(N° 24) My Lord, Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth. New-York Papera (State Paper Office ) CLXVIII., No. 24. ] On Board the Ship Dutchess of Gordon I have engaged John Woods, Thomas Allen, & William Tunx, three skilful Gunsmiths to quit working at their trade in forwarding the execution of purposes contrary to the feelings of their natures, as Englishmen, in the present unnatural Rebellion. There is only one Workman now remaining in America that is capable of the business of Gun welting, as I am informed. This conduct I thought deserving of Encouragement and meriting protection. I have therefore paid thirty Guineas for their passage to England in the packet, and advanced them twenty Guineas more to support them up to London. I have made it the express condition of their leaving America that they shall be employed in the Tower, or other the King's Armory. The fulfilling this positive engagement, My Lord, I rest to your Lordship's particular care, as an Encouragement due to men, voluntarily, and at the hazard of their lives & property, fleeing from Employment advantagious to their present Interest, though obnoxious to their Sentiments, disloyal to their Sovereign, & injurious to the measures of his Majesty's Government. I have the honor to be, with the most perfect respect and esteem, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient Servant. Wm Tkyon. Lord George Germain to Governor Tryon. [New-York Papers (8. P. O.) CLXVII., No. 1. ] Whitehall Dec 23d 1775 Sir Your dispatches by the Halifax Packet have been received and laid before the King, and the intelligence they enclose, of the loss of Chambles and St Johns, which has been confirmed by advices received to day from Quebec, clouds the fair prospect we had of the advantage which a disappointment to the Rebels in their design upon Canada would have given us, yet this ground of advantage is not irrecoverable, and I trust and beleive, that if the measures His Majesty has thought fit to adopt, for a vigorous exertion of his Forces in the Spring turn out as we have good reason to expect, we shall soon see a different prospect of affairs In the mean time it will be your duty to encourage by every means in your power, any expectation in the Kings well disposed subjects in New York of every assistance & protection the state of this Kingdom will enable His Majesty to afford them, and to cherish every appearance of a disposition on their part to withstand the Tyranny and misrule, which accompany the acts of those, who have but too well succeeded in the total subversion of legal Government. It is painful to His Majesty to see the distress and difficultys to which His faithful servants in the Colonies are exposed, yet His Majesty commends the resolution you have taken that nothing but the most unsurmountable difficultys shall induce you in the present state of Insurrection & Revolt to avail yourself of that permission His Majesty has been graciously pleased to give you to return to England Governor Tryon. I am &c GEO GERMAIN 1 Lord George Germain to the Governors in America, except of Connecticut and Rhode Island. [ Plantations General (S. P. O.) CCLXI.] Whitehall. 23. Dec' 1775 The King being determined, in concurrence with his Parliament, to pursue the most vigorous measures for reducing his Rebellious subjects in North America to obedience, & for restoring legal Govern', has given the Royal assent to the inclosed Act, which I am commanded by His Maju to transmit to you, and at the same time to signify to you His Mnju' pleasure, that you do exhort all persons, upon whom the execution of this Law shall depend, to pay a due attention thereto, & to use their best endeavours for carrying the provisions of it into effect; and I trust when His Maju' deluded subjects in the associated Colonies are better apprized of the fatal consequence of the conduct they have adopted, & see the determined spirit of the Nation to maintain its constitutional Rights, they will avail themselves of the means, which 1 GEORGE SACKVILLE, youngest son of Lionel, 1st Duke of Dorset, was born 26 January, 1717. Having entered the army, he served under the Duke of Cumberland, and was wounded in the breast at the famous battle of Fontenoy, 11 May, 1745. On the 1st June following, he was appointed Colonel in the Army, and 9th April, 1746, Colonel of the 20th Regiment of Foot. On the 1st November, 1749, he became Colonel of the 12th Royal Dragoons; and on the 18th January, 1750, of the 3d Horse or Carabiniers; on the 22d February, 1765, he was promoted to be Major-General; on the 5th April, 1757 was appointed Colonel of the 2d or Queen's Dragoon Guards; on the 30th November following, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance; and on 26th January, 1758, became Lieutenant-General in the Army and Privy Councillor. In the expedition to Germany, this last year, in aid of the King of Prussia, Lord George Sackville was appointed second in command of the English forces, under the Duke of Marlborough. On the death of the latter, on 28th October, 1758, the command-in-chief of those forces devolved on Lord George. He held that office until the memorable battle of Minden, 1st August, 1759, when, in consequence of some misunderstanding between him and Prince Ferdinand, he returned to England in disgrace. The King, with his own hand, erased his name from the list of Privy Councillors, and deprived him of all his appointments. He was next tried, at his own request, by a court martial, found guilty of disobedience of orders, dismissed the service and declared forever incapable of serving in a military capacity. As his Lordship was patronized by the Prince of Wales, some suppose him, in this instance, to have been severely dealt with in consequence. He represented Dover in the 11th Parliament and in 1760 was returned for the port of Hythe. After the accession of George III., he was again received at Court, and the remainder of his life was devoted to civil affairs. Lady Betty Germain, at her death in 1769, left her property by will to Lord George Sackville, on condition of his assuming her surname, which he did accordingly. In December, 1770, he fought a duel with Mr. Johnstone, governor of West Florida, in which neither was hurt. Having joined Lord North's party, he was 10 November, 1775, appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies. (Robert Thompson of Woburn, Mass., afterwards Count Rumford, was his Lordship's Under Secretary.) He retired from office in February, 1782, when he was raised to the peerage by the title Baron Bolebrooke and Viscount Sackville, and died at his seat, Stoneham Lodge, Sussex, on the 26th August, 1785, in the 68th year of his age. Army Lists; Entick'i Hittory of the War, III., 79, 179; IV., passim ; Chatham Corretpondcnce; Grenville Paper*; Qentleman't Magazine, LV., 667 ; LVI., i., 208. — ED. the Justice & benevolence of the Supreme Legislature have held out to them, of being restored to the King's Grace and peace, and that a happy and lasting reconciliation and union will be Effected; and I have the satisfaction to acquaint you, that, in order to accelerate this desirable object, the proper steps have been taken for passing a Commission under the great seal, in conformity to the last section but one of that act, and that the Commissioner or Commissioners to be appointed for that purpose, will have full power to inquire into the state and condition of the Colonies, and to confer with proper persons upon such points as may be necessary for effecting a restoration of the public tranquility. The Merchant Ship Sampson being chartered by some gentlemen wanting a passage to England gives me an opportunity of writing to Your Lordship which I gladly embrace, notwithstanding my present impaired State of health, and the excruciating pains of a fit of the Gout with which I have been afflicted for some days past. It is not however, My Lord, that any particular circumstances hath occurred since my last public Dispatches, materially to alter or change the face of things in America, that I trouble You at this time, but to impress upon Your Lordship the idea I have of the progressive Slate of the astonishing extravagancies to which the American views & claims are extending, and the increasing expediency (permit me, Mv Lord, to use a stronger expression and say, Necessity) there is of raising Regiments out of, and giving Imployment and Protection to the well affected part of his Majesty's American Subjects. The case of these distressed individuals, which, beleive me, My Lord, are not a few in this Colony, is every day becoming more trying, and distressing. They suffer from Committees, Congresses, & Minute men, in their persons and property, a species of Tyranny and Despotism scarcely to be equalled in History. Oppressed beyond all measure and without arms or ammunition even for the harmless purposes of self Defence. They incessantly wait upon me with the strongest assurances that they look up to their King for protection, and most ardently wish for a speedy restoration of the Powers of his Majesty's Government and the peaceful blessings of their former constitution. The cause of those unhappy people, My Lord, is the cause of humanity. But if left without a hand to aid or a power to succour, urged by want and compelled by persecution they may through despair be drove to abandon their allegiance, and become soldiers of necessity, at once against their principles and their lawful Sovereign. The investing, My Lord, at this momentous season, some great and distinguished person with similar powers of a Vice Roy both in the civil and Military Departments in each Province, I apprehend to be of the greatest importance to the British State. Might he not be authorized to raise Regiments of Americans, and be supplied with arms, ammunition and cloathing, to fit them for immediate service, with unlimited credit upon the Treasury for the ample support of the service? And to prevent the ill effects arising from the despair of pardon, to be fully authorized (with such exceptions as may be judged necessary) to grant his. Majesty's most gracious pardon to the deluded and reclaimed. Under such circumstances I am confident the Royal standard, guarded at first with some regiments of Regulars, might be erected with the greatest success. To facilitate such a Measure, & to accomplish a purpose so important to the British Empire, I could most willingly consent to make way for such a Personage in the Government of this Province, where with my present limited and restricted powers & situation, f am without authority to support the Dignity of my station, or enforce the delegated powers of my gracious Sovereign. My letter to General Howe of the 13th of December which I have the honor to transmit, will give Your Lordship an Idea how far I could probably co-operate with his Majesty's Regular Forces. I have the honor to be, with the greatest deference and respect, My Lord, Earl Dartmouth. Your Lordship's most obedient Servant Wm TRYON. (N° 28.) My Lord, Governor Tryon to the Earl of Dartmouth. [New-York Papers (S. P. 0. ) 0LXVII1., No. 88. ] On Board the Ship Dutchess of Gordon The Gentleman who delivered me the enclosed letter from Sir John Johnson assured me that by Government's complying with its contents Sir John could muster five hundred Indians to support the cause of Government, & that these with a Body of Regulars might re-take the Forts. If Sir John had the title of Superintendant of Indian Affairs it would give the greatest weight to his Majesty's Indian Affairs. The Indians having the greatest affection for the Son of their late generous Benefactor. I wish your Lordship may think as favourably of Sir John's proposals as I do, and that he may have the powers & necessaries as early as possible to carry them into execution. I transmit Your Lordship the many lists of Friends & Foes that have been left with me by the Country People, and am with the greatest respect, My Lord, Your Lordships most obedient Servant Sir John Johnson to Governor Tryon. [New-York Peperi (8. P. O.) CLXV1II.] Wm TRYON. Sir. I hope the occasion and intention of this letter will plead my excuse for the liberty I take in introducing to your Excellency the bearer hereof Captain Allen McDonell who will inform You of many particulars that can not at this time with safety be committed to writing. The distracted & convulsed State that this unhappy country is now worked up to, and the situation that I am in here, together with the many Obligations our family owe to the best of Sovereigns induces me to fall upon a plan that may I hope be of service to my country, the propriety of which I entirely submit to Your Excellency's better judgement, depending on that friendship which you have been pleased to honour me with for Your advice on and Representation to his Majesty of what we propose. Having consulted with all my friends in this quarter, among whom are many old and good Officers, I have come to the resolution of forming a Battalion, and have named all the Officers, most of whom have a good deal of interest in their respective neighbourhoods, and have now a great number of men ready to compleat the plan—We must however not think of stirring till we have a support, & supply of money, necessaries to enable us to carry our design into execution, all which Mr McDonell will inform Your Excellency of. I make not the least doubt of the success of this plan, should we be supported in time. As to news I must beg leave to refer you to Mr McDonell who will inform you of everything that has been done in Canada that has come to our knowledge. As I find by the papers you are |