220 | To Richard Jackson

    Castle William. June 8. 1763

    Dr Sr

    The letters of a former date which you will recieve with this have been so long delayd; that I have been able to add this & some more to the packett. Among which is another Letter to Mr Townsend with an enclosure of 3 sheets of more last Words on behalf of the Province right to the Tract Eastward of Penobscot under 3 heads I An enquiry into the Origin of the Terms of Acadia & Nova Scotia, & the use thereof. II A State of the facts upon which Massachusets Title to the Lands between Penobscot & St Croix depends. III Arguments in favor of the Massachusets Title. I shall send to you by another Ship Duplicates of this letter & Papers to be presented to Mr Townshend if this Conveyance should fail. But I will in this send you a Copy of the three head which is but short.

    The Settlement at Penobscot promises to be very flourishing if it is not prevented. There is a fresh Spirit rising among them, so that Lots, which some time ago went a begging, now bear a premium; & the 3 most easterly Townships, which I before thought were given up, are now revived & prosecuted as earnestly as the others have been. The Terms of my Township are agreed to, the Plan of the Town is settled, a minister is engaged to supply them with Spiritual food & a merchant with temporal necessaries. And if Permission shall arrive time enough, there will be 60 families settled there before Winter & perhaps 20 or 30 Schooners employed there in fishing this Summer. In the whole, there will be near 800 families settled in a small circle, which at 5 to a family amounts to 4000 Souls. Would it not be a Pity that such a Scheme should be disappointed? What a deal of money has it cost the Government to make such a settlement in other parts? here nothing is askt of it but it’s permission.

    I shall close this subject with assuring you that I am Dr Sr

    Your &c.

    R Jackson Esq.

    PS.

    I closed the letter on the other ^side of as the^ subject was concluded. What I have to write on another I reserved for a PS. In some former letters, I gave you an Account of the violent proceedings of Mr Otis, & in the last of these how he was got to libelling evry respectable Character in the Government, not sparing the Crown itself.823 These Libells have had raised the abhorrence of all good men, & opened the Eyes of many who had been deluded. Accordingly the new assembly, which is uncommonly full of men of Ability, & freinds to the Government, showed their resentment against Mr Otis’s proceed[ings] by turning off the printer of their Votes824 who had printed Mr Otis’s libells, & by removing their Chaplain,825 who (tho’ a very good ^man^ & I believe quite freindly to me) was supposed to be conn[ec]ted with Otis. His father826 also was very near being turned out of the Council, being saved only by a leading man among the freinds of Government who was related to him tak[ing] great pains to get him spared.827 These mortifications with many others made him on [the] third day of the Session by a short Speech resign his seat & pray that they would pursue another Præcept: immediately after which he left the house without waiting for their resolution. But his freinds having prevailed to defer the confirmation of his resignation, He next day came [in] the house & after having made an Apology desired leave to resume his seat, which was granted not without some hesi ^humilia^tion. It is remarkable that on the morning of the day on which he resigned he made the first motion for my salary, which was considered as an overture for a reconciliation, & occasioned some mirth in which he joind.828 He at present continues pretty quiet, which is sufficiently accounted for by it’s appearing upon examination evry trial that the freinds of Government in the Assembly are above 2 to 1. However Care must be taken to prevent his rallying, which I doubt not he will be ready to do upon the first opportunity.

    L, LbC BP, 3: 73-77.