Had the soil and jurisdiction within the Prov ce of New York been vested in proprietaries as in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Massachusets Bay, or other Charter Govern' 3 it would have been a different question but when both, the soil and jurisdiction are in the Crown, it is I conceive, entirely in the breast of the Crown, to limit that jurisdiction and to dispose of the property in and after what had passed, and the restrictions the soil in such manner as shall be thought most fit

titles of the present

,

:

:

which had been given respecting the claims, as well on Lake Champlain, as in the district to the westward of the Connecticut River, by which the King had reserved to himself the consideration of those claims, I must still have the misfortune to think that no steps ought to have been taken to the At the same time confident of your integrity prejudice of the claimants under the original Titles. and impressed with the most favorable sentiments of your conduct, so far as rests upon the Intention, I will not fail to do the fullest justice to the

explanation of it, contained in your letters upon this

subject, and there is no one of your friends, that will be more forward than myself to bear testimony

of the sense of your zeal for the King's service, or more ready to concur in any proposition, that may

induce the conferring on you such marks of the King's Favour, as shall be judged adequate to your great merit