second session, the house voted an address to the lieutenantgovernor, which is worthy of particular notice. In bold and explicit language, they state some of the vital principles of free government, refer to recent misapplications of money, and proceed:

63. "We therefore beg leave to be plain with your honor, and hope you will not take it amiss when we tell you, that you are not to expect that we will either raise sums unfit to be raised, or put what we shall raise, into the power of a governor to misapply, if we can prevent it; nor shall we make up any other deficiencies than what we conceive are fit and just to be paid; nor continue what support or revenue we shall raise, for any longer time than one year; nor do we think it convenient to do even that, until such laws are passed as we conceive necessary for the safety of the inhabitants of this colony, who have reposed a trust in us for that only purpose, and which we are sure you will think it reasonable we should act agreeably to; and by the grace of God we shall endeavor not to deceive them."

64. With a body of men, so resolute in asserting their rights, the lieutenant-governor wisely forebore to contend. He thanked them for their address, and promised his cordial co-operation in all measures calculated to promote the prosperity of the colony. He gave his assent to a law providing for the more frequent election of representatives; which law, however, two years afterwards, was abrogated by the king.

65. But between a house of representatives and a chief magistrate, deriving their authority from different sources, harmony could not long subsist. Mr. Clark, in his speech at the opening of the next session, declared that unless the revenue was granted for as long a time as it had been granted by former assemblies, his duty to his majesty forbade him from assenting to any act for continuing the excise, or for paying the colonial bills of credit. The house unanimously resolved, that it would not pass any bill for the grant of money, unless assurance should be given that the excise should be continued and the bills of credit redeemed.

66. The lieutenant-governor immediately ordered the members to attend him. He told them that "their proceedings were presumptuous, daring, and unprecedented; that he could not look upon them without astonishment, nor with honor suffer the house to sit any longer;" and he accordingly dissolved it. Little more

than a year had elapsed, since the members were chosen; but in that time they had, by their firm and spirited conduct, in support of the rights of the people, merited the gratitude of their constituents.

67. About this time, a supposed "negro plot" occasioned

great commotion and alarm in the city of New-York. The frequent occurrence of fires, most of which were evidently caused by design, first excited the jealousy and suspicion of the citizens. Terrified by danger which lurked unseen in the midst of them, they listened with eager credulity to the declaration of some abandoned females, that the negroes had combined to burn the city and make one of their number governor. Many were arrested and committed to prison. Other witnesses, not more respectable than the first, came forward; other negroes were accused, and even several white men were designated as concerned in the plot.

68. When the time of trial arrived, so strong was the prejudice against the miserable negroes, that every lawyer in the city volunteered against them.. Ignorant and unassisted, nearly all who were tried were condemned. Fourteen were sentenced to be burned, eighteen to be hung, seventy-one to be transported, and all these sentences were executed. Of the whites two were convicted and suffered death.

69. All apprehension of danger having subsided, many began to doubt whether any plot had in fact been concerted. None of the witnesses were persons of credit, their stories were extravagant and often contradictory; and the project was such as none but fools or madmen would form. The two white men were respectable; one had received a liberal education, but he was a catholic, and the prejudice against catholics was too violent to permit the free exercise of reason. Some of the accused were doubtless guilty of setting fire to the city; but the proof of the alleged plot was not sufficiently clear to justify the numerous and cruel punishments that were inflicted.

70. In April, 1740, the assembly again met. It had now risen to importance in the colony. The adherence of the representatives to their determination, not to grant the revenue for more than one year, made annual meetings of the assembly necessary. This attachment to liberty was mistaken for the desire of independence. Lieutenant-governor Clark, in a speech delivered in 1741, alludes to "a jealousy which for some years had obtained in England, that the plantations were not without thoughts of throwing off their dependence on the crown."

71. In 1743, George Clinton was sent over as Governor of the colony. Like most of his predecessors he was welcomed with joy; and one of his earliest measures confirmed the favorable accounts, which had preceded him, of his talents and liberality. To show his willingness to repose confidence in the people, he assented to a bill limiting the duration of the present and all succeeding assemblies. The house manifested its gratitude by

adopting the measures he recommended for the defence of the province against the French, who were then at war with England.

72. In 1745, the savages in alliance with France made frequent invasions of the English territories. The inhabitants were compelled to desert Hosick; Saratoga was destroyed; the western settlements in New-England were often attacked and plundered. Encouraged by success, the enemy became more daring, and small parties ventured within the suburbs of Albany, and there lay in wait for prisoners. It is even said that one Indian, called Tomonwilemon. often entered the city and succeeded in taking captives.

73. Distressed by these incursions, the assembly, in 1746, determined to unite with the other colonies and the mother country in an expedition against Canada. They appropriated money to purchase provisions for the army, and offered liberal bounties to recruits. But the fleet from England did not arrive at the appointed time: the other colonies were dilatory in their preparations, and before they were completed, the season for military operations had passed away.

74. Early in the next year, a treaty was concluded, and the inhabitants were, for a short period, relieved from the burdens and distresses of war. During the interval of peace, no event of importance happened in the colony. Upon the recurrence, a few years afterwards, of hostilities, its territory was the theatre of sanguinary conflicts. But of that war, in which all the colonies acted in concert, a connected history will be hereafter given.

CHAPTER VII.

NEW-JERSEY.

THE first settlement within the limits of New-Jersey was made by the Danes, about the year 1624, at a place called Bergen, from a city of that name in Norway. Soon afterwards, several Dutch families seated themselves in the vicinity of NewYork. In 1626, a company was formed in Sweden, under the patronage of king Gustavus Adolphus, for the purpose of planting a colony in America. The next year, a number of Swedes and

Finns came over, purchased of the natives the land on both sides of the river Delaware, but made their first settlement on its western bank, near Christina creek.

2. About the year 1640, the English began a plantation at Elsingburgh, on its eastern bank. The Swedes, in concert with the Dutch who then possessed New-York, drove them out of the country. The former built a fort on the spot whence the English had been driven; and, gaining thus the command of the river, claimed and exercised authority over all vessels that entered it, even those of the Dutch, their late associates.

3. They continued in possession of the country, on both sides of the Delaware, until 1655, when Peter Stuyvesant, governor of the New-Netherlands, having obtained assistance from Holland, conquered all their posts and transported most of the Swedes to Europe. The Dutch were now in possession of the territory comprising, at this time, the states of New-Jersey, New-York, and Delaware.

4. Soon, however, this territory changed masters. King Charles the second, having granted it to the duke of York, sent an armament, in 1664, to wrest it from the Dutch. After reducing New-York, the squadron proceeded to the settlements on the Delaware, which immediately submitted. In the same year, the duke conveyed that portion of his grant, lying between Hudson and Delaware rivers, to lord Berkeley and sir George Carteret. This tract was called New-Jersey, in compliment to sir George, who had been governor of the island of Jersey, and had held it for king Charles in his contest with the parliament.

5. The two proprietors formed a constitution for the colony, securing equal privileges and liberty of conscience to all, and appointed Philip Carteret governor. He came over in 1665, fixed the seat of government at Elizabethtown, purchased land of the Indians, and sent agents into New-England to invite settlers from that quarter. The terms offered were so favorable that many accepted the invitation.

6. A few years afterwards, the repose of the colony began to be disturbed by domestic disputes. Some of the inhabitants, having purchased their lands of the Indians previous to the conveyance from the duke, refused to pay rent to the proprietors. Others were discontented from different causes. In 1672, an insurrection took place, the people assumed the government, and chose James Carteret, the son of Philip, their governor. The father returned to England, and obtained from the proprietors such favorable concessions and promises as quieted the people, and induced them again to submit to his authority.

7. Lord Berkeley disposed of his property, rights, and privi

leges in the territory, to Edward Billinge; and he, being involved in debt, consented that they should be sold for the benefit of his creditors. WILLIAM PENN, Gawen Lowrie, and Nicholas Lucas, were appointed trustees for that purpose. In 1676, the trustees and sir George Carteret made partition of the territory, they taking the western and he the eastern portion.

8. West Jersey was then divided into one hundred shares, which were separately sold. Some of the purchasers emigrated to the country, and all made great exertions to promote its population. Possessing the powers of government, as well as the right of soil, they formed a constitution, in which, for the encouragement of emigrants, they secured to them ample privileges.

9. But previous to the transfer from Berkeley to Billinge, the Dutch, being at war with England, reconquered the country, and retained it, until 1674, when it was restored by treaty. A new patent was then granted to the duke, including the same territory as the former. In 1678, sir Edmund Andross, who had been appointed his sole governor in America, claimed jurisdiction over the Jerseys, insisting that the conquest by the Dutch divested the proprietors of all their rights.

10. He forcibly seized, transported to New-York, and there imprisoned those magistrates who refused to acknowledge his authority. He imposed a duty upon all goods imported, and upon the property of all who came to settle in the country. Of this injustice the inhabitants loudly complained to the duke; and at length their repeated remonstrances constrained him to refer the matter to commissioners.

11. Before them the proprietors appeared. In strong language they asserted, and by strong arguments supported, their claim to the privileges of freemen. They represented, that the king had granted to the duke the right of government as well as the right of soil; that the duke had transferred the same rights to Berkeley and Carteret, and they to the present proprietors.

12. "That only," they added, "could have induced us to purchase lands and emigrate. And the reason is plain: to all prudent men, the government of any place is more inviting than the soil; for what is good land without good laws? What but an assurance that we should enjoy civil and religious privileges, could have tempted us to leave a cultivated country and resort to a gloomy wilderness? What have we gained, if, after adventuring in this wilderness many thousands of pounds, we are yet to be taxed at the mere will and pleasure of another? What is it but to say, that people, free by law under their prince at home, are at his mercy in his plantations abroad?

13. "We humbly say, that we have lost none of our liberty by