BOOK II. this unhappy insurrection of the Indians, yet the southern sustained by far the greatest burthens and losses. Their frontiers were more immediately exposed to the murders and depredations of the enemy; large and fruitful tracts of country were abandoned, and the inhabitants driven in upon its more safe and populous parts.

Distressing as the war was to these colonies, it was nevertheless attended with some favorable circumstances. The precipitancy of several of the warriors in the beginning of the war, before the enemy were generally prepared, in some measure defeated the more methodical and general mischief which had been designed, by giving the country too early an alarm. This gave an opportunity to a greater proportion of the frontier inhabitants to make their escape, and to save more of their valuable effects. The country had more time, also, to rally and to prepare for the more general and forcible attack. Other favorable circumstances were, that the Cherokees, during the whole time, kept the peace and though the Senecas engaged in the war, yet, by the influence of sir William Johnson, the most of the other Indians were restrained from hostilities.

1754.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Susquehannah purchase. Resolve of the assembly in faq vour of the company. The settlement of the land commences. Colonel Dyer is sent to the court of Great-Britain, as agent for the company. The colony assert their claim to the lands comprised in the purchase.

A

RESPECTABLE number of gentlemen in this colony, in the year 1754, commonly known by the name of the Susquehannah company, finding a large tract of land, lying west of the province of New-York, on the river Susquehannah, owned by the six nations, for which they represented that they had no use, and wished to sell, at a full counsel of said six nations of Indians, in Albany, at the congress there, made a purchase of a large tract of country, lying on the waters of said river, about seventy miles north and south, and, from about ten miles east of it, extending westward two degrees of longitude. This tract of country had been conveyed away by king James I, in the

most ample manner possible, by letters patent, under the Book II, great seal of England, bearing date November 3d, 1620, to the duke of Lenox, the marquis of Buckingham, the earls 1754, of Arundel and Warwick, with divers other persons, by the name of the council established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and governing of New-England, in America. This patent made a conveyance to them, and their successors and assigns, "of all that part of America, lying and being in breadth from forty degrees of north latitude, from the equinoctial line, to the forty-eighth degree of said northerly latitude, inclusively, and in length, of and within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the main land, from sea to sea." This patent includes the whole of New-York, and the principal part, if not the whole of Pennsylvania.

In 1631, March 19th, Robert, earl of Warwick, president The patent of the council of Plymouth, under his hand and seal, did of Connecticut, grant and confirm unto the right honourable viscount Say 1631. and Seal, lord Brook, &c. to the number of eleven, "All that part of New-England, in America, which lies and extends itself from a river, there called Narraganset river, the space of forty leagues, upon a straight line, near the sea shore, towards the south-west, west and by south, as the coast lieth, towards Virginia, accounting three English miles to a league, and all and singular the lands and hereditaments whatsoever, lying and being the lands aforesaid, north and south in latitude and breadth, and in length and longitude of and within all the breadth aforesaid, throughout all the main lands there, from the western ocean to the south seas; and all lands and grounds, soil, wood and woods, ground, havens, ports, creeks and rivers, waters, fishings, and hereditaments whatsoever, lying within the said space, and every part and parcel thereof; and also, all islands lying in America aforesaid, in the said seas, or either of them, on the western or eastern coasts, or parts of the said tracts of land, by these presents to be given or granted."

This territory had been granted to the earl of Warwick the preceding year, and it was confirmed to him, by his 1630. majesty, under the great seal of England, the same year.

This territory was again confirmed to the governor and company of the colony of Connecticut, by royal charter, under the broad seal of England, in 1662. After these complete and repeated conveyances of this territory, and confirmations of them, by several kings of England, it was

See these patents in the Appendix of the first volume of this history, Nos. 1 and 2.

this terri

Book II. judged, by the purchasers of the lands on the Susquehannah, that they were undoubtedly covered, and conveyed to 1755. the colony of Connecticut, and that the right of preempAll other tion was vested in the colony. By these conveyances and grants of confirmations of them, the kings of England divested themselves of all right or title to said lands, and invested the tory, prior to Penn's. patentees with all the title which the royal grants could possibly convey. The original grant to the Plymouth company, was about eighty years before the grant to William Penn; the grant to the earl of Warwick, and from him to lord Say and Seal, lord Brook, &c. fifty years; and the confirmation of it by royal charter to Connecticut, nineteen years prior to the conveyance to Mr. Penn.

Petition to

1755.

The purchasers, therefore, considering the lands as unthe assem-doubtedly belonging to Connecticut, at the session in May, bly, May, 1755, preferred a petition to the honourable General Assembly, praying for the consent of the assembly, that they might be formed into a distinct commonwealth, if it should be his majesty's pleasure to grant it, with such privileges and immunities as should be agreeable to his royal wisdom and pleasure.

Resolve of

bly, on the

The assembly granted their petition, and recommended them to the royal favour, in the following manner:

"Upon the petition of Phinehas Lyman, Roger Wolcott, the assem- jun'r. Samuel Gray, and Abraham Davenport, Esq'rs. and petition. others, their associates, to the number of about eight hundred and fifty, known by the name of the Susquehannah company, by their agents, George Wyllys, Daniel Edwards, Samuel Talcott, Thomas Seymour, and Eliphalet Dyer, representing that the colony, according to the express limits of its royal charter, is in extent from the Narraganset bay on the east, to the south sea on the west, and from the sea shore on the south, to the line of the Massachusetts province on the north: That within, and towards the western part of its limits, are, and, time immemorial, have been, large numbers of Indian nations, commonly called the six nations, dwelling, improving, and claiming a large extent thereof: That a certain large parcel of such their claim, situate and lying on the waters of the Susquehannah, about seventy miles north and south, and from about ten miles east of said river, extending westward two degrees of longitude, they, the said Indian nations,, not finding necessary for their own use, have, for very valuable considerations, been induced to relinquish, and to sell to the petitioners; and that some well ordered plantation, in so near a neighbourhood to the said nations, might, most likely, be a means to cement and fix them in friendship

with his majesty's subjects; and that they, the said In- Book II. dians, are desirous such settlement might be promoted and carried on, as being conducive to their interest and safety; 1755. and thereupon praying the consent of this assembly, that his majesty, if it shall be his royal pleasure, grant said lands to the petitioners, and their associates, thereon to erect and settle a colony, for the more effectual securing said Indians in his majesty's interest, and the defence of his majesty's dominions in North-America, with liberty of further purchases of said Indians, to said purpose, as occasion may be:

"Resolved by this assembly, that they are of opinion, that the peaceably and orderly erecting and carrying on some new well regulated colony, or plantation, on the lands above mentioned, would greatly tend to fix and secure said Indian nations in allegiance to his majesty, and friendship with his subjects; and, accordingly, hereby manifest their ready acquiescence therein, if it should be his majesty's royal pleasure to grant said lands to said petitioners, and thereon erect and settle a new colony, in such form and under such regulations, as might be consistent with his royal wisdom; and, also, beg leave humbly to recommend the petitioners to his royal favour in the premises."

When the Susquehannah company made the purchase of the lands at Wyoming, on the Susquehannah, they were uninhabited, either by English or Indian settlers, and the Indian war, for several years, prevented their settlement. A letter from the earl of Egremont, one of his majesty's principal secretaries of state, founded on representations made by the governor of Pennsylvania, and transmitted by general Amherst, commander in chief of his majesty's forces in North-America, suggesting that the settlement was disagreeable to the Indians, and might occasion an Indian war, Settleand the devastation of the frontiers, prevented its settle- ment at ment in 1762. But the next year, people went from Connecticut, and commenced a settlement.

The same year, the company employed Eliphalet Dyer, Esq. to repair to the court of Great-Britain, and transact the affairs of the company at the British court. He presented a petition to his majesty, in behalf of the company, shewing their right to the lands which they had purchased, "praying his majesty to order and allow them to become colonists on the same, and grant them such privileges, powers, and authorities, as, in his great wisdom and goodness, he should think fit." This petition was pending before his majesty, when the troubles between Great-Britain and

Wyoming

commen

ced, 1763.

BOOK II. the colonies began, and the revolutionary war commenced, and the controversy between Connecticut and Pennsylva1770. nia, relative to the title, was never determined by the

crown.

As Pennsylvania claimed the same lands, and made a powerful opposition to the Connecticut settlers and claim, the colony wished to act cautiously in the affair. There1770. fore, in the session in May, 1770, the assembly determined Case refer to transmit a state of the case to counsel learned in the red to law-law, in England. The gentlemen to whom the case was England. referred, were, Messrs. Thurlow, Wedderburn, Jackson, and Dunning, gentlemen as learned and famous in the law department as any, at that day, in England. With the statement of the case, they proposed the three following questions.

yers in

Questions and an

Question I. "Do the words, actually possessed and occupied, extend to lands on the west side of the Dutch setswers rela- tlements, which were, at the time of the grant of James the tive to the first, in a perfect wild state, but divided from the Engcontrover- lish settlements by the actual possession of the Dutch?

land in

sy.

And did the grant to the council of Plymouth mean to except in favor of foreigners, not only what they had actually planted, but all to the westward of such plantations ?"

Answer. "We are of opinion that the words actually possessed and enjoyed, do not extend to lands on the west side of the Dutch settlements, which were, at the time of the grant of James the first, in a wilderness state, though divided from the English settlements by the actual possession of the Dutch, and that the grant to the council of Plymouth did not mean to except in favor of any one, any thing to the westward of such plantations."

Quest. II. "Have not the said governor and company of the colony of Connecticut, the right of preemption and the title under the crown to the lands aforesaid, within the limits and bounds of their patent aforesaid, lying westward of the province of New-York, and not included in the charter of king Charles the second to the duke of York, notwithstanding the several settlements of boundaries between the colony on the east, and the province on the west, made as well by agreement between the parties, as under the royal authority, and notwithstanding the subsequent charter to Sir William Penn ?"

Answer. "The agreement between the colony of Connecticut and the province of New-York, can extend no further than to settle the boundaries between the respective parties, and has no effect upon other claims, that either of them had in other parts; and as the charter of Connecticut