well as in Monmouth. The immediate cause was a long and acrimonious dispute between the adherents of Andrew Hamilton on the one side, and of Jeremiah Basse on the other, each of whom claimed to be Governor of the province. Andrew Hamilton was understood to be in favor of maintaining the proprietary title, and the in- habitants of the towns of Monmouth who had claimed title to their lands under Indian rights and the patent of Nicolls joined the party which sustained Basse. But besides the question of the proprietary title and right to the soil, there was at this time (1695 to 1702) in the contro- versy, an element which did not exist in the carlier disorders. This element was a Scotch and an anti-Scotch partisanship, which (particu- and bitter. Andrew Hamilton, himself a Scotch- man and firmly supported by the Scotch pro- prietors, was accused of gross favoritism towards his countrymen, by appointing and keeping them in the principal offices of the province, regard- less of their fitness or honesty ; while on the
1 Lord Berkeley had sold out his interest in the province March 18, 1673.
1
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other hand Governor Basse was charged by his opponents with various malfeasances, among which was that of harboring-or at least pro- tecting from punishment-the numerous pirates who at about that time showed themselves boldly in the bays of Sandy Hook, Raritan and Dela- ware, and even recruited men from the regions of country bordering those waters. And there appears to have been some foundation of truth (as will be seen) for this charge, with regard to the conduct of some of Basse's adherents at least.
Of the "Scotch party," adhering to Hamilton, one of the chief leaders was Lewis Morris,1 at that time the most prominent and influential man of Monmouth County. He was crafty, unreliable and time-serving, but the most active, energetic and aggressive of the opponents of Basse and his adherents. At a Court of Com- mon Right, sitting at Perth Amboy on the 11th May, 1699,-Governor Basse, present,-Lewis Morris, of Tinton Manor, came in and "de- manded by what authority they kept Court." The court declared "by the King's authority," which was denied by Morris, and the court then ordered him to be taken in custody ; whereupon he "tried to draw his Hanger," and defied any one to dare lay hands upon him, "and when a constable, by order of the Court, layed hold on him, he, in the face of the Court, re- sisted." He was fined £50, and on the follow- ing day he, with George Willocks, was indicted by the grand jury and committed to Wood-
bridge jail till £300 security should be given for their good behavior and appearance at the October term of the Court of Common Right. But a mob of Morris' adherents was collected, and "with a Beam of an house they Battered Woodbridge Jail to Pieces, and set him and his Seditious Companion Willocks at liberty." This was done between two and four o'clock in the morning of the 13th of May, Captain Isaac White- head being a ringleader of the mob of rescuers.
At Piscataway, in the county of Middlesex, on the 3d of March, 1700,2 a mob collected and debarred the court from the place of its sitting "in the Publick Meeting-House," nailing up the doors, etc. On the 12th of the same month "Samuel Carter and a large number of others" made successful resistance to the authority of the Essex County Court, then and there assem- bled; and in the summer of that year there were troubles of the same nature in Mon- mouth County, as appears from a statement made by Captain Andrew Bowne and Richard Hartshorne3 on the 23d of July, viz. :
" Since the departure of Mr. Slater [Salter], Col. Hamilton hath put Mr. [Lewis] Morris into commission of his Councill and Justice, believing him to be the onely man that can make the province Submit to him as Governor without the King's aprobation, & in Order to Effect itt they turned out an English Man who was Sherif and put in a Scotch Man who they thought would Obey them without Reserve, & itt is saide Morris hath given out that he will carrie his point in making the people submit to Coll. Hamilton's Government, or he will em- brue the province in Blood,4 in order to which
1 This partisan leadership of Morris was mentioned in a letter written in 1702 by the Earl of Nottingham, who, after proposing certain men in New Jersey (among whom were Richard Hartshorne, Andrew Bowne, Obadiah Bowne and William Lawrence, of Monmouth County). as fit persons to serve in the Provincial Council, proceeds : " But against The following Persons many objections are made, as being of the Scotch & Quaker ffactions, concerned sundry years in ye Divisions and incendiary Parties that has brought those Provinces into Confusion of Government, Injustice to ye Proprietors and aversion of ye Planters & Inhabitants, vizt.
" Mr. Lewis Morris, ye Head of ye ffaction, Mr. Samuel Leonard, Mr. George Willocks, Mr. John Barclay, Mr. Michael Harden, Mr. Thomas Gordon, Mr. David Lyall, Mr. Miles fforster, Mr. John Johnstone, Mr. John Bishop, Samuel Den- nis, William Pinhorne, Samuel Hale.
"These last four have other characters rendering them unfit for that Statiun."-New Jersey Colonial Documents, . Series 1, vol. i. page 488. 7
2 March 3, 1699, Old Style.
3 N. J. Col. Doc., Series 1, vol. ii. page 327.
4 " We whose names are under-written, do say that some time in the month of June, 1700, was at the house of Abra- ham Brown, in Shrowsburry, in company with Lewis Morris, Esqr., then did hear him say that he had been with the Governr. & had taken an office upon him & that he would go through with it. & if any man resisted him he would spill his blood, or he should spill his, for he made no Scruple of Conscience, & in further discourse the sd Morris did say that he had taken an office and he would go through with it, though the Streets run with blood."
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