The Connecticut courant — Hartford, Conn., 1774-03-29 00:00:00, page 6

and others, nobles and gentlemen, which we parchafcd at a dear rat<
ii lately ratified and confirmed by our gracioua sovereign, under the
broad seal of England, io which grant the lands forementioned are
comprifcd.” The council before whom the plea was made gave their
opinion io favor of the Purchafcrs, declaring that they had an undoubted
right and title to these grounds, lands, &c. by virtue of their purchase,
as well, as of their so long and f© uninterrupted poffSEonf In this
light was the patent to lord Say and Seal coafidered, but three years
after the renewal of his Majefly’s Letters Patent to the celeoy of Con
nefticut, even by gentlemen, who had been particularly conversant with
these matters. .
As to the extent of the grant, under conGderatton, to the wenward
or south fca, it may be farther argued from the declaration and plea re
cited abate : for if the grant to the earl of Warwick ran off, northerly,
at right angles with a Hraie line drawn upon the fca coast, as is so abun
dantly infilled, by the ingenious examiner of the eonncaicnt claim, it
can befaid, but with a very ill grace indeed, that the said grant was
Confirmed by the prefect charter of the colony of Conne£Hcut. A
charter conveying lands about seventy miles in breadth, from Narra
ganfet Bay to the- south sea, will confirm but a very small part of a ter
ritory extending forty leagues in breadth from the fca coast to the north
pole. It (honld also be observed that it would be entirely unaccounta^
ble, that an instrument draughted on purpbfe to confirm the grant of
the earl of Warwick, fbduld run weft to the south sea, uulcfs this was
the direction and length of the original patent. ,
It (hould also be observed, that the earl of Warwick s grant fpeci
fies the lands granted as lying and being in New England which reach
ed on the north only to the forty eigb h degree of north latitude, and
had for its known boundary, on the weft, the south sea. It mall be
fappofed that the Plimouth company would not grant lands wi hsut the
limits of New England, ©f which they had no grant thcmfelvcs or any
power to convey to others. Neither can it be fappofed that the earl
of Warwick had so little uoderftandisg as to takeout a patent for him
felf, the far greater part of which was without the limits defenbed to
the great patent of the company,as was certainly the case if theexunfion
of it were from the fca to the north, or north weft.
Besides, the south fca never was fappofed to be the boundary of
America oa the north, but the lands about the pole.. . .
Another cireumftaucc which strongly operates agatmx the notion of
extending the length of the patent from the sea to the north, is the
griot of hit Majesty’s patent to the province of Maffschufctts Bay,
which was made out by the company but two years, and received its
final ratification, under the great seal, but one year before that to the
carl of Warwick. It is hardly to be conceived, that the council would
within a year or two after make out another patent which (hould cut
that in two, nearly at right angles, which they had so recently con<
veyed to others, or that his majefly would treat his faithful fabjefls m
so ungracious a manner, as to grant them lands ojc year, and without
any provocation, to convey them away, under the great seal, to others
the next. This is to make grants from the crown to be the molt trif
ling and precarious things in the world. I (hall only further remark
on this point, that the supposition of a north extension of the patent to
lord Say and Seal, &c. cannot be maintained without facrificiog almost
every term in the grant descriptive of the lands therein conveyed.
The grant faith, “ all that part of New-England in America, which
lies and extends itfelf from a river there, called Narraganfet river
But if we mult turn off at right angles from the sea. as the examiner
wo dd have it, there would not be so much as one foot of land ymg
and extending from said river ; it would be only touched at a certain
paint. The words, north and jouth in latitude and breadth, mult mean
east and weft, or nothing at all, as the examiner would have it ; and
the terms, in length and longitude, nearly north and Luth. By ‘he
words throughout the main lands, from the wettern ocean to the loath
fcas, most be underftbod only seventy miles north to the Both line of
the Maflachufctts, or to the lands about the pole. Thus the most de
terminate and well known words and phrases mull be abused and tor
tured, and nude to fay nothing, or every thing but what they ought to
fay, to maintain the mere notion of a fruitful imagination. Or (hall
we solve all ttsefe difficulties by the supposition that the clerk was ig
norant and miftak«[| ; and that the noblemen concerned m the boll
nefs were so dull ofappreheufioa as never to advert to thek egregious
bluodcrs ? This is indeed a most drained and illiberal coallrafiioa.
At this rate of conftruiog grants we could never know what dependence
$ See the pleadings ani the opinion of the council > 166^,
y Ton it wist the examiner mould injinutte.
to have on there, nor how-to cbderftaod them ! In a word, can there
be a more idle whim, than the notion, of the exteefioo of the grant .of
the ear! of Warwick, north or northwest to the south (ea ! It may io
deed refl ft honor upon the imagination of the gentleman who firft coo»
ccivsd it, and on that ®f his, who hath with so much eagerness fallow
ed the feent ; but whether it will do equal honor to their judgment is a
qaeftion which (hill be fabmitted to the determination cf the publics. ,
Having attempted a location of the old patent of Conccdlicut, it
will be proper to observe that under this, the Conce&icut planters be
gan their fcttlementt. The Eog'tfh difeovered Connc&icot river whea
the Dutch had neither trading house nor any pretenee to a foot of hod
there. (Records of the united colonies) 101632 they determined
to build a house for' the convenience of trade with the native: | ; and
making a coofidcrable porchafe of lands, of Zequ^on and Natamanutt,
two principal sachems, the next year they ereded a house, fortified it,
and ever after maintained their ground on the river. In 1034 the Pe
qnots who had conquered all the Indian kings on the river, as far op
as about Softicld, gave up their right to the English in a formal treaty*.
The next fammer,a fettlcment was begun at Wethersfic’d and in Oc
tober about (ixry men women and children, with cows and other (lock,
moved to the river. [Oflober 15 1635 ] In the beginning of No
vember Mr. John Winthrop junior arrived at the river s mouth and be
gan the fort at Say Brook; The next ycav Mr. Hooker and his compa
ny moved to Hartford.
Tira Pcquot Indians, who had spread their conquers not only far
np Coonedicut river, but also to the westward almost to the Dutch
fcttlsmeotj, having nearly extinguiffied the Indians at ^uiiipiack^ (incc
New Haven, commenced hoftihties on ihc English. . Captain John
Mason advancing against them took one of their principal fartreff.3
and put about seven hundred to tbefworc'||, which led the way, the fame
year, to a campleat cocqucft. Governor Eaton and others app yiog'
to C ’onedlicut, obtained their confect, for fettling at New-Haven,
under the Gme patent, with difticdl powers of government Roth'
colonies by voluntary compact formed themfclvcs into a common wealth.
The Connefiicut planters, affiliates of the Lord Say and Seal hav
ing obtained a cerqJcft of most of the colony, and ado made a pur
chase of it, of the Indians, the original proprietors, in 1644.' purchafcd
that part of it, of which Mr. Fenwick, in the right of their lord(hips~
bad taken possession ; and so the patent became wholly the property oi
the colony. s
Mr. Hopkins, afterwards governor of Conne&icut, arriving in 1637,’
brought over a copy of the old Gonnedlicut patent, of which he and
Mr. Welles, commiffidners from Conncfticut, deciare, before the com
miffiooers of the united colonies, in a coutro»erfy between Conncihcnt
and the Maflachufetts, relative to the kulemcht of boundaries, “ That
the hanourblc committee of parliament, had given equal refpc£l to it as
to the patent of the Maffachmfatts ; which their honored friends of that
colony well knew.The dispute at this time between the two colo
nics was with regard to Waranocke, (Weftfield) both colonies claiming
it as lying within their patent. This (heweth that Conheflicut at that
day, eftcemed thcmfelves as having the entire property of the patenf,
and that it was looked upon as .ul entic, so far as it refpefled the pro
perty of the foil, as any gran what soever, not oo ! y by thcmfelves, but
by the government at home. r
Having fettled a number of towns in various parts Oi the colony,
and purchased the native right to the greatest part, if not to the whole
of the land lying to the eastward of the Dutch fettlemcnts, they pre
feoted a petition to his majefly k. Charles 11. [1661] representing the
purchafc they had made of the natires, the conqieft of the Pcquoti, ihcir
great expencc io building, fortifying and fettling in a wndernefs so
remote from the chriftian world ; and especially that they had ‘ laid
out a very great fam far the pmchafwg a jurifdi&ion right of Mr.
+ So much I (hould not have Jaid on the location of the grant to Lord
Say and Seal, had not the examiner of the Connefhcut claim made such a
serious matter, of the northmef direfi^n oj it, and /pent (0 many pager
in attempting to prove it See from p 29/03 t. 1 This,' fatto he,' is t a
true conflruflion of the grant; and much more hath been fatd on this heaa
than vsill be necejftry to such readers as have the leaf tinflure efmathe^
matical or geographical knowledge' p. . t hutch tn fan sH
* Hubbard’s narrative of Indian troubles ; &Giv Winthrop >RInJ Diary,
• § Records oj the colony of New Haven. May 26th, 1637.
t* This agpearetb from the records of New Haven compared with thr
^ordt of the united colonies \July23 1649 ,record> cf the united colonic
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