No 5. Sir. Earl of Dartmouth to Governor Tryon. [New-York Papere (8. P. 0.) CLXV.] Whitehall 3. Febry 1773. I have received your despatches of the 1st and 2nd of Decr and have laid them before the King. It is very much to be wished both for the interest of the Crown and the public that the extent, justice and legality of the claims of the proprietors of the Hardenburgh patent could be brought into judgement and decided upon a single suit at Law, but the mode you propose of bringing on that discussion by a grant to Coll: Bradstreet of a part of the Lands does not appear to me either so regular & proper as that which has been already adopted, and it is I think the less so as I understand from your letter of the 1" of Dec' that a verdict has been already given on a process of Intrusion. You will therefore acquaint Coll: Bradstreet with my difficulties, assuring him that on any other occasion, I shall be happy to show him every attention due to his great merit and services. The State of the Country west of Connecticut River, and your representation of the disorders which have prevailed from the want of a decision upon disputes that had arisen respecting the different claims to land, was one of the first objects of my attention upon my coming into office, and I so far prevailed in my wishes to bring that business forward, as to obtain a very full and immediate discussion of it at the Board of Trade. The forming an opinion upon a matter that involved questions of the greatest difficulty, necessarily took up sometime, but by a diligent and close application their Lord"" were enabled to make their Report to the privy Council on the 3rd of December, and I have the satisfaction to acquaint you, that My Lord President fully apprized by me of how great consequence it is to your ease and happiness, that this matter should receive a speedy decision, has assured me, that it shall be taken up the very first day the Committee meets. I have received your letter of the 1st Dec' & laid it before the King. I beg leave to assure you that it will always give me great pleasure to promote the advantage of every meritorious servant of the Crown, and to lay before His Majv a just representation of their long and faithful services; but as it is not the King's intention to annex salaries to the Office of Lieut' Gov in the Colonies, I cannot take upon me to recommend to His Maju to grant your request of a salary as Lieut' Govr of New York. In the instance of Mr Oliver of Massachusets Bay, which you quote as a precedent, the allowance which the King thought fit to make that Gentleman, was in consideration of his having resigned a lucrative Office, and was not given as a salary only annexed to his appointment of Lieut' Gov', and does not therefore in any respect apply to your case. I am. ettc. Dartmouth. Earl of Dartmouth to Sir William Johnson. [Plantations General ( S. P. O., No. 3. ) CCLIX. ] White Hall Feb 3d 1773 Sir By the last Packet from New York I received your Dispatches No* 1 & 2. In your letter of the 4,h of Nov' you refer to a paper mentioned to have been transmitted and which you state to be a copy of the most material part of the late Congress at Johnson Hall but as that paper has by some mistake not been sent, what I have to say to you upon that business must be confin'd to ye observations contained in your letter In general I am sorry to find from the Report made of what is passed at Scioto that our neighbours on the Mississippi have still the means by Talks and Messages of keeping up that jealousy, discontent & enmity towards us among the Western Nations which may hereafter when an opportunity offers prove fatal to the security of the British Dominions in that part of America, and I see this with the greatest concern, and my apprehensions of the ill consequences are the stronger as the ill humour is every day increas and our only hope of preventing that dangerous union of Interests that appear to be forming rests upon the friendship of the Six Nations and their acquiescence in that extension of settlement which has apparently given so much offence to other Tribes who both claim to possess the Country From what has heretofore passed with the Six Nations upon this subject I am to presume that no difficulties will occur on their part to the measure His Majesty has thought fit to adopt for establishing a Government up the Ohio, but I must observe that your letter does not state that any thing conclusive was said by them by way of answer to the communication that you was directed to make to them of the Kings intentions in that respect and I must candidly confess to you that the proposition which you have made to the Senecas of withdrawing from their possession on the South side of the Ohio appears to have been founded upon Reasons & Arguments which induce an apprehension that very great difficulties will occur in carrying the intended Plan of Settlement into execution unless the other Tribes who reside within the Limits of the proposed Colony can be brought into the same measure which I fear will be impracticable though the Senecas should have consented to it, which however does not appear from your letter. The advantages of a regular Plan for Indian Trade are apparent and the want of it in the present situation is very much to be lamented, But as I apprehend there is not sufficient authority in the Crown for the execution of such a Plan; and as the Colonies do not seem disposed to concur in any general Regulations for that purpose, 1 am at a loss to suggest any mode by which this important service can be otherways provided for than by the interposition of the authority of the Supreme Legislature the exertion of which would be in such a case unadviseable untill Truth & Conviction have removed the unhappy prejudices which have so long prevailed in the Colonies on this subject. I am very sensible of the obliging expressions with respect to myself contained in your letter of the 3rd of Novr and it will give me great pleasure upon every occasion in the course of my correspondence with you in the office His Majesty has been graciously pleased to place me to do justice to the Desert of so meritorious an officer and so faithful a servant of the King I am &c &c* To Sir William Johnson Bart DARTMOUTH No 16. My Lord, Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth. [New-York Paper. (S. P. O.) CLXV.] New York. 7 Feb 1773. I received last evening, from Mr Elliot1 His Maj*r'' Commission under the seal of great Brittain, and the proceedings had thereon, relative to the partition line between the Govern of New York and New Jersey, requesting, I would transmit the same to His Maj". Mr Jay, clerk to the Commiss" refusing to deliver up the Commission and papers unless authorized by an express order of the Crown under the great Seal, or act of the Legislature, I yesterday passed a Bill of that tenor, a copy of which is herewith transmitted, with the Commission and papers, also Govr Franklyn's letter to me inclosing an Act of the Assembly of New Jersey, which was obtained in consequence of the conference I had at Amboy last September with the Gov & other parties concerned in the premises-Should these proceedings meet with hia Majty'* approbation, we may, I hope, soon receive the Royal confirmation to the territoria Jurisdiction between the two Governts Your Lord will observe the Great Seal is entirely defaced and reduced to a small Lump of wax, which is the case of almost all the great seals sent from Great Brittain, occasioned by its being chiefly composed of Rosin which is reduced to powder by the friction of the voyage, Were the seals to be formed of a proper mixture of Bees wax and Turpentine without any Rosin, they would arrive uninjured; a circumstance not without its weight as the validity of those instruments have been doubted to which the Great seal has been affixed and defaced, like the one to this Commission. I am with all possible respect and Esteem, My Lord, Your Lord's most obedient Servant * Supra, p. 96.- Ed. No 18. My Lord, Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth. [New-York P«per« (8. P. 0.) CLXV.] New York. 8. Febr 1773. As the motives of my conduct in the Land Depart"' have been fully set forth in my former correspondence and particularly as those parts in which I have been so unhappy as to incur His Maj'*'* displeasure are stated at large in my dispatch to your Lord N° 9. I have nothing farther to urge in my justification except an explanation of my conduct, on an additional weight of displeasure contained in your Lordp's separate letter of the 9th of December 1772. in pursuing the usual methods of granting lands, after the receipt of the Earl of Hillsborough's letter of the 4th of Dec 1771. by the intimations and import of that letter, I understood the reformation in the land Office was to originate at home; and as I lost no time in sending the fullest representation of the method practiced in this Govern', in the disposal of the King's lands, I considered my changing the mode then in use, before I received fresh Instructions, would create confusion rather than order. I therefore waited to be informed of the King's pleasure on the informations transmitted to the Earl of Hillsborough with my Dispatch of the lllh of April 1772. N° 28. It is my duty to explain the motives of such points of my conduct as stand impeached, and I have here done it in conformity to that idea, altho' it should neither extenuate nor excuse my disobedience. The Governors, My Lord, of His Maju Colonies on this Continent, meet with many Thorns in the Paths of their Administrations, and if they are not allowed on extraordinary emergencies, to put a liberal interpretation on his Maj,y instructions, and the Kings Ministers as liberal a construction on the Governor's Conduct, the most faithful servant of the Crown in that Station, cannot long keep his ground, or preserve his Govern' in peace. These, My Lord, are the dictates of a mind influenced only by an honest zeal for His Majy'* service. I shall pay a dutiful obedience to the King's Commands, and am, with all possible respect My Lord, Chief Justice Horsmanden to the Earl of Dartmouth. Wm TRYON. [Hew-York Papers (8. P. O.) CLXV.] New York. 20th Febr' 1773. On the 21st of January last, I had the honor of addressing your Lord in conjunction with the rest of the Commissioners at Rhode Island, giving some account of our proceedings and the reasons that induced us to adjourn to the 26"1 of May next. On my arrival at that Place on the 31st of Dec', I was surprised to find, that the main of our errand was become public, which in prudence, was to be kept secret; nevertheless your Lord's letter to Gov' Wanton1 was published in the Boston Weekly paper and spread industriously over all N England. However amazing to us, upon enquiry it came out, that the Gov had communicated it to his Assembly, who had got it printed; upon expostulating with the Gov' upon it, he said, he by Law was obliged to communicate all dispatches from the Ministry, to his Corporation, and sworn so to do; that such Dispatches were usually directed to the Govr and Comp. Upon enquiry how Your Lordship's packet was directed, neither he nor his Secretary could inform us; the superscription they said was mislaid, and not to be found; but that this was not so directed as the Gov' said, I infer from its being addressed to him (Sir). My Lord, as to the Govern' (if it deserves that name) it is a downright Democracy; the Gov is a mere nominal one, and therefore a Cypher, without power or authority, entirely controuled by the populace elected annually, as all other Magistrates & officers whatsoever. The Governor treated. the Commissioners with great decency and respect, and to do that Gentleman justice, behaved with great propriety as Commissioner, excepting his communicating your Lord's letter to the Corporation, which indeed he seemed constrained to do under the above circumstances. To shew that the Govr has not the least Power or Authority he could not command the Sheriff or a Constable to attend us; he prevailed with them indeed, but in expectation of being paid their daily wages by the Commissioners, so that they were hired for this service at our expence, and even for expresses sent to summon witnesses the Commiss" found it necessary to advance their own money; also for the very fire wood expended for our accommodation in the Council Chamber on this occasion; this, My Lord, we readily disbursed and all other contingencies relying upon the honor of Govern'. We found, My Lord, that the Govr upon the first notice of this piece of villany had issued a proclamation offering £100 reward for a discovery but without effect. My Lord, it is suggested in the Commission that the people assembled upon this adventure in the Town of Newport, and the places adjacent by beat of Drum, ettc, which was intimated, doubtless, through misinformation, for it comes out, that it was at Providence on the Narraganset River, about 30 miles from Newport, and 7 or 8 from the place where the Gaspee run a ground. The news of which was soon communicated to that Town, and there it is supposed the people assembled and soon formed their scheme, to Man 6 or 7 Boats on purpose to attack her at that disadvantage. My Lord, the Colony of Rhode Island is branched out into three divisions; Newport on Rhode Isld, Providence, and Warwick more inland adjoining to the Massachusets Colony; at these three places the Assemblies are held alternately, but Newport is reputed the seat of Govern'; between the two former, there is an emulation with respect to their Trade, and a kind of Enmity likewise, so that they do not generally correspond cordially. Providence is 30 miles distant from it, so that it seems most unlikely that the people of Newport could be concerned in so sudden and precipitate an enterprize, nor was the fact known at Rhode Island, till the day after the Treason Committed. My Lord, as to the Negro evidence, which seems to be the foundation of this enquiry, it is much to be suspected, though his story is told with much plausibility, and he pertinatiously repeated it upon examination before the Commiss"; and a Sailor of the Crew of the Gaspee, 'Joseph Wanton belonged to a family which had already furnished four Governors to Rhode Island. He graduated at Harvard in 1751, and was elected in 1769 successor to Governor Lyndon. He was appointed one of the commissioners to inquire into the burning of the Oatpi in 1772, and was deposed from office in 1775. He died in 1782. Sabine. — ED. |