Province, in particular, can be fully fupported, I perfuade myfelf, will inconteftably appear from the following Summary, concerning which I shall fay a few Words. to bounty

Having been formerly concerned, according to an Appointment by Act of Affembly, in a Review and Digest of our provincial Laws, it was the Duty of myself, and my Partner in that Service, to peruse the Minutes of the Council, and the Journals of the general Affembly, from the glorious Revolution, at the Acceff an of King William, to the Year 1751 and as an Acquaintance with our publick Transactions, was a Branch of Inftruction, of which a Student for the Profeffion of the Law ought not to be ignorant, I have fince reexamined thofe Entries, begining with the first Minutes of Council, and read over many of the Records in the Secretary's Office. From these authentick Materials, the following Pages were, in a great Measure, compiled. For many of thofe Parts, which concern our Affairs with the French and the Indians, antecedent to the Peace of Ryfwick in 1697, I am bound to make liberal Acknowledgements to Dr. Colden, the Auxhour of the Hiftory of the Five Nations.

Mr. Alexander, à Gentleman eminent in the Law, and equally diftinguished for bis Humanity, Generofity, great Abilities, and honourable Stations, fupplied me with fome useful Papers; and has left behind him a Collection, that will be very ferviceable to any Gentleman, who may hereafter incline to continue this Narrative, through the Adminiftrations of Mr. Cofby, and Lieutenant Go vernour Clarke. The Draught of this Work was unfinished, at the Time of Mr. Alexander's Decease *; and therefore, as it never passed under his Examination, many important Additions

* He died on the 2d of April, 1756.

are

loft,

loft, which his long and intimate Acquaintance with the Affairs of this Province would have enabled him to fupply.

When I began to frame this Digeft, it was only intended for private Ufe; and the Motives which now induce me to publish it, are the Gratification of the prefent Thirst in Great-Britain after American Intelligences: contributing, as far as this Province is concerned, to an accurate Hiftory of the British Empire* in this Quarter of the World; and the Prospect of doing fome small Service to my Country, by laying before the Publick a fummary Account of its firft Rife and prefent State.

Influenced by thefe Views, I am not fo regardless of the Judgement of others, as not to wish it may be, in fome Meafure, acceptable. To please all Sorts of Readers I know is impoffible: he who writes with fuch Hopes, is a Stranger to human Nature, and will be infallibly disappointed. My Defign is rather to inform than pleafe. He who delights only in Pages fhining with illuftrious Characters, the Contentions of Armies, the Rife and Fall of Empires, and other grand Events, must have Recourse to the great Authours of Antiquity. A Detail of the little Tranfactions, which concern a Colony, fcant in its Jurisdiction, and still struggling with the Difficulties naturally attending its infant State, to Gentlemen of this Tafte can furnish no Entertainment. The enfuing Narrative (for it deferves not the Name of a Hiftory, though for Brevity's Sake I have given it that Title) prefents us only a regular Thread of fimple Facts; and even those unembellished with Reflections, because they themselves fuggeft the proper Remarks, and moft

* As the Provinces are different in their Constitutions, and with Refpect to Government, independent of each other; no general History of America can be ex

5

pected, till Gentlemen of Leifure, will draw up particular Accounts, of the refpective Colonies, with which they are acquainted.

Readers

Readers will doubtless be beft pleased with their own. The facred Laws of Truth have been infringed neither by pofitive Afsertions, oblique, infidious, Hints, wilful Suppressions, or corrupt Mifrefentation. To avoid any Cenfures of this Kind, no Reins have been. given to a wanton Imagination, for the Invention of plaufible Tales, fupported only by light Probabilities; but choofing rather to be honest and dull, than agreeable and falfe, the true Import of Vouchers hath been ftrictly adhered to and regarded.

my

With Refpect to its Style, the Criticks, in that Branch of Literature, are at full Liberty to condemn at their Pleasure. The main Ufe of Language is to express our Ideas. To write in the gay, pleafing, Pomp of Diction is above my Capacity. If any are difpofed to blame me for being too verbofe, let it be remembered that this is the indefeafible Right of my Profeffion, founded upon immemorial Prefcription. Perfpicuity is all I have endeavoured to maintain, nor am I at Leifure to study any higher Attainment's in Language. The Errours of the Prefs will doubtless be many, but for these I shall hardly be thought accountable, as my remote Distance deprives me of all Opportunities of examining the Proofs.

THE

From the Discovery of the Colony to the Surrender in 1664.

YHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, a Genoese, employed by Ferdinand and Isabel, King and Queen of Caftile, was the first Discoverer of America. He failed from St. Lucar in August 1492, and made Sight of one of the Bahama Iflands, on the eleventh of October following. Newfoundland, and the main Continent, were discovered five Years after, by Sebaftian Gabato, a Venetian, in the Service of Henry VII. of England, from the 38th to the 68th Degree of north Latitude.

On the tenth of April 1606, King James I. for planting two Colonies, paffed the great North and South Virginia Patent. To Sir Thomas Gates and others, Leave was given to begin a Plantation, at any Place on the Contitent, they should think convenient, between the 34th and 41 Degrees of Latitude: and all the Lands extending 50 Miles, on each Side, along the Coast, 100 Miles into the Country, and all the Islands within 100 Miles, opposite to their Plantations, were granted in Fee, to be called the First Colony. By the fame Patent, a like Quantity was granted to Thomas Henham, Efq; and others, for a Plantation between 38 and 45 Degrees of La

* Some Authors alledge, that Columbus firft offered his Services to the Republic of Genoa; then to John II. of Portugal, and afterwards to our King Henry VII; but this difagrees with Lord Bacon's Account, who informs us, that

Chriftopher Columbus failed, before his Brother
Bartholomew had laid the Project before the
King, which was owing to his falling into the
Hands of Pirates on his Way to England.

B

titude,

titude, under the Name of the Second Colony. The first began a Settlement in the great Bay (Cheasapeak) in 1607. The latter was planted at Plymouth in New-England, 1620.

Henry Hudson, an Englishman, according to our Authors, in the Year 1608*, under a Commiflion from the King his Mafter, discovered Long Ifland, New-York, and the River which ftill bears his Name; and afterwards fold the Country, or rather his Right, to the Dutch. Their Writers contend, that Hudson was fent out by the East-India Company in 1609, to discover a North-weft Paffage to China; and that having first discovered Delaware Bay, he came hither, and penetrated up Hudfon's River, as far North as the Latitude of 43°. It is faid, however, that there was a Sale, and that the English objected to it, though they for fome Time neglected to oppose the Dutch Settlement of the Country.

In 1610, Hudfon failed again from Holland to this Country, called by the Dutch, New-Netherlands; and four Years after, the States General granted a Patent to fundry Merchants, for an exclusive Trade on the North River, who in 1614 built a Fort, on the Weft Side, near Albany, which was first commanded by Henry Chriftiaens. Captain Argal was fent out by Sir Thomas Dale, Governour of Virginia, in the fame Year, to difpoffefs the French of the two Towns of Port-Royal and St. Croix, lying on each Side of the Bay of Fundy in Acadia, then claimed as Part of Virginia. In his Return, he visited the Dutch on Hudson's River, who being unable to refift him, prudently fubmited for the present to the King of England, and under him to the Governour of Virginia. The very next Year, they erected a Fort on the South-west Point of the Island Manhattans, and two others in 1623: one called Good-Hope, on Connecticut River, and the other Naffau, on the East Side of Delaware Bay. The Author of the Account of New-Netherland ‡ aflerts, that the Dutch purchased the Lands on both Sides of that

* Charlevoix, a French Jefuit, Author of the General Hiftory of New France, thinks this Difcovery was in 1609, Vol. I. 129 Edition, p. 221. But Stith, Douglafs, Oldmixon, and other English Writers agree, that Hudson's firft Voyage was in the preceding Year.

+ Charlevoix places this Tranfaction in 1613. Vol. I. Hift. of N. France in 12°, p. 210. But Stith, whom I follow, being a Clergyman in Virginia, had greater Advantages of knowing the Truth than the French Jefuit.

The Pamphlet is entitled, "Befchryvinghe

"van Virginia, Neiuw Nederland," &c. and was printed at Amfterdam in 1651. It contains two Defcriptions of the Dutch Poffeffions. The first is a Copy of that published by John De Laet at Leyden. The fecond gives a View of this Country feveral Years after, in 1649. A fhort Reprefentation of the Country of the Mahakuafe Indians, written in 1644, by John Megapolenfis, jun. a Dutch Minister refiding here, is annexed to that Part of the Pamphlet concerning New-Netherland.