Under this census the ancient Town of Westchester led all the other localities of the county in population, with 572 inhabitants, having, indeed, a very decided preponderance over every community except Rye, which numbered 51 (5 souls. But it must be borne in mind that in 1712 Rye as a political division included certainly the White Plains and Harrison tracts; and probably not a few settlers dispersed through the interior sections of the county not as yet comprehended in definitely named settlements were counted also in the Rye enumeration. We have referred in various connections to the peculiar privilege bestowed upon the Town of Westchester by its erection in 169G into a borough, a privilege enjoyed by only one other community of New York Province (Schenectady) from the beginning to the end of the colonial period. It was entirely fitting that Westchester should be singled out for this distinction. It was the seat of the earliest organized and successful English settlement in the province north of the Harlem River, dating back to 1654 (and probably earlier); it gave its name to the great County of Westchester, and it had always been a rural community of exceptional respectability and progressiveness. Detached from the jurisdiction of Manhattan Island by a broad river, it occupied an isolated position, and its local affairs were thus incapable of being connected with those of the island. Moreover, Westchester, with its attached locality of West Farms, was peculiarly justified in appealing for special privileges, in view of the exceptional functions that had been conferred upon the adjacent manorial lands of Morrisania, Fordham, Philipseburgh, and Pelham. These lands had been erected into "entire and enfranchised townships, manors, and places by themselves," for the gratification of wealthy individual proprietors. On the other hand, here was a thriving democratic town, whose settlement antedated that of any of the manorial estates, and which was more important than any of them in the matter of population and development.