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have transmitted your Grace the accompts of the Governmts. of New Jersey, and Maryland, and the Massachusetts Bay, but shall not be able to finish the same, with such part of the Accompts of New York, Pensilvania, and Virginia as have been sent to me, as also the Accompt of the Province of New Hampshire, 'till the next Vessell sails, which may be in about a week, by which time, I hope to have compleated 'em, and to transmit 'em to your Grace.

In the mean while that no time may be lost for the Examination of the Muster rolls of the Troops rais'd within the several Governments of New York, New Jersey, Pensilvania, Maryland and Virginia none of which have been sent to me, I inclose a Copy of the Circular letter wrote by Mr Knowles and me to the several Governors containing the rules, we agreed upon for making up their Muster-rolls, which, if thought proper, may be made use of in the Examination of 'em; To which I have only to add that Five per Cent is ordered to be deducted out of the pay both of Officers and Men, and a Day's pay for Chelsea Hospital, out of the men's pay, with the Cost of the Arms of such Men, as have not return'd 'em, except in cases, where they were lost in Service or by inevitable misfortune; and that the pay forfeited by Deserters, after paymt to their Officers out of it for all supplies advanc'd to 'em in the time of their Service, is to be deducted, as I have mention'd in former letters to your Grace.

I have the honour to be with the most Dutifull regard,
My Lord Duke,

Your Grace's most Devoted
and most Obedient Servt,

His Grace the Duke of Bedford.

Endorsed:

Boston, 10 Janry. 1748

Govr SHIRLEY

B 7th Febry

W. SHIRLEY.

WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO THE DUKE OF BEDFORD1

MY LORD DUKE,

Boston, January 31, 1748.

I think it my Duty to acquaint your Grace, that I have brought the Assembly within my Government into passing an Act (a Copy of which I have transmitted to the Lords Commissioners of Trade, and another will be presented to your Grace by the Agent for the Province in order to be lay'd before his Majesty in Council for his Royal Approbation) for putting an end to the Paper Currency of this Province, upon the arrival here of the Money granted by Parliament for the reimbursement of their Expences in taking and securing Cape Breton, by forthwith drawing in and exchanging their Outstanding Bills of Credit, for Silver at the Rate of £10 in bills of what is called here the old tenour for £1 Sterling (which under the present Circumstances of the Province I look upon to be the most equal rate, that can be settled between the Possessors of the Bills and this Government, as also between the Creditors and Debtors) as far as the Sterling Sum granted by Parliament will hold out, and drawing in the remainder of the bills (which are computed at £300,000 old tenour or £75,000 of the New Tenour, and of the Value of £30,000 Sterling at the before mention'd Rate) by a Tax lay'd on the Year 1749, so that the whole Paper Currency of this Province will be sunk, according to the Provisions made in this Act, within the Year 1750.2

1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 45, p. 147.

2 The Massachusetts Act referred to by Shirley was confirmed by the King in Council on June 28. It had been referred to the Committee on March 16 and to the Board of Trade on April 13. The report of the Board of Trade made on May 11 and agreed to by the Committee of the Council follows:

That they have taken the said Act into their Consideration and also consulted Mr. Lamb One of Your Majestys Counsel at Law thereupon who has reported to them, That the said Act is imperfectly worded concerning the Receipt of the Money which has been granted by Parliament for the Use of this Province; for there are no express Words that Authorize Sir Peter Warren and the others

And as to the Bills of Credit issued by the Governments of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticutt, none of which have yet taken any Steps towards putting an end to their respective bills, the currency of them within this Prov

to receive the Money, but they are Authorized and empowered to give a full Discharge for whensoever the same shall have been issued without mentioning to whom it is to be issued, That they are also Authorized to Address Your Majesty to Order the Money to be transported in Foreign Coined Silver on Board Your Majestys Ships, and to pursue such Instructions as the General Court of the said Province shall think necessary concerning the transporting the said Money, And that he had applied for the Instructions given to Sir Peter Warren &c. and found thereby that the Act was thus Worded with a Design to have the Money transported by Your Majesty's Order according to the Address rather than to be received by Sir Peter Warren &c. to save the Charges of Freight and Insurance and the Risque of the Money being transported and in case they do not succeed in getting the Money transported that way then Sir Peter Warren &c. are directed by their Instructions to receive the Money themselves and transport the same in such manner as is therein directed: But that he has no Objection thereto in point of Law. However the said Lords Commissioners laid before this Committee their Observations upon such other parts of the said Act as appeared to them to deserve the Consideration of this Committee.

The two great Objects of this Act are

Ist. Entirely to sink and Abolish all the Paper Bills of Credit at present Outstanding in the said Province, and 2ndly. By means of the Money granted by Parliament for reimbursing to the said province their Expences in taking and securing to the Crown of Great Britain the Island of Cape Breton and its Dependencies, to substitute in lieu of the Bills of Credit an invariable Silver Currency for the future.

That the Legislature of the said Province in Order to carry the beneficial purposes of this Act into Execution in a manner as effectual and as Equitable as the Circumstances of their Situation will admit have thought it necessary to exchange their outstanding Bills for Silver at the Rate of Ten pounds in Bills of what is called the Old Tenor for One pound Sterling (which is less than Half the Nominal Value affixed to the said Bills by the several Acts for creating them) at which Rate the whole Paper Currency will be Sunk except the Sum of Seventy five Thousand pounds New Tenor for the sinking of which provision is made by a Tax to be levied in the present Year so that the whole will be entirely abolished

ince is guarded against in the Act by such Penalties, and disqualifications, upon the Inhabitants, who shall receive or pass 'em away in Payment, as will, I hope, preserve a medium

within the Year 1750 provided the Money granted by Parliament arrives in the province within that time.

But as the Alteration made by this Act in the Nominal Value so set upon the said Bills of Credit may appear at the first View to be in some Degree a Breach of the publick Faith of the Province and an Injustice to the possessors of the said Bills The said Lords Commissioners think it proper to observe that the said Bills of Credit have by frequent and large Emissions of them both before and since the breaking out of the late War as well as by many other concurrent Circumstances been from time to time greatly depreciated And that it is represented, that by far the greatest part thereof have passed from hand to hand and been received by the present possessors at even a lower Rate than is set upon them by this Act therefore should they be redeemed at their Nominal Value (which at the very time of their Emission they never really bore) as the first possessors never did or could receive near that Nominal Value so it would be unreasonable that the present possessors should avail themselves of a Benefit which they have never purchased and cannot in Equity be entituled to. If to these are added the following Considerations The exhausted Condition of this Province. The great Scarcity or rather total Want of Silver there. The excessive Quantity of Bills now Current. The Distance of the periods for calling them in by Taxes. The little Expectations the possessors of the Bills could entertain, and indeed the absolute impossibility of their being exchanged for Silver by any other means than the Application of the Money granted by Parliament to that purpose, This must seem to be the most equal Rate that could be fixed between the possessors of the Bills and the Government and so it is represented to the said Lords Commissioners by MR. SHIRLEY the Governor OF THAT PROVINCE.

That in Order to establish a Silver Currency for the future in lieu of the said Bills of Credit, there is a Clause in the Act which declares that all Bargains Contracts Debts Dues &c. which shall be made or agreed after the 31st of March 1750 shall be in Silver at Six Shillings and Eight pence per Ounce and that all Spanish Milled Pieces of Eight of full Weight shall be accounted taken and paid at the Rate of Six Shillings per Piece for the Discharge of every Contract or Bargain after the said 31st March 1750 and the Halves Quarters and other lesser pieces of the same Coin to be taken or paid in the same proportion with a penalty of Fifty pounds upon any person taking or paying them at a higher Rate

of Silver within this Province, 'till a final Period can be put to the whole paper Currency in New England by an Act of Parliament, for obtaining which Instructions are sent to the Agent of the Province to make a proper Application.

which said Rates are agreeable to the Act of the 6th of Queen Anne for ascertaining the Rates of Foreign Coins in the Plantations in America.

The said Lords Commissioners likewise reported, That Provision is made by this Act to prevent the Bills of Credit of the Neighbouring Governments of Rhode Island, Connecticut and New Hampshire who have not yet taken any steps to abolish them from passing Current in the Massachusetts Bay and tho' the Oaths and penalties imposed to prevent the same may appear of an extraordinary nature yet as the Governor of that province hath represented to the said Lords Commissioners that all Pecuniary Penalties alone though imposed in the strictest manner have been found by Experience to have had no Effect in this Case several Penal Laws for that purpose having proved ineffectual and that there seems to be a necessity for having recourse to other provisions which may be effectual, and also that the provisions of this Act are no more than what the Nature of the Case requires in Order to suppress an Evil which prevails so strongly and the continuation of which will defeat the good intention of this Province in sinking their own Bills, The said Lords Commissioners hope they will appear to be necessary for the effectual Execution of this Act especially as these provisions are only temporary from March 1750 to March 1754.

The said Lords Commissioners further observe that this Act repeals several Clauses in former Acts which have been confirmed by Your Majesty whereby these Bills of Credit were to have been called in by Taxes to be levied in certain Years without having a Clause inserted therein suspending the Execution of it untill Your Majestys pleasure be known, but as that Repeal is only Conditional in Case the Money granted by Parliament arrives within the Time limited, in which Case the whole end and intended Operation of those Clauses will be performed in a more beneficial manner and that if that Condition should not happen then those Clauses will continue in force and the outstanding Bills of Credit will be drawn into the Treasury and Sunk by the Taxes laid on the several Years till 1760 in the same manner as if this Act had not been made The said Lords Commissioners therefore submitted whether the not having such a Clause inserted therein may not be dispensed with and the rather as Your Majesty's Governor of the said province has represented that a Dispute with the

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