Patents, and the more extensive the confidence given to His Majesty's servants of this Government, the more readily will the present storm be dispersed, and a fertile Country be reduced to a State of cultivat" and improvement.

Notwithstanding all this, I stand ready to make any experiment with the Assembly which Your Lordship shall be pleased to point out. I am to request in the mean time that your Lord' will excuse any imperfections in these sentiments as they proceed from a sincere desire to give you all the information in my power with that candour, which your commands and the confidence you honor me with, call for. The subject being unusually delicate and difficult, I have made the proper enquiries respecting it, but in the use I have made of the information. procured, I have preserved the free exercise of my own judgement, and the whole is humbly submitted to His Majesty's Great wisdom, and the sagacity of his Ministers.

I have received and laid before the King your Dispatches numbered from 27 to 32 inclusive. Your attention to the provision of the several Acts of Assembly offered to you for your assent, is very commendable, and the King approves your having rejected the act for the more easy recovery of the possessions of Lands and also that for calling in & cancelling the Bills of Credit, for the reasons assigned in your letter of the 1st of May; but as the present State of this paper credit of the Colony, is an object of great importance and seems to require the aid of the Legislature in order to give it a due stability, I will not fail to take the first opportunity of bringing the consideration of it before the Board of Trade as early as possible in the ensuing autumn.

The final settlement of the Boundary line between the Provinces of New York and Massachusets Bay will be equally for His Maj's interest and the advantage of his subjects; and it will be a very great satisfaction to me to hear, that this important business has been accomplished to the mutual satisfaction of both provinces.

Earl of Dartmouth to the Governors in North America.

The King having observed that the accounts received from His Matys Governors in America, of the condition of their respective Governments, have not been so full and explicit with respect to the state and progress of the Commerce, Cultivation and Inhabitancy thereof as they might & ought to have been, and that they have contented themselves with barely reporting in their correspondence the ordinary events of their administration I am commanded to transmit to you the enclosed Heads of Enquiry relative to the Province under your Government, and to signify to you His Majestys pleasure that you do, as speedily as may be, transmit to me, for His Matys information, a very full and particular answer thereto, accompanied with such Papers as shall be necessary to illustrate and explain every circumstance that may appear to require it

The rapid progress that is making in Commerce, Cultivation & Inhabitancy is an object that deserves the utmost attention, and it will be necessary that you do not content yourself with barely transmitting to me answers to the present Heads of Enquiry, but that you do continue to report, in the fullest manner such variations as may occur in any of the circumstances relative to your Government to which those Heads of Enquiry do apply, as that you do from time to time inform me of such alterations as may happen by death or removals, in any of the civil & military offices. I am &c

Dartmouth.

Heads of Enquiry relative to the present state and condition of His Majesty
Province of

in America.

1 What is the Situation of the Province under your Government, the Nature of the Country, Soil and Climate, the Latitudes & Longitudes of the most considerable Places in it? Have those Latitudes & Longitudes been settled by good observations, or only by common computation, and from whence are the Longitudes computed

2. What are the reputed Boundaries and are any parts thereof disputed, what parts & by whom?

3 What is the size and extent of the Province the number of Acres supposed to be contained there in, what part thereof is cultivated & improved, and under what Titles do the Inhabitants hold their possessions?

4 What Rivers are there & of what extent and convenience in point of Commerce ?

5 What are the principal Harbours how situated, of what extent and what is the depth of water and nature of Ankerage in each.

6 What is the constitution of the Government?

7. What is the trade of the {p£°[o£ye tne numDer of shipping belonging thereto their Tonnage, the number of Seafaring men, with their respective increase or diminution within ten years past?

8 What quantity & sorts of British Manufactures do the Inhabitants annually take from hence, what good and commodities are exported from thence to Great Britain, and what is the annual amount at an average

Colony

9 What Trade has the Province under your Government, with any Foreign Plantations, or any part of Europe besides Great Britain. How is the trade carried on, What Commodities do the people under your Government send to or receive from Foreign Plantations and what is the annual amount thereof at an average?

10 What Methods are there used to prevent illegal Trade, and are the same effectual?

Maryland add besides tobacco.

11. What is the natural Produce of the Country, Staple Commodities & Manufactures and what value thereof in sterling money may you annually export?

12 What mines are there?

13 What is the number of Inhabitants Whites and Blacks?

14 Are the Inhabitants increased or decreased within the last ten years; how much, and for what reasons ?

15 What is the number of Militia, & under what Regulations is it constituted?

16 What Forts and Places of Defence are there within your Governm* and in what condition? 17 What number of Indians have you, and how are they inclined?

18 What is the Strength of the Neighbouring Indians?

To West Florida only.

19 What effect have the French or Spanish Settlements on the Mississippi upon His Majestys Plantations especially on your Province ?

20 What is the revenue arising within your Government, and how is it appropriated and applied?

21 What are the ordinary and extraordinary expenses of your Governm'?

22 What are the establishments, Civil & Military, within your Governm' and by what authority do the officers hold their places; what is the annual value of each office, Civil or Military, how are they respectively appointed, and who are the present possessors ?

N° 41.

Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth.

[New-York P«per« (S. P. 0.) CLXV.]

My Lord.

New York 6. July. 1773.

As every appendix of Dignity to His Majesty's Commission to His Governors in America gives an augmentation of strength and influence to the respective Govern", and in some measure

promotes, the public interest, I submit to your Lord the expediency of His Maj'*'* investing his several Govern" with the priviledge to appoint each a Chaplain, & the Crown out of its bounty to allow an adequate salary for the support of the Gentleman nominated.

This would be a peculiar mark of distinction to the members of the church of England, who stand in need of every possible aid and protection from Govern', and as such I humbly propose its consideration to His Maj' attention, and your LordP's favorable countenance.

Your Lord's favour of the 10th of April last I was honored with on my return hither, on the 13th inst:, after the close of our Commission at Rhode Island concerning the affair of the Gaspee. It gives me great pleasure that my representation of the 20,b of Febr* has the honor of your LordP's approbation; and now beg leave to observe to your Lordp, what has occurred to me after the finishing our Report. For waiting some days at Newport for a passage wind & weather, I was accidentally informed of a piece of evidence, whch, had it come to light sooner, would most probably have cut our business shorter.

An Officer of a Man of War stationed at Newport, to whom the Negroe Aaron was turned over, informed me, that upon his examining the fellow one day before his Master, and his two Negroes who came on Board, and interrogating face to face, the fellow prevaricated much, but still persisted in the main of his story, notwithstanding confronted by the Master and his two Negroes, who declares that he slept with them all that night, on which the Gaspee was destroyed. The Master and his Negroes being dismissed, the Officer upon what he had heard from the Master and his Negroes, & had observed from the conduct of Aaron upon the occasion, concluded, he was an Imposter, and charged him home as such, and told him he was convinced, he was no more concerned in that affair than he himself was, and conjured him to tell the truth, and at length he confessed twas all a fiction, which he was constrained to, for saving himself from the punishment threatned him on board the other Man of War, as they had charged him so positively with being one concerned, & therefore thought he must confess himself guilty and name some principal people as Accessaries.

My Lord, a few days, after the Gaspee burnt, one of the stationed ships at Newport, went and anchored close by the Island called Prudence, where the Master of Aaron lived, about seven miles from where the Gaspee lay, and Aaron purposing to run away from his Master went on board in a small Canoe, and they rightly guessed of his intention and threatened to whip him, but on second thoughts charged him as a confederate in destroying the Gaspee, and if he did not confess and make discovery, they would whip him, and hang him up at the yard arm.

And thus, My Lord, this forced confession of the Negroe Aaron has been held up by the Marine as a hopeful and sure clue to unravel this mystery of iniquity. The Fellow might probably have heard the names of the most noted and principal Traders, at Providence and other trading Towns in that neighborhood, though he might not know their persons, and one Dr Weeks inserted in his list he might know personally, as an attendant upon his Masters family; but my sentiments upon the whole are that this daring insult was committed by a number of bold, daring, rash, enterprizing sailors, collected suddenly from the neighborhood, who banded themselves together, upon this Bold enterprize, but by whom stimulated for the purpose, I cannot conjecture, they cunningly calculated the attack at a time of night under the Gaspee's disadvantage a ground, when 'twas probable, the Crew would be below deck and a sleep, as was the case, only one centry on deck, and thus by surprize easily boarded and plundered her.

My Lord, I have been two voyages of four hundred miles each upon this occasion at great expense, & no small fatigue for a person of my age viz' seventy six, and I assure your Lordp, I am already upwards of two hundred pounds out of pocket, and am still liable for my proportion with the other Commissioners for the pay of the Clerks we found necessary to attend us upon the service, and though we have not had the wished for success, we hope his Majy will graciously accept our sincere endeavours.

My Lord, I have lately received Advice, that His Majv has been graciously pleased to sign a Warr for my salary as Chief Justice, which further adds to the obligations your Lord has conferred upon me, which I cannot but esteem with the utmost gratitude.

Your Dispatches No* 33, 34, 35 and 36. have been received and laid before the King. The settlement of the line of jurisdiction between the Provinces of New York and Massachusett's Bay, is a very fortunate event, and your attention in this business is very much approved by His Majesty. You may be assured, Sir, I will do every thing on my part that the Royal Confirmation of the agreement shall be obtained as soon as possible, but I fear, the unavoidable forms of Office, and some delicacy as to the mode of signifying that confirmation, will not allow me to send it to you before the next Packet.

In your Dispatch 34. you say, you have reason to apprehend, that your arrangement of the Militia is not entirely approved; but I am persuaded, Sir, you will do me the justice to believe