As for the Dukes county & county of Cornwall I refer to ye audit. What acct Mr Santen gives & Judge Palmer whom I sent thither last spring & has made his returns to Mr Santen among which theres an account of the seizure of wines and oyl made in the county of Cornwall

The first year I left every thing to the care of Mr Santon & what officers he thought fit to put in, but afterwards finding things ill managed I spake to Mr Santon several times, advising him as a friend to look better to the trust reposed in him.

What returns he has made mee for my kindness I will pass by & say noe more of them than I am obliged to doe for my own vindication having nothing of ill will against him

After the expiration of the year I desired him to bring in his accounts that they might bee audited which he promised me from time to time but in such manner as was not fit for him for always when I spoke to him of moneys & accompt he flew into a passion

Upon which I ordered him that since hee had no better government of himself he should refrain from coming into my company & after I frequently sent to him by the Secy for his accompts who likewise met with the same dilatory answers. Upon which I had him brought before the council 3 or 4 times where he was often ordered to bring in his accts but all to noe purpose for upwards of a year together as yr Lops may see by the time of the audit & by the several orders of council herewith sent

At last when his accts came I shewed them to the council who were mightily surprised that for eighteen & upwards the Revenue should amount but to £3000 & odd pounds upon which I had them audited and thereby it was found that a great many frauds had been done to the King as your Lops may see by the said audit & the charge brought in & proved against Mr. Santon

Then I desired him to put John Smith from the office of surveyor and out of the custom house having the charity for mr Sauton to believe that that man has cheated him as well as the King (I having had while in England this ill character of him from Sr Benjn Bathurst that for his misbehavior he had been turned out of a good employment) But he never wod comply with it notwithstanding several orders of councill to that affect until I put in one Thomas Coker to bee surveyor, upon which Smith being concerned at losing his surveyors place, grew very insolent and put Mr Santon upon worse measures as is believed, for which & other misdemeanors as yr Lops may pceave by the Minutes of Council sent over by Mr Sprag he was turned wholly out of the Custom House In Hatlow (Servt to Mr Santon) that was waiter and searcher he sent into England as I am informed to the commissioners of thee custom house for a commission to be collector for the enumerated comoditys here, & would force so much for his going & coming as yr Lops may see charged in his acct brought in to the audit & likewise has brought in a note of his for four and twenty pounds odd money for going to the east end of Long Island in which he did not spend fourteen days time The Auditor finding noe cheque upon the collector his book keeper being Surveyor called upon this Hatlow for his warrants who answered that hee had none or that if ever hee had any hee had left them in England.

Upon which I put in one Larkin in his stead who upon an order in Council set up in the Custom House commanding noe goods to goe off without a warrant refusing to lett some goods be exported on the verbal order of Mr Santon only was by him turned out of that place as your Lops will see by the aforementioned charge & the proofs thereto

After the audit of his first accts the others were demanded and with the same difficulty as the former obtained as yr Lops may perceive by the said minutes of Council particularly the order for payment every Saturday which was occasioned thus The Council considering how dilatory Mr Santon was & with what difficulty he would be brought to account being satisfied that Mr Santon was then behindhand in his paymts & that in process of time he might bee yet more soe for the preventing of further embezlement of his Matys revenue they ordered him that every Saturday he should

acct with and pay into mee what he had received the preceding week which was a method taken in the time of St Edmond Andros with Capt Dyer the then Collector upon the like occasion tho' this had not the like effect thro Mr Santens disobedience, for as hee did with all other orders hee did with this hee took noe notice of it

As alsoe there were several orders of Council requiring him to have all his acts from the 25th of March to the 6th of October ready for Mr. Sprag to carry over audited with him who had agreed for his passage in a ship & kept her here on that purpose these two months past. But with all this he made noe compliance pretending that by a letter from my Lord Treasurer hee was satisfied his accomps were not to be audited here that hee was only obliged to leave a duplicate with me upon which the Council upon sight of the letter agreed that it was reasonable for him to send his accomps home but that nevertheless it was my duty to have them audited according to former instruction & soe to continue to doe until I should have orders to the contrary from Mr. Blathwayt to whom my Lord Treasurer in his letter refers it being otherwise impossible for me to answer this query. Seeing soe many abuses done to his Maty & finding fair means to be wholly ineffectual to the making Mr. Santen discharge his duty & hee continuing still refractory & disobedient to the several orders of Council to him directed, the charge which yr Lops have herewith was drawn up against him to which hee answered in such manner as your Lops will see on perusal of the copy thereof herewith sent. Upon hearing of which charge and answer & ye proofs thereto herewith likewise sent, thee council made their report to mee under their hands, in manner as your Lops sees by the copy thereof which you have likewise herewith wherein altho' they positively say that he has been an unfaithful servt to his Maty in the management of his Revenue, yet I sent for him & advised him to give in security for the ballance of the acct that by the audit he was found behind hand. And for his better carriage for the future which if hee did I promised to pass by all former faults & make noe complaint against him. I not only told him this myself but from time to time sent messages to him to this effect sometimes by such of the council as were his particular friends sometimes by the ministers & often by the Secretary but all to noe purpose hee still continued obstinate

And what returns he made mee to these several instances of my kindness I shall not now trouble your Lops with

Nevertheless I forbare doing anything further against him till the expiration of the second audit proposing that then when I could know the whole amount of his debt I would at once doe my best. to secure the Kings concerns from sustaining any loss by him

At last hee brought in a book without being signed and said he could not lieve them neither, they being to bee sent over to Mr. Blathwayt. Whereupon we were forct to give him 3 weeks longer to get them copied & then with great adoe he signed them & brought in with them an acct called a general acct, an acct so extravagant that your Lops have hardly seen the like

Then I pressing the auditors to make an end they desired that they might have his papers to compare with those books & accomps he had delivered in, which by order of council hee was required to deliver to them. But he refusing as appears by the testimony of 3 of the auditors herewith sent, It was ordered that his said papers should be seized and he suspended from the sd office of collector & receiver till his Matys pleasure should be known thereon & he taken into the Sheriff's custody and there remain till hee should give in such security as in the said orders is expressed as relation to the said orders had, may more at large appear

Upon search of the Pap's relating to his Matys revenue I found a charge drawn up against myself with letters to his Maty Lord T'sear Lord Chancellor & several other gentlemen stuft with complaints against me and other p'sons which are wholly false

Indeed its true the poor gentleman since his coming here has been troubled with 3 or 4 hypocondriack fitts, he was in one of them when his Matys nomination of the Council came over

upon which they all thought it not convenient to have him sworn at least at that time as your Lopps will see by the minutes of council

And my lords to be short I must say this of him hes a man wholly unfit for business especially this wherein hee has noe more skill than a child, Soe that for the executing of it he must have hist whole dependence upon another. I am sure I had not taken more care of the Revenue than hee did since I found his failure it had been more embezled than it is for though he received the money I was obliged to continual watching to guard against his carelessness and neglects

And truly what he takes very ill what there is neither president nor establishment for

In his commission hee has allowed him £200 pr annum the same allowance that Dyer had in the time of Sr Edmond Andros of which £100 was for the Surveyor Comptroller & Waiter therefore I finding no new establishment allow him no more than Dyer had for him & his officers Salary it being the sentiment of the Council that I could not alter the former practice with which they were well acquainted But he gives himself a far larger allowance he will have it that his salary is sterling; and to make it so of this country money he charges three & thirty Pr cent advance & one hundred pound more for his two under officers, Besides this Mr Smith being his Deputy-Surveyor & Book-keeper, hee would have allowance to him of £50 p2 ann as his deputy £40 Pr ann as his accomptant £30 Pr ann for his transcribing his books £20 Pr annum Pr his diet besides his salary for Surveyor, For John Harlow hee would have allowed £30 Pr ann as waiter, £48 Pr ann as being employed in the Kings service where or how noe man Knows £20 pr ann for his Diet and £162 and two voyages made into England with despatches for his Maty all this & a great deal more such for his officers in the country, & the like your Lops will see in his last general acct a copy whereof is herewith sent,

Notwithstanding hee charges the King soe largely for his officers salaries, to some of them hee has paid nothing at all insomuch as they are making very great clamor for their money, and not getting it from him expect it from the King

Of his own head hee bought a little rotten tool of a sloop on pretence for his Matys service, which as your Lops may see by their audit, has stood the King in near £700 & now cannot be sold for thirty soe must either be laid up or burnt

In his instructions & by several orders from me & the council he was expressly forbid to trust out his Matys revenue notwithstanding I was forc't to take notes from him to the value of £800. besides a great many more which hee pretends still to be standing out as your Lops will perceive by the audit

Hee has likewise been negligent in taking the bonds required by the laws of the Government from the masters of ships one ill consequence whereof has been the New York Pink has carried off several Elephants teeth without entry, & the bond being inquired for there was none taken, How he has behaved himself touching an interloper that came in hither I have already given Sr Benj. Bathurst an account, and as for the debts for him pretended to too the auditors upon enquiry the most of them are found to bee received by him. and I believe of the rest, the twentieth part will never be had, they are soe ill

And besides notwithstanding his confused way of accounting & being without a cheque upon him as aforesaid, he is found by his own accounts brought into the audit to be £1758 15 shillings threepence and gths of a penny in debt to the King as your Lors may see by the said audit which (as is to be feared) is all gone besides his salary and pquisits, on which he might have lived very handsomely.

Hee (as hee hath all along done) does to all persons he converseth with speak scurrilously & abusively of me & ye Council which considering his circumstances we let pass without taking any notice of

Hee is likewise very troublesome to the present management of his Matys customs.

I desire that as soon as may bee I may know what his Matys pleasure is should bee done with him, what acct I have here given yr Lorps of him is as moderate as may bee farr short of what I might have represented & yet have spoken nothing but the truth. What I have done has not been out of malice, for I beare none to him rather pitty, but purely with an intent to doe his Maty service & to secure his interest, as I doubt not will appear to yr Lopps and if I bee to be blamed for any thing in the Series of this affair its for too much forbearance

Thus my Lords I have given you as good an account of the Revenue received, & by whom as I can, as also how the same in a great part of it has been mismanaged and by what meanes I shall therefore now proceed to give your Lopps an estimate of what charge the maintenance of this Govermt has been hitherto to mee & what will be requisite for its further support.

Its a very hard thing upon mee that coming over hither in troublesome times, finding noe revenue established & yet having three garrisons to look after & the forts in the condition before mentioned, & finding such contest between the Governm of Canada & this about the Beaver Trade the Inland Country & the Indians, to purchase, as I was obliged by my instructions, sixty odd miles, upon the Hudsons River 17 or 18 miles into the land in one place from the Indians. In another place up the River 16 miles. And on the south side of Long-Island twelve miles, to give a great deal to the Indians for Susquehanna River to bee at great expences on the Assembly at their first sitting when they gave the revenue & on the Lord Howard of Effingham when here with his train Governor Pen, commissioners from Boston & other colonies, the Govr of Connecticut East and West Jersey, the running the line between this & East Jersey, and the like between Connecticut and this, tho' that last not yet finished besides the establishment as will appear by my books when audited & sent over, which shall be by the very first conveniency, & had been long ere now, had I got Mr. Santens sooner done

In the meantime yr Lops may be capable of making an estimate of the constant charge of the Govermt by the calculation thereof herewith sent in which you see that there is set down yearly for the Council Judges & Attorney General which tho' not at present allowed in my opinion with submission to your Lops there is a necessity there should. The Councilors being persons obliged to a constant attendance from their own business & the judges such as devote themselves wholly to that service & whose present salary is soe small to support them & their familys in that station as is set forth in their petition which I have herewith sent to his Maty for his consideration, neither can the Attorney-general's small perquisites bee able to maintain him in going thro his Matys concerns, which may take up his whole time, without the addition of such salary as his Maty shall think fitt to allow.

Your Lops taking all this into yr consideration, cannot but think his Maty must be in debt, which however would not have been very much had Mr. Santen done his duty.

What revenue there is is with the ease and satisfaction of the people & paid without grumbling, though as much as modesty can bee put upon them.

Soe that if Connecticut be not added to the Govermt it can be hardly able to support itself. But if it bee added, thee revenue will bee sufficient to keep the King wholly out of debt.

Mr. Santen taxes me with covetousness in not allowing sufficiently to the officers employed. Niggardly I have not been, but the revenue being soe small & having soe great a charge, I endeavored to bee as good a husband for the King as I could I'm sure better than I ever was for myself. And truly I have been put soe to it to make things doe that what small pquisits I got I have disburst, & not only soe, but have been forc't to engage my credit soe far as t'would goe & that not sparing to pawn my plate for money to carry on the King's affairs & now I have sent some of

it home by Mr. Spragg to reimburse Sr Ben Bathurst what hee has paid for mee, & to provide clothes for the soldiers & some things for my own use.

Answer to

charges

Now My Lords before I proceed to answer the rest of your queries I will take occasion here to give your Lops satisfaction as to those articles Mr. Santer has been pleased to draw up Capt. Santer's against mee, a copie whereof I herewith send for yr Lopps perusal the scope of which agamist me. being to charge with mismanagement of his Matys affairs, I thought noe place more proper for my making appear the falsity of his accusation than here, wherein I have been soe long treating of the mismanagement of the revenue in which this man himself had soe large a share› which answers follow distinctly with relation to such proofs as are herewith sent necessary for my vindication.

As to the FIRST Article-concerning a copartnership in a trade to France, &c.

For my justification & making appear the falsehood of this article is the testimony of Mr. John Sprag & Mr. Gabriel Minvielle taken before Mr. Swinton clerk of the Council hereunto annexed.

To the SECOND concerning a partnership in trade to Newfoundland.

This is noe less true than the other as appears by Major Brokhelles testimony, &c. & truly had I any such design I had not communicated with the King's collector especially to a man of his disposition & subject to soe many follies and infirmitys that he was never capable of concealing his own secrets from the very rabble of the town, and always made the debates of the Council (while he was a member of it) the subject matter of his Tavern discourse.

To the THIRD Concerning my going sharer with the Privateers.

Wherein he does mee the honor to join mee in partnership with privateers. I dont believe that Frederick Flipson ever went sharer with any body in a ship & am sure Beekman never had a vessel nor a share in a vessel in his life. Had I had 2 or 3 men's shares of what was got upon the wreck I think it had been noe breach of Law or my instructions it being customary in such cases for the Gov's of plantations to have it. But Mr. Santen too was mistaken in this they did not clear for the wreck & least they should make incursion upon the Spaniards I took security from them that they should not, in short for my justification on this point I refer myself to the testimonies of Frederic Flipson & Beakman & the obligation aforesaid herewith sent.

To the FOURTH Copartnership with Mr Antill for Jamaica.

Hee does me wrong I never was concerned with Mr Antill in copartnership One Vaughan half brother to Mr Sprag that had been a volunteer 2 or 3 years on board Captn Temple, & happening to bee in London when I came away offered his service to come along with mee, whom finding a pretty ingenious young man & out of employment I promised to help him with a little money when hee stood in need of it for to put him into some way. Whereupon not long after this Antill purposed if he could get money from his brother or any other to purchase the half of a little ship then to bee sold hee would purchase the other & that Vaughton should goe master of her upon which hee came to me into the country where I then was & acquainted me with ye proposal and desired my assistance to enable him to comply with it. I demanded what security he could give mee, hee proposed to make over his share in the vessel for it. Upon which in kindness to him I let him have the money & took the vessel in security for it & by him sent as a venture ten Barils of Oyle of a drift Whale that came to my share, & thirteen half Barils of Flower, to purchase Sugar Molasses Sweetmeats Oranges and other necessaries for use in my family. And this (as Mr. Santen knows as well as I & most of the town) was all the concerns I ever had with Antil