said John to have been done in the Prosecuting, Perfecting and finishing the Recovery aforesaid Clement Jackson Which Motion being Read & Precedents Produced in Court of Such Amendments as are therein Mentioned having been Granted to be made and the Court having duly Deliberated & Advised thereon IT IS CONSIDERED by the COURT that the said Motion be & hereby is Granted and that the Amendment prayed & Moved for, be made in the Original Writ, the Writ of Habere Facias seisinam, Deed to Lead the Uses and all the Records and Process of the said Recovery in as Large, full & Ample Manner as is above RequestedAtt H Wentworth Cle A Copy of Record Examined by Gent/ N Emery Clerk [Letter from John Tufton Mason, Sept. 15, 1749.] [Masonian Papers, Vol. 1, p. 88.] This to Acquaint You of My health hoping You all are allso Well, & Diligent in the Province affair So far as Relateth to our Propriatorship Every Body here Speaks Well of our Scheeme Last Weeke My Great & Good Patron (The Earle of thanett) Came to town & Imediately Sent for Me & Recd Me With the Utmost affection & Kindness Uppon My Relateing the affair to him he hyly aprooved of My Management, and Wisheed all the Success Posseble to those Concerned,,With Me and that If he Could be of any Service to the affair he Would at any & all times apear for Us ading that We Were Quite Right in Distributeing the Land our Selves Without the assembly' assistance as it Would have Been a great Charge to the Province & an Unequall Divition to the Poor; he thinks it Would be of Great Service for the Propriators to Send Yearly a Ship or More to the North of Ireland for People to Setle our Land as they are Industrouss People, assoone as I heare there is a Setlement begun I Shall aply to him for a Minister to be Mantaina oute of the fund for Propagating the Gospell in foraign Parts, if You thing it advizable, he Being one of the Chiefe Comisioners for that End I Pray You" Kepe Me allways Well advized, of Your Proceedings, and as the Letters Will Cost Much Postage I Desire You Will 1 Incloose them Under Cover (To the Right Honoble the Earle of thanett) Whitch Will frank them and Cause them to Come Safe My Lord is gone Down into Kent a few Days ago I Shall follow him tomorow as he Insists on My Living With him While I am In England & tells Me I have No ocation to Spend My Money fo Lodging & Dyat While he has a house, Whitch I think Kind and Shall Accept off he farther Says I Shall be Provided With Some Post before Long that Shall Make my Life Easey to Me Mr Thomlinson Wonders that You Dont Send the Plan & Proceeding home & So Do I my Selfe because You Know that I Was So Short a Time With You that I am Ignorant of the Greatest Part of What has been Done, I have the Pleasure to Inform You that there is No great Danger of any Body Mollesting Us in our Possession, Pray Send the Copy of My Case Drawn by Mr Sharp and the atturney & Sollicetor Gen" opinion In Casse anything Should Start, I Shall Not Come to New England this Year I hope & Expect You" Reserve as Much Land oute of the New Deed as Will Put Me on a footing With a fiveteenth Part as I Was obligd In honour to Part With a 30th to Comply with My Word, and as there is So Much More Left Yet that Was Not in the former Deed, if You find any thing in My absence that Will Want My Imediate apearance I believe it will be Proper to Send Me a Power of aturney In Conjunction With M Thomlinson, he, as allso My Lord thanett Says that the governour had Beter be Easey than to Mollest us in the Least, Mr thomlinson is allso Much Pleased that We have Not forgot him as a Propriator the great Noisse of Mr Royall Coming Governour is all a Gasconad for the Gentleman Mr Bethell Would Not Stir in the affair & if he had It Would hav had no Effect the affair with ye governour & y assembly being over, as Supoass they are Convinced by this time, there is a Damd Noyce aboute the Governours treatment to Capt Sherburne and Major Gilman at all the Boards & My Lord Halifax & the Secretary at War, have Express them Selves Very freely on that Subject, in faifour of them So has St Peter Warren in So Mutch that they get the Pay & Not the Governours Sons, I am Very Sory that Such an Unguarded Step Was taken by the Governour otherwise it would have Been Very Easey for My friends togather With his, to have got him Massachusetts In order to Make Way for Me in Newhampshire, allthough: My Lord thanett Says it is Not Worth his asking for Me, on Account of the Income, but he thinks it Will be of Infinite Service toward our Carying on our Setlement & he has Promissed Me that I Shall have it, in Casse any thing Should hapen Mr Wentworth So that I think I Shall be Powerfull Enough for Mr Royall & his Interest & Now Gentlemen as We are all as one Man With Regard to the Propriaty I think We ought to be as Secreet In ou Private Confabulations & advizes as though it Were in a Well Constituted Lodge of Masons for Whitch Reason I Desire that these thing I have Wrote You May be a Secreet amoungst You, as it Can be Service to Let others Know it: I Know You all to Be Gentelemen of Honour or Should Not have Created You Lords: Nor Laid My Selfe open to You I Should be Glad of Your Opinion of What I have hinted assoone as Convenient In the Mean time I am Gent Your Hmle Servt Jn° Tufton Mason PS John Husk Lays Down With the Small Pox but Lik to Recover London Sept ye 15th 1749 JTM To the Right Honoble the Lords Propriators of New Hampshire these [Story of the Purchase from Mason.] [Masonian Papers, Vol. 2, p. 82.] Sr. Being at Boston in the Winter I tho't there was reason to Suspect that design was attempting against ye Propriety of Masons Right, and to be effected at Home Soon wherefore I took occasion on the 1st of February ye Bethel Frigate Cap' Ross to give you a Breaf Accot of ye Scituation of our Propriety Affairs, and Should only Send you a Duplicate this Oppo but not knowing of your being particularly inform'd of the Proceedings upon Mason's Right Since your Agreement with Cap' Mason in Londo April 1730-I now endeavour to give you the State of ye whole Proceedure since ye Arival of that Agreement here to this time-You being Sensible of the Right Cap' Mason had to the Lands of this Province as far ye Patent Extends, and how Expedient it would be to the Wellfare of the Inhabitants to have that Right rest within the Government, and how prejudical it might have been to be lodg'd elsewhere a weighty Inducement of your Obtaining that Agreement with him, and upon Such easy Terms, that your good Service in the Benefits to be preserv'd and the Damages that it might have prevented may not be easily rated-The first publick appeare that I can find it made in this Government was the Governour's Sending it to the Assembly on 30th October 1744 for their perusal & Consideration on ye 9th of December following the Gov Send's to ye house to desire they would come to Some Resolve about ye Agreement between you & Mason on ye first of Jan' The Gov' Send's to ye House to know if they had Acted upon the Indenture between you and Mason The next Notice taken about it, was a Memorial presented by Capt Mason on ye 18th Feb 1745 to Gov' Council & Assembly Setting forth y principal Articles of ye Indenture and Signifying that ye term limitted for performance of ye Covenant had expired four years, & that he was within that time ready to Comply on his part and was then also ready and willing to comply, and requested they would come to a Determination concerning the Premises Feb 224 the memorial was read in Council and recommendedMay 7th 1746 in Council the memorial was read and Recommended again, and Sent down-the first Effect that I can Understand these Recommendations and Capt Mason's memorial had in the House was a Resolution that his Right should not in any Respect be mention'd in ye Journals of the house, tho' a Com'ittee was appointed to get Counsell upon it, weh was rendered thus far, that it was the Opinion of ye Counsell that Mason or ye Heirs of Allen had a Right but most likely to be in Mason as no Act was known certainly to be pass'd to Dock y Entail of ye Patentee's Will wch conveyed ye Right of ye Premises in an Estate Tail-and Stated the Affair in a familiar Simile that the Government purchasing of Capt Mason's Right to Lands in this Province on ye terms of your agreement Seem'd to be like y Case of a Merchant who should purchase a Vessell and Cargo at a Small Expence to Send to a certain Place where if ye Vessel arrived would make an immense Profit, but if should founder by ye Voyage ye Loss would not be great-notwithstanding this and frequent Sollicitations of Persons without Doors, anything offered to induce y Assembly could not have any Effect-Capt Mason Waited upon y Assembly After he Return'd from London in 1745 and offered to comply on his part with ye Agreement but they took little notice of him ye last time he waited upon them I think a short time before he had ye Common Recovery pass'd he declared he should then take their Silence for a Denial of complying with your Agreement with him and should not give them or himselfe any further Trouble about the affair if not soon determined he had in Return a disdainfull Slight-In June 1746 Capt Mason at his own Expence had a Common Recovery pass'd at ye court of Common Pleas to dock ye Entail of his Ancestor's Will, and being determin'd to make Sale of his Right in New Hampshire which descended to him by that will he generously offered to Sell it to People of New Hampshire before any others, from a just Apprehension of y pernicious Consequence the Selling it to our friendly Neighbors would be to all ye Inhabitants within a short time after ye Process of ye Common Recovery was Compleated Capt Mason offered to make Sale of his Said Right to Gentlemen whom he knew were Friends to the Prosperity of this Province or nearly related to Such & none refused to purchase of him, and of those Persons I beleive every man in a political or private Capacity Sollicited the members of ye Assembly to Comply with your Agreement with Mason. Capt Mason being then under Order to repair to his Post at Louisbourg in a few days, hasten'd ye Coming to a Conclusion of the Sale of his Right, and a meeting was proposed at his Request to agree with him upon the affair, & when met it was propos'd to defer y matter, to See if ye Assembly who were then Sitting would not comply with ye Agreement but Capt Mason considered ye length of time Since it first lay before them and more than a month after ye Common Recovery pass'd to dock y entail, and ye disdainfull Usage his personal Applications met with from ye Assembly that he was then Resolved to have no further communication with them upon ye affair so nothing further could be offered upon that head-there were twelve of ye purchasers present and it was proposed that you shou'd have a part equal to any of y purchasers and Capt Mason reserv'd an equal part for you and an equal part Designd for Jn° Rindge and the Sum in Consideration of y Sale was by halfe as much more than you agreed with Mason for y Government, then the Form of a Deed was ye Subject of Consideration Coll" Atkinson was to have conveyed to him one for himselfe & two of wch intended to be reconvey to Mason one of wch he design'd for you another for himselfe M H W-th his own and for Jn Rindge then a minor-the other ten parts to ye Persons named-it was design'd & propos'd that many more persons should be concern'd but ye different opinions about ye form of a Deed of Conveyance produced a Resolution of not Admitting any other persons, least a greater variety of Opinions should occasion a delay which Cap Mason urged against as ye Vessell he was to sail in to Louisbourg would depart in a few days and ye necessary Buisness of his Family requiring his Attention, he desired y Quickest Dispatch to have ye Deed Executed, upon which it was so concluded, and y Buisness of ye Deed committed to three persons to get prepared— it was at this time also Considered the Occasion & Design of our Making the Purchase of Capt Mason--which were that the Government would not make ye Purchase tho' they might have had it upon So reasonable terms as is express'd in your agreem' and Capt Mason |