234 | Answer to the Queries of the Board of Trade

The Answer of Francis Bernard Esq Governor of his Majesty’s Province of Massachusets Bay to the Queries Proposed by the Right Honorable The Lords Commissioners for Trade & Plantations.

[1]873 The Province of Massachusets Bay is situated on the continent of North America towards the Atlantick Ocean between the Degrees of latitude 41 & 45874 ^reckoning by sea coast only.^ The Soil is inferior to that of England in general, but is Very Suitable to Indian Corn Barley Oats & Rye. It has not as yet produced Wheat enough for its own consumption, being not so easy of tillage as the Soil of the Southern Provinces. It is Very natural to English Grass of all sorts. The Heat in Summer & the Cold in Winter are much more intense than in England. I once observed Farenheits Thermometer875 3½ degrees below 0 & the Summer following It was 96½ for a short time: But these were both singular & uncommon instances. Last Winter which was very severe it was several times at 2, & never lower, this Summer which has been temperate it has never been higher than 88. So that I would consider those as the general extremities. Notwithstanding the intenseness of the Cold, The Winter is a Very healthy Season; so is the Summer & the Autumn. But the Spring is a dangerous time to uncareful People, upon account of the frequent cold Easterly Wind interfering with the Warmth of the Opening Summer. The Principal Ports, are Boston, Salem, Newberry & Falmouth, each of which has a seperate Custom house: There are several other good harbours. The Principal Rivers that have any considerable inland Navigation are the Merrimack, the Kennebeck & the Penobscot. Boston the Capital by good observations is found to lie in 42º. 25´ North latitude & 71º. 30´876 west longitude from London. I cant learn that the longitude has been taken anywhere else by observation; & suppose it is laid down in modern Maps by computation.

2877 The Province consists of the Old Colony of Massachusets Bay, the Colony of New Plimouth the Province of Main & the Country between the Province of Main & the River S^t. Croix called the Territory of Sagadehock. The Old Colonys of the Massachusets & New Plymouth being contiguous are bounded on the South by the Colonies of Rhode Island & Connecticut, on ^the West by New York, on the North by New hampshire, on^ the East by the Atlantick. The Province of Main extends from the River Newichewanick along the Sea Coast North Eastward (the Coast lyes nearest North East & South West) to the River Kennebeck & up the Rivers Newichewanock & Kennebeck into the Lands North westward untill 120 miles are finished & a Line to be drawn from the end of the 120 Miles up Newichewanock to the end of the 120 Miles up Kennebeck. By a decree of his late Majesty in Council878 settling the Boundaries between the Massachusets & New Hampshire the construction of Northwestward was determined to be North two degrees west, which has altered the formerly conceived Bounds of that Province being then a regular tract about 120 miles Square.879 A dispute has subsisted many years between this Province & New York concerning boundaries. The Merits of it having been heard & considered by the Lords Commissioners for Trade & Plantations, & a report having been made thereon the Province humbly waits his Majesty’s determination.880 A dispute subsisted also between this Province & the Colony of Connecticut untill the year 1713 when the Line was settled & run by Commissioners from both Goverments. Four Towns Woodstock Suffield Enfield & Somers which had been granted & settled by Massachusets fell within Connecticut. By a preliminary agreed between the two Governments,881 if any Towns which had been granted by either Government should fall within the other, the Jurisdiction should remain to the Government which granted and an equivalent should be given for the Property: Accordingly an equivalent in other lands was granted by the Massachusets to Connecticut who received & sold the Same; & the Jurisdiction of the Towns remained with the Massachusets without dispute untill the year 1746; when the Province being excessively burthened with a Debt incurred by the Expedition to Cape Breton & an intended Expedition against Canada the Inhabitants of these four Towns refused to submit any longer to the Massachusets Government & applied to Connecticut for Protection who by an Act extended the County of Windham to the Massachusets Line & have ever since excersised Jurisdiction over them.882 The Massachusets judging it would be of bad consequence in a time of War by Acts of Power to compel Subjection immediately, exhibited their humble Complaint to his Majesty in Council against the Government of Connecticut for this unfair proceeding; which complaint has not yet been considered. I am humbly of Opinion that if his Majesty should be pleased to order those revolted Towns to return to their subjection to the Massachusets, that it would be for the Peace of both Governments & that the Inhabitants in general of those Towns would likewise be well satisfyed, provided they might be exempted from paying Taxes to the Massachusets which the Government every year have continued to lay upon them ever since their revolts. It is but equitable they should be exempted for such years as they have paid to Connecticut in the Mean time. But the Taxes for which they were in Arrears at the time of their revolt & which are still unpaid it is equitable they should still be charged with.883 Some question has lately been made of the Validity of the Title of the Province to the Lands between the Rivers Penobscot & S^t. Croix: the merits of their Claim has been at large laid before your Lordships.884

3885 It is impracticable to take an exact account of the Shipping belonging to this Province & their tonnage, as Shipping itself is a considerable Article of trade; And when a Ship is built for Sale She is registered freighted & cleared in the same manner as if she was to continue in the trade of the Province, and therefore the Entries of the Naval Office & Custom house afford no certain grounds to estimate the quantity of the permanent Shipping of the Province. A List of the Shipping ^from 10 tons upwards^ belonging to the several Towns in the Province was taken by order of the general Court in 1761, & the returns amounted to 57,000 Tons: but this was undoubtedly imperfect. The Shipping of Boston has decreased of late: This is partly owing to the increase of the Trade of other towns in the Province & partly to the illicit trade which is carried on in Rhode Island Connecticut &c with greater Security than it can be here.886 Ship building is generally a losing trade, but it is a necessary resort to make good the ballance due to Great Britain when other branches fail or prove insufficient. The Whale Fishery has been increased since the reduction of Canada: Many small Vessels have made profitable Voyages in the Gulph of S^t Lawrence; but I am informed that so little regard has been had to the preserving the Calves or young Whales, & the fishery has been generally pursued with such unremission, that the Want of the regulations to which the french subjected that fishery, will be soon felt by the total destruction thereof. The Produce of this fishery, Oyl & Bone is shipped directly for Great Britain, & has for the last year made a considerable part of the returns. The Trade of the Codfishery is carried on at the Towns of Salem Marblehead Glocester & Plymouth, and at some other Towns of lesser Note. It is not an encreasing Trade, the Scarcity of hands & the high Wages, which are the Natural Consequences of War having much checked it: but I am in hopes that it will be improved by the Settling the Peace. The best of Cod goes to Spain Portugal & Italy, the produce whereof is chiefly remitted to England; The Worst sort is sent to the West Indies. There are also other lesser fisheries which employ a good many small Vessells. Herrings & Shad are taken in the rivers and in the beginning of the Summer & Mackrell from July to October. These are Salted and Barrelled & sent to the West Indies. These several kinds of fish together with boards staves shingles & hoops commonly called lumber, with some provisions & garden stuff of no great value make up the freights to the West Indies: the returns are made partly in remittances to England & partly in rum Sugar & Melasses. The latter Article (besides what is consumed in Specie by the Inhabitants) is distilled into rum, which is used in the trade to Newfoundland, the whole produce of which is remitted to England & is sent to Maryland & Virginia in return for Corn & Pork: a great part of it is used in the prosecution of the fisheries; & some part (perhaps too much) consumed by the inland inhabitants. But upon the Whole I consider the Melasses distilling as very necessary to the chief part of the trade of this province; and if it should be obstructed either by a severe execution of the present laws or by the enacting of new ones for that purpose, I fear that the consequences would soon be felt by the English Merchants trading to this Country. Indeed there is a succedaneum887 that this people might resort to, if the Melasses distillery was obstructed, I mean the distilling Spirits from Grain raised in this Country: but the misfortune would be that all the ill consequences of the interruption of the Melasses distillery would take effect before the New Distillery from grain could be brought about. If It was not for the danger of this interval, It might be made a question, whether it would not be better for the province to distill from their own produce: But Innovations in matters of trade are so precarious, that I cannot help recommending the encouragement of the Melasses distillery in this Province. This Province also sends out considerable quantities of Provisions to Nova Scotia & to Newfoundland, the produce of which is remitted to Great Britain. I know of no ^new^ Trades Works or Manufactures that are or may prove hurtful to Great Britain; I rather think that the Province rather wants Trades & Manufactures than abounds in them; for it is certain that within these late years the imports have been greater than the Province can well bear; and they must be lessened, unless New funds can be found out for Answering them. Upon the whole as Great Britain will always have what this Country can spare (at present, I believe, She takes rather more than it can spare) She need not fear trades & Manufactures set up here; since whatever is saved or gained here will be sent to Great Britain to purchase other things. Superfluities are laid out in luxury; American Luxury is almost wholly supplied from Great Britain; therefore all profit in America must centre in Great Britain. Even illegal trade, where the ballance is in favour of the British Subject, makes its final returns to Great Britain. For want of a more certain account of the Shipping I hereto add an Account of the Ships &c which passed Castle William outward bound from July 1. 1762 to July 1. 1763 viz^t Ships 40 Snows 17 Brigs 107 Schooners 178 Sloops 294 total 636. But no conclusion can be formed from hence, as many or most of them are repeated some of them 3 or 4 times.

4888 The Inhabitants of the trading Towns Men Women & Children have their whole supply of Cloathing from Great Britain. Most of the Women in all other Towns have the Principal part of their cloathing of British Manufactures; the Men have more or less. The poor labouring people in the County Towns wear their common Cloathes principally of coarse homespun linnens & Woolens. Shoes are to be excepted, the Mens being generally manufactured here, the Womens partly only. Most of the Furniture of the Houses in the trading Towns is of British Manufacture. Nails, Glass, Lead, Locks, Hinges & many other materials for Houses are wholly imported from Great Britain. Canvas, Cordage & Ship Chandlery Wares for Vessells & in general such Manufactures as are exported to the Plantations are consumed here & by the best Information I can get the Consumption increases rather than decreases.

5889 There is a constant Trade carried on with the Dutch & Danish Plantations: in one of the former, Surrinam Many English have considerable Estates. During the War with France and before that with Spain a considerable Trade was carried on with Monto’ Christo, the returns chiefly French Sugars; & tho’ the exports for this Trade were chiefly Gold & Silver, it was thought to be advantageous to Great Britain. The Trade immediately to the French Settlements called the flag of Truce Trade, this Province was never concerned in. For tho’ I believed it to be in general (when provisions & warlike Stores were not exported) very beneficial to Great Britain, yet as I understood that it was not approved of at home, it was never permitted here. In time of peace, A small trade chiefly for Melasses is permitted at some of the french Plantations: but this is very precarious, as sometimes a pretence is made to confiscate Vessells, that have been encouraged to come there, contrary to good faith. The Exports to & imports from foreign plantations are pretty much the Same as with the British. There is a small trade with the Western Islands in about 8 or 10 small Vessells in a year carrying Fish Lumber & Grain & returning with Wines. The Madeira Trade is greatly decreased by reason of the high price those wines are got at, not above one small cargo coming in in a year. A considerable quantity of fish is sent to Spain Portugal & Italy, the returns are chiefly made by remittances to London. Each Vessell generally brings back a load of Salt & from Lisbon some Wine & Lemmons, which latter coming in small quantities & not being in the least injurious to Great Britain, differing, in no respect of trade, from Wine from the Portuguese Islands, is overlookt. Lately two or three Voyages have been made with Logwood to Hamburgh & from thence to Petersburgh,890 whence they return with Hemp stopping at Scotland to enter & clear. This is a new Experiment; but it is thought that in time of Peace Hemp may be brought cheaper from London. There is very little Trade direct from Holland, as no freights can be made but with Logwood; & that is not imported here in any quantity when it is low in Europe

6891 The methods used to prevent illegal trade are frequent inspections made by the Naval & Custom house Officers, by whose care the Laws of trade are better supported in this Province than in most others of America. About 2 years ago Great endeavours were made to disable the Officers in carrying the laws into execution, & a public opposition was made in open Court against the Superior Court (which is here Vested with the Powers of the Court of Exchequer) granting writs of Assistance except in special cases. But the Judges overruled the exceptions & Writs of Assistance are now granted in as effectual a form as in England. The greatest difficulty which attends the execution of the Laws of trade here arises from the great liberty which is allowed in some other Colonies. The Merchants here complain, with great show of reason, of the hardship they suffer by being Subject to restraints, which their Neighbours in Ports almost under their Eye are quite Strangers to. The only answer to be given to these complaints is that the negligence of other governments will not justify this in the Same: but that it is hoped that the time is near at hand when these Matters will be liquidated & adjusted; And there will be but one common rule of restraint & indulgence through all the ports in America: a Settlement much to be desired.

7892 The Soil of the Country being natural to Grass, Black Cattle are one principal part of the Produce. Nothwithstanding the great Supplies made during the War to the Western Army & the new Settlements which are continually making, there is no sensible decrease, except what has been occasioned by the extraordinary drought of the two last Summers which will soon be retrieved by the plenty of the present. About the Year 1740 after a long Peace, Beef in the Season was sold from a penny to five farthings Ster^g _~ the pound. The breed of Horses Suitable for the West Indies hath greatly increased. The Province cannot properly be said to have any Staple. If any commodity prevails as to the Value it seems to be Fish. In some years there has been room to suppose the Oyl near equal to it. Manufactures there are none of any consequence except that of Molosses into Rum & Iron into Bars & hollow Ware. There is not sufficient bar Iron manufactured for the use of the Inhabitants; of cast Metal or hollow Ware as it is sometimes called, there is enough made for the Inhabitants & more or less exported every year to the other Colonies. There are divers provincial Acts to prevent frauds & abuses in Boards, Shingles, Staves, Hoops, Fish, the Assize of Casks & in most other Articles exported liable to frauds, which have a good effect. They have been at different times enacted & from time to time as the defects are discovered there appears a good disposition in the General Court to amend them & render them the more effectual

8893 There are no Mines yet discovered except of Iron. The Iron Oar in general has a mixture of Copper which renders it unfit to work into Bars. some of it has been cast into Cannon shott & Shells. The Bar Iron manufactured here is principally from Piggs imported from New York Philadelphia &c some of an inferior Quality from what is called bogg Oar which lyes in beds in many places of the Province about a foot under the Surface & is found at the bottom of ponds in some parts. From the latter the cast or hollow Ware is commonly manufactured. __ A New Mine of rock Oar has been lately discovered; but it has not been workt as yet.

9894 I was desirous of answering this Article as exactly as possible & for that purpose had postponed my return for some time in order to have the assistance of the general Court in taking an exact account of the people by returns made in a particular manner upon oath. For this I proposed a Scheme to the general Court at the beginning of last Session: but the Consideration of it having been postponed to near the End of the Session, some objections were started in the house of Representatives, which there was no time to obviate: and the Council & House having disagreed upon the Method, it was of course put off till next Session, when it will be again brought in & I doubt not but it will pass.895 In the mean time I must answer this Article as well as I can by conjecture from such Materials as I have in my Hands. In the year 1761 a Return was made to the general Court of the rateable Polls viz^t. males above 16 which amounted to about 57,000;896 In this list were excluded not only the Males under 16 but also those who were rendered incapable to pay by poverty. If We reckon these at one third more, the Number will be 76,000 to which adding the Same Number of females the Sum total will be 152,000. Another Method of computing the people will be by the returns of the Militia, which is generally reckoned one fourth part of the Souls. This in 1759 was 41,000 which multiplied by 4 is 164,000. Another method is by the Number of houses which in 1761 was 32,000: this multiplied by 5 makes 160,000 by 5½, 176,000 by 6, 192,000. Upon the whole I cannot help thinking that the Number of the Souls in this Province amounts to near 200,000;897 for as all the returns before-mentioned were taken in order to make a rate of taxes or Personal Duty, they are certainly short of the truth. But I hope to be very exact in this article next Summer. In the Same returns the Slaves, negro & Mulatto, are reckoned at 2,221. The free Negroes & Mulattos are very few; the Indians living within the Settled parts of the Province are not many hundreds: perhaps these latter added to the former may make 3,000 Indians, Negroes & Mulattos. The People here are very much tired of Negro Servants; and It is generally thought that it would be for the Public good to discourage their importation, if it was not at present very inconsiderable, not one Parcell having been imported this year as yet.

10898 I have not been able to get a Copy of any former return made to these Queries & therefore cannot compare the former Account with the present computation. Undoubtedly the Inhabitants are increased within these 10 years, but not in the proportion of the ordinary encrease of the American Colonies. This Province has had few recruits from other Countries; & therefore it’s population must have arisen allmost wholly within itself: And there have been very great drawbacks to that. After the expedition to Louisbourgh in 1745 some thousands of young men were lost by Sickness: this has affected the encrease of the people almost to the present times. In the beginning of the late War Many perished by the Sword, but much more by the diseases incidental to a Campain.

In 1760, and when I came to this Government, I was surprised to see what havock Disease alone made among the Provincial Soldiers in the course of, & especially towards the end of a campain: & yet I remedied this Mischief by three Provisions only; having them well cloathed, keeping them from Rum, & Supplying them plentifully with Spruce beer. If these regulations had been established in the beginning of the War, Many Hundreds (I might say some thousands) of lives would have been Saved. Besides these drawbacks upon natural Population, This Province has suffered much by desertion, if I may so call it: Many families have removed & are continually removing to the neighbouring Provinces, & especially New Hampshire, to take up New Lands. In New hampshire only near 200 Townships have been opened in that Country which was formerly reputed as part of this Province & was allways defended from the common Enemy as such, at the expence of this Province only.

11899 By a return made in 1759 there appeared to be upon the alarm list about 41,000 fencible Men; but when All Persons exempted from training were deducted, the trainband list did not amount to more than about 35,000. These are divided into 32 regiments each having a Colonel Lieut Col & a Major: some of two battalions having 2 L^t. Colonels & 2 Majors. Most of these Regiments have a troop of horse belonging to each, Some of which are in uniform. There belongs to the Boston Regiment a company of Artillery of 60 Men in uniform of blew & red with four field Pieces. There are belonging to the Castle, besides the Garrison, 4 companies of Artillery of about 300 men in the whole, who are excercised at the great guns 6 times every year, & the two companies of Artillery belonging to the batterys at Boston & one at Charlestown. There are also to attend the Governor a Troop of horse guards consisting of about 80 men in an uniform of blue & red, & a company of Cadets of about 60 gentlemen in an uniform of red & buff Colour. The Governor as Captain-General both by the Charter & his Commission has the whole command of the Militia, appoints & removes officers at pleasure, orders musters & marches as he thinks proper, but cannot march them out of the Province without the consent of the general Assembly. By Law every Man is obliged to train four times a year; defaulters forfeit 5s. lawful money each time: Out of these fines the expence of drums & colours is defrayed. There is no other Expence: when they march in Actual Service, the Province pays them.

12900 The Principal Fortress in this Province & perhaps throughout his Majestys American Colonies is Castle William situated on an Island on the side of the only Ship Channell about 3 miles from Boston. The Fort is small but well contrived, is a regular Square with 4 bastions & 2 ravelins on the outside: it mounts 38 Guns chiefly nine pounders & two mortars on the ravelins. There are a very considerable Outworks towards the Ship Channel, which have good Communications with the Fort. The Royal Battery mounts 29 guns from twenty four to Thirty two pounders, at the end thereof is a demi bastion with four forty two pounders. Shirleys battery mounts 19 forty two pounders, at the end is an horseshoe with 6 Twenty four pounders. there are some other lesser batteries partly compleated & partly designed only: there is a large block house mounted [with]901 small Cannon to Scour the flatts; and barracks for 1000 Men with a large parade & a picketted breast-work towards the sea. When all the Works intended are finished there will be about 140 Cannon mounted upon the Island. The whole Expence is borne by the Province & for 7 years past, altho’ there have been no New Works, has amounted to £2250 Sterling one year with another. The Garrison consists of 60 Men besides the 4 companies of Artillery before mentioned, who live in the Neighbouring Towns, and are excersised at the Castle 6 times in the year. There has lately been built an Armoury for small Arms, of which there are at present about 2500. In the late War many Pieces of Artillery & considerable quantities of Warlike Stores were taken away for the Kings Use. Application has been made for the replacing them & will be renewed, we hope with Success.902 There is also a Fort on Penobscot river called Fort Pownall garrisoned with 18 men, in which is an Indian Truckhouse; & another called Fort Halifax on Kennebeck river garrisoned with 13 Men where there is another Truckhouse. Fort Western on Kennebeck river, Fort Pemaquid upon Pemaquid river & Fort George upon Georges river have been lately disarmed & are now private dwelling houses; the Artillery & Stores being removed to the Castle. There are small forts or batteries at several of the Sea Ports town[s], capable of repelling a privateer, but as they have no garrisons & have no fund to support them, they are of Very little consequence.

13903 There is a small number of Indians who were originally of Hudsons River, perhaps 70 or 80 Families, who live upon the Western Frontier of the Province at a place called Stockbridge904 & who have an English Missionary constantly preaching to them supported by the Society for propogating the Gospel in New England & parts adjacent; about 70 Families more at a place called Mashpee in the County of Barnstable who by a late Act of the General Court have had certain privileges granted them with a view of civilising them & bringing them under good Government & order;905 and between one & two hundred Families in the two Islands of Nantucket & Martha’s Vineyard. All these have Missionaries or Teachers supported by the Same Society. There are about 20 Families more at Natick & a few scattering Families in several other parts of the Province. The Indians upon the frontiers of the Eastern Parts of the Province are all ranged under the general name, according to the French, of Abenaquis. of these the Arasagunticooks906 & Wewenocks907 living on the banks of S^t Lawrence properly belong to Canada as the S^t Johns Indians do to Nova Scotia: & yet all these have occasionally treated with this Province. The Indians that more particularly belong to this Province are the Norridgewalks908 the Penobscots & the Passimaquodies. The two former have been the Subjects of many Wars & many treaties with this Province: In the last War they retired to Canada & joined the Arasagunticooks & Wewenocks. Since the conquest of Canada they have come into these parts again & have renewed the acquaintance with the Provincials. As no formal treaty has been held with them since they were proclaimed Rebels & Traitors, about two months ago to prevent Mischief, I published a proclamation909 declaring a Cessation of hostilities & requiring the people to treat them as friends. Since which three of the Penobscot Chiefs have, with my leave, come to Boston & in the Name of their own tribe & of the Machias Indians a branch of it, & the Passimaquody Indians a part of the S^t John’s Indians Settled on the west side of S^t Croix, have desired to be under the Protection of this Government & to have their trade with it regulated in some particulars. Also a Norridgewalk Indian has been here in a private Character & desired to know if they may come to their old Town. I dismissed them all with Satisfactory Answers.910 These People who have for near a century occasioned so much expence of blood & treasure to this Province are now in a manner reduced to Nothing. The Norridgewalks whose town is about 40 miles above fort Halifax are about 10 families; The Penobscots who live about 50 miles above Fort Pownall with the Machiases who live in a bay of that name are about 40 families & Passimquodies who live on the west side of the Bay of S^t Croix about 30 families: and yet these People complain of the English settling their Country. The Nature of the Subjection of the Indians [to]911 the English Government, notwithstanding the many Treaties they have had with this Government has never been explained nor rightly understood: nor does it Signify much now whether it ever is,

14912 By the Terms of the late happy treaty This Province is freed from the neighbourhood of foreign subjects. The nearest foreign Settlement is that of S^t Peter & Miquelon. What effect that will have on his Majesty’s Provinces, time must discover.913

15914 Imposts & Excises have been laid by Temporary Acts of Assembly which are renewed from time to time. The Impost is upon Wine, Rum & other Spirits & 2 Þ Cent upon all goods from Great Britain which are not the produce or manufactures thereof. This brings into the Treasury about £2250_~ ster^g. Þ Annum. The Excise is upon Wine & spirituous Liquors sold by retail & Lemmons & Limes. This brings in about £1300_~ ster^g. Þ Annum. There is a farther Excise upon Tea, Coffee & China Ware which brings in about £1500_~ ster^g. Þ annum. The further charges of Government which in times of Peace may amount to near £20,000 Ster^g. Þ Ann are raised by a Tax upon Polls & Estates. The Province is in Debt about £220,000 ster^g._~ borrowed of the Inhabitants for which the Treasurer gives his notes or Obligations from six pounds to a thousand or upwards upon Interest; which notes are not negotiated or Current as money or Bills of Credit but lye in the proprietors hands as any private Securities would do & upon a transfer they bear a premium. The Revenue is appropriated to such Grants & Services as are or shall be made & ordered by the General Court. The Treasurers Accounts are annually audited by a Committee of the House of Representatives & another of the Council, but he is not discharged without a Vote of the Whole General Court.

The Kennebec River. Drafted by John Small in 1760 before he was accidentally shot and killed by a member of his surveying party, in D/SB MP/25. Courtesy of the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies. Photograph by Peter Hoare.

Map of the Coast of New England north of New Hampshire. Francis Miller completed this map after surveying the region in the winter of 1765-66. In D/SB MP/10. Courtesy of the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies. Photograph by Peter Hoare.

A Plan of the Penobscot River. Made by Capt. John Small, shortly before his death in 1760, in D/SB MP/12. Courtesy of the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies. Photograph by Peter Hoare.

16915 The principal officers of the Government are the Governor the Lieut. Governor & the Secretary appointed by the King; The Treasurer the Commissary General & the impost officer elected by the joint ballot of the Council & House of Representatives & consented to by the Governor; but the Commissary, as his office is mixt with the Military Service receives also a commission from the Governor; The Chief Justice & 4 other Judges of the Superior Court & the Attorney general appointed by the Governor with the Advice of the Council. The Governor with the Advice of Council appoints all Judges Justices & Officers belonging to the Courts of Justice. Other Officers especially those belonging to the revenue are elected by the two houses & consented to by the Governor. The Governor with the Council has the cognisance of causes of testacy & intestacy by charter & of causes of Marriages & Divorce by a provincial Law. But the former Jurisdiction is executed by inferior judges of Probate or rather Surrogates who are appointed by the Gov^r. & Council one for each County with a Registrar under him. These inferior Courts of probate are not established by any written Law but by a long usage only; they are in some manner confirmed by being mentioned in several Provincial Acts as legal Courts & the fees being ascertained thereby; & are subject to an appeal to the Gov^r. in Council. These Judges fees are according to the County from £10 to £60 p Stg_~, the registrars about half as much more. There are also in every County 4 judges of Common pleas from which Court there lies an appeal to the Superior Court: their fees amount to according to the County from five to £45_~ ster^g. each. There is also in every County a Sheriff: his fees in the three principal Counties, Suffolk, Essex, & Middlesex amount to from £150 to £200_~ st^g. each. In other Counties it is less, decreasing according to the Size or populousness of the County. The Superior Judges hold two terms a year in the three principal Counties & one in each of the other Counties, except Lincolnshire & Berkshire, who upon account of their remoteness join in the business of the superior Court with the Counties next to them; So that they are from home near half the year. Their Salaries which depend upon the Assembly & fees together do not amount to £140_~ Ster^g. each; half of which is expended in travelling charges. The Attorney General used to have a salary but of late that has been refused by the Assembly upon a pretence of their having a right to join in his appointment: but they sometimes pay him for public business tho’ in a scanty manner. The Principal Officers of the Government are as follows The Governor, Salary £1000, fees under £100_~ £1,100 Ster. The L^t. Gov^r. Tho^s Hutchinson Esq no salary or fees; when he takes the chair the Assembly makes him a special grant. The Secretary Andrew Oliver Esq Salary & fees £250. the Treasurer Harrison Gray Esq for himself & Clerks salary £375_~ the Commissary Tho^s Hubbard916 Esq Salary £112 10s. the impost Officer James Russell Esq Salary & fees £90_~ The chief Justice is Thomas Hutchinson Esq the Lieut. Governor; the other Judges are Benjamin Lynde917 John Cushing918 Chambers Russell919 & Peter Oliver920 Esquires, The Attorney general is Edmund Trowbridge Esq.921 Their Commission & all others under the Seal of the Province were renewed upon the present kings accession. The inadequateness of the Governors Income to the importance of his charge & the care & trouble attending it has been a subject of frequent observation. This has arisen from the Pains that have been taken in former times by acts of ascertaining fees & by other means to reduce the Governor’s perquisites as low as possible, so that they are now under £100_~ a year & never like to be more: and yet the Salary is no more than what is allowed by his Majesty to the smallest Government paid by him. The insufficiency of the Judges Salaries affords great cause of complaint. To have Gentlemen of the first rank & ability dedicate their whole time to the Service of the public & not have £80_~ a year clear of expences for their trouble is disgraceful & injurious to the whole Province. And for this, they are dependent every year upon the Assembly, where frequent attempts are made & sometimes successfully, to lower even this poor pittance. To do this, the Very Judgements of the Court, where they have been unpopular, have been used as means to lower the Salaries of the judges. Indeed the present Judges are superior to influence of this kind, but then they suffer for it. The Attorney general has had no Salary allowed him for several years, because the Assembly claim a right to elect him insisting that he is not an Officer belonging to the courts of Justice. Great & many are the inconveniences which arise to the public as well from the insufficiency as from the precariousness of the Salaries of the chief officers; which will never be remedied but by the establishment of a Sufficient & independent civil list, out of which his Majesty may assign to the public officers such Salaries as the Dignity & Duty of their Offices should require: a regulation extremely wanted in America, for which it would be very easy to provide a proper fund.

17922 The constitution of the Government will appear best from the Charter, which is duly carried into execution. I know of no Colony where the Compact between the King & the People is better observed. The Royal Rights are never openly invaded: the utmost that is done, is to dispute what are royal rights. Whereas in some other Governments the general Assembly in some cases take upon themselves the executive part of Government appointing special receivers disbursers & expenditors of the public money & making them accountable for the same to them only exclusively of the Governor. This is never done here, no money being ever issued but by the Governor with the advice of Council. The chief difference between this Government & the meer royal ones, is in the appointment of the Council or middle part of the Legislature, in the Governor’s not excercising the power of Chancellor, & by his being obliged to have the Concurrence of the Council in many acts, which the meer royal Governors can do alone. It was, in my opinion, an unfortunate error in the forming this Government to leave the Council to be elected by the Representatives of the People &c & that annually. Being thus constituted & continually renewed, their complexion is much too popular for them to be, as they ought to be, mediators between the Crown & people. The influence which their reelection is supposed to have on them is so well understood that It is a common practise, whenever any popular business is to be carried through, contrary to the Sentiments of the Government, to bring it into the Court as near as possible before the general Election. It is true that the Gentlemen of the Council give frequent proofs of their steadiness & independence: but it is impossible to say that the reelection may not create some bias, tho’ they may not be sensible of it themselves: at least it is highly indecent that they should be publickly threatned to be turned out for what they do in Council, altho they are known to act under the Sanction of an Oath as well as a sense of their duty: This has not been uncommon within my observation. On the other hand it would be objected on the behalf of the People to have a Council appointed & removeable by the Crown: it would be said that such a Council would be no more a proper Mediator between the Crown & People than a Council elected by & removeable by the people. And it has seemed to me that in the meer Royal Governments, the removeability of the Council, altho’ so seldom excersised as to be allmost merely nominal, has a tendency to diminish their weight with the People. I cannot but think that the middle legislative power in a provincial Assembly should be made to resemble as near as possible, the house of Lords. The Dignity should be derived from the King, as the fountain of honour, & granted for life defeasible by notorious misdemeanor. It would not be amiss if some title for Life (for this Country is not ripe enough for hereditary honours)923 such as Baron or Baronet was annexed to it. Such a constitution would add great stability to the Government: These Councellors would naturally support the rights of the Crown, & being independent of it, would not incur the jealousy of the people. It would induce people of consequence to look up to the King for honour & Authority, instead of endeavouring to raise themselves by popular Altercations. I am inclined to think that such an alteration might be made agreable to the people, I am allmost sure it would be for the public good, but I apprehend It would require the Authority of the Parliament to carry it into execution, tho’ the consent of the Province should be first obtained for that purpose. At the same time It would deserve consideration whether it would not be proper to make the second Legislative power & the privy Council two distinct bodies as they are in England: in such Case the latter should be wholly appointed & removable by the King. It might have been made a question whether the Governor of this Province has not the power of the Chancellor delivered to him with the great Seal, as well as other royal Governors: but it is impracticable to Set up such a claim now, after a non usage of 70 Years, & after several Governors have in effect disclaimed it by consenting to bills for establishing a Court of Chancery which have been disallowed at home. A Court of Chancery is very much wanted here, many Causes of consequence frequently happening in which no redress is to be had for want of a Court of Equity.924 I am inclined to think that if a Complainant in a matter of Equity arising within this Province should file his bill in the Court of Chancery in England suggesting that there was no provincial Court in which he could be relieved, that the bill would be retained; in the same manner as I suppose a Libell in the high Court of Admiralty would be admitted, if there was no inferior Court of Admiralty in the province. But this practise would be Very burthensome to the Province, unless it was used only to inforce the Necessity of establishing a Provincial Court of Equity. I have been the more particular upon these Subjects not only to point out what seems to me to be the defects of the Constitution of this Government but also to show how few things are Wanting to make it compleat. If these great Matters were regulated lesser things would mend themselves. In fine, A Civil list, an independent middle legislative power & a Court of Chancery, with a few other regulations which would follow of course, would give this Government as good a constitution as any in his Majesty’s American Dominions: especially as the People in general are as well inclined to his Majesty’s Government & as well satisfyed with their subordination to Great Britain as any Colony in America; the prejudices which have heretofore occasioned their being represented as otherwise disposed being wholly or allmost wholly wore off.

All which is humbly submitted,

Boston Sep 5. 1763

Ms, RC CO 5/891, ff 207-220.

With this report, FB answered a series of questions put to him and other governors by the Board of Trade about the state of their province with particular reference to geography, demography, commerce, industry, agriculture, and government. The queries are summarised in Labaree, Royal Instructions, 2: 741-742 and 746-748. The set of “Queries” that FB received in No. 46 was prepared on 22 Apr. 1761 and approved two days later “with several alterations and additions.” JBT, 11: 190-192. Unfortunately, this set has not survived. In its absence, the questions supplied in the footnotes are taken from a contemporary set issued to the governor of North Carolina in 1761. William Laurence Saunders, et. al., eds., The Colonial Records of North Carolina, 10 vols., (Raleigh, 1886-1990), 6: 605-623.

In the covering letter, FB apologized to John Pownall for the long delay in compiling the document and for the answers being “not as correct as I could wish. They are wrote hastily with a great regard to truth, but with a freedom that in many places will want an Apology, particularly in the last Article.” The report may have been written “hastily” prior to FB leaving for eastern Massachusetts, but it was well-researched nonetheless and provides a useful synopsis of the province within the parameters established by Board. It was copied to the king on 1 Oct. 1765 with a representation from the Board of Trade. FB to Pownall, Boston, 12 Sept. 1763, BP, 3: 98-99; JBT, 12: 318. The Board acknowledged receipt in a letter to FB dated Whitehall, 29 Nov. 1765, CO 5/920, pp. 206-207.

1. The Colonial Society of Massachusetts is also publishing the Select Correspondence of FB’s deputy and successor Thomas Hutchinson, edited by John Tyler.

2. See Colin Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’: Francis Bernard and the Origins of the American Revolution (Boston, 2001).

3. [Francis Bernard], Select Letters on the Trade and Government of America; and the Principles of Law and Polity, Applied to the American Colonies Written by Governor Bernard in the Years 1763, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 (London, 1774); John Almon, A Collection of Interesting, Authentic Papers, Relative to the Dispute Between Great Britain and America; Shewing the Causes and Progress of That Misunderstanding, From 1764 to 1775 (London, 1777).

4. Edward Channing and Archibald Cary Coolidge, eds., The Barrington-Bernard Correspondence and Illustrative Matter, 1760-1770, Harvard Historical Studies Series, vol. 17 (Cambridge, Mass., 1912). Extracts of FB’s correspondence can be found in rare family histories: Sir Thomas Bernard, Life of Sir Francis Bernard (London, 1790); Mrs. Sophie Elizabeth Napier Higgins, The Bernards of Abington and Nether Winchendon: A Family History, 4 vols. (London, 1904).

5. Prof. Jared Sparks donated the Bernard Papers to Harvard in the mid-nineteenth century. Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 7. A useful guide is Justin Winsor, Catalogue of the Bound Historical Manuscripts Collected by Jared Sparks and Now Deposited in the Library of Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass., 1871), 4-6. The entire Sparks Collection can be searched using Harvard University Library, Oasis: Online archival Search Information System (http://oasis.harvard.edu:10080/oasis/deliver/deepLink?_collection=oasis&uniqueId=hou01999).

6. K. G. Davies, ed., Documents of the American Revolution, 1770-1783, 21 vols. (Shannon, 1972-1981).

7. There are copies of ten of FB’s out-letters in Letters, 1756-74, Mass. Archives, vol. 56. There are over 180 in-letters in volumes 4, 5, 6, 22, 25-27, 33, and 46. Warrants and certificates bearing FB’s signature, and depositions and petitions received by him are scattered throughout the collection.

8. Thomas Hutchinson Letterbooks, Mass. Archs., vols. 25-27. See also Malcolm Freiberg, ed., Transcripts of the Letterbooks of Massachusetts Governor Thomas Hutchinson, vols. 25-27 (Originals in the Massachusetts Archives Collection) MHS.

9. These include Transcripts of Official Correspondence of the colonial governors with the Board of Trade about the Stamp Act crisis, 1764-1766, Stowe Ms, 264-265, British Library. In the papers of Charles Watson-Wentworth, the marquis of Rockingham and prime minister (1765-66), are early notifications of the Stamp Act Riots in Boston of Aug. 1765: Letters to the Marquis of Rockingham, Fitzwilliam (Wentworth Woodhouse) Muniments, Sheffield Archives. Charles Townshend, a president of the Board of Trade, maintained a file of FB’s letters, mainly extracts, relating to items placed before Parliament during debates on the Stamp Act in Jan. 1766: Charles Townshend Papers, Buccleuch Muniments, RH4/98, Dalkeith House, microfilm by Microform; Charles Townshend Papers, RH4/99, the William L. Clements Library. Charles Jenkinson, a lord commissioner of Customs, and later first earl of Liverpool, kept copies of correspondence relating to the Liberty Riot in Boston of Jun. 1768: Official American Papers, Liverpool Papers, British Library Manuscript Collection, Add 38340. William Legge, the second earl of Dartmouth, received several autograph manuscripts on the reform of the Massachusetts Council, in American Papers, Dartmouth Papers, D(W)1778, Staffordshire Record Office.

10. Probate of the will of the Rev. Francis Bernard, 8 May 1716, PROB 11/552, ff 18-20; Probate of the will of the Rev. Anthony Alsop, 22 Feb. 1720, PROB 11/615, f 92.

11. Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 24-42. Lincolnshire Archives holds twenty-eight documents that illuminate FB’s career in Lincoln between 1738, when he obtained his first local office, and 1758, when he left for America. Most of the manuscripts concern the official business of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln and the Diocese of Lincoln. As a church lawyer, FB prosecuted cases (CC85/313734) and kept visitation books (L.C./XX/C) and day-books (Cj/40), while as a deputy registrar he maintained accounts and ledgers (R/Ac). There are no extant records for the period in which FB was commissioner of bails for the Midlands Assizes, nor any concerning his activities in private practice save acting as an agent and accountant for proprietors of the Lincoln Assembly Rooms, 1745-52 (2 Anc 10/6). FB’s correspondence with Charles Monson (1741-42), the Whig MP for Lincoln (1734-54) and recorder of Lincoln, are the earliest surviving personal letters (Mon 25/2/97-99), and reveal FB’s unsuccessful attempts to become Monson’s deputy. Modern transcripts mention FB’s duties as recorder of Boston, Lincs., Betty Coy, et al., Transcription of the Minutes of the Corporation of Boston (Boston, Lincs., 1993). Other items include a subscription list, signed by FB, to raise a Loyalist regiment during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745-46 (Mon 7/10/17-18).

12. The Derbyshire estates of Joseph Offley (1702-51), Amelia Bernard’s half-brother, comprised the family home of Norton Hall and properties in the parishes of Bamford, Coal Aston, and Dronfield and Greenhill (plus land in other counties). The bulk of the property was held in trust for Joseph’s son Edmund who, on reaching his majority in 1754, alienated much of the estate to an Edinburgh clergyman and died shortly thereafter. Amelia and FB assisted in the legal recovery of the estates for Joseph’s daughters Urith (1736-81) and Hannah. Probates of the wills of Joseph Offley and Edmund Offley, 9 Dec. 1754, PROB 11/812: 262-65; Napier Higgins, The Bernards, 1: 210-212.

13. Their longest separation was for eighteen months after FB returned to England in Aug. 1769. Any correspondence that was maintained during their separation may have been left behind when Amelia finally left Boston on 25 Dec. 1770, or, more likely, was lost at sea when the family’s luggage was swept overboard during a storm.

14. In Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’.

15. William Wildman Barrington (1717-93) was the scion of an English Presbyterian family of the Irish peerage. He was the eldest of the five sons of John Shute Barrington (1678-1734), the first viscount Barrington, whose sister, Ann Shute, was Amelia Offley’s mother. Barrington was Amelia Offley’s cousin and godfather to her eldest son. He succeeded his father to the peerage and entered the Irish House of Lords in 1745. In the British parliament, he was an MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed from 1740 to Mar. 1754, and thereafter for Plymouth until 1778. He served as secretary at war from 1755 to Mar. 1761 (and again from 19 Jul. 1765 to 1778); as chancellor of the Exchequer in Mar. 1761; and treasurer of the Navy from May 1762 to 1765. Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke, The House of Commons, 1754-1790, 3 vols. (London, 1964), 1: 55; Dylan E. Jones, “Barrington, William Wildman, second Viscount Barrington (1717-1793),” in ODNB-e (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1535, accessed 12 Nov., 2004); Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 33-34, 41.

16. The letters have been re-transcribed from BP, vols. 1-12 for inclusion in The Bernard Papers. This is not on account of any major deficiencies in the 1912 edition, but because their correspondence, private it though it was, was also an important facet of FB’s communications with the British government. (Colonial governors were not obliged to write the secretary at war in an official capacity). FB’s original letters to Lord Barrington have not been found among Barrington’s papers in Additional MSS, British Library, or in the secretary of war’s papers (WO 1 and WO 4) at the PRO.

17. The baby William, the infants Amelia and Shute, and seven-year-old Thomas traveled with their parents; eleven-year old Jane and thirteen-month old Frances Elizabeth (Fanny) remained in England with the Terrys or Jane Beresford; Francis Jr. and John were still at school in England. Scrope (b.Oct 1758) and Julia were (b.19 Nov. 1759) were born in Perth Amboy. The Bernards first-born son, Joseph, was a baby when he died in the late 1740s. I am grateful to Jonathan Fowler for correcting a previous error regarding Thomas Bernard’s arrival in America. Biographies of all the Bernard children can be found in Higgins, The Bernards, 4 vols., passim.

18. Jordan D. Fiore, “Francis Bernard, Colonial Governor,” Unpublished Ph.D Diss., Boston Univ. (1950), 27-63, 454-458; Donald L. Kemmerer, Path to Freedom: The Struggle for Self-Government in Colonial New Jersey, 1703-1776 (Cos Cob, Conn., 1968), 256-266; Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 43-44. The project does not intend to issue FB’s New Jersey papers. His out-letters are in New Jersey Original Correspondence of Board of Trade, 1754-1760, CO 5/977; there are letterbook copies in BP, vols. 1-2 and receiver letterbook copies in Original Correspondence of Board of Trade: Despatches to Governors and others, 1759-1763, CO 5/214. The in-letters are in BP, 9. Extracts of FB’s official correspondence have been published along with the many of the colony’s official records. William A. Whitehead, ed., Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, 42 vols.: vol. 9 (1757-67), eds. Frederick W. Ricord and William Nelson (Newark, 1885).

19. Thomas Pownall (1722-1805) had been lieutenant governor and acting governor of New Jersey, 1753-57, and governor of Massachusetts, 1757-60.

20. Orders in Council, 1755-1759, CO 5/22, f 204, and mutatis mutandis for the other governors involved, ff 208-211, 214.

21. APC, 4: 777.

22. FB sent holographs and copies of his speeches, messages, and addresses to the Council and the House of Representatives to Britain. They are in Assembly, Massachusetts, 1761-1768, CO 5/842-CO 5/843, and CO 5/844. The Council’s record books are Council Executive Records, 1760-1769, CO 5/823 and CO 5/827; there is also a set of nineteenth-century transcripts in Council Executive Records, 1692-1774, 13 vols. [vols. 2-14], GC3-327, vols. 15-16, Massachusetts Archives. There are two contemporaneous sets of the Council’s legislative records. One was kept in Boston and is in Council Legislative Records, 1692-1774, 24 vols., GC3-1701x, vols. 23-28, Massachusetts Archives. The other was sent to London: Council in Assembly, Massachusetts, 1760-1769, CO 5/820-CO 5/828.

23. Andrew Oliver (1706-74) was one of the most experienced of provincial legislators and officeholders. He was a member of the Governor’s Council, 1746-65, and province secretary, 1756-70.

24. John Pownall (1724/5-95), brother of Thomas Pownall and secretary to the Board of Trade, 1745-68. See Franklin B. Wickwire, “John Pownall and British Colonial Policy,” WMQ 20 (1963): 543-554.

25. William Bollan (1705-82), Massachusetts province agent, 1743-62. See Malcolm Freiberg, “William Bollan, Agent of Massachusetts,” More Books: The Bulletin of the Boston Public Library 23 (1948): 43-53, 90-100, 135-146, 212-220.

26. Richard Jackson (1721/2-87), politician and barrister and MP for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, 1762-68. He was secretary to the chancellor of the Exchequer and first lord of the Treasury, George Grenville during his administration of 1763-65, and counsel to the Board of Trade, 1770-82. A friend of Benjamin Franklin, Jackson took a keen interest in American affairs, and was provincial agent for Connecticut (1760–70), Pennsylvania (1763–70), and Massachusetts (1765–67). See W. P. Courtney, ‘Jackson, Richard (1721/2-1787)’, rev. J.-M. Alter, ODNB (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14546, accessed 16 May 2005).

27. Jasper Mauduit (c.1696-1771), a London draper and woolen merchant, and Massachusetts province agent, 1762-65.

28. The American secretary was commonly regarded as being inferior to the two “ancient” secretaries of the Southern and Northern Departments, and it was not until the appointment of Lord George Germain in 1775 that confusion over the office’s status was resolved. Margaret Spector, The American Department of the British Government, Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law ([New York], [1940]); Arthur Herbert Basye, “The Secretary of State for the Colonies, 1768-82,” American Historical Review 28 (1922): 13-23.

29. Original in-letters from the Board of Trade and secretary of state are in BP, vols. 9-12. FB’s original out-letters to the Board are in CO 5/7, CO 5/19, and CO 5/891, and to the secretary of state mainly in CO 5/754-758.

30. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 2: 748-750.

31. Thomas Pelham-Holles (1693-1768), the duke of Newcastle, was a long-serving British statesman who had been prime minister between 1754 and 1756. He was first lord of the Treasury in a coalition led by Pitt. William Pitt (1708-78) was secretary of state for Southern Department from 1756 until his resignation on 5 Oct. 1761; he was created earl of Chatham in 1766 and led the Chatham-Grafton administration of Jul. 1766-Oct. 1768.

32. John Stuart (1713-92), the earl of Bute, had been George III’s tutor and secretary for the Northern Department under Pitt and Newcastle, 25 Mar. 1761-26 May 1762.

33. George Grenville (1712-70), a former friend and ally of Pitt, was briefly secretary for the Northern Department under Bute. He seemed destined for the political wilderness until George III offered to appoint him both first lord of the Treasury and chancellor of the exchequer.

34. Sir Charles Wyndam (1710-63), second earl of Egremont and secretary of state for the Southern Department, from 9 Oct. 1761 (under Bute and Grenville, his brother-in-law) until his death on 21 Aug. 1763.

35. George Montague-Dunk (1716-71), the earl of Halifax, was an energetic first lord commissioner or president of the Board of Trade, 1748-61; secretary of state for the Southern Department, 1762; and secretary of state for the Northern Department, 1763-65.

36. Sir Matthew Lamb, Bart. (1705?-1768), politician and lawyer. He was MP for Peterborough, from 1747, and king’s counsel to the Board of Trade, from 1754 until his death.

37. “Privy Council” has been used throughout when referring to the institution, but it has been necessary to maintain the distinction between the full council and the council’s plantation affairs committee. In the first instance, matters pertaining to the American Colonies were usually considered by a committee dignified by the cumbersome title “Lords of the Committee of the Council on Plantation Affairs,” which has been shortened to “plantation affairs committee” or a variant thereof. The committee’s recommendations were invariably rubber-stamped by the full council—“His Majesty in Council”—which designation has been retained when referring to this body.

38. See Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 63-64.

39. R. C. Simmons, The American Colonies From Settlement to Independence, (London, 1976), 292; Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 56-57.

40. See John Clarence Webster, ed., The Recapture of St John’s, Newfoundland in 1762 As Described in the Journal of Lieut-Colonel William Amherst, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force (1928).

41. APC, 4: 576-579. After surveying the Passamaquoddy Bay area in 1764, Massachusetts assumed that, to use Native-derived names, the Magaguadavic River was the St. Croix, whereas Nova Scotia located the boundary twenty-five miles further west at the Cobscook River; in subsequent disputes with the United States, the British government favored the Schoodic River. Archeological evidence pointed to the Schoodic, whose Vanceboro branch was finally accepted as the main St. Croix. The St. Croix River was designated an international boundary between British North America and the United States by the peace treaty of 1783, thus ceding Sagadahoc to the latter. However, the physical border between Massachusetts and New Brunswick (created out of Nova Scotia in 1794) was not determined until 1798, by a British-US commission. David Demeritt, “Representing the ‘True’ St Croix: Knowledge and Power in the Partition of the Northeast,” WMQ 54 (1997): 515-548, esp. 532, 535-538, 544; N. E. S. Griffiths, The Contexts of Acadian History, 1686-1784 (Montreal and Buffalo, 1992), 62-94, 103-114; Richard G. Lowe, “Massachusetts and the Acadians,” WMQ 25 (1968): 212-229.

42. Acts and Resolves, 17: 246.

43. A Brief State of the Title of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay to the Country between the Rivers Kennebeck and St. Croix (Boston, 1763).

44. The administrative history can be followed in William O. Sawtelle, “Sir Francis Bernard and His Grant of Mount Desert,” Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts 24 (19201922): 197-254.

45. FB’s first three years as governor are discussed in Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 11-13, 49-50. Earlier detailed accounts of Massachusetts politics during this period are Leslie J. Thomas, “Partisan Politics in Massachusetts During Governor Bernard’s Administration, 1760-1770,” Unpublished Ph.D. Diss., Univ. of Wisconsin, 1960, 2 vols., 1: 1-169; Stephen E. Patterson, Political Parties in Revolutionary Massachusetts (Madison, Wisc., 1973), 52-65; William Pencak, War, Politics & Revolution in Provincial Massachusetts, (Boston, 1981), 150-184.

46. Clerk no. 3 may have been a Bostonian, judging by the phonetic rendition of “Havard” in No. 187.

47. Chirographical analysis followed procedures recommended by the Scientific Working Group for Forensic Document Examination, “Guidelines for Forensic Document Examination, Part 1,” Forensic Science Communications 2 (2000), posted on the web sites of the American Society of Questioned Document Examiners and the National Forensic Science Technology Center (http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/april2000/swgdoc1.htm#Introduction, accessed 4 Jul. 2005).

48. Bollan’s role in the publication in 1769 of Bernard’s incriminating correspondence is discussed in Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 198-199.

49. Standard biographical directories include: American National Biography Online (New York, 2005-, http://www.anb.org); Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (Toronto, 2003-, http://www.biographi.ca); Mark Mayo Boatner, ed., Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (New York, 1966); Sir Lewis Namier and John Brooke, eds., The House of Commons, 1754-1790, 3 vols. (London, 1964); Edward. A. Jones, The Loyalists of Massachusetts: Their Memorials, Petitions and Claims (London, 1930); David E. Maas, ed. and comp., Divided Hearts: Massachusetts Loyalists, 1765-1790: A Biographical Directory (Boston, 1980); ODNB-e (London, 2004-2006, http://www.oxforddnb.com); John A. Schutz, ed., Legislators of the Massachusetts General Court (Boston, 1997); Search & ReSearch Publishing Corp, Early Vital Records of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to About 1850 (Wheat Ridge, Conn., 2002); John L Sibley and Clifford K Shipton, eds., Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University, 17 vols. (Cambridge, Mass., 1873-1975); James H Stark, The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution (Boston, 1910); Nancy S. Voye, ed. and comp., Massachusetts Officers in the French and Indian Wars, 1748-1763 (microfiche; Boston, 1975).

50. Thomas Pownall (1722-1805) was appointed governor of South Carolina in Nov. 1759, but had already requested a recall in a letter to Secretary of State William Pitt of 27 Oct. He returned to England in Jun. 1760, and subsequently resigned his commission. Charles A. Pownall, Thomas Pownall, MP, F. R. S., Governor of Massachusetts Bay (London, 1908), 153.

51. William Wildman Barrington (1717-93), second Viscount Barrington, mp for Plymouth, and secretary at war, 1755-61. He was a cousin to Amelia Bernard.

52. Thomas Boone (1730/31-1812), governor of New Jersey, Jan. 1760-Oct. 1761.

53. Thomas Hutchinson (1711-80) was one of Massachusetts’s wealthiest inhabitants and most knowledgeable and able public servants; having retired from commerce, he devoted his time to government and the study of history. He served as the province’s lieutenant governor, 1758-71; acting governor, Jun.-Aug. 1760, and again (after FB’s recall) Aug. 1769-Jan. 1771; and governor, 1771-74.

54. George Montague-Dunk (1716-71), the earl of Halifax and first lord commissioner or president of the Board of Trade, 1748-61.

55. Left marginal note: “Letter from the Board to Francis Bernard Esq^r_// Gov^r_// of New Jersey, acquainting him that His Majesty has been graciously pleased to approve of his being appointed Gov^r. of the Massachusets Bay.”

56. Soame Jenyns (1704-87), author and politician, mp for Cambridge, 1758-80, and a lord commissioner of the Board of Trade, 1755-80.

57. William Gerard Hamilton (1729-96), mp for Petersfield, 1754-96, and a lord commissioner, 1756-61.

58. William Sloper (1709-89), mp for Great Bedwyn, 1747-56, and a lord commissioner, 1756-61.

59. James Oswald (1715-69), mp for Kirkcaldy, 1741-68, and a lord commissioner, 1751 to Dec. 1759.

60. This may refer to one or more of the following islands in the Delaware River (using their modern names) that were within New Jersey’s provincial boundaries: Petty, Treasure, and Burlington.

61. Leverett Blackbourne, a lawyer and FB’s business agent. He resided in Great Marlborough Street, London, and subsequently at a “good-house” in Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, near to Lord Barrington. According to Thomas Hutchinson, he had “a large fortune” and exuded “great learning ... as well as natural good sense.” The Diary and Letters of His Excellency Thomas Hutchinson, 2 vols., ed. Peter Orlando Hutchinson, (London, 1883-1886), 1: 447.

62. Jane Beresford (c.1702-Nov. 1771), a cousin and close friend of FB. She was the daughter of FB’s maternal aunt Mary Winlowe and John Tyringham, and had married William Beresford in 1722. She resided at Long Leadenheam, Lincs., c.1722-31, and, after her husband’s decease, at Lincoln and Nether Winchendon House, Bucks., her husband’s family home. Her only son died in 1740 and she bequeathed Nether Winchendon to FB in 1762. FB was her executor and he inherited Nether Winchendon. Napier Higgins, The Bernards, 1: 208; Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 18, 22-23.

63. John Pownall (1724/5-95), secretary to the Board of Trade, 1745-68.

64. See No. 3.

65. George Haldane (1722-59), governor of Jamaica, 1756-59.

66. William Henry Lyttleton (1724-1808), governor of Jamaica, 1761-66. Sir Henry Moore, Bart. (1713-69) was acting governor until Lyttelton arrived.

67. John Barrington (1719-64), a British army officer and the younger brother of Lord Barrington. He was appointed the first colonel of the 64th Regiment of Foot on 21 Apr. 1758, and held a brevet rank of major general in the West Indies.

68. See the source note to No. 1.

69. No. 1.

70. Likely meaning £sterling.

71. Gen. Amherst received his orders on the night of 20 Feb., about which he informed FB in a letter dated the following day (BP, 9: 89-92), in which he enclosed a copy of William Pitt’s circular to the colonial governors relating to the coming campaign (Whitehall, 7 Jan. 1760, CO 5/214, ff 130-135).

72. FB to Boone, Perth Amboy, 18 Feb. 1760, BP, 1: 216-218.

73. FB discussed arrangements for the meeting in a letter to Pownall of 4 Mar. BP, 1: 221-223. The two governors met at New London, Conn., in Apr. 1760, and Pownall left Boston for England on 3 Jun.

74. This line in FB’s hand.

75. No. 4.

76. Thomas Pownall’s optimistic accounts of his own career progression indubitably encouraged FB to think that he might live in some comfort on his governor’s salary and fees. Nicolson, ‘Infamas Govener,’ 40-41. While FB thought Pownall prudent, some Bostonians considered him to be profligate because of his “lavish parties.” Eliga H. Gould, “Pownall, Thomas (1722-1805),” in ODNB-e, (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22676, accessed 8 Dec. 2004).

77. Amherst to FB, New York, 13 Dec. 1759, BP, 9: 81-84.

78. William Pitt (1708-78), secretary of state for the Southern Department. He was leader of the coalition administration he formed with the duke of Newcastle, 29 Jun. 1757-5 Oct. 1761, that led Britain to victory in the Seven Years War.

79. On returning to England in the summer of 1759, John Barrington transferred to the 40th Regiment of Foot and later to the 8th (the King’s) Regiment of Foot. He was rewarded with confirmation of his major-general’s rank in recognition of his notable contribution to the capture of Guadeloupe the previous Apr. He was not posted to Germany but appointed deputy governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the English port and garrison town within the Scottish military district and the former parliamentary constituency of his brother Lord Barrington. Jonathan Spain, “Barrington, John (bap.1719, d.1764),” ODNB-e (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/65499, accessed 12 Nov. 2004).

80. This line in FB’s hand.

81. No. 6; FB to Barrington, New York, 19 Apr. 1760, BP, 1: 201-203.

82. Barrington is alluding to the sale of some of the Offley family’s property, for which see the Introduction n12. Mrs. Porter is not named as a beneficiary in Joseph Offley’s will but evidently had some claim on his estate.

83. Lord George Beauclerk (1704-68), commander-in-chief of the British Army in Scotland. He was the son of Charles Beauclerk (1670-1726), the first duke of St. Albans and illegitimate son of Charles II.

84. Francis Bernard Jr. (27 Sept. 1743-20 Nov. 1770), FB’s eldest son, known as “Frank.”

85. No. 8.

86. 2 Aug.

87. William Burnet (1688-1729), governor of Massachusetts, 1728-29.

88. Manuscript torn.

89. 27 Apr. 1761, for Ascension Day was 30 Apr.

90. FB was hoping to obtain for Francis Jr. a Westminster School Studentship at Christ Church College, Oxford. These coveted studentships were originally intended for impecunious students, but had long since become a currency of patronage. Students were elected by the college dean, as FB was in 1729. The incumbent dean was David Gregory (1696-1767), who held the office from 1756 until his death. He was the son of the noted David Gregory (1661-1708), Savilian professor of astronomy at Oxford, 1691-1708. Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 24.

91. Andrew Stone (1703-73) was a Westminster scholar and graduate of Christ Church like FB, and an influential but not particularly well-known politician. He was a London banker, and, on being appointed private secretary to the duke of Newcastle in 1732, became the duke’s “indefatigable aide and constant companion.” He was undersecretary of state, 1734-51, and mp for Hastings, 1741-60; tutor and secretary to the Prince of Wales, the future George III; and prominent among Lord Bute’s circle of “King’s Friends.” A. F. Pollard, “Stone, Andrew (1703-1773).” rev. M. J. Mercer, in ODNB-e, (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26565, accessed 12 Nov. 2004).

92. Letter obscured by binding.

93. This line in FB’s hand.

94. Samuel Dashwood, a Boston sea captain and part-time importer of dry goods, who became, in 1769 and 1770, a prominent member of the merchants’ committees that enforced the non-importation agreements. John W. Tyler, Smugglers & Patriots: Boston Merchants and the Advent of the Revolution (Boston, 1986), 125, 135, 151, 304n11.

95. The Britannia was a ship of 110 tons built in New England in 1757 and owned by the London merchant Thomas Lane. Captained by George Spender and crewed by just eight men, the Britannia regularly sailed between Boston and London before she was captured in the English Channel; this would account for the loss of the RC of this letter and its enclosures. Clearances from Boston, 1757, in Shipping Returns, 1756-1762, CO 5/851; John Pownall to FB, 18 Oct. 1760, BP, 9: 149-152.

96. In provincial currency the grant of salary was £1,300 and the removal expenses £300.

97. Jeffery Amherst (1717-97), general and commander-in-chief of the British Army in North America, 1758-63.

98. William Amherst (c.1732-81), the brother of Jeffery Amherst, was a lieutenant colonel of the First Regiment of Foot guards and deputy adjutant-general in America.

99. FB proceeds to describe the three main British assaults on Montréal, involving some twelve thousand men under Gen. Amherst’s overall command.

100. Thomas Gage (1721-87) was an experienced career soldier in the British Army; he was a brigadier general, 1759-61, before succeeding Amherst as commander-in-chief and later serving, concurrently, as Massachusetts governor, 1774-75.

101. William Haviland (1718-84), a colonel in the 27th Regiment of Foot. The force of Regulars and Provincials he led actually totaled 3,500. Île-aux-Noix was captured on 28 Aug. Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766 (New York, 2000), 388.

102. Capt. [Andrew?] Gardner’s news was reported in the Boston Gazette, 25 Aug. 1760.

103. James Murray (1722-94), the British general who led the assault force up the St. Lawrence, was governor of Quebec, 1763-66.

104. The 22nd and 42nd Regiments of Foot. Île-aux-Coudre is c.76 miles down the St. Lawrence River from Quebec.

105. From the adjective “probal” meaning “such as approves itself to reason or acceptance.” OED.

106. Samuel Barrington (1729-1800), British naval officer and a younger brother of Lord Barrington. Capt. Barrington was in active service in Europe and America for much of the Seven Years War. In 1760, he commanded the Royal Navy war ship Achilles, which joined a squadron under Admiral John Byron sent to destroy the fortifications of Louisbourg captured by Amherst two years previously. He rose to the rank of admiral in the Revolutionary War.

107. Wood was undersecretary of state, 1756-63 and 1768-70. He was probably based in the Northern Department in 1760, but during his second period in office he also served in the Southern Department.

108. Actually, probably fewer than five thousand French regulars were among the besieged population, and no more than half of them were fit for battle; most of the Canadian militiamen had deserted. Anderson, Crucible of War, 407.

109. Amherst had reached Montréal first, and opened negotiations with the governor-general, the marquis de Vaudreuil on Sunday Sept. 7, whilst Murray and Haviland arrived and took up their positions; the articles of surrender were signed the following day. Anderson, Crucible of War, 388-409.

110. The first letter recounted the capture of Montréal. Amherst to FB, Camp at Montréal, 9 Sept. 1760, BP, 9: 137-140. In the second, Amherst urges FB to persuade the Massachusetts merchants “to bring Quantitys of Molasses, Salt, Wines, Teas, Sugars, & all kinds of Grocery, as likewise Sheep, and every thing else, that may Occurr to them to be usefull; for all which they may depend upon finding good markets.” Amherst to FB, Camp at Montréal, 13 Sept. 1760, BP, 9: 141-142. FB’s proclamation is By Order of His Excellency the Governor, Whereas the Country of Canada, now entirely yielded to his Majesty’s Dominion ... the Traders and Adventurers within this Province are hereby invited to transport to Montreal & Quebec ..., Boston Gazette, 29 Sept. 1760, p. 2.

111. 15 Aug. 1760, JHRM, 37, pt.1: 95-96.

112. No. 13.

113. That is to say, fined.

114. No. 9.

115. Shute Barrington (1734-1826), the youngest of Lord Barrington’s five brothers and later his biographer, was appointed chaplain-in-ordinary to George III in 1760 and canon of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1761.

116. Frank Bernard was indeed elected to a Westminster Studentship in 1761.

117. No. 10.

118. No. 11.

119. On 31 Oct. 1760, in Council Executive Records, 1760-1766, CO 5/823, f 21.

120. LbC: “examination”.

121. Benning Wentworth (1696-1770), governor of New Hampshire, 1741-66.

122. This authorial correction invites a scatological allusion to irregularities of the bowel.

123. FB had continued the General Court from 15 Aug. by successive prorogations.

124. The vacancy was created by the death of Chief Justice Stephen Sewall. FB appointed Thomas Hutchinson on 13 Nov. 1760 subject to Crown approval, which was forthcoming.

125. FB defaulted on this promise, and his motives for appointing Hutchinson have been a matter of speculation. Hutchinson later reported that “the governor declared that, if the lieutenant-governor should finally refuse the place, the other person [James Otis Sr.] would not be nominated. Thereupon, the lieutenant-governor was appointed. The expected opposition ensued.” History of Massachusetts, 3: 64. See John J. Waters and John A. Schutz, “Patterns of Colonial Politics: The Writs of Assistance Case and the Rivalry between the Otis and Hutchinson Families,” WMQ 24 (1967): 543-567, at 558-561; Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 62-63.

126. On the afternoon of Saturday 27 Dec., the Race Horse, master Samuel Patridge, arrived from London bringing news of the king’s death on 25 Oct. 1760 and the accession of his grandson. The Governor’s Council agreed to proclaim George III on 30 Dec., without waiting for official notification, which did not arrive until 16 Jan. 1761 (No. 17). Council Executive Records & Council in Assembly, Massachusetts, 1766-1769, CO 5/827, ff 29-30.

127. Thomas Pownall.

128. Not found.

129. Randle or Randall Wilbraham (1694-1770), of Rode Hall, Cheshire, was a friend of FB, a counsel to Oxford University and a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn. He had been a mp since 1740, and represented Newton, 1754-64, in the process acquiring a reputation as an independent-minded Tory. Namier and Brooke, The House of Commons, 1754-1790, 3: 637.

130. The securities of the British government, deriving from various funds and annuities including the national debt, had been combined into a single stock in 1751. Investors like FB received interest at 3 percent. D. C. Coleman, The Economy of England, 1450-1750 (London etc., 1977), 194.

131. A private bank of London, the archives of which are held by the Royal Bank of Scotland; there is no documentation pertaining to FB.

132. Sterling.

133. On 7 Nov. 1760, FB received a formal vote of thanks from the Council for presenting a portrait of King George II “in a rich Gilt Frame.” It was to be hung in the Council Chamber alongside a portrait of the late king, George I. Council Executive Records, 1760-1766, CO 5/823, f 24. The provenance of these portraits is unknown, and they are not listed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Inventory of American Paintings Executed before 1914 (http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/).

134. No. 23.

135. William Bollan (1705-82), Massachusetts province agent, 1743-62.

136. Dated 13 Jun. 1760, BP, 9: 111-114. The correspondence with the lord chamberlain has not been found.

137. Not found.

138. Not found.

139. The addressee and postscript are in FB’s hand.

140. The original building was erected in 1742 with a bequest from merchant Peter Faneuil, but the interior was badly damaged by fire on 13 Jan. 1761. Faneuil Hall was quickly rebuilt with provincial funds and lottery monies, and reopened in Mar. 1763. See No. 109.

141. No. 24.

142. No. 16.

143. For the first letter see No. 10. The second is FB to Barrington, Boston, 29 Sept. 1760, BP, 1: 282-283.

144. William Bollan to FB, 1 or 3 Nov. 1760, not found.

145. Sterling.

146. No. 23.

147. When governor of New Jersey, FB participated in a conference at Easton, Pa., 8 to 26 Oct. 1758, arranged ostensibly to solemnize existing treaty agreements between the colonists of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and the Iroquois Confederacy, the Delawares, and other Native Americans. From a New Jersey perspective, the Easton conference succeeded in pacifying frontier tribes, thus enabling the colony to devote more resources to the British offensives against French Canada in 1759. Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 44.

148. Benjamin Barons had been a London merchant in the Portuguese fruit trade and secretary to Admiral Sir Charles Hardy (1717-80), governor of New York, 1755-57. He was appointed collector of Customs at Boston in 1759 and was twice suspended from office on corruption charges before being dismissed from the service in Dec. 1761. In 1765, Barons was appointed postmaster-general of the southern district of North America, and kept the general post office at Charlestown, South Carolina. Tyler, Smugglers & Patriots, 25-63.

149. Charles Paxton (1704-88), surveyor and searcher of customs at Boston, 1760-67.

150. Lord Halifax.

151. See letters to Pownall Nos. 29 and 38.

152. Thomas Lechmere (d.1766), the scion of a distinguished English family of judges, was surveyor general of Customs for the Northern District, until he was replaced by John Temple c.Jun. 1761. FB to Lechmere, Province House, 2 Jun. 1761, BP, 2: 113.

153. The letter has not been found and there is no mention of it in the Council’s Executive Records, CO 5/823.

154. See FB to Horatio Sharpe, Boston, 22 Sept. 1760, William H. Brown, ed., Correspondence of Governor Horatio Sharpe, 1753-1771, 4 vols.; Maryland Archives, 9 (Baltimore, 1888-1911), 3: 574; FB to Francis Fauquier, Boston, 7 Feb. 1761, BP, 2: 98; FB to Fauquier, Boston, [Mar.] 1761, BP, 2: 100-101.

155. This line in FB’s hand.

156. Amherst to FB, New York, 17 Jan. 1761, BP, 9: 163-166.

157. Amherst to FB, New York, 1 Jan. 1761, not found. This was brought down from the Council on 20 Jan. JHRM, 37, pt.2: 198.

158. Possibly Simon Butler (d.1795), of Leominster, Mass., a deacon.

159. Charles Cruikshanks, a British army officer, who, from 16 Apr. 1757, was a captain in one of four independent companies of foot stationed at New York.

160. 24 Dec. 1760, JHRM, 37 pt.1: 121-124.

161. A total of 1,320 Massachusetts men were mustered at Fort No. 4 after the campaign of 1760, and were due £132 sterling for billeting. Amherst to FB, New York, 16 Nov. 1761, WO 34/27, p. 233.

162. 60th (Royal American) Regiment of Foot.

163. FB first approached the House on 13 Jan. 1761 with a proposal to establish truck-houses at Fort Pownall, on the Penobscot River, and at Fort Halifax, at the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook Rivers; the House agreed and the Council concurred on 26 Jan. JHRM, 37, pt.2: 178-179, 214.

164. Augustin Le Gardeur de Courtemanche (1663-1717), French-Canadian soldier and commandant of the coast of Labrador. The journal of his exploration of Labrador in 1705 was published, although a copy has not been found.

165. William Gibbons, arctic explorer and leader of a voyage of 1614 sponsored by the Company of the Merchants Discoverers of the North-West Passage. Sailing in the Discovery, a vessel once owned by the explorer Henry Hudson, Gibbons was forced to turn back from an ice-bound Hudson’s Bay and spend ten weeks on the Labrador coast at c.58 ½° latitude, probably in Saglek Bay. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (http://www.biographi.ca, accessed 28 Feb. 2007).

166. FB is likely referring to Ashuanipi Lake, to the south of Labrador City, and Lake Nichicun to the east of the city.

167. This is the earliest recorded date for a colonial American whaling fishing vessel in the Davis Strait, although the Europeans had been regular visitors since 1719. Ross, “Annual Catch of Greenland (Bowhead) Whales.” Henry Atkins’s dates are unknown, though he would have been a young man on the 1729 voyage. Vital records record one Henry Atkins marriying Mary Snelling in Boston in 1745. Atkins joined Thomas Goldthwait and other proprietors of Point Shirley in leasing from the town Deer Island in Boston Harbor, between 1753 and 1758, for the purposes of establishing a fishing station. The lease was conditional on the partners being able to “send out and employ” twenty fishing vessels per year. Perhaps Atkins was aiming to harvest whaling grounds in Hudson’s Bay, but the disruption to commercial fishing occasioned by the war undermined the project. Finally, Henry Atkins was assessed in the Boston tax list of 1771, for £13 6. 8d, which places him in the bottom third of taxpayers. Early Vital Records of Suffolk Co., MA, CD-ROM (Wheat Ridge, Conn., 1996-2002): Boston, Suffolk County, vol. 28, city document no. 150: 236 and History of Chelsea, Suffolk County, vol. 1: 606; Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Reports of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, 38 vols. (Boston, 1886), 16: 15-16; Bettye Hobbs Pruitt, ed., The Massachusetts Tax Evaluation List of 1771 (Boston, 1978), 6.

168. If this is true, then the Inuit whom Atkins encountered in this part of southern Labrador may have traded with the French through Inuit middlemen. Inuit-French trade was well established by 1750, and often involved the Inuit making seasonal visits to French posts. Historical ethnologists, however, have begun to doubt that the Inuit presence in this area was impermanent. See Marian P. Stopp, “Reconsidering Inuit presence in southern Labrador,” Études Inuit Studies 26 (2002), (http://www.erudit.org/revue/edudinuit/2002/v26/n2/007646ar.html, accessed 28 Feb. 2007).

169. Thus in document.

170. Jedidiah Preble (1707-84), a resident of and representative for Falmouth, 1753-54 and 1766-71; he was brigadier general of provincial forces during the French and Indian War.

171. No. 25.

172. Not found.

173. Chambers Russell (1713-66) was a vice admiralty judge from 1746 until his death, a justice of the Superior Court from 1752, and a county judge. He was an experienced legislator: he represented several towns (Charlestown, 1744-46; Concord, 1740, 1750-52; and Lincoln, intermittently between 1754 and 1765) and was a member of the Governor’s Council, 1759-60.

174. 18 Oct. 1760, BP, 9: 149-152.

175. Timothy Folger (1732-1814), a sea captain and whaler of Nantucket, and cousin to Benjamin Franklin for whom he charted the Gulf Stream.

176. Mary Pownall (d.1807).

177. Meaning restored.

178. Meaning niche.

179. Robert Henley (c.1708-72), first earl of Northington and lord chancellor, 16 Jan. 1761-66.

180. William Noel (1695-1762), lawyer, mp for Stamford, 1722-47, and judge of Common Pleas 1757-62.

181. James Hewitt (1709-1789), lawyer, magistrate, mayor, mp for Coventry, 1761-66; a noted advocate of the repeal of the Stamp Act; later created Baron then Viscount Lifford.

182. Robert Vyner (c.1685-1777), mp for Lincolnshire, 1724-61. He represented Tory interests but withdrew in Jan. from the upcoming election.

183. George Wilbraham (1741-1813) was not elected to Parliament until 1789 as the member for Bodmin, and was succeeded by his brother in the 1790 general election.

184. Sir Richard Grosvenor (1731-1802), mp for Chester, 1755-61; created Baron Grosvenor in 1761, and later first earl.

185. Meaning poet. OED. This is probably an allusion to [Francis Bernard], Antonii Alsopi Ódarum Libri Duo (London, 1752).

186. No. 27; FB to Amherst, Boston, 8 Feb. 1761, WO 34/26, f 84, in which he apologized for “a failure in a Ceremonial” after neglecting to enclose the Council’s address of 28 January 1761 (for which see CO 5/822, ff 159-160.)

187. John Small (1726-96), a British army officer, was a lieutenant in the 42nd Highlanders (the Black Watch) and promoted to captain in 1762 during the Martinique expedition.

188. The inquiry into Benjamin Barons’s conduct at the Boston Customhouse, for which see No. 29.

189. Naval officers were appointed by governors in the first instance. However, since 1697, appointees were required to give security to the Board of Customs Commissioners in London or the surveyor general of the Customs for the Northern District, thus in the process traducing the governor’s influence over them. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 2: 760-761.

190. Benjamin Pemberton (1697-1782) had been naval officer since 1734 and had no thoughts of retiring. Walter Kendall Watkins, “The Pemberton Family,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 44 (1890), 396.

191. No. 34.

192. See No. 32.

193. Sterling.

194. John Bernard (26 Jan. 1745-25 Aug. 1809) was educated at Lincoln Grammar School but did not attend university, and came to Boston in 1761 or 1762.

195. Not found.

196. No. 20.

197. A variant of “detainer,” a legal term (n. & a.) meaning holding a person in custody or a writ to that effect. OED.

198. FB: “I flatter myself that there will be no great difficulty in obtaining 4000 Men; & I shall use my best endeavours to get them well fitted out.” Boston, 23 Mar. 1761, WO 34/26, f 86. FB’s misplaced optimism can partly account for Amherst’s anger on receiving news about conditions attached by the House (Nos. 38 and 41).

199. These “papers” have not been found, and may not have been forwarded to Alexander Colden (1716-74), postmaster at New York, until 11 May. FB to Pownall, Castle William, 12 May 1761, BP, 1: 316-317.

200. Not found.

201. William Shakespeare, Lear, in King Lear, 3.2.59-60.

202. On 8 Jan., the House and Council established a joint committee to consider the petition of the Mashpee Indians that protested encroachments on their land in Barnstable County and infringements of their fishing rights on the Mashpee River. The complaints were not upheld. JHRM, 37, pt.2: 165, 225-226, 322-323. See No. 45.

203. No. 20.

204. See No. 38.

205. FB to Amherst, Boston, 30 Mar. 1761, WO 34/26, f 87.

206. Acts and Resolves, 16: 721-723.

207. FB presented Pitt’s requisition (No. 20), together with a letter from Amherst dated 21 Mar. 1761 (not found), to the Council and the House of Representatives on 25 Mar. JHRM, 37, pt.2: 250-252.

208. Thus in manuscript.

209. The proviso was to prevent Amherst sending the Provincials to the West Indies where troop mortality rates were inordinately high.

210. No. 36.

211. No. 20.

212. For these proceedings see JHRM, 37, pt.2: 253-254, 293-295; No. 38.

213. Amherst to FB, New York, 5 Apr. 1761, BP, 9: 181-182.

214. The Benjamin and Samuel, master Stephen Hills, was owned by Benjamin Hallowell and left Boston on 6 Apr. CO 5/851, f 69.

215. This line and the preceding paragraph are in FB’s hand. The “Account” is missing.

216. No. 20.

217. For these proceedings see JHRM, 37, pt.2: 253-254, 293-295.

218. See Acts and Resolves, 4: 436.

219. The Rev. Henry Caner (1700-93), rector of King’s Chapel.

220. John Erving Sr. (1693-1786).

221. Not found.

222. This line in FB’s hand.

223. No. 38.

224. No. 41.

225. LbC: the phrase “considered, that if I” is missing.

226. No. 20.

227. Meaning “thorough.”

228. In this, FB sought the advice of Timothy Ruggles (1711-95). FB to Ruggles, Boston, 6 Apr. 1761, BP, 2: 105. Ruggles, a lawyer by profession and representative for Hardwick, was one of Massachusetts’s most experienced officers. He served in the expeditions to Crown Point in 1755 and 1756, Fort William Henry in 1757, and Canada in 1759. He held the provincial rank of colonel when he was promoted to brigadier-general by Gen. Amherst in Feb. 1760, and left the service in Dec.

229. FB, message to the Council and the House of Representatives, Province House, 15 Apr. 1761, for which see JHRM, 37, pt.2: 337.

230. LbC: “not”.

231. LbC: “their general Principles,”.

232. John Roberts (1711/12-72), British politician. A loyal supporter of the duke of Newcastle, Roberts held a number of minor offices and sinecures; he was mp for Harwich, 1761-72, and a lord commissioner of the Board of Trade, 1761- Nov. 1762. Martyn J. Powell, “Roberts, John (1711/12-1772),” in ODNB-e (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23760, accessed 2 Mar. 2005); J. C. Sainty, Officials of the Boards of Trade, 1660-1870 (London, 1974), 31.

233. No. 42.

234. No. 41.

235. Thomas Hancock (1703-64), whose position as Boston’s richest merchant owed much to his success in negotiating supply contracts with British forces.

236. James Moncrieff (1744-93), a Scottish-born British army officer and noted engineer. Although his biographer suggests that he did not leave Britain until the summer of 1762, when he participated in the siege of Savannah, Moncrieff was subsequently based at New York and returned to Boston in 1768 to inspect the defences of Castle William. Boatner, Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, pp. 213-214.

237. Possibly Leonard Jarvis (1716-70), a Boston merchant.

238. On 21 Apr.

239. No. 59.

240. See No. 42.

241. Samuel Sandys (1695-1770), the first Baron Sandys of Ombersley and noted critic of Robert Walpole and his ministry, was president of the Board of Trade, 21 Mar. 1761-Feb. 1763. FB acknowledged Sandys’s appointment in No. 63.

242. Edward Bacon (1712?-86), mp for Norwich, 1756-84, and a lord commissioner, 1759-Jul. 1765.

243. Sir Edmund Thomas (1712-67), mp for Glamorgan, 1761-67, and a lord commissioner, 1761-63.

244. George Rice (1724?-79), mp for Carmarthenshire from 1754 until his death and a lord commissioner Mar. 1761-1770. He was a friend of and election agent for the duke of Newcastle, and a political ally of Lord Bute. He was a “hardliner” critic of the colonists who opposed repealing the Stamp Act. Peter D. G. Thomas, “Rice, George (1724?-79),” in ODNB-e (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23477, accessed 7 Jun. 2006).

245. Stephen Greenleaf (1704-95), a resident of Boston, sheriff of Suffolk County from 1757 to the Revolution, and a future Loyalist.

246. Benedict Thoms and Francis Layton.

247. Fort Loudon, near present-day Vonore in eastern Tennessee, was constructed by the Virginia militia in 1756. The Cherokees captured the fort in Aug. 1760 and massacred the garrison.

248. Fort Cherokee, at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, was originally called Fort Ascension when it was constructed by the French in 1757; it was renamed Fort Massac in 1759, by which name it is best known.

249. Probably Fort Kaskaskia, the second permanent French settlement on the Mississippi River in what was to become Illinois; if that was so, then the party would have traveled along the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, and proceeded up river to Kaskaskia.

250. Probably Fort Chartres, up river from Fort Kaskaskia; it was constructed from logs in 1720, but by the 1760s was an impressive, strongly-defended stone fortification. From here it was over 490 miles south to Natchez.

251. The French Fort les Natchez, on the Mississippi River, was an earthen construction from 1716, but had been in a ruinous state since its capture by the Natchez Indians in 1729.

252. The “flag of truce trade” was the term given to the generally illegal commerce between British and French settlements during wartime, on which see Nos. 11 and 234; Tyler, Smugglers & Patriots, 34; Thomas C. Barrow, Trade and Empire: The British Customs Service in Colonial America, 1660-1775 (Cambridge, Mass., 1967), 163.

253. Sir William Johnson (1715-74), the widely respected superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern Department and prominent landowner in upper New York.

254. According to Cruikshanks, “Simon Butler is a very likely Young Man 5 feet 10 Inches high, presently at Fort George, and shall be Discharged as soon as Your Excellency pleases, tho’ Instead of money, of Which I refused £20, for him Offered by the Enclosed Letter from M^r. Sanders, I would much rather Wish Governor Bernard would send a trusty Young man in his Stead.” Quoted in Amherst to FB, New York, 2 Mar. 1761, WO 34/27, p. 212.

255. No. 11.

256. Robert Temple, the brother of the surveyor general John Temple, and comptroller of Customs at Boston in 1761.

257. Monte Cristo, Hispaniola; modern-day San Fernando de Monte Cristi in the Dominican Republic.

258. Capt. Daniel Martin according to the deponents.

259. St. Thomas had been a royal Danish colony since 1754, and today is one of three islands comprising the US Virgin Islands. Inward clearances for the port of Boston 5 Apr.-5 Jul. 1761 show only one vessel from St. Thomas’s, the John, master John Miles, a thirty-ton schooner with a crew of four and owned by John Baker, a Boston merchant: there is an entry of two hogsheads of molasses and six of sugar, but the date has been torn from the manuscript. CO 5/851, n.p.

260. No. 47.

261. John Temple (1732-98), lieutenant governor of New Hampshire and surveyor general of Customs for the Northern District, which office he held from c.Jun. 1761 until its abolition in 1766.

262. Not found.

263. William Warburton (1698-1779), Church of England cleric and noted theologian. He was a practising lawyer before entering the church, where he held a number of benefices prior to becoming bishop of Gloucester in 1760. Warburton thought highly of FB, with whom he probably became acquainted while rector at Brant-Broughton, Lincs., 1728-30. Warburton was a signatory to the House of Lords’ protest against the repeal of the Stamp Act in Mar. 1766. Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 33.

264. No. 37.

265. No. 11.

266. No. 18.

267. FB to Pownall, Boston, 9 May 1761, CO 5/891, ff 31-32; No. 49.

268. Richard Dana (1700-72), justice of the peace for Suffolk County and a future member of the Sons of Liberty.

269. Amherst would have preferred the embarkations to have proceeded earlier and to have been permitted “to have Sent more Troops to Nova Scotia,” by which he likely meant either Hoar’s or Saltonstall’s regiments, or both. Amherst to FB, Albany, 25 Jun. 1761, BP, 9: 213-215. As it was, Amherst instructed Hoar to proceed to Albany as quickly as possible. Amherst to FB, Albany, 1 Jul. 1761, BP, 9: 217-220.

270. Some 630 men of Thwing’s regiment embarked for Halifax on 26 Jun., though FB evidently still hoped to reach a regimental total of seven hundred. He reported that enlistments were slower than expected ever since Amherst’s desire to send more Provincials to Halifax had become common knowledge. FB to Amherst, Boston, 27 Jun. 1761, WO 34/26, f 100.

271. FB is referring to the new evaluation of estates for tax-raising purposes that were settled by the House on 9 Jul., after which the House discussed incentives to encourage enlistment. JHRM, 38 pt.1: 103-105.

272. James Otis Jr. (1725-83), the lawyer and prominent Patriot, who, as representative for Boston, 1761-69 and 1771, and moderator of the town meeting, was one of FB’s foremost critics.

273. See JHRM, 38 pt.1: 103-105.

274. No. 67.

275. Bollan to Andrew Oliver, Leicester Square, 12 Feb. 1761, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 2: 300-302; Bollan to Oliver, Leicester Square, 14 Feb. 1761, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 1: 329-330.

276. This line in FB’s hand.

277. Col. Thwing’s regiment (see No. 51) was brought by the Seaflower, Jonathan Davies, master, which was owned by Elijah Davies, and cleared Boston on 9 Jul. 1761. CO 5/850, f 71.

278. A British army officer.

279. On 9 Jul., the House considered FB’s message of 1 Jul., and the following day passed a resolution offering new volunteers six weeks’ pay in addition to the bounty. JHRM, 38 pt.1: 91, 101; Acts and Resolves, 17: 43.

280. Amherst had been made a knight bachelor, an ancient reward for public service.

281. The British occupied Dominica in Jun. 1761 after attacking the French town of Roseau with an expeditionary force led by Commodore Sir James Douglas (1703-87) and Andrew Rollo (1703-65), the fifth Lord Rollo.

282. Nos. 52 and 54.

283. FB provided more details in No. 85.

284. Not found.

285. On 11 Mar. 1761. JBT, 11: 178.

286. FB to Pownall, Castle William, 12 May 1761, BP, 1: 316-317.

287. See No. 57.

288. An act for dividing the county of Hampshire, and for establishing a new county of Berkshire, 1 Geo. 3 c. 33 (passed 21 Apr. 1761); an act for erecting the new plantation called Pontoosuck, in the county of Hampshire, into a town by the name of Pittsfield, 1 Geo. 3 c. 34 (passed 21 Apr. 1761). Acts and Resolves, 4: 432-435.

289. Journals of the House of Representatives, 27 May 1761 to 11 Jul. 1761, CO 5/842, pp. 3-112 (Prt, RC). The page numbers cited by FB are consistent with JHRM, 37 pt.2.

290. FB’s message to the Council and the House of Representatives is dated Province House, 17 Apr.; the House of Representatives answered the following day. JHRM, 37 pt.2: 354, 360.

291. Bills to incorporate Plantations Number One, Three, and Four, and Colrain. JHRM, 37 pt.2: 343, 338, 350.

292. Incorporated in 1760.

293. See Article 40, General Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, Appendix 1.

294. The Treaty of Union (1706-07) between England and Scotland limited Scottish representation in the House of Commons to forty-five members: thirty for the shires and fifteen for the burghs. This entailed the sixty-five Scottish burghs, excluding Edinburgh, forming nine groups of five burghs and five groups of four to return fifteen members. J. D. Mackie, A History of Scotland (Harmondsworth, Eng. and New York, 1978), 260-261.

295. FB to John Pownall, Boston, 13 Jul. 1761, BP, 1: 323-324.

296. Harrison Gray (1711-94), province treasurer, 1753-74, and member of the Governor’s Council, 1761-72, was a moderate Whig and a Loyalist during the Revolution.

297. See Josiah Quincy, Samuel M. Quincy, and Horace Gray, Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, Between 1761 and 1772 (Boston, 1865), 541-547.

298. FB to Pownall, 13 Jul. 1761.

299. A House of Representatives’ resolve of 13 Jan. “impowered and directed” Treasurer Gray to recover over £475 sterling from the vice-admiralty court in respect of deductions, including fees and payments to informers, made from the province’s share of customs seizures. FB reluctantly consented to the resolve: his stated objection was not the first point he raises in this letter, concerning the challenge to the vice-admiralty court, but the second—the procedural irregularity of having the treasurer instead of the attorney general initiate the suit. A resolution of 27 Jan. named Paxton as the defendant. See JHRM, 37, pt.2: 181, 231-248; Tyler, Smugglers & Patriots, 41-42.

300. Superior Court of Judicature, Record Books, 1760-62, p. 235, Massachusetts Archives.

301. John Erving (c.1692-1786) was a wealthy merchant and a member of the Governor’s Council, 1754-74, whose brig Sarah was seized by customs officers led by George Craddock on 26 Apr. 1760. George Craddock (d.1771) of Charlestown, was deputy judge of the court of Vice Admiralty, 1742-?, and collector at Boston for the duration of Barons’s suspension. For the case see Quincy, et al.., Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Superior Court, 553-555.

302. James Otis Jr. was deputy advocate-general of Vice Admiralty, 1757-62.

303. Superior Court of Judicature, Record Books, 1760-62, p. 230.

304. Not found.

305. Possibly James Otis Jr.

306. Smudged.

307. John Scaife (d.1773), a British naval officer, raised to captain on 22 Feb. 1759.

308. The King George came into port c.22 Aug., and FB reported that she would be ready within five days to escort the storeship to Sandy Hook, New Jersey. FB to Amherst, Castle William, 22 Aug. 1761, WO 34/26, f 105.

309. Admiral Augustus Keppel (1725-86) forced the surrender of the fortified Belle Isle in Quiberon Bay, off the French coast, on 7 Jun. 1761 after a two-month siege.

310. No. 46.

311. This procedure entails defendants contesting a writ or other legal instrument on the basis that it contains extrinsic errors.

312. FB had warned the House of Representatives in Jan. that only the province attorney general could initiate Crown actions. JHRM, 37 pt.2: 246-247.

313. Barrington to FB, Cavendish Square, 6 Jun. 1761, BP, 9: 205-208.

314. Nos. 24 and 34.

315. In £sterling.

316. FB to Barrington, Boston, 6 Jun. 1761, BP, 1: 313-314.

317. Letters not found.

318. On 6 Jun. 1761.

319. Nos. 60 and 64.

320. William Sheaffe (1705/06-71), deputy collector of Customs at Boston.

321. Samuel Watts (1697-1770), a merchant and extensive property holder, had been a justice of the inferior court of Common Pleas of Suffolk County since 1748 and a member of the Governor’s Council since 1742. Samuel Welles (1689-1770) had represented Boston in the House on several occasions and had been appointed a judge in 1755.

322. Thus in manuscript. Probably meaning penetration, although pensitation is also a possibility.

323. Amherst to FB, Albany, 20 Aug. 1761, WO 34/27, p. 223.

324. Amherst was in camp at Staaten Island, preparing for the march to Albany, and awaiting the storeship’s arrival.

325. On 22 Aug., when FB reported that the regiment was at full strength of one thousand men, excluding officers and deserters, he noted that twenty-six soldiers were waiting on a vessel to take them to Halifax. These were the “last” of Thwing’s men. The other two regiments were “Very near” full strength. FB to Amherst, Castle William, 22 Aug. 1761, WO 34/26, f 105.

326. Not found.

327. Amherst reported that Moncreiffe “Expresses the remarkable politeness, and Civilities he has met with from You, in the Execution of the Service he was Sent upon,” which was to supervise the mustering and embarkation of the provincial soldiers for Halifax. Amherst to FB, Staaten Island, 28 Aug. 1761, BP, 9: 225-228.

328. Amherst had proposed supplying spruce beer to the Massachusetts troops working on the fortifications at Halifax, as had already been done for the British Regulars there. At a cost of less than three farthings per gallon, he supposed it an inexpensive and, according to his officers’ reports, a highly effective means of combating the “Dissenteries & mortal Disorder” induced by contaminated water and the drunkenness attendant to the overconsumption of rum. By Jun. 1762, if not earlier, FB had appointed Messrs Taylor and Blodget to undertake the brewing at Crown Point. Amherst to FB, 28 Aug. 1761; Council Executive Records, 1760-1766, CO 5/823, f 99; FB to Amherst, Boston, 17 Jun. 1762, WO 34/26, f 165.

329. FB to Cols. Thwing, Saltonstall, Hoar, Boston, 4 Sept. 1761, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 2: 321-323.

330. Thus in manuscript.

331. In addition, FB had requested that the sutlers at Halifax be exempt from any provincial duties on goods supplied to the regiments, and be placed under the protection of Maj. Gen. John Henry Bastide (c.1700-c.1770), a British military engineer. Bastide had supervised the demolition of Louisbourg in 1760, before taking charge of the construction of the fortifications at Halifax. FB to Bastide, Boston, 29 Jul. 1761, BP, 2: 119; FB to Jonathan Belcher, Boston, 29 Jul. 1761, BP, 2: 118.

332. Not found.

333. The governor was obliged to help maintain the bishop of London’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction in America. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 2: 490. The Congregationalists assumed that he would promote the interests of the province’s Anglican clergy and churches to the deteriment of their own.

334. The Rev. Edward Bass D.D. (1726-1803), the rector of St. Paul’s Church, Newbury (later Newburyport), who in 1796 was consecrated the first Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts. Newbury’s sectarian rivalries are discussed in Benjamin Woods Labaree, Patriots and Partisans: the Merchants of Newburyport, 1764-1815 (New York, 1975), 2-3, 8.

335. Not found.

336. Barrington to FB, Cavendish Square, 6 Jun. 1761, BP, 9: 205-208.

337. William Baker (1743-1824), a merchant and Alderman of the City of London, he was mp for Plympton Erle, 1768-74, and Aldborough, 1777-80. He was a noted friend of America.

338. These letters have not been found.

339. No. 62.

340. No. 66.

341. FB, memorial to the earl of Halifax, c.Mar. 1761, not found.

342. No. 65.

343. Not found.

344. Letters are obscured by binding.

345. Three words are written vertically in the right margin: “province” follows two cancellations which are difficult to decipher because of tight binding. Left marginal note, opposite the interlineation: “2 the Orig^l Duplicate this” in FB’s hand.

346. Not found.

347. Bollan was to seek reimbursement for his expenses from Leverett Blackbourne. FB to Bollan, Boston, 28 Sept. 1761, BP, 2: 13.

348. No. 49.

349. Possibly Richard Tucker of Glocester, Rhode Island.

350. Opening parenthesis supplied. The advertisement is in the Boston Gazette, 14 Sept. 1761, p. 1/3.

351. 10 Oct.

352. Louis Le Vassor de La Touche de Tréville (1710-81), governor of Martinique, c.Feb. 1761-1 Mar. 1762.

353. There were two legal issues of concern. First, the “the french Gentleman,” Mons. Benjamin Acquart, ought to have obtained a certificate of safe passage from FB prior to sailing, such as were occasionally supplied to transports coming from Martinique. (For example, Andrew Oliver to de La Touche de Tréville, 20 January 1762, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 2: 331-332.) Second, Acquart’s ship and all aboard her ought to have been quarantined and examined before being allowed into port, given that in Boston smallpox was responsible for more “concentrated mortality” than any other disease. John Stevens, however, was given immunity from arrest by a resolve of the General Court. John B. Blake, “Smallpox Inoculation in Colonial Boston,” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Services 8 (1953): 284-300, a 285-286; Acts and Resolves, 16: 674.

354. Rainsford Island.

355. Not found.

356. There is no record of Bollan’s resignation as advocate general of the Vice Admiralty Court, which position he had occupied since Dec. 1742. In Bollan’s absence, the duties were carried out by a deputy, which office was held by James Otis Jr. between 1757 and 1761. Sometime in 1762, Bollan was replaced by Robert Auchmuty (1724-88), a Massachusetts lawyer whose father had tutored Bollan in the law. Auchmuty was made a judge of the court in 1767.

357. Annotation in left margin: “1761. Nov^r. 25^th. Letter to Fra^s. Bernard Esq^r. Gov^r. of the Massachusets Bay, in Answer to three from him, of the 3^d. 6. & 27.^th of Aug. last.”

358. Nos. 59, 60, and 64.

359. The Charter of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 7 Oct. 1691, in Acts and Resolves, 1: 1-20; an act for ascertaining the number and regulating the House of Representatives, 4 Will. 3 & Mary, c. 38 (30 Nov. 1692), ibid., 88-90.

360. General Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, Court at St. James’s, 27 May 1761, Nether Winchendon House, Bucks. Eng. For Article 40 see Appendix 1.

361. On 9 Jun. 1762. JBT¸ 11: 286-287. The Board raised these matters in No. 124.

362. James West (1703-72), lawyer, politician, and antiquary. He was mp for St. Albans, 1741-68, and Boroughbridge, 1768-72; treasurer (1736-68) and president (1768-72) of the Royal Society; and joint secretary to the Treasury, 1746-56, and Jul. 1757-May 1762.

363. Amherst to FB, New York, 16 Nov. 1761, WO 34/27, p. 233.

364. On 23 Nov., FB reported that Amherst had discharged the regiments but had retained 238 provincial troops at Halifax and 320 at Crown Point for winter service. JHRM, 38, pt.1: 145.

365. Col. William Foster, the British commanding officer at Halifax, had complained to Amherst “of some very Irregular practises Committed by the Officers of the massachusetts Troops, by hiring the men to the Towns, people &c.” Amherst scolded him for not calling a general court-martial immediately. Amherst to FB, New York, 16 Nov. 1761. FB subsequently appointed Maj. Jotham Gay (1733-1802) of Hingham, Mass., to command the Provincials at Halifax, where he was already stationed, no doubt expecting that he would root out the “Irregular practises” Foster had brought to light. FB to Nathaniel Thwing, Boston, 9 Dec. 1761, BP, 2: 132.

366. Not found.

367. Amherst warned that the contribution of the Massachusetts troops to the hospital account had not been paid for 1759, and urged FB to send an agent to the upcoming muster at Fort No. 4 for troops returning from Crown Point. Amherst to FB, New York, 16 Nov. 1761. FB dispatched Thomas Goldthwait, province secretary at war, to New York in early Dec. FB to Amherst, Boston, 9 Dec. 1761, WO 34/26, f 114.

368. Not found.

369. See No. 65.

370. No. 77.

371. No. 82.

372. Samuel Shute (1662-1742), governor of Massachusetts, 1716-28. His sister Ann Shute was Lord Barrington’s aunt. Perhaps Hutchinson was trying to avoid offending FB and Barrington when he later published a tactful assessment of Gov. Shute’s administration in his History of Massachusetts, 2: 218. Hutchinson suggested it was unfortunate that Shute arrived at a time of intense partisanship, whereas modern historians emphasise that Shute’s growing hostility to the New Englanders was fueled by accusations of disloyalty and contests to manage the House of Representatives and establish a permanent salary for the governor. Richard L. Bushman, King and People in Provincial Massachusetts (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1985), 31, 95.

373. Thus in manuscript.

374. No. 74.

375. Barrington-Bernard, 43: “standing.”

376. There is no documentary record of FB having visited Connecticut since his meeting with Thomas Pownall at New London in Apr. 1760.

377. Meaning under discussion or consideration. OED.

378. No. 85.

379. Edward Whitmore (c.1694-1761), a British army officer. After participating in the capture of Louisbourg in 1758, Maj. Gen. Whitmore was appointed governor of the fort and also of Cape Breton and St. John’s. He died on 11 Dec. while travelling to Boston on leave, and was buried at King’s Chapel.

380. See No. 28.

381. Amherst to FB, New York, 6 Dec. 1761, WO 34/27, p. 234.

382. George Williamson (d.1794), a British army officer and lieutenant colonel in command of the Royal Artillery in North America.

383. The province had expended considerable money and effort in fortifying Castle Island in Boston harbor, but the artillery had evidently not been returned when FB reported on the building programme in Sept. 1763 (No. 234).

384. No. 62.

385. The printers refused to publish the letters. See No. 89.

386. James Otis Jr.

387. Josiah Hardy (1716-90), governor of New Jersey, 1761-62. His father had been a commissioner of the Admiralty and an mp, while his brother Charles had been governor of New York, 1755–57. Despite his family’s connections, Hardy was obliged to relinquish office by 1 Sept. 1762 after being dismissed for approving judicial commissions on terms contrary to his instructions.

388. Barrington to FB, Cavendish Square, 12 Dec. 1761, BP, 9: 233-236.

389. Not found.

390. Becket House at Shrivenham, Berkshire, is the Barrington family estate.

391. A contemporaneous virgule in the left margin marks off the enclosure.

392. An act for repealing the several laws now in force relating to the observation of the Lord’s Day, 1 Geo. 3, c. 20 (passed 31 Jan. 1761). Acts and Resolves, 4: 415-419.

393. An act for the better observation and keeping the Lord’s day ... 4 Will. & Mary, c. 22 ( 22 Oct. 1692), Acts and Resolves, 1: 58-59; An act in addition to the act entitled an act for the better observation and keeping the Lord’s day, ... 3 Geo. 1, c. 13 (26 Nov. 1716), ibid., 2: 58-59; An act in further addition to the act entitled an act for the better observation and keeping the Lord’s day, ... 13 Geo. 1, c. 5 (12 Jan. 1727), ibid., 2: 456-457.

394. See Article 7, General Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, Appendix 1.

395. An act for granting unto His Majesty several rates and duties of impost and tonnage of shipping (passed 31 Jan. 1761). Acts and Resolves, 4: 407-413.

396. Letters are obscured by tight binding.

397. See No. 89n4.

398. FB to Thomas Pownall, 13 Feb. 1762, BP, 2: 31 (noted). See mention of the “Governors Situation” in No. 58.

399. No. 79.

400. Judges were empowered to order the discontinuance of a suit in instances where the plaintiff was unable to make a legal case or submit enough evidence. OED.

401. Province of Massachusetts Bay v. Paxton, 1762. in Quincy, et al., Reports of Cases Argued and Adjudged in the Superior Court, 548-552.

402. Acts and Resolves, 17: 168.

403. Barrington’s letter of 12 Dec. (incorrectly dated above) brought news that Barons had been dismissed “with the entire approbation” of the Treasury and the Board of Customs. BP, 9: 233-236.

404. No. 85.

405. On 2 Feb. JHRM: 38, pt. 2: 220.

406. The papers in preparation included a memorial of the Boston Merchants, 18 Feb. 1762, T 1/415, ff 157-162. The merchants felt “obliged to vindicate” themselves from “unjust Aspersions” cast by FB in his official correspondence—in short, that that they were lawbreakers and smugglers. The rumor of FB’s indiscretion was propagated in Boston by Barons himself, having been raised in correspondence between Theodore Atkinson of New Hampshire and a London contact. See Tyler, Smugglers & Patriots, 55-57. In his official correspondence, FB made no secret of his view that the merchants were to the fore in a “party formed & supported by M^r Barons,” but he did not actually disparage particular persons as smugglers (No. 59). He was less circumspect in his correspondence with Barrington, however, wherein he pinpointed the weakness of the Customhouse as one of the “Causes which have induced the Merchants of this port to be less disposed to Obey the Laws of Trade than they have hitherto been.” (No. 62). Barrington may have passed this letter to Secretary of State Lord Egremont, but there is no evidence that it was considered formally by the Treasury or the Board of Trade. Elsewhere, FB wrote that “disregard of the Laws of trade which is now carried on by the most dangerous practices, in Rhode Island, has render’d the Merchants here disposed no longer to submit to the usual restraints” (No. 75); but this letter was never sent.

407. The identity of this merchant is unknown, but may have been John Timmons, an Anglican and general merchant, into whose care John Bernard placed his stock when he left Boston in 1776. John Bernard was established as a merchant in Boston by 1765, and entered into partnership with William Gale. He was among the handful of importers determined to defy the non-importation movement of 1768-70.

408 Not found.

409. Perhaps this was a swimming-related accident.

410. Hougougsaniyonde (or Segughsonyut) a.k.a. Thomas King, a sachem of the Oneida tribe. FB was grateful for King’s advice and his interpreter’s skills at the Easton conference. BP, 1: 177.

411. John Forbes (1707–1759), a Scots-born British army officer, was appointed brigadier-general in 1757 and built the famous Forbes Road over the Alleghenies. He led the force that captured Fort Duquesne in Dec. 1758, a strategic victory for the British in the war, and died 11 Mar.

412. The British force that successfully besieged Fort Niagara, 10-25 Jul. 1759, was commanded by Brig. Gen. John Prideaux (bap.1720?-1759).

413. Benjamin Shute, a London merchant, of whom little is known.

414. FB described Barons v. Paxton as the fifth case in No. 60. Here he is referring to Erving v. Craddock. Craddock had appealed to His Majesty in Council, but the process ceased when Erving, as FB suspected he might, discharged Craddock from the Superior Court’s judgment on account of the expense of mounting a defence in England. Tyler, Smugglers & Patriots, 49; Carl Ubbelohde, The Vice-Admiralty Courts and the American Revolution (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1960), 35.

415. Encircled.

416. Acts and Resolves, 17: 168.

417. No. 81.

418. The province voted 3,000 men in 1761.

419. Amherst to FB, 9 Feb. 1762, not found; Amherst to FB, New York, 21 Feb. 1762, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 1: 352-353.

420. FB had presented the letters on 20 Feb. and the resolutions were passed on 3 Mar. JHRM, 38 pt.2: 273-276, 287-288. The bounty for the Provincials had been raised to artificially high levels in 1759—£14 provincial currency or c.£10 sterling for new volunteers—when wages generally were high and it was proving difficult to attract recruits. Anderson, Crucible of War, 319.

421. Acts and Resolves, 17: 177-178.

422. LbC: “present.”

423. George Dymond was the master of the Wolf, owned by Nathaniel Wheelwright. CO5/850, f 13.

424. Enclosed in FB to Pownall, Boston, 4 Mar. 1762, BP, 2: 33-34, and possibly FB to Pownall, 13 Feb. 1762, not found.

425. The correct instruction was Article 13, General Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, Appendix 1; it had been in force since 1730. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 1: 258.

426. The actual grant made no mention of any timescale for clearing and settling the land, although these conditions were normally written into land grants, such as the six years allowed the grantees of the Penobscot townships, in addition to a clause requiring confirmation by the Crown.

427. No. 81.

428. See correspondence listed in No. 92n3.

429. 13 Mar.

430. 15 Mar.

431. Israel Williams (1709-88) of Hatfield, Hampshire Co., Mass., was one of the most influential political leaders in western Massachusetts. His family had extensive landholdings and dominated local and county offices. Williams deservedly acquired a reputation for distinguished public service as an officer in the provincial regiments, a town representative, 1733-58, and member of the Governor’s Council, 1760-66.

432. FB to Amherst, Boston, 20 Mar. 1762, WO 34/26, ff 121-122.

433. For a complete list of the sessional acts to which FB gave his consent on 6 Mar. see JHRM, 38 pt.2: 297-298.

434. An act to incorporate the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge among the Indians of North America (passed 11 Feb. 1762). Acts and Resolves, 4: 520-523.

435. The Boston Marine Society was established in 1742 and incorporated by the General Court in 1754.

436. An act for incorporating a society for the founding and regulating an academy in the western parts of the province was sent up to the Council for concurrence on 24 Feb. 1762 and rejected the same day. Welch, “Israel Williams and the Hampshire College Project of 1761-1764,” 55.

437. An act in addition to an act made and passed in the twenty-third year of King George the Second, entitled, an act for ascertaining the rates at which coined silver and gold may pass in this government, 2 Geo. 3, c. 28 (passed 6 Mar. 1762). Acts and Resolves, 4: 515-516. The act referred to herein was passed on 3 Jan. 1749. Ibid., 3: 430-444.

438. An act for ascertaining the rates of foreign coins in Her Majesty’s plantations in America, 6 Anne, c. 57.

439. An act for the better securing the possessors of the province treasurer’s notes, 2 Geo. 3, c. 29 (passed 10 Feb. 1762). Acts and Resolves, 4: 516-518.

440. An act to supply the treasury with the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds, 2 Geo. 3, c. 23 (passed 29 Jan. 1762). Acts and Resolves, 4: 491-493; an act to supply the treasury with the sum of twenty thousand pounds, 2 Geo. 3, c. 40 (passed 6 Mar. 1762). Ibid., 4: 528-529; an act in addition to an act entitled an act for supplying the treasury with the sum of forty-nine thousand one hundred pounds, to be thence issued for the discharging the public debts, and drawing the same into the treasury again, and to one other act to supply the treasury with the sum of thirty-nine thousand pounds, 2 Geo. 3, c. 22 (passed 31 Jan. 1762). Ibid., 4: 490-491. With regard to 2 Geo. 3, c. 22, above, the first act referred to herein is 1 Geo. 3, c. 4 (passed 22 Jun. 1761), ibid., 4: 460-462, and the second, 1 Geo. 3, c. 15 (passed 11 Jul. 1761), ibid., 4: 469-471.

441. The legislation from this session is discussed in No. 109.

442. No. 98.

443. FB refused to consent to the bill on the grounds that, as he told the assembly on 6 Mar., it was “plainly repugnant and contrary to the Laws of England,” especially an act for preventing frauds and regulating abuses in the plantation trade, 7 & 8 Will. 3 c. 22 (1696). JHRM, 38 pt.2: 299.

444. Colonial resentment of and opposition to sheriffs enforcing trade laws with writs of assistance surfaced again in 1766. See Maurice Henry Smith, The Writs of Assistance Case (Berkeley, 1978); George G. Wolkins, “Daniel Malcom and the Writs of Assistance,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 3d ser., 58 (1924-1925): 5-88.

445. The clerk has overwritten “colonies.”

446. Robert Monckton (1726-82), a British army officer and colonial administrator who commanded the expeditionary force that captured Martinique in Feb. 1762.

447. FB to Egremont, Boston, 5 Mar. 1762, BP, 2: 179.

448. Egremont’s first letter is No. 81. His second letter and Amherst’s letters of 9 Feb. and 21 Feb. 1762 have not been found. The House voted to raise six hundred recruits on 15 Apr. in addition to the two thousand voted in Mar. and the six hundred soldiers already in service. JHRM, 38 pt.2: 287-288, 308-309.

449. For these proceedings see No. 120.

450. The resolves were voted on 16 Apr. and passed 21 Apr. JHRM, 38 pt.2: 308-309; Acts and Resolves, 17: 200-202.

451. 19 Apr.

452. Bollan had been dismissed from the province agency on 12 Feb. 1760 but was reinstated four months later.

453. No. 105.

454. Jasper Mauduit (1696-1771), Massachusetts province agent, 1762-65.

455. On 23 Apr.

456. An act for empowering Jasper Mauduit, Esq; and in case he is prevented by sickness, death, or any other way, Richard Jackson, Jun., Esq; to receive any sum or sums of money that are or may be due or payable in Great-Britain, to the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, 2 Geo. 3, c. 48 (passed 24 Apr. 1762). Acts and Resolves, 4: 536-537.

457. General Court to Jasper Mauduit, 15 Jun. 1762, Mass. Archs., 56: 386-402.

458. Letters not found.

459. An act for the better enabling the officers of his Majesty’s Customs, to carry the Acts of Trade into execution. See No. 99.

460. FB neglected to to do this in the next letter to Pownall that enclosed copies of provincial legislation, No. 123.

461. Nos. 104 and 105.

462. No. 100.

463. On 26 Apr., the Governor-in-Council issued orders prohibiting the shipment of all provisions out of Massachusetts without special permission. Council Executive Records, 1760-1766, CO 5/823, f 155.

464. This line in FB’s hand.

465. Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776), the Scots-born lieutenant governor and acting governor of New York, 1761-75, and a celebrated botanist and historian.

466. Five acts were passed at the end of the session held from 14 to 24 Apr. JHRM, 38 pt.2: 332-333.

467. An act to explain, amend, and carry into execution an act made in the first year of the reign of His present Majesty, entitled, an act for raising a sum of money by lottery for repairing Faneuil Hall in Boston, 2 Geo.3, c. 49 (passed 24 Apr. 1762). Acts and Resolves, 4: 537. The act referred to herein is 1 Geo. 3, c. 26 (passed 18 Apr. 1761), which limited lottery funding for the building project to £2,000, excluding expenses; the 1762 act raised the limit to £3,000 sterling. Ibid., 4: 425-426.

468. No. 43.

469. The act was noted on 18 Nov. 1762, and there are no recorded objections by the Board of Trade. JBT¸ 11: 297-298.

470. LbC: “that may be spared” added here.

471. LbC: “as rangers or for Garrisons” added here.

472. No. 107.

473. Not found.

474. James O’Hara (c.1682-1773), earl of Tyrawley and former governor of Gibraltar, 1757-58.

475. No. 107.

476. Amherst to FB, New York, 18 Apr. 1762, BP, 9: 269-272.

477. Amherst to Thomas Fitch, New York, 5 May 1762. Correspondence between the Governor of Connecticut and the Commander-in-Chief, Sept. 1756-Nov. 1763, War Office Records: WO 34/28, f 83, PRO.

478. No. 112; Amherst to FB, New York, 10 May 1762, BP, 9: 281-284.

479. These proceedings are in Council Executive Records, 1760-1766, CO 5/823, ff 157-158.

480. Annapolis Royal, N.S., and Fort Cumberland at Wills Creek on the Potomac River, Md.

481. No. 87.

482. [James Russell], An account of impost and tonnage [on West Indies goods imported into the Province of Massachusetts Bay], received between May 1755 and May 1762, c.May 1762, CO 5/891, ff 83-89.

483. No. 113.

484. Lawrence Kortright (1728-94), a New York merchant, was a Crown-authorized privateer during the French and Indian War. Much of Kortright’s extensive landholdings in New York were confiscated during the War of Independence on account of his Loyalism; his daughter married future U.S. President James Monroe. The seizure of his sloop Sally is also discussed in No. 119.

485. 24 May.

486. Not found.

487. In the Bahama Islands.

488. Probably George Erving (1738-1806), merchant of Boston and son of John Erving Sr.

489. William Shirley (1694-1771), former governor of Massachusetts, 1741-56, and governor of the Bahama Islands, 1759-68.

490. No. 112.

491. No. 76.

492. There is no formal record of FB bringing this matter to the Council’s attention.

493. Benjamin Hallowell, captain of the province sloop the King George and a member of the Boston Marine Society (admitted 1748/49). William A. Baker, A History of the Boston Marine Society, 1742-1981 (Boston, 1982), 331.

494. No. 115.

495. Amherst thought it “reasonable” that the father furnish a substitute for his son, noting that he did not “think it absolutely necessary” to reject seventeen-year-old recruits who were “abler & fitter” than many twenty-year olds. Amherst to FB, New York, 30 May 1762, BP, 9: 291-294.

496. When Capt. Elliot informed Amherst of this destitute merchant, the general commended FB “in providing for One, Whose misfortunes Seem to Claim Compassion.” Ibid.

497. Amherst reversed the exclusion order and instructed Elliot to accept Native American volunteers. Ibid.

498. FB thought highly of Francis Miller, who was appointed an ensign in the 45th Regiment of Foot on 14 Dec. 1762. See source note to No. 171.

499. No. 115.

500. Amherst to FB, New York, 23 May 1762, BP, 9: 285-286.

501. In the Bahama Islands.

502. Amherst to FB, New York, 23 May 1762, BP, 9: 285-286; No. 119.

503. No. 102.

504. For a discussion of recruiting problems pertaining to the provincial regiments see No. 102, and for the regular regiments No. 103.

505. No. 59.

506. An act for ascertaining the number and regulating the House of Representatives, 4 Will. 3 & Mary, c. 38 (30 Nov. 1692). NB: the legislative chapter given in this footnote is consistent with modern notation.

507. In the 1764 census, the counties of Lincoln, York, and Cumberland accounted for 8.9 per cent (or 21,867) of Massachusetts’s total population. Robert V. Wells, The Population of the British Colonies in America Before 1776, A Survey of Census Data (Princeton, N.J., 1975), 79.

508. Letters obscured by the binding.

509. FB to Amherst, Boston, 7 Jun. 1762, WO 34/26, f 162. The enclosure has not been found.

510. Amherst to FB, New York, 6 Jun. 1762, WO 34/27, p. 250.

511. Lt. Francis Miller brought the first contingent of regular recruits to New York; Lt. [Philip?] Richardson of Col. Hoar’s regiment brought the second, some twenty recruits. FB to Amherst, Castle William, 25 May 1762, WO 34/26, f 144; FB to Amherst, Boston, 4 Jun. 1762, WO 34/26, f 161.

512. FB to Belcher, Boston, 3 Apr. 1762, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 2: 336.

513. Jonathan Belcher (1710-76) was the son of Jonathan Belcher (1681/2-1757), the former governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He practised law in England and Ireland before being appointed chief justice of Nova Scotia in 1754 (which he held until his death) and was lieutenant governor of the province, Nov. 1761-26 Sept. 1763.

514. No. 126.

515. Amherst rejected FB’s suggestion of raising separate provincial companies for regular regiments, on which see FB to Amherst, Castle William, 5 Jul. 1762, WO 34/26, f 169.

516. LbC: “of Rangers” added here. Maj. Joseph Gorham (1725-90) was commanding officer of the Corps of Rangers in North America. The regiment had been renamed the Corps of Rangers in 1761, having been called Gorham’s Rangers when they were placed on the British establishment in 1760. The rangers were originally formed in Massachusetts in 1744 by John Gorham (1709-51) of Barnstable Co., Mass., and after his death were commanded by Joseph, his younger brother.

517. Left marginal note: “Gov^r. Belchers Letter to the Gov^r: with respect to the bounds of this Province & Nova Scotia.”

518. 3 Apr. 1762 in Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 2: 336 and No. 127.

519. This may refer to The Charter Granted by Their Majesties King William and Queen Mary, to the Inhabitants of the Province of Massachusets-Bay in New England (Boston, 1692).

520. Not found.

521. Charles Lawrence (c.1709-60), governor of Nova Scotia, 1756-60.

522. Not found.

523. Pietas Et Gratulatio Collegii Cantabrigiensis Apud Novanglos Bostoni, Massachuttensium (Boston, 1761 [1762]).

524. King George III married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on 8 Sept. 1761.

525. Written as “1761530”.

526. Thus in manuscript, meaning that he had already sent the documents.

527. These letters have not been found.

528. FB to Bollan, Boston, 2 Mar. 1762, BP, 2: 32-33; No. 90; FB to Pownall, Boston, 4 Mar. 1762, BP, 2: 33-34.

529. William Alexander (1576-1640), baronet and first earl of Stirling, Scottish statesman, and poet. King James I granted Alexander proprietary rights to New Scotland in 1621; while he sent out several expeditions, none was able to establish a permanent settlement. William Alexander (1726-83) of New Jersey, the future Patriot general, revived claims to his forbear’s lordship of Stirling in Scotland and the lands in Sagadahoc.

530. Thus in manuscript. This is an ambiguous clause, for FB had not yet contracted with any body of settlers. The cancelled text suggests that originally FB was estimating the population of the planned town, but the correction could imply that FB was trying to impress Jackson (perhaps to attract his financial backing) by disingenuously suggesting that he already interested potential settlers. However, in subsequent letters to Jackson, notably No. 220, he did not claim to have engaged any settlers though he continued to proffer generous population projections.

531. Not found.

532. No. 86.

533. FB to Bollan, Boston, 2 Mar. 1762, BP, 2: 32-33.

534. Nos. 104 and 105; FB to John Pownall, Boston, 4 Mar. 1762, BP, 2: 33-34.

535. Thus in manuscript.

536. No. 131.

537. See No. 130n1.

538. Thus in manuscript.

539. In Temple Bar.

540. Garretson Meers was a master of a fishing vessel, and his declaration was the first to be publicly acknowledged, in the Boston Gazette, 12 Jul. 1762, p 3/1.

541. Alexander Colvill (1717-70), seventh Lord Colvill of Culross and commodore RN. When Colvill arrived in England on 26 Oct., he was promoted to rear-admiral of the white, and subsequently given command of the North Atlantic station, 1763-66. His name is often misspelled “Colville.”

542. Not found.

543. Sir George Pocock (1706–92), a successful naval officer and vice-admiral of the fleet that led the assault on Havana in 1762.

544. 19 Jul.

545. This paragraph in FB’s hand.

546. This corrected the intelligence provided in No. 134.

547. No. 135.

548. No. 136.

549. George Bridges Rodney (1718-1792), British naval officer, commodore-governor of Newfoundland, 1749; mp for Okehampton (1759-61), Penryn (1761-68), and Northampton (1768-84); rear-admiral of the blue in command of the Leeward Islands station; naval commander of the British expeditionary force against Martinique in 1762 and subordinate to Sir George Pocock in the campaign against Havana later that year. Created first Baron Rodney in 1764 and later won distinction in the American War of Independence for his victory over the French fleet at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782.

550. No. 135.

551. No. 138.

552. FB to Amherst, Castle William, 19 Jul. 1762, WO 34/26, f 178.

553. FB to Amherst, Cambridge, 22 Jul. 1762, WO 34/26, f 181.

554. Boston Newsletter, 22 July 1762.

555. Usually bomb-ship or bomb-ketch, a small mortar-carrying vessel. OED.

556. Nos. 135 and 137.

557. Belcher to FB, Halifax, 11 Jul. 1762, Mass. Archs., 5: 473.

558. The Council took no action other than to send an express rider to Crown Point to ascertain how many of the Provincials there had re-enlisted. CO 5/823, f 167. FB may have thought of sending deserters to Belcher ( No. 141) before he replied to him (No. 144).

559. No. 135.

560. Belcher to FB, Halifax, 11 Jul. 1762.

561. Nos. 134, 136, and 139.

562. No. 138.

563. The Neptune had left Boston for Newfoundland in June and was owned by Boston merchant George Bethune. CO5/ 850, f 14. Its master, William Cochran (d.1821), was admitted to the Boston Marine Society 7 Jun. 1763. Baker, History of the Boston Marine Society, 323.

564. 26 Jul.

565. No. 135.

566. The Azores.

567. The French ships were commanded by Charles-Henri-Louis d’ Arsac de Ternay (1723-80) and the military force by Louis-Bernard de Cléron, the comte D’ Haussonville and colonel of the Royal de Roussillon Regiment, 1759-61.

568. The postscript is written in the left margin.

569. See No. 139n8.

570. Amherst to FB, New York, 1 Aug. 1762, BP, 10: 3-4.

571. Amherst had asked FB to send new regular recruits to New York rather than Halifax. Ibid.

572. John Stevens (1715-92), merchant and shipowner of Perth Amboy, N.J., a member of the provincial assembly, and a future New York Patriot. Stevens was one of several Anglican assemblymen close to FB when he was governor of New Jersey. See FB to Halifax, Perth Amboy, 18 Jul., 1760, BP, 1: 270-271.

573. Amherst had asked that the King George escort the six transports of soldiers bound for Halifax, under the command of Lord Colvill, that comprised the force gathered to retake St. John’s, Nfld. Amherst to FB, New York, 12 Aug. 1762, BP, 10: 5-6.

574. Thus in manuscript.

575. Amherst later reported intelligence from Quebec suggesting that a vessel that fired on the fishing boats was a pirate ship. Amherst to FB, New York, 25 Aug. 1762, BP, 10: 9-10.

576. No. 135.

577. No. 137.

578. The numbers of guns carried by the Licorne and the Garonne are wrongly reported. Corrections were made in No. 153 and No. 162.

579. Not found.

580. No. 146.

581. Possibly Amherst to FB, New York, 12 Aug. 1762, BP, 10: 5-6.

582. See No. 207.

583. Andrew Robinson, a British army officer, was appointed colonel of the 45th Regiment of Foot on 24 Sept. 1761, having been a major general since 1759.

584. 26 Aug.

585. Artillery train.

586. Amherst advised FB to provision the vessel for a voyage to England rather than France, since the former was Le Dorothée’s original destination. Amherst to FB, New York, 5 Sept. 1762, WO 34/27, p. 276.

587. Fort William.

588. Walter Ross, a captain in the 40th Regiment of Foot since 19 Mar. 1758, and possibly George Rogers, a lieutenant in the 46th Regiment since 22 Jul. 1758.

589. Capt. Patrick Mouat (1712-90) put the Gramont into St. John’s on 26 Jun., the day before its capture, intending “to stay in the Place for its Defence.” Most of the convoy that Mouat had escorted from Ireland managed to escape capture by the French. Lord Colvill to John Clevland, HMS Northumberland, at Mauger’s Beach, near Halifax, 24 Jul., 1762, ADM 1/482, f 210. Mouat subsequently captained the Tamar on Commodore John Byron’s circumnavigation of the globe, 1764-66.

590. The Gramont was a prize ship taken in 1757, and was brought back to France by Capt. de Ternay.

591. A raised platform enabling artillery to fire over a parapet. OED.

592. Michael Gill, justice of the peace for the district of St. John’s, Nfld.

593. Belcher to Amherst, 12 Aug. 1762, in Selections From the Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 331.

594. Belcher to FB, Halifax, 13 Aug. 1762, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 1: 364-365.

595. FB to Barrington, Castle William, 17 Jul. 1762, BP, 2: 203-204.

596. Over-written “26.”

597. This line in FB’s hand.

598. The British besieged Havana, Cuba, from 8 Jun. until 13 Aug. 1762.

599. This line in FB’s hand. Thomas Potberry was the master of the Rainbow.

600. Not found.

601. Fort Pentagoet, established by France in 1613 and recaptured from the English in 1635, was the capital of the French colony of Acadia.

602. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) ended Queen Anne’s War in North America and the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe, 1702-13.

603. Richard Philips (161-175), governor of Nova Scotia, 1719-49.

604. No. 152.

605. No. 150.

606. Belcher to FB, Halifax, 13 Aug. 1762, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 1: 364-365. Other letters not found.

607. Council Executive Records, 1760-1766, CO 5/823, f 171.

608. Including the Swifi, Samuel Doty, master.

609. FB to James Murray, Boston, 8 Sept. 1762, BP, 2: 270.

610. Amherst to FB, New York, 5 Sept. 1762, WO 34/27, p. 276; 6 Sept. not found.

611. Acts and Resolves, 17: 270. Amherst had requested “At Halifax, Three Captains, Seven Subalterns, Eighteen Non Commissioned Officers, & Two Hundred & Forty Privates; And to the Westward, Three Hundred & Twenty Three Men, Including Three Captains, & Six Subalterns.” Amherst to FB, 4 Aug. 1762 New York, Mass. Archs., 4: 190-191.

612. FB to [John?] Elliot, Castle William, 26 Sept. 1762, BP, 2: 281.

613. See No. 155.

614. No. 158; FB to Amherst, Boston, 17 Sept. 1762, WO 34/26, f 217.

615. Letter of 19 Sept. not found; No. 159.

616. See No. 157.

617. On his return, FB learned of the recapture of St. John’s and sent his congratulations to Amherst forthwith. FB to Amherst, Castle William, 25 Oct. 1762, WO 34/26, f 225.

618. Fathoms.

619. One of the families was that of James Richardson, who had left Gloucester, Mass., earlier in the year. George E. Street, Mount Desert: A History (Boston and New York, 1905), 115.

620. Abraham Soames had relocated his family from Gloucester, Mass., to the island in 1762, having first visited a year earlier. Street, Mount Desert: A History, 115.

621. Samuel Waldo Jr. (1723-70) of Falmouth and proprietor of his father’s vast patent in Maine. He had represented Falmouth in the General Court and was a probate judge.

622. Thomas Ross (d.1804 or 1808), mariner of Falmouth and future Loyalist.

623. Not found.

624. Lord Colvill led the Northumberland out of Halifax on 10 Aug., and, on arriving off St. John’s on 11 Sept., he blockaded the French vessels in the harbor.

625. The figures record the number of guns per vessel.

626. Col. Amherst estimated a total of 1,559 men including 520 “Massachusetts Provincials.” Clarence Webster, ed., The Journal of Jeffrey Amherst from 1758 to 1763 (Chicago, 1931), 2.

627. Capt. de Ternay was able to lead the French ships out of the harbor on the night of the 15th, evading Colvill’s blockade under cover of fog, and reach France on 28 Jan.

628. No. 153.

629. The sloop King George was armed with fourteen nine-pounders and six six-pounders on the main deck, and twelve swivel cohorns (grenade-throwing mortars) on the quarterdeck, and was crewed by 150 men. FB to Amherst, Boston, 10 Jun. 1762, WO 34/26, f 167.

630. This line in FB’s hand.

631. Sterling.

632. A resolve of 12 Jun. 1762 appropriated £2,000 for that purpose. JHRM, 39: 68; Acts and Resolves, 17: 250.

633. No. 43.

634. Robert Wood, undersecretary of state.

635. The identity of FB’s rival is unknown. FB had warned Barrington earlier of a “design” afoot to establish two naval offices in the province, and requested his “patronage” to defeat it. Castle William, 24 May 1762, BP, 2: 190-192.

636. Letters not found.

637. John Clevland (1706-63), a long-serving naval administrator who became first secretary of the Admiralty, 1759-63.

638. FB to Barrington, 22 Feb. 1762, not found, and Castle William, 17 Jul. 1762, BP, 2: 203-204.

639. 4 Mar. 1762, BP, 2: 33-34; 17 Jul. 1762, not found; No. 93.

640. See No. 154.

641. Letters are obscured by binding.

642. Instead, he addressed the memorial to the Board of Trade (No. 177) where it was considered on 2 Mar. 1763, and informed the secretary of state of what he had done. FB did not send a memorial to the secretary of state until Jan. 1767. FB, memorial to the earl of Shelburne, [Jan. 1767], CO 5/756, ff 33-37.

643. FB to Amherst, Castle William, 25 Oct. 1762, WO 34/26, f 225.

644. Not found.

645. FB to Amherst, Boston, 23 Sept. 1762, WO 34/26, f 220.

646. Not found.

647. Not found.

648. Thus in manuscript. See No. 131.

649. Letter not found. Benjamin Pratt (1711-63), lawyer, former Boston representative, and chief justice of New York, 1761-63.

650. Possibly William Chambers, admitted to the Boston Marine Society on 7 Aug. 1759. One Capt. Chambers was master of the Pembroke, which sailed between Newcastle, Eng., and Boston. Boston Gazette, 18 Jul. and 12 Sept. 1763.

651. No. 183.

652. No. 170.

653. Not found.

654. The total cost on the billeting rolls was £341 18s 4d. FB to Amherst, Boston, 13 Dec. 1762, WO 34/26, f 231.

655. Not found.

656. Boone had been appointed governor of South Carolina on 14 Apr. 1761; he assumed office on 11 Nov. and served until 1766.

657. FB to Pownall, Boston, 4 Mar. 1762, BP, 2: 33-34.

658. By Richard Jackson. See No. 167.

659. Dft: the remainder of the paragraph is enclosed in quotation marks.

660. Possibly [John Mascarene], The Manufacture of Pot-Ash in the British North American Plantations Recommended (Boston, 1757). FB’s encouragement of American potash manufacturer Levi Willard is discussed in No. 232.

661. This line in FB’s hand.

662. The Charter of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1692.

663. No. 90.

664. Nos. 162, 165 and 169.

665. Thus in manuscript. This is not a dittograph.

666. Faint.

667. No. 167.

668. Not found.

669. No. 179.

670. General Court, A brief State of the Title of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay to the Country between the Rivers Kennebeck and St. Croix, 1 Feb. 1763. JHRM, 39: 289-307. This was subsequently published: A Brief State of the Title of the Province of Massachusetts-Bay to the Country between the Rivers Kennebeck and St. Croix (Boston, 1763).

671. Sir William Phips (1651-95), governor of Massachusetts, 1691-94, led the 1690 expedition against Port Royal, Acadia, which, though successful, provoked French and Native American reprisals in Sagadahoc.

672. Thus in manuscript.

673. Barrington to FB, Cavendish Square, 11 Sept. 1762, BP, 10: 15-18.

674. John Yorke (1728-1801), mp for High Ferrers, 1753-68, and Reigate, 1768-84; a lord commissioner for Trade and Plantations, 1761-63; and a lord of the Admiralty, 1765-66.

675. Left marginal note: “Letter to Fran^s. Bernard Esq. Gov^r. of the Massachusets Bay in answer to One from him of 12^th.Oct.”

676. Should be 21 Oct., No. 164.

677. No such letter has been found.

678. Horatio Gates (1727/28?–1806), the future Revolutionary general. Gates had been resident in London since Mar. 1762, and the following month was appointed a major in the 45th Regiment of Foot. He returned to New York in Aug.—probably on the vessel that Frank Bernard abandoned at Madiera—where he was an aide to Gen. Robert Monckton, governor of New York, 1761-65.

679. This line is in FB’s hand.

680. The clerk erred in overwriting “1763” with “1762.”

681. FB to Jackson, Boston, 10 Dec. 1762, BP, 2: 240-243; No. 180.

682. FB welcomed Halifax’s appointment, partly because he was politically close to Barrington, but also because of the earl’s reformist outlook where imperial administration was concerned. Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 41-42, 87, 90. Halifax had been appointed secretary of state for the Northern Department on 14 Oct. 1762, which department did not normally administer American affairs, but he moved to the Southern Department one year later.

683. Including No. 184.

684. No. 131.

685. An Act for empowering Jasper Mauduit (passed 24 Apr. 1762). Acts and Resolves, 4: 536-537.

686. Jasper Mauduit to Andrew Oliver, 29 Jun. 1763, which Oliver brought down from the Council to the House on 14 Sept. 1762. JHRM, 39: 102.

687. Israel Mauduit (1708-87), brother of province agent Jasper and a Dissenting minister by training, ran the family’s draper business trading with the colonies and wrote several notable tracts on colonial affairs while acting as a lobbyist for the colonists.

688. James Otis Jr.

689. On 17 Jan., the House voted that Israel Mauduit be “impowered to act as Agent,” but without pay, in “all Cases” where his elderly brother was “necessarily prevented” from attending to business. JHRM, 39: 138. On 20 Jan., James Otis Jr. delivered a message to the Council enquiring as to whether or not they had passed the House vote. As FB notes, the Council did not concur. JHRM, 39: 155, 160.

690. For subsequent developments see No. 186.

691. This suggests that FB may have been aware of the contents of letters from James Otis Jr. and the Rev. Charles Chauncy to Jasper Mauduit in which FB’s Anglican credentials were disparaged. Worthington C. Ford, ed., Jasper Mauduit, Agent in London, 1762-1765, Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 74 (Boston, 1918), 71-80. FB may have been privy to Mauduit’s private correspondence. No. 206n5.

692. Thomas Hutchinson was the source of this information, which was first published in 1767. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, 2: 85.

693. The following two paragraphs are in the hand of clerk no. 2.

694. The House’s letter, adopted on 29 Jan., protested reasons of “publick Oeconomy” for not appointing Israel Mauduit as a joint agent or a deputy to his brother. The Speaker of the House of Representatives (Timothy Ruggles) to Jasper Mauduit, Boston, JHRM, 39: 189.

695. For these proceedings see JHRM, 39: 189, 193, 195.

696. This paragraph, the closure, and the postscript are in FB’s hand.

697. Thus is manuscript: meaning that the package had arrived at New York on Friday 14 Jan.

698. Not found.

699. Pietas Et Gratulatio Collegii Cantabrigiensis.

700. The first written form of Harvard College was probably a phonetic rendition.

701. Letters are obscured by binding.

702. No. 91 enclosed in No. 191.

703. Address of the Council and the House of Representatives to FB, 15 Feb. 1763, JHRM, 39: 245.

704. [James Otis Jr.], Letter to the Printers, Boston Gazette, 17 Jan. 1763, p. 3.

705. This insertion in FB’s hand.

706. Left marginal note: “five pass’d 6 March, & Two 11. & 12. Jun. 1762.”

707. See No. 205.

708. No. 46.

709. Francis Vernon (c.1715-83), first Baron Orwell and created first earl of Shipbrook in 1777; first lord commissioner, 5 Jan.1763-12 Aug. 1765.

710. Letter not found. The preliminary articles of the Treaty of Paris were signed on 3 Nov. 1762.

711. General Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, 30 Jun. 1761, CO 5/920, pp. 85-88. In the previous set, printed in Appendix 1, this was article 31.

712. Thomas Brinley (1726-84), merchant, distiller, Anglican, and future Loyalist. In 1749 he had married Elizabeth Craddock, daughter of George Craddock.

713. No. 186.

714. These proceedings are noted in JHRM, 39: 201, 214, 268.

715. The first letter of Mauduit’s surname is distinct but the rest of the letters have been erased.

716. Closing quotation marks supplied. Otis is referring to Lt. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson.

717. Postscript in FB’s hand.

718. FB to the earl of Egremont, Boston, 16 Feb. 1763, CO 5/755, f 19.

719. See Nos. 185 and 191.

720. No. 91. See No. 193.

721. No. 198.

722. No. 176.

723. The correct date is February 1762.

724. No. 149.

725. Amherst to FB, 29 Aug. 1762, New York, WO 34/27, p. 274.

726. For details see No. 207.

727. Martin Gay (1726-1809), a coppersmith and merchant of Boston, whose brass foundry brought him considerable wealth and status. He held several minor municipal offices and became a prominent Loyalist.

728. Thus in manuscript.

729. Not found.

730. Closing quotation marks supplied.

731. On 2 Mar. 1762.

732. Faint here and below.

733. On 3 Mar. 1762.

734. FB consented to the Brief State on 1 Feb. 1763.

735. Enclosed in No. 200.

736. The agent may have been one of the leading grantees such as David Marsh or Enoch Bartlett.

737. No. 197.

738. Enclosed in No. 200.

739. Postscript in FB’s hand.

740. Enclosed in No. 197.

741. Letters are obscured by tight binding.

742. This line in FB’s hand.

743. No. 181; JBT, 11: 313.

744. On 23 May 1759.

745. See No. 169.

746. Nos. 181 and 196.

747. This is most unlikely, since FB’s ownership ultimately depended upon the province’s claim of jurisdiction over Sagadahoc. The Mount Desert Island grant may also have been intended to soften FB’s opposition to a provincial bill to supplant the writs of assistance, although in this Otis and his colleagues were disappointed. Nicolson, The ‘Infamas Govener’, 73-74.

748. No. 197.

749. No. 181.

750. No. 201 in No. 200.

751. LbC: clause ends with “East side of Penobscot Bay.”

752. There is a full list of legislation that FB consented to on 25 Feb. 1763 in JHRM, 39: 286-287.

753. An act for reviving and continuing sundry laws that are expired and near expiring, 3 Geo. 3, c. 23 (passed 24 Feb. 1763). Acts and Resolves, 4: 617-618.

754. An act for the continuation of a lottery (granted and allowed by an act entitled, an act in addition to an act entitled an act for raising a sum of twelve hundred pounds by lottery, for building and maintaining a bridge over the River Parker, in the town of Newbury, at a place called old town-ferry) for raising a further sum for that purpose, 3 Geo. 3, c. 21 (passed 26 Feb. 1763). Acts and Resolves, 4: 615-616. The act herein referred to is 33 Geo. 2, c. 35 (passed 28 Apr. 1760). Ibid., 4: 326-327.

755. No. 46.

756. This is not mentioned in any of the extant letters to John Pownall.

757. No. 87.

758. James Russell (1715-98), brother of Chambers Russell and a merchant of Charlestown, Mass., was the representative for Charlestown, 1746-50 and 1753-60, a member of the Governor’s Council, 1760-73, and annually elected commissioner of Impost, 1763-74.

759. No. 87.

760. In James Russell’s report, Salem (as well as Connecticut, New York, and Halifax) is listed under the same heading as the West Indies as if it were a source of imports.

761. Left marginal note: “Lords of Trade order for Thanksgiving.”

762. 11 Aug. 1763, as advised by the Governor-in-Council on 27 Jul. Council Executive Records, 1760-1766, CO 5/823, f 224.

763. Bamber Gascoyne (1725-1791), politician, mp for Maldon, 1761-65, and Midhurst, 1765-68; a lord commissioner at the Board of Trade, 1763-65; returned to the Commons in 1770, as mp for Weobley, and to the Board, where he remained until 1779.

764. No. 188.

765. An act for ascertaining the number and regulating the House of Representatives, 4 Will. 3 & Mary, c. 38 (30 Nov. 1692). NB: the legislative chapter given in this note and those that follow is consistent with modern notation.

766. An act to prevent default of appearance of representatives to serve in the General Assembly, 28 Nov. 1693, c. 14, sect. 8. An act of 1692-93, c. 36, setting a voting qualification of £40 of property was disallowed by the Privy Council (although subsequent acts containing that provision were not: 1693-94, c. 14; 1694-95, c. 28), while later acts (1696, c. 5; 1697, c. 7 and c. 15; 1698, c. 40) raised the bar to £50. Acts and Resolves, 1: 363n to c. 4.

767. LbC: “general Calculation.”

768. No. 59.

769. An act for erecting the north parish or precinct, in the town of Sheffield, into a separate town by the name of Great Barrington, 2 Geo. 3 c. 9 (passed 30 Jun. 1762). Acts and Resolves, 4: 465-467.

770. Letters are obscured by tight binding.

771. No. 191.

772. Not found.

773. No. 181.

774. Jasper Mauduit to Andrew Oliver, London, 23 Jun. 1762, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 1: 361. The “Private” letter has not been found.

775. William Franklin (1730/31-1813), eldest child of Benjamin Franklin and governor of New Jersey, 1762-76. The letter to FB, c.1763, has not been found.

776. See No. 149.

777. Major Gay served in Nova Scotia 4 Apr.-25 Dec. 1761, and held the rank of lieutenant colonel from 3 Apr. 1762 to 1 Jan. 1763, when he evidently left the provincial service. The reasons for Gay not pursuing a career in the regular army are sketched in No. 218.

778. John Small (1722-60), a British army officer, and resident of Scarborough, York Co., Mass. One local historian suggests that he may have been killed by John Howard, a soldier stationed at Fort Western. Old Fort Western (http://www.oldfortwestern.org accessed 16 Mar. 2007).

779. Amherst suggested that there were errors in Small’s map, whereupon FB made several requests for the general to send him a copy of a “sketch” of the Kennebec River made by a British army engineer, inc. No. 218.

780. Amherst to FB, New York, 8 May 1763, WO 34/27, p. 289.

781. Charles Townshend (1725-67), politician, mp for Great Yarmouth from 1748 until his death, chancellor of the exchequer, 1766-67, and president of the Board, 1 Mar.-16 Apr. 1763.

782. Enclosed in No. 46.

783. The remainder of the closure, but not the addresse’s name, is in FB’s hand.

784. Left marginal note: “1763. May 18^th. Letter to Francis Bernard Esq^r. Governor of the Massachusets Bay in Answer to one from him of 19^th. Febry last.”

785. No. 190.

786. No. 91.

787. Right marginal note, opposite signatures: “Ex^d.”

788. Edward Craggs-Eliot (1727-1804), first Baron Eliot and a lord commissioner, 1760-74.

789. Barrington to FB, Cavendish Square, 13 Feb. 1763, BP, 10: 57-58.

790. Anne Shute Barrington (née Daines, [d.1763]), the daughter of Sir William Daines of Bristol.

791. Nos. 210 and 215; No. 83.

792. No. 91.

793. Nos. 193 and 181.

794. Nos. 197, 198.

795. See No. 206.

796. Nos. 181, 193, 200 and 202.

797. No. 177; Jackson’s letter not found.

798. Lord Egremont.

799. No. 210.

800. Lord Barrington; No. 212.

801. No. 180.

802. The letter of 9 Mar. has not been found; No. 193.

803. FB is likely referring to a limitation to an administrative reform introduced by the Privy Council on 15 May 1761. When the Privy Council repealed an order-in-council of 11 Mar. 1752, and thereby transferred from the Board to the secretary of state the sole authority to make recommendations on appointments to colonial offices, it retained the instruction that royal governors should continue to communicate directly with the Board in the first instance, and to contact the secretary of state only in matters requiring his “immediate Directions.” APC, 4: 154-157; JBT, 11: 338; FB to Robert Wood, Boston, 17 Aug. 1761, CO 5/20, ff 169-170.

804. No. 210.

805. FB substituted this for “word.”

806. In No. 176.

807. Copies not found.

808. Nos. 197, 202, 203 and 205.

809. Possibly Nos. 198 and 200.

810. No. 213 and the enclosure to No. 198.

811. No. 210.

812. No. 193.

813. The Treaty of Breda (1667) was signed by England, the Dutch United Provinces, France, and Denmark, and ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665-67 and the first Anglo-French conflict in North America of 1666-67, in which Massachusetts participated; it also returned Acadia—which had been nominally English territory since 1654—to French control.

814. The Treaty of Ryswick (1697) ended France’s war of 1688-97 with the League of Augsburg powers—England, Spain, and the Netherlands—and, in North America, King William’s War of 1690-97. Nova Scotia was again returned to France.

815. Queen Anne’s War of 1702-13 involved several attempts by Massachusetts to capture Port Royal, the Acadian capital, until the successful expedition of 1710 under Francis Nicholson. The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) confirmed France’s cession to Great Britain of “Nova Scotia or Acadia.”

816. A person who wrongfully evicts another from the possession of lands.

817. Samuel Freiherr (Baron) von Pufendorf (1632–94), De Jure Naturae et Gentium (1672).

818. Letter not found. See No. 209. FB had extended the period of enlistment to 1 Jul. Capt. Abel Keen of Pembroke, Plymouth Co., Mass., had been in the Provincials since 1757.

819. See No. 218.

820. Not found.

821. In Sept. disaffection over pay stoppages sparked a mutiny among Regulars of the 40th Regiment. See Peter Way, “Rebellion of the Regulars: Working Soldiers and the Mutiny of 1763-1764,” WMQ 57 (2000): 761-792.

822. 4 Jun. The address to the king was approved on 8 Jun. JHRM, 40: 72.

823. No. 191.

824. Benjamin Edes and John Gill.

825. The Rev. Samuel Cooper (1725-83), pastor at Brattle Street Church, Boston, had been chaplain to the House since 1753.

826. James Otis Sr. (1702-78), politician, farmer, and merchant of Barnstable, Mass., which he represented 1745-56 and intermittently thereafter until 1769; Speaker of the House, 1760-61, and a member of the Governor’s Council 1762-65.

827. Harrison Gray, whose daughter was married to Samuel Allyne Otis (1740-1814), brother of James Otis Jr.

828. On 28 May 1762. The Governor’s salary bill for £1,300 provincial currency was read and passed to be enacted on 31 May, and was published on 12 Jun. JHRM¸ 39: 15-16, 21. Acts and Resolves, 4: 571.

829. No. 217.

830. John Winthrop IV (1714-79), Hollison professor of mathematics and natural philosophy and a noted astronomer. The House voted a £90 gratuity for Winthrop. JHRM, 39: 199. FB’s second voyage is briefly described in No. 244.

831. By 1782 there were 235 white adult males on the island. Mass. Archs., 162: 258.

832. FB is referring to recent emigration schemes promoted by Charles Lawrence, former governor of Nova Scotia, with the agreement of the British, intended to displace the Acadians. The province attracted upwards of 5,000 migrants from New England. George A. Rawlyk, Nova Scotia’s Massachusetts a Study of Massachusetts-Nova Scotia Relations 1630 to 1784 (Montréal, 1973), 218-219, 221.

833. Amherst to FB, New York, 12 Jun. 1763, WO 34/27, p. 293.

834. Not found.

835. There are three contemporaneous virgules in the left margin marking off the enclosures.

836. No. 240.

837. Pownall to FB, 27 Apr. 1763, CO 5/920, p. 160.

838. Stephen West (1735-1819), Congregational missionary and minister to the Stockbridge community, 1759-73.

839. No. 234.

840. When FB (finally) presented the Board of Trade’s queries to the assembly on 2 Jun. 1763, he specifically requested that the assembly authorize the collection of census data from towns; although a committee was appointed no further action was taken, probably because of growing criticism of the prospective census, until FB revived it in a message of 31 Jan. 1764. JHRM, 40: 44, 251-252.

841. Letters not found.

842. The session ended on 16 Jun. and the General Court was prorogued until 3 Aug.

843. The House had approved a letter on 23 Feb. accusing William Bollan of making “diverse Stoppages of considerable Sums” from the parliamentary subsidies, and instructed Jasper Mauduit to demand of Bollan that he produce both an “Account” of the deductions and a “general Account of his Agency.” JHRM, 39: 268; Timothy Ruggles to Mauduit, Boston, 22 Feb. 1763, Ford, Jasper Mauduit, 98-99.

844. This line in FB’s hand.

845. Louis Jules Mancini-Mazarini (1716-98), the duc de Nivernais, arrived in London in Sept. 1762 as the French ambassador to negotiate peace, whereupon he learned of the Acadians’ plight.

846. Not found.

847. This may be a reference to James II’s attempted consolidation of the New England colonies into the dominion of New England, and Gov. Edmund Andros’s infamous failed attempt to obtain possession of Connecticut’s royal charter of 1662.

848. Samuel Langdon, An Accurate Map of His Majesty’s Province of New-Hampshire in New England & All the Adjacent Country Northward to the River St Lawrence, & Eastward to Penobscot Bay Containing the Principal Places Which Relate to the Present War on the Continent of North America (1756), Faden Map Collection, Library of Congress.

849. Thus in manuscript.

850. No. 226 and 228.

851. Jackson to FB, 25 Apr. 1763, received on 23 Jul. 1763, but not found.

852. No. 213.

853. FB to the earl of Shelburne, Boston, 25 Jul. 1763, BP, 3: 84-85.

854. No. 83.

855. Thus in manuscript. FB to Barrington, Castle William, 1 Aug. 1763, BP, 3: 86-87.

856. Thus in manuscript.

857. FB to the Board of Trade, Boston, 1 Aug. 1763, BP, 3: 86-89.

858. FB is alluding to the aspirations of the Susquehanna Company, whose agent, Eliphalet Dyer (1721-1807), was traveling to England to obtain Crown confirmation of the grant to the Wyoming Valley made by Connecticut in 1754. See No. 228.

859. John Penn (1699-1746), Richard Penn (d.1771), and Thomas Penn (1703-75), joint proprietors of Pennsylvania.

860. Lewis Evans, A General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America; Viz Virginia, Màriland, Dèlaware, Pensilvania, New-Jersey, New-York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island: of Aquanishuonîgy, the Country of the Confederate Indians; Comprehending Aquanishuonîgy Proper, Their Place of Residence, Ohio and Tïiuxsoxrúntie Their Deer-Hunting Countries; Couxsaxráge and Skaniadarâde, Their Beaver-Hunting Countries; of the Lakes Erie, Ontario and Champlain, and of Part of New-France: Wherein Is Also Shewn the Antient and Present Seats of the Indian Nations (Philadelphia, 1755).

861. No. 227.

862. List of French Neutrals desiring to relocate to France, Mass. Archs., 24: 486-491, enclosed in Andrew Oliver to Jasper Mauduit, 24 Aug. 1763, Mass. Archs., 24: 484-485.

863. Account for the support of French Neutrals in Massachusetts Bay, 1755-1763, Aug. 1763, Mass. Archs., 24: 492-502, of which a copy was enclosed in Oliver to Mauduit, 24 Aug. 1763.

864. Miramachi is in present-day New Brunswick, Canada, and Robins claimed to have been awaiting confirmation of a Crown grant for these lands. Selections From the Public Documents of Nova Scotia, 340.

865. Levi Willard (d.1775) of Lancaster, Worcester Co., Mass., who petitioned the General Court for assistance in producing potash on 23 Dec. 1763. JHRM, 40: 123. He established a successful mercantile business in partnership with Capt. Samuel Ward, held the provincial rank of Lt. Col., and was a justice of the peace; he became a prominent Loyalist. See No. 232.

866. See No. 204.

867. William Fitzherbert (1712-72) of Tissington Hall, Derbyshire, was mp for Derby, 1761-72, and a lord commissioner for Trade and Plantations, 1765-72. Fitzherbert was likely a council member or trustee of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce.

868. No. 227.

869. No. 231.

870. About 90 persons in total were listed. List of French Neutrals desiring to relocate to France, Mass. Archs., 24: 486-491; a minute of the Massachusetts Council of 24 Aug. 1763.

871. In the summer of 1763, over 1,000 Acadian refugees living in England sailed to France from Liverpool. Griffiths, The Contexts of Acadian History, 1686-1784, 101.

872. No. 235.

873. Number supplied. “Quere 1. What is the situation of the Province under your Government the Nature of the Country Soil and Climate what are the principal Rivers and Harbours, the Latitudes and Longitudes of the most considerable places in it ...: Have these Latitudes and Longitudes been settled by good Observations or only by common Computations and from whence are the Longitudes computed?”

874. These latitudes include the disputed territory of Sagadahoc.

875. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), German physicist and inventor of the alcohol (1709) and mercury (1714) thermometers; FB used the latter type, as was noted in a letter to Francis Fauquier, Boston, 7 Feb. 1761, BP, 2: 98.

876. According to US Geological Survey data, the locus of these co-ordinates is near Gleasondale, several miles inland from the site of colonial Boston. Modern State Street, in the heart of old Boston, is -71° 03’ longitude and 42° 21’ latitude.

877. “Quere 2d What are the Boundaries? Have those Boundaries been settled and ascertained and by what authority? If any parts are disputed by whom, when did the Disputes arise what steps have been taken or in your Opinion ought to have been taken to fix the true Boundary Lines?”

878. 5 Aug. 1740. See Labaree, Royal Instructions, 2: 700-703.

879. See illustrations opposite p. 409.

880. Hitherto, Massachusetts and New York had failed to settle their differences over their common boundary. Resolution was made more difficult because of disputes, some of them violent, among frontier settlers and between landowners and tenants. The Board of Trade considered the boundary line in 1757, but neither it nor the Privy Council had resolved the matter by the time FB wrote the this report. In Jun. 1763, the Massachusetts assembly issued a public defence that FB submitted to the Board of Trade. JHRM, 40: 38, appendix 277-307; Thomas Hutchinson, The Case of the Provinces of Massachusetts-Bay and New-York, Respecting the Boundary Lines Between the Two Provinces (Boston, 1764). Land riots in 1766 ended procrastination on the part of the colonial governments; a joint commission met at New Haven, Conn., in Sept. 1767, and in 1773 the boundary line was finally agreed. Philip J. Schwarz, The Jarring Interests: New York’s Boundary Makers, 1664-1776 (Albany, 1979), 192-207.

881. In 1713.

882. In 1749.

883. William Bollan petitioned the Privy Council on 12 Nov. 1754 requesting that the agreement of 1713 be accorded royal sanction, but without success. APC, 4: 274-275. Massachusetts demonstrated its claim of jurisdiction by levying taxes on these Connecticut towns until the Revolution, but these, of course, were never collected. See Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, 2: 151-154; 3: 4-5; Clarence Winthrop Bowen, The Boundary Disputes of Connecticut (Boston, 1882).

884. See Nos. 196, 215, and No. 220.

885. “Third and 4th Queries to be answered by the Collectors Naval Officers and Merchants.”

886. The documentation compiled by the naval officers at Boston and Salem is incomplete for FB’s administration, and in CO 5/850-CO 5/851.

887. A substitute, OED.

888. See note to the third query.

889. “Quere 5th What trade has the Province under Your Government with any foreign plantations or any ports of Europe besides Great Britain; How is the Trade carried on and what Commodities are sent to and received from such foreign Countries or Plantations?”

890. The first voyage from Boston to St. Petersburg was undertaken by the Wolfe, captained by William Hayes and owned by wealthy merchant Nicholas Boylston, 26 Mar.-22 Oct. 1763. During this period two other vessels cleared Philadelphia for St. Petersburg. Trade routes to St. Petersburg had been opened up by Britain’s commercial treaty with Russia of 1761 and were sustained by British and colonial demand for hemp and sailcloth. See Norman E. Saul, “The Beginning of American-Russian Trade, 1763-1766,” WMQ 26 (1969): 596-600; JBT, 11: 208, 222, and passim.

891. “Quere 6th What Methods are there used to prevent illegal Trade, and are the same effectual What Means in your Opinion may be proper for obtaining so valuable an End?”

892. “Qu[e]re 7th What is the natural produce of the Country staple commodities and Manufactures? What Value of Sterling Money may you annually export and to what places? What Regulations have been at any time made for preventing frauds and abuses in the Exportation of the Produce or Manufactures of the Province and at what time did the Regulations take place?”

893. “Quere 8th What Mines are there have these Mines been opened and worked and what may be the reputed Produce?”

894. “Quere 9th What is the Number of the Inhabitants Whites and Blacks?”

895. See postscript to No. 225.

896. An act for enquiring into the rateable estates of the province, 1 Geo. 3, c. 24 (passed 31 Jan. 1761), required towns to deliver lists of polls and rateable estates to the province secretary’s office by 1 Jun. 1761. Acts and Resolves, 4: 422-423.

897. The census of 1764 reported Massachusetts’s population at 245,698, which was probably an underestimation. Wells, Population of the British Colonies, 79.

898. “Quere 10 Are the Inhabitants increased or decreased within these 10 years how much and for what reason?”

899. “Quere 11 What is the number of the Militia under what Authority and Regulations is it Established what is the Expence of it & how is the Expence defrayed?”

900. “Quere 12 What Forts and Places of Defence are there your within your Government in what Condition and what Garrisons are kept therein? What is the annual Expense of maintaining each fort and out of what fund is it paid?”

901. Smudged.

902. No. 84. Castle William and its outworks were destroyed by the British before their evacuation of Boston in Mar. 1776.

903. “Quere 13 What is the number of the Indians inhabiting those parts of America lyeing within or bounding upon your Province? What Contracts or Treaties of Peace have been made with them and are now in force? What Trade is carried on with them and under what Regulations and how have these Regulations been established?”

904. There had been a community of Christianized “Stockbridge Indians” since 1744, including families of the Mahican and Wyachtook tribes, and c.227 members of the Wappinger tribe, that settled in the town in 1756. William C. Sturtevant., ed. Handbook of North American Indians, 17 vols.: vol 15: Northeast, ed. Bruce Trigger (Washington, 1978), 208.

905. An act for incorporating the Indians and Mulattoes, Inhabitants of Mashpee, 3 Geo. 3, c. 3 (passed 16 Jun. 1763). Acts and Resolves, 4: 639-641. Self-government was repealed in 1788 and partially reinstated in 1834, before the common lands were sold and redistributed to families in 1842. Trigger, ed., Handbook of North American Indians, vol 15: Northeast, 179. See the secondary sources listed in the source note to No. 225.

906. Also known as Arosaguntacook.

907. Wawenock or Wewonock are uncommon descriptors and may be synonyms for Wabanaki or Abenaki.

908. Also known as the Kennebec Indians.

909. By His Excellency Francis Bernard, Esq; ... A proclamation ... Whereas ... the Indians ... inhabiting the Eastern and Northern Parts of New England ... Given at the Council-chamber in Boston, the Nineteenth Day of Jul., 1763, 1 Aug. 1763, Boston Gazette, p. 1.

910. FB and the Council had met with representatives from the Penobscot and other tribes, and the sachem Toma in Boston on 22 and 23 Aug. Their grievances mainly concerned trade, encroachments on their land, and the hunting carried out by the eighty or so provincial soldiers based at Fort Pownall, but an important subtext was their desire to have a Roman Catholic priest. This latter proposal echoed the 1760 treaty made by the St. John’s Indians and Nova Scotia, that had allowed priests, and the principle of religious toleration recently espoused by the Treaty of Paris regarding the treatment of Quebec’s Catholics. A second conference with the Penobscots was held at Fort Pownall on Saturday 17 Sept. and a third on 26 Sept. 1764, at which the issue of a priest was raised. FB refused, insisting upon an Anglican missionary, which post was briefly held by the Rev. Joseph Bailey. See minutes of a conference with the Penobscot Indians and other tribes on 22 and 23 Aug. 1763, Mass. Archs., 29: 82-489; FB, [Conference with the Penobscot Indians on 17 Sept. 1763, Fort Pownall], Mass. Archs., 29: ff 491-492); [FB,] A Conference held at Fort Pownall on Saturday, Sep. 17 1763 between his Excellency the Governor & Toma, Jo. Hart & Indians of the Penobscot Tribe ..., Mass. Archs., 29: 489-491; John E. Sexton, “Massachusetts Religious Policy with the Indians under Governor Bernard, 1760-1769,” Catholic Historical Review 24 (1938-1939): 310-328, at 311-313.

911. The manuscript is torn.

912. “Quere 14. What is the Strength of your neighbouring Europeans French or Spaniards, and what Effect have these Settlements upon His Majesty’s Colonies and more particularly upon that under your Government?”

913. The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon on Newfoundland’s southwest coast were ceded to France by the Treaty of Paris, 1763.

914. “Quere 15 What is the Revenue arising within your Government when was it established and by what Laws or other Authority? to what Service is it appropriated how applied and disposed of and in what Manner are the Accounts audited and past?”

915. “Quere. 16. What are the Establishments Civil and Military within your Government, by what Authority do the several Officers hold their places, what are the Names of the present Officers, when were they appointed and what is their reputed annual Value, what Salaries and Fees have they, by what authority are their Salaries and fees paid, and under what Regulations?”

916. Thomas Hubbard (1702-73), a prosperous businessmen and shopkeeper, was a long-serving representative for Waltham, a former Speaker of the House, and a member of the Governor’s Council, 1759-72.

917. Benjamin Lynde Jr. (1700-81), originally a merchant of Salem, had been a justice of the Superior Court since 1746 (having replaced his father, who was chief justice) and was a member of the Governor’s Council, 1737-40 and 1743-65; he was the presiding judge, between 1769 and 1771, when Thomas Hutchinson was acting governor. He succeeded Hutchinson as chief jusice in 1771 but resigned the following year.

918. John Cushing (1695-1778) of Scituate, Plymouth Co., Mass., was a county judge and justice of the Superior Court, 1748-71.

919. See the biographical note at No. 29n3.

920. Peter Oliver (1713-91), a merchant and foundry owner of Middleborough, Plymouth Co., Mass., was a former representative for the town; a county judge; a Superior Court justice, 1756-72; a member of the Governor’s Council, 1759-66; chief justice of the Superior Court, 1772-74; and subsequently a prominent Loyalist.

921. Edmund Trowbridge (1709-93) of Cambridge represented the town, 1750-52, 1755, and 1763, and was a member of the Governor’s Council, 1764-65. He had been attorney general since 1749, which office he held until his appointment as a justice of the Superior Court in 1767 (and which he relinquished in 1774.)

922. “Qu[e]re 17 What is the Constitution of the Government in general and particularly what Courts are there established for the Administration of Justice when were these Courts established and under what Authority; what are their Rules of Proceedings and how are their Judges and subordinate Officers appointed?

923. The phrase in parentheses paraphrases Hutchinson’s warning about “hereditary honours” in History of Massachusetts, 1: 7, but FB became a firm advocate of a colonial civil list and honors system on the British model for the political reasons stated above. See Jordan D. Fiore, “Governor Bernard for an American Nobility,” The Boston Public Library Quarterly 4 (1952): 125-136.

924. Courts of equity in English common law, called chancery courts, provide remedies in civil disputes according to the principle of equity administered by a judge; any settlement is enforceable by writs and injunctions, as distinct from common law courts operating under legal precedent, whose remedy is limited to making awards for damages. The chancery courts are a principal division of the law courts in England and Wales, with the High Court of Chancery being under the jurisdiction of the lord chancellor. In 1704, the king’s attorney general offered an opinion that the Massachusetts General Court could not establish an equity court in the province as that was a matter for royal prerogative. This did not deter the assemblies in Massachusetts and other colonies from using the legislative process to set up chancery courts. Much of the legislation passed by the American Colonies that was subsequently disallowed by the Privy Council concerned judicial procedure, such as the issuance of writs and the imposition of settlements, that extended the jurisdiction of the inferior or common law courts. Evarts B. Greene, The Provincial Governor in the English Colonies of North America. Harvard Historical Studies, vol. 8 (New York, 1898), 137n3-139; Joseph H. Smith “Administrative Control of the Courts of the American Plantations,” in Essays in the History of Early American Law, ed. David Flaherty (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1969), 281-355, at 284, 296-306, 311. FB’s enthusiasm for Anglicizing Massachusetts’s legal institutions contrasts with Thomas Hutchinson’s informative, traditionalist account of the legal system in his History of Massachusetts, 1: 367-383.

925. No. 227.

926. Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Thimothée d’Eon de Beaumont (1728-1810), French minister plenipotentiary and spy when resident in London during 1763. He was recalled in Oct. and subsequently published a volume of secret diplomatic correspondence. He remained in London until 1777, and attracted notoriety because of his transvestism.

927. Wills Hill (1718-93), mp for Warwick between 1741 and 1756, when he entered the House of Lords as the earl of Hillsborough; president of Board of Trade, 1763-65 and 1766. He was secretary of state for the colonies at the head of the American Department, 21 Jan. 1768-13 Aug. 1772, and FB’s most important point of contact with the policymaking process. He was later created first marquess of Downshire.

928. No. 233.

929. No. 235.

930. No. 227.

931. Hyman was one of the British artilleryman brought to Boston from St. John’s in Aug. 1762 (No. 150). FB evidently took pity on Hyman, who “received no pay nor subsistence” over the winter of 1762-63, and employed him as his gardener, at which job he was likely experienced. FB requested his discharge (since Hyman was strangely not of a mind to claim arrears of pay) in order that the soldier could continue to tend the “large & expensive” garden FB had laid out at Castle William. FB to Amherst, Boston, 11 Sept. 1763, WO 34/26, f 245.

932. See No. 218.

933. No. 224.

934. Hutchinson to Egremont, Boston, 15 Sept. 1763, CO 5/755, f 31.

935. On 21 Aug. 1763.

936. Jasper Mauduit to Andrew Oliver, London, 22 Aug. 1763, Prov. Sec. Letterbooks, 1: 421-422.

937. Nos. 240 and 224.

938. That is to say, the interests of British merchants trading with the West Indies.

939. With respect to the preferred rate of duty, FB echoes the case made by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Thomas Cushing, in a letter to Jasper Mauduit of 28 Oct. 1763. See Tyler, Smugglers & Patriots, 69.

940. Thus in manuscript.

941. Not found.

942. Not found.

943. Not found.

944. FB is likely referring to the controversy surrounding the legal pursuit of John Wilkes following publication of North Britain No. 45 that had libelled the king and Lord Bute. The Boston Gazette, 27 Jun., 1763, reprinted detailed accounts from the London newspapers, from Wilkes’s arrest on 23 Apr. to his discharge on 6 May, and his flight to France in Aug. (reported 17 Oct.).

945. Brig. Jedidiah Preble was replaced as commander of Fort Pownall by Capt. Thomas Goldthwait.

946. See No. 234n38.

947. Welbore Ellis (1713-1802), a close friend of FB and a longtime associate. Ellis probably met FB at Westminster school, for he entered Christ Church somewhat later than FB in 1732, and graduated B.A. in 1736. An ally of Newcastle, Ellis was an mp for several safe constituencies between 1741 and 1794, including Weymouth, 1747-61, and Aylesbury, 1761-74. He was a lord of the Admiralty, 1747-55, vice treasurer of Ireland, 1755-62 (and again 1765-66), and secretary of war 1762-65. He had been a member of the Privy Council since 1760.

948. FB to Jackson, Boston, 28 Oct. 1763, BP, 3: 102-104; the other has not been found.

949. Jackson was not Grenville’s private secretary but secretary to the chancellor of the Exchequer, which office Grenville held whilst first lord of the Treasury.

950. Not found.

951. Thus in manuscript.

952. FB noted that he wrote Mr. Spicer on 18 Jul. 1762 “about Rank.” BP, 2: 205.

953. Possibly Shute Barrington.

954. Letters are obscured by tight binding.

955. It is unclear if the underlining in the manuscript was added by Gage or FB, but it appears to be contemporaneous.

956. FB to Franklin, Boston, 30 Oct. 1763, BP, 3: 8; FB to Franklin, Castle William, 14 Nov. 1763, BP, 3: 9-10.

957. Not found.

958. Meaning “wandering beyond due or prescribed limits; an extravagance.” OED.

959. Thomas Bernard (27 Apr. 1750-1 Jul. 1818) attended Harvard College, graduating B.A. in 1767 and M.A. (in absentia) in 1770. He became his father’s secretary on the family’s return to England in 1769, before entering the law and acquiring a considerable reputation as a social reformer.

960. No. 249.

961. See No. 252.

962. No. 249.

963. Thomas Fitch (1700-74) of Connecticut. A pious “Old Light” Congregationalist, he was a lawyer by profession and held many public offices before serving as governor of Connecticut, 1754-66.

964. No. 188, which also complained of FB’s failure to transmit the “Answers” to the Board’s “Queries” (No. 234.)

965. Halifax was appointed secretary of state for the Southern Department in Sept. 1763.

966. Thomas Bishop (d.1790) was raised to captain on 25 May 1762 and received his customhouse commission under 3 Geo.3, c. 22.

967. Not found in Admiralty Court Series, Early 1-58, 1629-1778, PRO.

968. “So far, to such an extent.” OED.

969. An account of the seizure and condemnation of the Freemason was enclosed in No. 257.

970. No. 236.

971. Not found. See Chambers Russell to Lord Colvill, 22 Jan. 1764, ADM 1/482, ff 337-338.

972. This line in FB’s hand. FB is referring to the act for the further improvement of his Majesty’s Revenue of Customs and for the encouragement of officers making seizures and for the prevention of clandestine running of goods into any part of his Majesty’s dominions (3 Geo. 3, c. 22).

973. There may not have been any letters from Pownall or the Board to FB, because Massachusetts is mentioned only once in the Board journals (on 3 Aug.) between 19 May and 10 Oct. inclusive. JBT, 11: 365-390, at 376-377.

974. A memorial of the merchants and traders of the towns of Boston, Plymouth, Marblehead, and Salem, was read by the House on 27 Dec. and sent up to the Council. A committee of both houses reported on 11 Jan., but a petition was not adopted until the fall, by which time the Revenue Act had been enacted. JHRM, 40: 132-182.

975. General Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, BP, 13: 1-74; Trade Instructions, BP, 13: 73-140.

976. J. Vernon to the Board of Trade, Court at St. James’s, 27 Feb. 1761, CO 5/891, f 21; JBT, 11: 172-174; Trade Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, Court at St. James’s, 27 May 1761, Nether Winchendon House, Bucks., Eng.; General Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, 30 Jun. 1761, CO 5/920, pp. 54-123.

977. APC, 4: 777; CO 5/919, ff 59-60.

978. 1 Geo. 1, stat. 2, c. 13.

979. 25 Car. 2, c. 2.

980. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 27.

981. 1 Geo. 1, stat. 2, c. 13.

982. 6 Anne, c. 57.

983. A revised article was applicable from 1761: “and it is our express will and pleasure that you do not upon any pretence what ever upon pain of our highest displeasure, give your assent to any law or laws for setting up any manufactures or carrying on any trades which are or may be hurtful or prejudicial to this kingdom; and that you do use your utmost endeavours to discourage, discountenance, and restrain any attempt which may be made to set up such manufactures or establish any such trades.” Labaree, Royal Instructions, 2: 654.

984. Meaning membership of a community, in this case citizenship. OED.

985. This article was omitted from the set of instructions issued to FB in 1761. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 1: 341.

986. Omitted from 1761. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 1: 371-372.

987. 3 & 4 Anne, c. 11.

988. 9 Anne, c. 22.

989. 8 Geo. 1, c. 12.

990. 2 Geo. 2, c. 35.

991. This instruction was applicable between 1743 and 1761. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 1: 111. See No. 79.

992. Edmund Gibson (1669-1748), bishop of Lincoln, 1715-23, and bishop of London, 1723-48. He assiduously upheld the practice of visitations and was an outspoken critic of profanity and impiety.

993. Missing from manuscript. Supplied from General Instructions as governor of Massachusetts, 27 May 1761.

994. Omitted from 1761. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 2: 747.

995. Omitted from 1761. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 1: 392-393.

996. Omitted from 1761. Labaree, Royal Instructions, 1: 404.

997. Initialed by King George III.

998. 12 Car. 2, c. 18.

999. 14 Car. 2, c. 11.

1000. 15 Car. 2, c. 7.

1001. 22 & 23 Car. 2, c. 26.

1002. 25 Car. 2, c.7.

1003. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 22.

1004. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 21.

1005. 8 & 9 Will. 3, c. 23.

1006. 9 Will. 3, c. 44.

1007. 10 Will. 3, c. 16.

1008. 10 Will. 3, c. 14.

1009. 11 Will. 3, c. 7.

1010. 11 Will. 3, c. 12.

1011. 3 & 4 Anne, c. 3.

1012. 3 & 4 Anne, c. 7.

1013. 3 & 4 Anne, c. 11.

1014. 6 Anne, c. 11.

1015. 6 Anne, c. 57.

1016. 6 Anne, c. 64.

1017. 8 Anne, c. 14.

1018. 9 Anne, c. 29.

1019. 10 Anne, c. 30.

1020. 4 Geo. 1, c. 11.

1021. 5 Geo. 1, c. 11.

1022. 5 Geo. 1, c. 21.

1023. 7 Geo. 1, c. 21.

1024. 8 Geo. 1, c. 12.

1025. 8 Geo. 1, c. 15.

1026. 8 Geo. 1, c. 18.

1027. 8 Geo. 1, c. 24.

1028. 10 Geo. 1, c. 16.

1029. 12 Geo. 1, c. 26.

1030. 2 Geo. 2, c. 28.

1031. 2 Geo. 2, c. 35.

1032. 3 Geo. 2, c. 14.

1033. 4 Geo. 2, c. 15.

1034. 4 Geo. 2, c. 29.

1035. 4 Geo. 2, c. 27.

1036. 5 Geo. 2, c. 7.

1037. 5 Geo. 2, c. 22.

1038. 5 Geo. 2, c. 24.

1039. 5 Geo. 2 c. 28.

1040. 5 Geo. 2, c. 29.

1041. 6 Geo. 2, c. 33.

1042. 9 Geo. 2, c. 37.

1043. 10 Geo. 2 c. 27.

1044. 11 Geo. 2, c. 18.

1045. 12 Geo. 2, c. 21.

1046. 12 Geo. 2, c. 30.

1047. 12 Geo. 2, c. 22.

1048. 12 Geo. 2, c. 18.

1049. 13 Geo. 2, c. 3.

1050. 13 Geo. 2, c. 4.

1051. 13 Geo. 2, c. 28.

1052. 13 Geo. 2 c. 7.

1053. 14 Geo. 2, c. 37.

1054. 14 Geo. 2, c. 38.

1055. 15 Geo. 2, c. 33.

1056. 15 Geo. 2, c. 31.

1057. 15 Geo. 2, c. 35.

1058. 16 Geo. 2, c. 26.

1059. 17 Geo. 2, c. 40.

1060. 17 Geo. 2, c. 34.

1061. 18 Geo. 2, c. 27.

1062. 18 Geo. 2, c. 30.

1063. 19 Geo. 2, c. 23.

1064. 19 Geo. 2, c. 27.

1065. 19 Geo. 2, c. 30.

1066. 20 Geo. 2, c. 24.

1067. 20 Geo. 2, c. 44.

1068. 20 Geo. 2, c. 47.

1069. 20 Geo. 2, c. 45.

1070. 20 Geo. 2, c. 47.

1071. 21 Geo. 2, c. 11.

1072. 21 Geo. 2, c. 14.

1073. 21 Geo. 2, c. 30.

1074. 21 Geo. 2, c. 33.

1075. 22 Geo. 2, c. 30.

1076. 22 Geo. 2, c. 33.

1077. 22 Geo. 2, c. 45.

1078. 23 Geo. 2, c. 20.

1079. 23 Geo. 2, c. 29.

1080. 24 Geo. 2, c. 23.

1081. 24 Geo. 2, c. 41.

1082. 24 Geo. 2, c. 51.

1083. 24 Geo. 2, c. 52.

1084. 24 Geo. 2, c. 53.

1085. 24 Geo. 2, c. 57.

1086. 25 Geo. 2, c. 6.

1087. 25 Geo. 2, c. 26.

1088. 25 Geo. 2, c. 30.

1089. 25 Geo. 2, c. 35.

1090. 26 Geo. 2, c. 32.

1091. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 22.

1092. 15 Car. 2, c. 7.

1093. 12 Car. 2, c. 18.

1094. 13 & 14 Car. 2, c. 11.

1095. 12 Car. 2, c. 18.

1096. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 22.

1097. 12 Car. 2, c. 18.

1098. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 22.

1099. 3 & 4 Anne, c. 11.

1100. 3 & 4 Anne, c. 3.

1101. 8 Geo. 1, c. 15.

1102. 5 Geo. 1, c. 11.

1103. 8 Geo. 1, c. 18.

1104. 25 Car. 2, c. 7.

1105. 22 & 23 Car. 2, c. 26.

1106. 15 Car. 2, c. 7.

1107. 13 Geo. 1, c. 4.

1108. 3 Geo. 2, c. 14.

1109. 2 Geo. 2, c. 7.

1110. 6 Geo. 2, c. 13.

1111. Brown unpurified sugar from the Antilles.

1112. 7 & 8 Will. 3, c. 22.

1113. 21 Geo. 2, c. 33.

1114. 10 Will. 3, c. 16.

1115. 24 Geo. 2, c. 41.

1116. The Cape of Good Hope.

1117. 9 Will. 3, c. 44.