Setting forth, among other things, that there is avast and valuable Country between Connecticut River and Lake Champlain, and extending from the County of Cumberland on the South, to the Latitude of forty five Degrees North, capable of subsisting many Inhabitants, to the great Increase of the Strength and Prosperity of the Empire in general, and the Province of New York in particular. That the Establishment of the County of Cumberland, as it conduced to the Maintenance of good Order, has greatly promoted the Improvement of that District, which is daily advancing and will soon become an important and flourishing County: That such of the Petitioners as live to the Northward of Cumberland are exposed to Rapine and Plunder from a lawless Banditti of Felons and Criminals who fly thither from other Places. And that it is impossible to obtain Justice while they remain a part of the County of Albany as the Magistrate can have no Eye upon those distant Parts, nor can the Petitioners procure officers to come thither, or they in their present state go to them: That there are upwards of seven hundred souls to the Northward of the County of Cumberland, and that such is the Quality and situation of the Land that under proper Encouragement, and by the Help of the Overflowing of the neighbouring Colonies the whole Country may in a few years

NEW HAMPSHIRE GRANTS. 635

be under actual Cultivation: And therefore the Petitioners humbly pray that a new County may be constituted to the Northward of the said County of Cumberland.