here for Six Months after the demise of the Crown do not extend in any, or at least a very small degree to the British Colonys 3d Because the Act of the first of Queen Anne for the support of the Dignity of the Crown, and for other purposes (which Act is declared to extend to America) has already sufficiently provided for the Case, to which the third Section of this Act extends, and as the Clause is worded, it may operate or at least may be construed to operate, to take away from your Majesty and your your Royal Successors, the just, legal and Constitutional Power of Removing during the said Six Months the Judges or other Officers of the Courts of Justice in this Colony, or suspending any Commission of Assize, Oyer and Terminer, general Goal delivery or of Assosiation, Writ of admittance, Writ of Si non omnes, Writ of Assistance or Commission of the Peace, which is expressly contrary to the Tenor of the said Act of Parliament of the first of Queen Ann. The Second of these Acts is Intituled An Act for the Relief of Francis Goelet. As this Act is in the nature of a Bankruptcy Act, with respect to the Single Case of one particular person, it appears to Us to be of an Unusual and extraordinary nature, and therefore the same Objection Occurs upon it which We made upon the other Act, in respect to the Governor's Conduct, in passing it without a Clause suspending its execution untill your Majesty's pleasure should have been known: But as it is also an Act materially affecting private property, the want of a suspending Clause is not an Objection merely affecting the Conduct of your Majesty's Governor; for We humbly apprehend, that this Clause was directed to be inserted in all Acts of this Nature, with a View to secure to the Subject a right of appeal to the Crown, in what ever might affect his private property, and that it is therefore a necessary qualifica tion, essential to the Legal & Constitutional Validity of the Act itself. Independent however of this Objection, there are others which have occurred to Us, in respect to the particular Provisions of the Act, which it is Our duty humbly to submit to your Majesty. The Object of this Act is to discharge the Debts of Francis Goelet (the Person named in the Title) by vesting his Estate and Effects in the hands of Trustees, to be named by the Consent of his Creditors and therefore both reason & Justice require, that such of His Creditors as may reside here in England, or in any other of the Colonys, or elsewhere, should have due notice of this Act * * * The necessity & propriety of this is indeed admitted in the second Section of the Act itself; But as it is left intirely to the discretion of the Trustees, to give Notice to the Foreign Creditors, in such manner as they shall think proper, and no Penalty is inflicted, in case they do not give notice, We humbly apprehend this Provision is altogether nugatory and ineffectual, and this is not the only instance, in which this Act appears to us to be defective and improper, for it Enacts, that if Francis Goelet shall appear to have secreted any part of his Estate & Effects, he shall not be entitled to the benefit of the Act, which is in Our Opinion a Punishment much too light and trivial, for an Of fence which the Wisdom of the Legislature here, has in all Cases of this Kind enacted to be felony. Upon the whole We humbly beg leave to propose, that both the Acts aforementioned, may receive Your Majesty's Royal Disapprobation.' All Which is most humbly submitted. The acts were repealed January 14, 1762. See Analytical Index, p. 365.—ED. Order in Council for removing Edward Antill from his seat in the Council of New Jersey, and for appointing John Stevens a Councillor in his room. L. S. [From P. R. O., America and West Indies, Vol. 150.] AT THE COURT AT ST JAMES'S THE 2 PRESENT THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL. Whereas there was this day read at the Board a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations dated the 22d of last Month, Setting forth, That Edward Antill Esq One of His Majestys Council in the Province of New Jersey, having during the whole Course of the Administration of Thomas Boone Esq' late Governor of that Province refused to attend his Duty in the said Council tho' repeatedly Summoned, and the said Governor having in Obedience to the Directions of his Instructions suspended him from his seat in the said Council for such his Non Attendance, the said Lords Commissioners propose that the Suspension of the said Edward Antill may be confirmed, and that John Stevens Esq' who 1 John Stevens was born at Perth Amboy, N. J., about 1715-17, being the son of John Stevens, who had emigrated in 1699 from Middlesex county, England, to New York, where he studied law, removing in 1714 to Perth Amboy, where he married the oldest daughter of John Campbell, a prominent citizen of that town, and died in 1787. The younger John Stevens, with his brother Campbell, carried on a mercantile business, principally with the West Indies and Madeira Islands, and for six years sailed in command of his own vessels. In 1761 he retired from active mercantile life, devoting himself principally to the management of his extensive landed estates and copper mines at Rocky Hill. In 1751 he was a member of the General Assembly which met at Perth Amboy, and during the next ten years took a leading part in that body. In 1755 he was one of the committee empowered to build a chain has been recommended to them as well qualified to serve His Majesty in that Station may be appointed of the said Council in the room of M' Antill'-His Majesty taking the same into Consideration was pleased with the Advice of His Privy Council to ratify and confirm the said Suspension, and to Order as it is hereby Ordered that the said Edward Antill be removed from his Seat in the Council of the said Province, and that the said John Stevens Esq be constituted and appointed of block forts to protect the New Jersey frontiers against the incursions of the Indians, and three years later was on the commission which negotiated a lasting peace with the Indians. From 1756 to 1760 he acted as paymaster of the "Jersey Blues," in the French War. In April, 1752, he took a town house in New York, and in 1761 purchased No. 7 Broadway, then the most fashionable neighborhood in the city, which he occupied for the ensuing ten years. He was one of the most prominent opposers in New York City of the obnoxious stamp act in 1765. In 1771 he built in Lebanon Valley, Hunterdon county, N. J., a few miles south of the present Lebanon station on the Central railroad, a large and elegant residence, known as the Stevens mansion which he made his home for nearly the rest of his days. He was one of the commissioners to adjust the northern boundary in 1774. In June, 1776, he resigned his seat in the Council, and was chosen to represent Hunterdon county in the Provincial Congress which met in August, 1776. He was unanimously elected Vice-President, and was continued in that position for six years, when he was sent to Congress. He was President of the Convention of 1787, which ratified the Federal Constitution, and this appropriately closed his long and notable political career, He was a zealous Episcopalian, for many years a vestryman and warden of St. Peter's Church at Perth Amboy, a liberal contributor to other churches, and was a delegate to the convention which met at New Brunswick May 18-14, 1744, to form a union of the Episcopal churches of America. His latter days were spent with his son, Colonel John Stevens, at Hoboken, where he died in May, 1792, and was buried at the Frame Meeting House, in Bethlehem township, Hunterdon county which he had contributed largely to build. He married, in 1748, Elizabeth, second daughter of James Alexander and sister of Lord Stirling. She survived him eight years. They had two children-John, and Mary, wife of Chancellor Livingston of New York.—Sketch of John Stevens, by Richard F. Stevens, in the N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Record, October, 1884, pp. 145-150.-[W. N.] Edward Antill was a prominent merchant in New York City in the seventeenth century. He was present at the trial of Phillip Carteret, Governor of East Jersey, before Governor Andros, of New York, in June, 1678, for alleged riot, and was justly indignant at that travesty on justice.-N. Y. Col. Docts., III., 315. In 1683 he was appointed with such eminent citizens as Anthony Brockholls, Matthias Nicolls and Stephen Van Courtlandt, to inspect and catalogue the papers in the New York Secretary's office.-Calendar N. Y. Hist. MSS, II.. 152. In 1686 he bought a tract of eighty acres on Staten Island, which he sold in 1694.-Ib., 143, 243; Calendar Land Papers, 42. In 1686, being in the Jamaica and New Foundland trade, it was alleged that Governor Dongan, of New York, was improperly associated with him in his business, which, however, the Governor denied.-N. Y. Col. Docs. III., 407-8, 493. Besides dealing in the legitimate objects of trade with the West Indies he appears to have occasionally (as in 1699 and 1700) picked up an Indian woman or boy, to sell into slavery, for which he sometimes got into trouble.-Cal. N. Y. Hist. MSS., II., a Member of His Majestys said Council in the Province of New Jersey in the room of the said Edward Antill And the Right Honourable the Earl of Egremont One of His Majestys Principal Secretarys of State is to cause the usual Warrant to be prepared for His Majestys Royal Signature accordingly. W. BLAIR. Letter from (Captain ?) George Otter to Lewis Johnston of Perth Amboy, inquiring about the ownership of the island "on the right-hand side betwixt Burlington and Bristol," its size, etc., with a view to securing it for himself—Sir Jeffrey Amherst had acquitted himself with great honor.-Reported that Parliament would tax their good subjects in America. Sir [From the Whitehead Manuscripts.] LONDON 6th January 1762 I must now beg leave to trouble you with great Secret Business of my own and shall be very much obliged to you for your two Letters by the two first ships either from Philadelphia or New York. When 268, 279. Siding with his friends Brockholls and Bayard, in the Revolution of 1688, he was obliged to flee from the city to escape arrest at the hands of the overzealous Jacob Leisler, and one of his vessels was robbed of four guns by the Leisler Government.-Ib., 300; N. Y. Doc. Hist., II., 41. In his will, made June 10, 1704, proved April 7, 1725, he leaves half his land lying to the north of Hudson River to his wife, Sarah, and the other half to his six children-William, Charles, Anna, Edward, Eliz. abeth and George. He also gives his wife all his interest in a certain proprietyship formerly purchased of David Toshack, "Laird of Minnevarre." (This individual's identity puzzled the late Mr. Whitehead not a little.-East Jersey under the Proprietors, 1st ed., p. 127: 2d ed.. 170. He is also spoken of as Moneybaird, or Monyweard, "Partner with James, Earl of Perth, and Sir George McKensie, of Tarbutt, and Proxy for them."-N. J. Archives, I., 460.) The will is witnessed by William Vesey, |