[J. Thomas Scharf (1886)] that political "rings" are a modern device, may properly revise his opinion. The schemes of the land-grabbing adventurers of the colonial period, if they could be fully known, would rival in villany, if not in the extent of their plunder, the most successful jobs of the present day. There were then no magnifi-cent public buildings to erect, and not much money in the treasury to steal; the public lands were about all there was in sight, and the virtuous representa-tives of the "prerogative royal " raided them with-out compunction. When Heathcote made the Indian purchase, as already stated, it was probably his expectation to make the tract a part of his individual possessions, all to be erected into a manor like those of Van Cort-landt and Philipse. When he first discovered the difficulties surrounding this enterprise it is not possi-ble to say. He had agreed to take out a patent with-in six months after the Indian purchase, but had ap-parently discovered hostility to him among the Hon-orable Councilors, and had, at least for the time, abandoned his plan and waited for developments. Thus matters stood until the month of February, 1702, a period of five years. It is not too much to infer, in the light of subsequent events, that the Honorable Councilors had caused Heathcote to be informed that there was a method by which his patent could be made to pass the Council.