assurances given me here that nothing should be omitted which would contribute to forward an amicable adjustment of this matter with the Indians, I enter'd upon it very readily, but found that there was no actual survey made of the Creek to which the Proprietors desir'd to extend their claim; A Diagram was produc'd but such a one as no credit could be given to, and after a considerable altercation I was obliged to break up the meeting without concluding on any thing, and have directed surveys now to be made of the Points in dispute, which, after they are compleated shall be laid before the Claimants here, and if no farther obstacles arise I will send for the three principal Mohawk Chiefs to this Town, and get this affair settled publicly, that I may put a stop to the setting up of any future claims by the Indins.

The many inconveniencies arising from the great extent of the County of Albany have been complain'd of for some years past, and as the population here has increas'd so fast several attempts have been made at different times to subdivide this County, but it has allways met with a sufficient opposition to prevent it by those who have prefer'd their own Interests to the Public Benefit.

All the Lands to the Northward of Dutches and Ulster Counties have been allways deem'd to be in this County, and as the settlements have been constantly extending to the Northward and Westward, the attendance of the Inhabitants at the Circuits, Sessions &c. held at the Town of Albany has become a great greivance to many who are now oblig'd to travel an hundred miles, either to serve as jurors, or as witnesses to bonds & notes of hand; The consequence of this is, that in the recovery of small demands the expence often exceeds the original sum sued for, and numberless Families have been distress'd and oblig'd to give up debts justly due to them, on no other Account but that of the inconvenience and expence attending the recovery of them.

The proposal for the division of this County having been reviv'd again, and by what I can find, a Resolution already form'd of bringing in a Bill at the next Sessions of Assembly for carrying it into execution. Whatever advantages may arise from it to the great number of Persons concern'd in it, it must necessarily meet with an oppositon from me, unless I have his Majesty's permission to give my assent to it, as I apprehend that the Legislature would never propose to preclude any of the New Counties now to be form'd, from all the Rights which the rest of the King's Subjects enjoy here, and of course it would be expected that they should not

be depriv'd of the priviledge of sending Representatives to the House of Assembly: His Majesty's Instructions in regard to this Article are so positive, that your Lordship knows it is not in my power to concurr in a measure now so much wish'd for, and from which so real a Benefit would be deriv'd to all the upper part of this Province, without permission being first obtaind to pass the Bill propos'd.

As the meeting of our Assembly is put of 'till the month of September, I hope I may before the Session is over be favor'd with a line from your Lordship on this head & that His Majesty's pleasure may be made known upon it.

The circular letter wrote by the Speaker of the Massachuset's Assembly and sent into the different Provinces did not arrive here before an end was put to the Session by a dissolution, It is impossible for me to say at present what would have been the effect, if the letter had been receiv'd during the Session, but from the coldness which was shew'd to the proposal made by the Merchants of Boston for entring into a combination concerning the importation of British Manufactures, (already mentioned in my letter No 7. to your Lordship) I do not imagine this Province would have shew'd that forwardness which many others have done on this occasion. The Apprehensions which every Person of property was under during our late Commotions from the Licentiousness of the Populace are not yet forgotten, and I believe they would not willingly see those scenes of disorder renew'd, These are the Sentiments of those I have already conversd with on this head, and as our Assembly will not meet 'till the month of September, there will be sufficient time for reflection before that period comes, Nothing in the mean time shall be wanting on my part to prevent if possible their entring into any such rash engagements, and I shall take every opportunity to lay before them what their Duty to His Majesty will require on this occasion; If I should be so unfortunate as not to meet with the desir'd success, Your Lordship may be assur'd that His Majesty's Orders on this occasion shall be strictly obey'd.

I have the honor to be with the

greatest Respect,

My Lord

Your Lordship's most

Right Honble Earl of Hillsborough

obedient and humble servant
H. MOORE

(N° 17)

Sir,

Earl of Hillsborough to Governor Moore.

[New-York, CLX.]

Whitehall July 9,h 1768

I take the first opportunity that has occurred, since my Dispatch to you N° 15. of acknowledging the Receipt of your Letters from N° 2. to N' 10. with their Inclosures which were all received on the 15th of June and immediately laid before His Majesty.

The Establishment of a New County, with proper Courts and Jurisdictions as in other Counties, seems to be a Regulation which might have been made by Charter under the Province Seal; but as I presume that, in the manner of creating this Establishment, you have conformed to what has been the usage and practice, I have only to signify to you His Maty's Commands, that no Writs should issue for the Choice of Representatives for this New County, unless His Majesty's leave for that purpose shall have been first obtained upon a full Representation to be made by you of the Expediency of it.

The Collection of the printed Laws of the Colony has been received, and if you can procure a like printed collection of the Duke of York's Laws, it may be very usefull; but I do not wish that you should be at the trouble of preparing a MS Copy, as there is one already here in the office of the Lords of Trade.

His Majesty very much approves the Heads of Instruction and Enquiry, under which you propose to have a survey made of the townships granted by the Governor of New Hampshire on the West side of Connecticut River and of the Lands on Lake Champlain; and if the Persons, whom you appoint to execute this service, do not fail in a faithful discharge of their Duty, it is hoped that this Enquiry may produce such full Information of the actual state of these valuable tracts of Country, as may enable His Majesty to direct those Measures to be taken, which shall correspond with His Royal Wishes for the settlement & improvement of them to the Public Benefit, and the satisfaction and advantage of the really industrious and bona fide Possessors.

I am sensible that services of this nature must be attended with Expence and well deserve Recompense; but as the making such Recompence does not belong to my department, all I can do in that case is to represent the Propriety of it, which I shall not fail to do, as far as I shall be enabled and justified by your Report of the matter, when the service is executed.

Your Representation of M'.Colden's Case evinces the Equity of his Claim upon the Colony for the Arrears of his Salary and for Compensation for the Losses he sustained in the Disturbances at New York; and therefore it is the King's Pleasure that you do persevere in your Recommendation of this Matter to the Assembly. I beg the favour of you to acquaint Mr Colden with the Directions you have received upon this subject, that he may be assured, that the sufferings and Complaints of a meritorious old servant of the Crown are graciously attended to by his Majesty, and have not been neglected by me.

His Majesty laments that the inflammatory Publications in print of ill-intentioned Persons, in some of the other Provinces, continue to have the Effect to mislead and raise groundless apprehensions and suspicions in the minds of His Majesty's good Subjects of New York, and to alienate their affections from their fellow Subjects of this Kingdom: and so far as those Meetings of Merchants, which you mention are actuated by a Spirit of Resentment, and a Vol. VIII.

11

Desire of Distressing the Merchants and Manufacturers of Great Britain, they are doubtless, if not illegal and unwarrantable, very unnatural, ungrateful and unbecoming. In their effect however, I trust they will be of no ill consequence to this Kingdom, and if they should induce a real spirit of Economy, 1 cannot but think such a spirit in the Colonies would be of service both to themselves, and to the Mother Country, as, I presume, it is the contrary which has occasioned the enormous Debts, which at present distress the one, and depress the other.

His Majesty highly commends the attention you have shewn to Indian affairs, and in particular to the case of the Kayaderosseras Patent, which has so long been a subject of contention with the Savages, and a Principal Cause of their Jealousy and Enmity. If you can settle this matter agreeably to your Expectations you will have done a very signal service, and, from the success which has already attended the commendable and prudent Measures you have pursued, His Majesty entertains no doubt, that your intended interview with the Indians will be productive of great Public Advantage.

The Bill for establishing a Paper Credit in New York, transmitted with your Letter N° 10, will be laid before the Board of Trade for their Consideration, and I will not fail to communicate to you His Majesty's pleasure in consequence of the Resolutions which may be taken upon their Lordships Report.

Sir Henry Moore.

I am &ca

HILLSBOROUGH

Earl of Hillsborough to the Governors in America.

[Plantations General (S. P. 0.) CCLIV.]

Whitehall July 11. 1768

As I observe it frequently happens that intelligence of Public Transactions in the Colonies is received by private Persons in this City long before any Official Communication of it comes to me, for his Majesty's Information, I conceive this Inconvenience must arise in great measure from his Majesty's Governors not availing themselves of such casual Opportunities of Writing by private Ships as frequently happen, but confining themselves to the Channel of the Packets only; for this reason I desire that you will for the future send your Dispatches by the first opportunity that offers, and Duplicates of them by the next Packet, or in case the Packet shall be the first Opportunity that offers, then you will send your Duplicates by the Next private Conveyance I am &ca

Mr Johnson my Deputy has during my Absence received your Lordships Letters Numbers one, two and three, and acquainted you with the occasion of my going to the Sea Side from

whence I returned a few days ago some what recovered of my late indisposition, he likewise reported in general terms to your Lordship the Steps taken towards effecting the Boundary Line with the Indians, and the occurrences since my departure.

It remains for me now, more fully to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordships Letters with the Report of the Board of Trade, Sincerely to Congratulate you on your late Appointment and dutifully to Submit my thoughts on the Reform which as an Old, and I believe a most faithfull Servant to the Crown, I am enabled, and bound to offer to His Majesty's Consideration, wherein I shall Speak without the smallest Interest or Prejudice beyond what in me naturally arises for the true Interests of the Crown, and the happiness of the People as far as they depend on the pacific disposition of the Indians within my district, should any thing that I offer appear worthy Attention it will in any situation of life yield me the highest Satisfaction, and by its effects point out its utility but should it on the contrary meet with a different reception, the Consideration of the importance of the Subject the necessary Connection I have with it the Experience I may be supposed to have acquire in these Matters and above all the laudable Motives which induced me to the task, will I persuade myself Justify my intention, whilst it affords me the pleasing reflection that I have faithfully discharged my duty.

Your Lordship will please to recollect that the plan for the more effectual regulating of Indian Affairs which came out in 1764, was formed under your Lordships directions and honored with, his Majesty's Approbation when you so wisely presided at the head of the Board of Trade, and has since in part carried into execution attended with as much Success as could have been possibly expected from the powers committed to me, on which Subject I have often since wrote, and at Sundry times offered my humble Sentiments towards such Amendments therein, as seemed most reconcilable to the different Views and Interests of the Americans. That Agreeable to my Instructions I did then and since give the strongest Assurances to all the Nations of Indians thoughout my District, that the same would be firmly established by such Authority and in such Manner as to effectually remove all their uneasynesses That on these Assurances the Majority of them relied, and from the expectation of that Establishment they have been hitherto withheld from committing outrages, the consequences of their own unsettled minds, their strong Jealousies of our power and views since the reduction of Canada, and the Misconduct of Sundry persons in the Colonies which has dailly encreased. That notwithstanding I was not impowered to carry this plan effectually into execution and that some parts of it however Judicious and Political, appeared from reasons that occured since impracticable to be inforced, yet I have still received assurances that some thing similar thereto was under consideration, and that I should speedily receive such powers as would Answer those ends, and that in the interim I should give the Indians such Assurances and take such Measures, as would make them easy till the same was Established; By taking great pains, and by repeating these assurances I have been hitherto enabled, notwithstanding their impatience to preserve peace, which has been solely owing to these Measures and to their expectations founded thereon.

The present Reform for the Indian Department proposed by the Lords of Trade seems very Judiciously framed according to the object it seems to have had in View by Committing Comercial Affairs to the Care of the Colonies with intent principally to the retrenching Expences founded on an expectation that the Colonies Sensible of their former errors will manage better in future. Now My Lord, was I governed by Interest or did it in any manner