History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 7

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148

USA > New Jersey > Monmouth County > History of Monmouth county, New Jersey > Part 7

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HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

of residence from Elizabethtown to Perth Am- boy, Lawrie incurred the displeasure of the pro- prietors and of Governor Barclay, who, accord- ingly, on the 4th of June, 1686, appointed Lord Neill Campbell (a Scotch nobleman and brother of the Duke of Argyle) to supersede Lawrie as Deputy Governor. His appointment was for the term of two years, but he held the office only a few months, and (being compelled " by the urgent necessity of some weighty affairs " -- as he said -- to return to Scotland) surrendered it on the 10th of December next following his appointment, leaving as his substitute a recently- arrived Scotchman, Colonel Andrew Hamilton, who afterwards received a commission as Deputy Governor, which was published at Perth Amboy in March, 1687.

In the instructions given to Gawen Lawrie with his commission as Deputy Governor, in 1683, he was charged by the proprietors of East New Jersey to "make all needful prepa- ration towards drawing the line of division be- tween us and West Jersey, that it may be done as soon as possible it can."1 Pursuant to these instructions, "a council relative to the line be- tween East and West Jersey " was held at New York on the 30th of June, 1686, composed of Governor Dongan, of New York, and Governors Lawrie and Skene, respectively of East and West New Jersey; and by this council it was agreed that George Keith,2 Andrew Robinson and Philip Wells, the surveyors-general of the three provinces, should meet at the Falls of the Delaware (Trenton) on the 1st of September following, and proceed to establish the northern point of the proposed partition line on the Del- aware River. No decisive action resulted from this arrangement, and on the 8th of January, 1686-87, the Governors of East and West Jer- sey, with the resident proprietors, met at Mill- stone River, and agreed to refer the matter of the establishment of the line to Jolin Reid and William Emley, of the east and west divisions respectively, and mutnally entered into bonds in the sum of $5,000 to abide by their decision,

which they duly reported as follows: " Whereas the Governours of East and West Jersey has wholly referred ye division lyne of ye two prov- inees to us (as by their bonds doth appear), that is to say, given ns full power to ruun ye Same as wee think fitt. Therefore wee do hereby declare that it shall runn from ye north side of ye mouth or Inlett of ye beach of little Egg Harbour, on a streight lyne to Delaware River, north-northwest, and fifty minutes more west- erly, according to naturall position, and not ac- cording to ye magnet, whose variation is nine degrees Westward."

Notwithstanding the agreement which had been entered into, this decision of Reid and Emley appears to have been unsatisfactory to the west division, and on the 14th of April fol- lowing the East Jersey proprietors empowered John Campbell and Miles Forster to confer with the Governor of West Jersey on the sub- ject, and finally an agreement was made, under which Surveyor-General Keith ran a part of the line in the summer and fall of 1687, as fol- lows :

"Beginning at the most sontherly part of a certain beach or island lying next to and ad- joining the main sea, to the northward of a certain Bay, Inlet or Harbour, lying on the sea- coast of this Province, and commonly called or known by the name of Little Egg Harbour; and running thence, according to natural posi- tion, on a north-northwest, fifty minutes more westerly course, to the southwesterly corner of a certain tract of land lying to the westward of the South Branch of Raritan River, heretofore granted by the proprietors of the eastern divi- sion of this Province to John Dobie, and com- monly called or known by the name of Dobie's Plantation."

The line run by Keith, as above described, was exactly in accordance with the decision of Reid and Emley; but it was stopped at about three-fifths of the distance from the southern to the northern point, on account of the dissatis- faction of the West Jersey proprietors, by whom it was never accepted as the boundary of their possessions, though in the following year (1688) Governors Barclay and Coxe, of the cast and west divisions respectively, signed an agreement

1 Leaming and Spicer, p. 173.

2 Surveyor-general of East New Jersey, commissioned August 8, 1684.

THE DUTCH, ENGLISH AND PROPRIETARY RULE IN NEW JERSEY.

that it should remain as such, and fixed the method of continuing it northward to the Del- aware. In this condition the matter remained for many years. In 1719 the General Assem- bly passed an act declaring the location of the line. Finally, in 1743, it was run and deter- mined in its entire length, starting from the same southern point, but running thence in a course considerably farther castward than Keith's line of 1687, and so continuing to the northern point on the waters of the Delaware. Keith's line, however, remained undisturbed as marking the western boundaries of the counties of Somerset and Monmouth.

Immediately after the accession of the Duke of York to the throne of England as James the Second it became evident that he was deter- mined to take from the proprietors the govern- ment of New Jersey and join it with New York in the hands of one and the same royal Gov- ernor. The proprietors remonstrated and pe- titioned the throne to defend them in the rights which they had received from the King himself, while he was the Duke of York, but to no effect, and finally, in despair, they consented to surrender the government of New Jersey, if thereby they could be assured of protection to their rights of property in the province. This the King consented to and promised, and the surrender of both divisions of New Jersey was made on that condition by the proprietors in April, 1688.

Sir Edmund Andros was at that time Governor of the New England colonies, and to him the King issued a commission as Governor of New York, and of East and West New Jersey also, all to be joined with New England in one govern- ment under him. On the receipt of this com- mission, in August, 1688, he immediately pro- corded to New York and New Jersey, and assumed the Governorship.1 He soon after re-

turned to New England, leaving Andrew Ham- ilton still at the head of the government of East New Jersey as Deputy Governor. But the plans of the King and his Governor, Andros, were suddenly eut short by the landing of the Prince of Orange in England, the dethronement and exile of King James, and the accession of William and Mary to the throne.

The surrender by the proprietors to King James had never been consummated. It was made on the condition that they should receive from the King, under his royal seal, an assu- rance that they should continue in possession of the right to the soil, surrendering only the gov- ernment of their respective provinces. This assurance had never been given by the King, and the confirmation of the surrender was de- layed until his dethronement made it impossi- ble, and thus gave back to the proprietors the right of government, in which they were sus- tained by the new King.

In this condition of affairs Colonel Andrew Hamilton (who had never resigned his office of Proprietary Deputy Governor) left for England to consult with the proprietors there. His departure from the province was in the month of August, 1689. On the voyage he was taken prisoner by the captain of a French vessel, but after a short detention was allowed to proceed to England, where he resigned his office of Deputy Governor. For some causes which do not clearly appear he remained in England for nearly three years, during which time Governor Robert Barelay died (October 3, 1690) and the government of East New Jersey became ahnost entirely inoperative under the nominal admin- istration of John Tatham and, after him, of Colonel Joseph Dudley, both of whom had received the appointment of Governor from the proprietaries, and both of whom were virtually rejected by the people of the province.

On the 25th of March, 1692, Colonel Hamil- ton (who was then still in England) received the appointment and commission of Governor of East New Jersey, and in the following Sep- tember arrived in the province, where he at once entered upon the duties of his office. He was well received by the people, and, though he afterwards became obnoxious to many, he had

1 In a letter to the Lords of Trade, dated New York, Oct. -1, 1688, Andros said: "1 arrived here the eleventh of August past. When his Majestie's Letters Patents being published, received this place, as also East Jersey the fif- teenth and West Jersey the eighteenth following, where by proclamac'on continued the revenue and all officers in place till further order, and have since settled all Officers, Civil and Military."-New Jersey Col. Doc., 1st series, vol. d., p. 37.

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

the confidence of the proprietors, and remained at the head of affairs in the province until 1698, when he was " displaced by the proprietors through a misapprehension of the operation of an act of Parliament."1 The act referred to, which was passed in 1697, declared that no other than a natural-born subject of England should be allowed to serve in any publie office or place of profit and trust.

Governor Hamilton returned to England and was succeeded by Jeremiah Basse, previously an Anabaptist preacher, whose commission as Goy- ernor was dated July 15, 1697, and published in the province April 7, 1698. His adminis- tration awakened an opposition which resulted in anarchy, and in May, 1699, he departed for England, leaving as his deputy, Captain Andrew Bowne, of Monmouth County, who was sworn into that office on the 15th of May.

In the mean time the case of Colonel Hamil- ton's supposed ineligibility on account of his mativity had been submitted to Attorney-Gen- eral Trevor, who had delivered his opinion,- " That a Scotelman borne is by Law capable of being appointed Governour of any of the Plantac'ons, he being a Natural-born Subject of England in Judg'm' and Construcc'on of Law as much as if he had been born in Eng land." This gave the proprietors the right to reappoint Hamilton as Governor, and they did so, soon after the arrival of Governor Basse in England. Hamilton returned to New Jersey, where he found affairs in a deplorable state, a large part of the people being in almost open revolt. Many bitterly opposed his claims to the Goy- ernorship, saying that his disability on account of his Seoteh nativity had never been removed, and that he was now sent to govern the province in direct defiance to the act of Parliament. He was also acensed of favoring Scotchmen and filling the minor offices of the province with them,2 to the exclusion of Englishmen and

others, and they demanded the restoration of Basse, whom they professed to still regard as their rightful Governor. On the other hand, the adherents of Hamilton alleged that Basse had never been in reality a Governor of the province ; that his commission was only sigued by ten (instead of the requisite number of six- teen) of the proprietors, and that it had never been confirmed by the King, as had been pro- elaimed on his assumption of the office; also, that he was in league with the malcontents and enemies of the proprietary government, who sought its overthrow.3 It was in the midst of such a state of confusion and anarchy that Governor Hamilton resumed the Governorship. Among the chief of his opponents was Captain Andrew Bowne, who had been appointed Deputy Governor by Basse on his departure for Eng- land in 1699. On the 7th of June, 1701, Bowne received a commission, dated March 25th, as Governor of East New Jersey, but as it proved to have been signed by only six of the proprie- tors, it was disregarded by Hamilton, who then continued at the head of the government (if government it could be termed) during the brief period that elapsed before the expiration of the proprietary rule in New Jersey and its erection into a royal province under the crown of England.

The proprietary government of the provinces of New Jersey had proved weak and inefficient ; unsatisfactory to the people, and a source of con- stant annoyance to and disagreement among the proprietors themselves, for they had not only failed in the matter of government, but also in securing the object which was much nearer their hearts,-pecuniary profit. Their surrender (never completed) to King James in 1688 had

Appointed by the Proprietors to Leas out their Lands & re- ceive their Quit-Rents. He is a great favourer of the Scotch traders, his countrymen."

3 Governor Basse, in a letter to Secretary Popple, dated June 9, 1699, complained, -" that I am too much discor- aged & Chequed in my zeale for the Comon good & his Majesty's servis, in that I have nothinge beyond a Proprie- tary Commission to support me & even then persons seem- inge to desert me for no other reason alleged that ear 1 could yet hear of, then [than] those that are but so many instances of my faithfullness to the interest of the erowne, vizt.,-My discountenanceinge the Scotch and Pirates in their illegall trades."

1 We have been," said the proprietors, " obliged against our inclinations to dismiss Colonel Andrew Hamilton from the Government because of a late Aet of Parliament disa- bling all Seotchmen to serve in places of Public Trust or l'roffit."

2 In a memorial of Edward Randolph, setting fortb the condition of East and West Jersey, he says : " Mr. Andrew Hamilton, a Scotchman, is the Govr. of those provinees,

THE DUTCH, ENGLISH AND PROPRIETARY RULE IN NEW JERSEY.

been forced on them by that monarch's faith- lessness and duplicity ; but now, after a further trial of thirteen years, resulting the same as before, they had became so entirely discouraged that, if they could be allowed to retain their right of property in the soil, they were willing to surrender that power of government which they had never been able to wield successfully. In an official " Representation," by the Board of Trade and Plantations, to the Lords Justices of England, dated Whitehall, October 2, 1701, they say : 1

Pretence of right to govern, the Proprietors of East New Jersey did surrender their said pre- tended right to the late King James in the month of April, 1688, which was accordingly accepted by him. That since his Majesty's 2 Accession to the Crown the Proprietors both of East and West New Jersey have continued to challenge the same right as before, and did, in the year 1697, apply themselves to us in order to their obtaining his Majesty's Approbation of the Person 3 whom they desired to have consti- tuted Governor of the said Provinces, but at the same time refused to enter into Security to his Majesty, pursuant to the Address of the Right Honourable the House of Lords, of the 8th of March, 1696, that the Person so presented by them, the said Proprietors, should duly observe and put in exeention the Acts of Trade ; yet nevertheless proceeded from Time to Time to commissionate whom they thought fit to be Governors of those Provinces without his Majesty's Approbation acording to what is required by the late Aet for preventing Frauds and regulating Abuses in the Plantation Trade.

" That in this manner, having formerly com- missionated Colonel Andrew Hamilton, after- wards Mr. Jeremiah Bass, then again superseding their Commission to Mr. Bass, and renewing or

confirming that to Colonel Hamilton, and ever since that also some of them having sent another Commission to one Captain Andrew Bown, the Inhabitants, sensible of the defeets and unsulli- ciency of all those Commissions for want of his Majesty's Authority, have upon several occasions some of them opposed one of those Governors, some another, according as Interest, Friendship or Faction have inclined them.

" That the Inhabitants of East New Jersey, in a Petition to his Majesty the last year, Com- plained of several Grievances they lay under by " We do not find that any sufficient form of the neglect or mismanagement of the Pro- Government has ever been settled in those Prov- prietors of that Provinee or their Agent; or inces, either by the Duke of York or by those , particularly that from the latter end of June, claiming under him ; but that many incon- 1689, till about the latter end of August, 1692, veniences and disorders having arisen from their . (which was a Time of actual War), they had not taken any manner of care about the Govern- ment thereof, so that, there having been neither Magistrates established to put the Laws in execution, nor Military Officers to command or give Directions in order to the Defence of the Province, they were exposed to any Insults that might have been made upon them by an Enemy ; unto which they also added that during the whole time the Said Proprietors have govern'd or pretended to govern that Province they have never taken care to preserve or defend the same from the Indians or other Enemies by sending or providing any Arms, Ammunition or Stores, as they ought to have done; and the Said In- habitants thereupon humbly prayed his Majesty would be pleased to Commissionate some fit Person qualified according to Law to be Gover- nor over them.

" That it has been represented to us by several Letters, Memorials and other Papers, as well from the Inhabitants as Proprietors of both those Provinces, that they are at present in Con- fusion and Anarchy, and that it is much to be apprehended least by the heats of the Parties that are amongst them, they should fall into such Violences as may endanger the lives of many Persons, and destroy the Colony.

" That the Proprietors of East New Jersey residing there have signed and sent over hither, to a Gentleman whom they have constituted their Agent and Attorney in that behalf, an absolute and unconditional surrender of their

1 Leaming and Spicer, 604-607.

2 Meaning the Prince of Orange, King James' successor.

3 Governor Jeremiah Basse.

HISTORY OF MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Right to the Goverment of that Province, so far as the Same is in them, and so far as they are capable of doing it for others concerned with them in that Propriety.

"That in relation to the aforesaid Articles, we have been attended by several of the Pro- prietors here, who have further personally de- clared to us that their Intention in proposing the same is only to seeure their Right in such Things as are matter of property ; and that they unanimously desire to surrender the Govern- ment to the King, and submit the Circumstances thereof to his Majesty's Pleasure. But in re- lation to the fore-mentioned Petition that Colonel Hamilton may at present receive his Majesty's Approbation to be Governor of these Provinees, the said Proprietors are so divided amongst themselves, that whereas some seem to insist upon his Approbation as one principal Condi- tion of their surrender, others in the same man- ner insist upon his exclusion."

Upon which the board declared their opinion that none of the proprietors claiming under the Duke of York's release had ever held a legal right to the government of the provinces of East and West New Jersey, and " that it is very expedient for the preservation of those Territories to the Crown of England, and for securing the private Interest of all Persons con- cerned, that his Majesty would be pleased to constitute a Governor over those Provinces by his immediate Commission." 1

This " Representation" by the Lords of Trade hastened the action of the proprietors, who, on the 15th of April, 1702, formally surrendered to Queen Anne (who had, in the mean time, suc- ceeded to the throne of England, on the death of King William, in March, 1701-2) all their right of government over the provinces of East and West New Jersey.

The surrender was duly accepted (April 17, 1702) by the Queen, who, on the 5th of the following December, commissioned her consin, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury, " to be our Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over the aforesaid County of Nova Ciesarea or New Jersey, viz,- the Division of East and West New Jersey in

America, which we have thought fit to reunite in one Province, and settle under one entire Government."

Lord Cornbury, who had previously received the appointment and commission of Governor of New York, arrived there from England on the Bd of May, 1702. His commission as Gov- ernor of New Jersey, signed by the Queen in the following December, as before mentioned, reached him at New York on the 29th of July, 1703, and on the 10th of August following he went to New Jersey and assumed the govern- ment. His Council had previously been ap- pointed by the Queen, consisting of the follow- ing-named persons, viz .: Edward Hunloke, Lewis Morris, Andrew Bowne, Samuel Jen- nings, Thomas Revell, Francis Davenport, William Pinhorne, Samuel Leonard, George Deacon, Samuel Walker, Daniel Leeds, Wil- liam Sandford and Robert Quary. The Lieu- tenant-Governor of New Jersey was Colonel Richard Ingoldsby, commissioned by the Queen, November 26, 1702.2

The first General Assembly under the royal Governor convened at Perth Amboy, November 10, 1703, nearly all the members being present. Those for the eastern division of the province were Obadiah Bowne, Jedediah Allen, Michael Howden, Peter Van Este, John Reid, John Harrison, Cornelius Tunison, Richard Harts- horne and Colonel Richard Townly. Of these, Messrs. Bowne, Reid and Hartshorne were of Monmonth County. At this session the Assem- bly appeared to be very humble and subservient to the will of the Governor. He, in his opening address, recommended the passage of certain meas- ures, which the Assembly passed with but little de- lay ; but all these bills, on presentation to the Gov- ernor, were disapproved by him, excepting one prohibiting the purchase of lands from Indians by any others than the proprietors ; and on the 13th of December he prorogued the house. The next session was held at Burlington, be- ginning on the 7th of September, 1704. The members for the eastern division were JJohm Bowne, Richard Hartshorne, Richard Salter, Obadiah Bowne, Anthony Woodward, Jolm

2 Commission revoked by the Queen, October 20, 1709.

1 Leaming and Spicer, p. 608.

THE DUTCH, ENGLISH AND PROPRIETARY RULE IN NEW JERSEY.

Tunison, John Lawrence, Jasper Crane, Peter cluded by them further than they are warranted by Law ; of which also they will be the judges ; Van Este, Thomas Gordon, John Barclay and John Royce, the first-named four being from ' and this is done by them (as we have all the Monmouth County. One of the measures reason in the world to believe) to encourage not only this Government, but also the rest of your Governments in America, to throw off your Majesties Royal Prerogative." which the Governor pressed upon this Assembly was the raising of a militia foree, on account of recent depredations upon the people about the Navesinks by the crew of a French priva- teer; and another was the raising of a large sum of money for support of the government, viz .: £2000 per year for twenty years. The Assembly, being unwilling to meet his views on these (particularly) and other measures rec- ommended, he promptly dissolved them on the 28th, after a session of three weeks, and issued writs for the election of a new Assem- bly.

From this time the remaining four years of Cornbury's administration in New Jersey was a period of continual discord and of quarrel be- tween him and the Assembly. Two of the leading members of his Council had been sus- pended by him on account of their antagonism to his views and measures. These were Lewis Morris and Samuel Jennings, between whom, especially Morris, and the Governor there arose feelings of the most intense animosity and hatred. His opinion of these two men is very plainly expressed in an address of the Lieu- tenant-Governor and Council of Nova Caesarea, or New Jersey, to the Queen in 1707, a document emanating, in fact, from the Governor, though not signed by him. The " Address," in refer- ring to several causes which had brought about the state of disorder which had ruled in New Jersey for several years, proceeds : "The first is wholly owing to the Turbulent, Factious, Uneasy and Disloyal Principles of two Men in that Assembly, M' Lewis Morris and Samuel Jennings, a Quaker ; Men notoriously known to be uneasie under all Government ; Men never known to be consistent with themselves; Men to whom all the Factions and Confusions in the Governments of New Jersey and Penn- sylvania for many years are wholly owing ; Men that have had the Confidence to deelare in open Couneil That your Majesties Instrue- tions to your Governours in these Provinces shall not oblige or bind them, nor will they be con-

In the same year, Cornbury, in an address to the Assembly, May 12, 1707, said : "I am of opinion that nothing has hindered the Ven- geance of a just heaven from falling upon this province long agoe but the Infinite merey, Goodness, long Suffering and forbearance of all-mighty God, who has been abundantly provoked by the Repeated Crying Sins of a perverse generation among us. And more Especially by the dangerous & abominable Doc- trines and the wicked lives and practices of a Number of people, some of whome, under the pretended name of Christians, have dared to deny the very Essence and being of the . Saviour of the world."

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History of Monmouth county, New Jersey, Part 7

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co. Number of Pages: 1148

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Swan, Norma Lippincott. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia, R. T. Peck & co.
Number of Pages: 1148