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 bee laid up or burnt

In his instructions @ by several orders from me @ the council he was expressly forbid to trust out his Maty 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 bee 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 Goverment 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 hee 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 beleive of thee 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 bee £1758. 15 shillings threepence and gths of a penny in debt to the King as your Lops may see by the said audit which (as is to bee 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 Maty pleasure is should bee done with him, what acct I have here given yr Lopps 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 May service @ to secure his interest, as I doubt not will appear to yr LOPPS and if I bee to bee 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 alsoe 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 bee 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 Governmt 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 Hudsons River 17 or 18 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, commisioners from Boston @ other colonies, the Govr of Connecticut East @ 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 bee 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-generals small perquisites bee able to maintain him in going thro his Matys concerns, which takes up his whole time, without the addition of such salary as his Maty shall think fitt to allow

Your LoP 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 @ satisfaction of the people @ paid without grumbling, tho' as much as modesty can bee put upon them

Soe that if Connecticut bee 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 Kings affairs @ now I have sent some of it home by Mr Sprag 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 a

gainst me

Now My Lords before I proceed to answer the rest Capt Santer's 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 against mee, a copie whereof I herewith send for yr Lopps perusal the scope of which being to charge me 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 Kings collector especially to a man of his disposition subject to soe many follies @ infirmitys that he was never capable of concealing his own secrets from the very rabble of the town, @ always made the debates of the Council (while he was a member of it) the subject matter of his Tavern dis

course

To the THIRD concerning my going sharer with the Privateers Wherein hee 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 @ I 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 Govrs 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 Vaughton half brother to Mr Sprag that had been a volunteer 2 or three years on board Capta Temple,@ hapning 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 mony 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 mee into the country where I then was acquainted mee with ye proposal @ desired my assistance to enable him to comply with it. I demanded what security hee 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 necessarries for use in my family. And this (as Mr. Santen knows as well as @ most of the town) was all the concerns I ever had with Antil

amounted to

To the FIFTH concerning the Dogger

This Mr Beekman having a Sloop went from this place to Nevis (@S William Stapleton hearing of a Dutch privateer gave him a commission to goe after him, which hee did took a great ugly vessel ye dutch have for fishing with one deck @ went back with her to Nevis. Whereupon Sr Wm in reward of his good service gave him the Kings his own share in her soe hee brought her hither where shee being a Dutch built @ and the man having a mind to sell her, had her condemned at a Court of Admiralty. Upon which I forgave him the Kings share which by apprizement as doth appear by Mr Beekman's testimony To the SIXTH concerning Heathcot's Sloop. Mr. Santen does me wrong in this for upon the word of a Christian, I know not at this minute who were the apprizers they having been appointed by the Court where the sloop@goods were condemned, they too upon their oaths. Neither had I any advantage by that vessel as Mr Santen knows tho' hee had by making George Heathcot pay him ninty pound @ charges which was more than the third part of the condemnation came too soe that I hope this is not the voyage hee charges the King with soe much for, tho' it is the only remarkable one hee ever made @ yet but ten miles distant from this place