I immediately sent him my own appointment, and likewise procur'd Sir William's for him to his Regiment. Afterwards the Assembly being extremely disgusted at his conduct in his special Agency, wherein he was join'd with Mr. Bollan for solliciting a Reimbursement of the Province's expences in the Expedition against Cape Breton, resolv'd to dismiss him from that particular Trust, which being appriz'd of by the Speaker but a few hours before the Affair was to be mov'd in the House, and that if I should refuse my Consent to such a Vote, it would bring one on for a Dismission of him from his general Agency, I consented to it, chiefly out of tenderness to him. At this, My Lord, he took Umbrage, and proceeded to make the most injurious Use of the Confidence, which as an Agent for the Province of my choosing and Agent to my Regiment was necessarily repos'd in him, and must give him under a feign'd Concern for my Interest greater Opportunities of hurting me. He secretly, as I have the greatest Reason to imagine, fomented the Military Complaints against me, procur'd a Libel work'd up with the most exquisite Malice to be publish'd in the Westminster Journal against me on that Acct, transmitted it to Boston, and procur'd a most virulent scandalous letter against me to be propagated among the Members of the Assembly in order to hurt me in their Opinion; with other Attempts to make me uneasy in my Government; But, my Lord, the Effect, which these Proceedings, together with the part he acted to the Province in publickly opposing their immediate Reimbursement, and joining with the Merchants in signing a Petition to the Lords of the Treasury for that Purpose; in which likewise was insinuated a base Falsehood against myself, directly, as appears to me, against his own Knowledge, was to bring on his Dismission from his General Agency in a full Assembly, which was pass'd by almost a general Vote in the House of Representatives, and in the Council nemine contradicente; which, my Lord, I hope Your Grace will not after this account of his Behaviour, think it was fit for me to thwart the Assembly in, by refusing my Consent to it. I should not have troubled your Grace with so long a Detail of this Affair, if I had not thought your Grace express'd in your Inquiry concerning it, an Apprehension that Mr. Kilby had been hardly us’d. I beg leave, my Lord, to add that I challenge any Person to point out any part of my Administration, which I am not fully perswaded I should have the Honour to receive his Majesty's Approbation of upon an Inquiry into it, or of my private Conduct since I have been in my Government, which can affect my Honour or Character to my Prejudice. As to the Military Complaints, I hope the Opinion of Mr. Fox,' who made a thorough Inquiry into 'em, and the Declaration in my favour which His Royal Highness the Duke did me the Honour to make upon looking into 'em, may be sufficient to clear me from any Imputation on that Account, and that upon the whole of my Conduct I shall not appear to Your Grace to have done any thing to forfeit in the least degree your Grace's good Opinion of me, or the Assurances your Grace has given me of his Majesty's Royal favour on Acct of my former Services. As to my Execution of the several Trusts in particular which your Grace was pleas'd by two letters afterwards to commit to me relative to the Preservation of Nova Scotia, and the Expences incurr'd on Acct of the Canada Expedition, I beg leave to referr your Grace to Mr. Pelham, and hope your Grace will find it such, as has not in the least detracted from my former Services, but may, I hope, rather increase my Pretensions to the Honour of your Grace's good opinion. The great Desire, I have of preserving the Honour of your Grace's Patronage, which at first introduc'd me into his Majesty's Service, and my Ambition to acquit myself in it, so 1 1 Henry Fox was Secretary at War from 1746 to 1756. His abilities are usually underrated by comparison with his more brilliant son, Charles James Fox, and his service in the government was much hampered by his opposition to the King and his desire for advance of position. He was born in 1705 and died in 1774. With the exception of his rival Pitt he was, perhaps, the ablest of British officials who became interested in American affairs during the period of Shirley's governorship of Massachusetts. as to appear not to have made ill use of your Grace's favour, will, I hope, plead my Excuse to your Grace for this Letter I am with the most gratefull Sense of your Grace's favours. My Lord Duke, Your Grace's most Dutifull and most I have just time to acknowledge the Reciept of your Packets by Spender, and inclose you a Copy of the Petition of the New Hampshire Agent upon the Affair of Fort Dummer in which you will find recited the Report of the Board of Trade upon our Petition. I have put this into the hands of Mr. John Sharpe for the Sollicitors part and no attendance of mine shall be wanting to promote the Interests of the Province in this Matter. I hope to introduce the Bill I have prepar'd for putting an End to the Paper Currency in the other three Colonies of New England into Parliament next week. All other Points for the Province's Service shall be likewise taken Care of before my Departure for Paris, wch our Ambassador, the Earl of Albemarle writes the Duke of Bedford word is much press'd for by the Marquis Puisyeux the French Secretary. I have not yet reciev'd the Answer of the Lords of Treasury to my Memorial to 'em in favour of the Province's Demand for billetting Money, hire of Transports and other Charges in 1 Original, A. L. S., Mass. Arch., Col. Ser., 54, 2. Reproduced in illustration facing p. 410. curred on Acct. of the Canada Expedition, a Copy of wch. I inclosed to you in the last Vessell. I am with much truth your most Humble Servant Honble Secry Willard. W. SHIRLEY. P.S. You will communicate this Sir, I can get a duplicate of the report in time to inclose it. WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO THE DUKE OF MY LORD DUKE, St. James's Street, March 28th, 1750. General Phillips's Regiment having been lately given to Col: Cornwallis, I beg leave to submit the State of my Case to Your Grace's Consideration. During the late Warr with France, my Lord, the Protection and care of the Province of Nova Scotia principally (if not solely) lay upon me; in the Course of which I preserv'd it several times from the most imminent Danger of falling into the Enemy's hands; once particularly in the Year 1744 and twice in the Year 1746, which being Matters generally known, and what I have in former letters given Your Grace particular Accounts of, as Occasion requir'd, I shall not trouble Your Grace with a Repetition of 'em here, nor of the Variety of Incidents, which arose during my being intrusted with the Care of this Province, in the whole Course of which Lt: Govr: Mascarene did Nothing of Moment without either my Directions, Approbation, or Advice, transmitting even his Correspondence with his Majesty's Ministers thro' my hands, that I might in my letters supply or correct any thing in his, which I should think requir'd it and the whole Period, my Lord, was fill'd with Imbarkations of Men 1 Original, L. S., B. M., Additional Manuscript 32720, 166. A transcript is in the Library of Congress. for the Succour of the Garrison and Protection of the Province, the troublesome Detail of which, in it's greatest Extent of raising the men, transporting, victualling, cloathing, paying 'em, etc. rested wholly upon me; so that I believe I may say, no one of his Majesty's American Governours ever had a more complicated, difficult and important Trust, than I had in the care of this Province for five Years, at a time when the Weight of my own Government was no light one and what my Vigilance and Success have been in the execution of it, there is none so fit to judge as Your Grace, nor one to whom I should so soon wish to referr it. In the Course of these Services, my Lord, I receiv'd an Address of Thanks in 1744 from the Lieut. Governour and Council of Nova Scotia, acknowledging that the Measures taken by me had sav'd the Province from falling into the Enemy's hands that Year; and soon after I had the Honour to receive a Copy of his Majesty's Royal Approbation of what I had done, declar'd in Council, together with a letter from Your Grace, assuring me, that if I continu'd my Vigilance in the Publick Service, it would effectually recommend me to his Majesty's favour. Accordingly, my Lord, upon the Reduction of Cape Breton I receiv'd, thro' Your Grace's Goodness to me, a Mark of his Majesty's favour in the Command of my late Regiment, with a Declaration of Your Graces good Disposition to obtain farther Marks of it for me; and upon my Desire that Your Grace would recommend me for the Command of Phillips's Regiment, when it should be vacant, Your Grace was pleas'd in Your letter of the 9th. of April 1746, which signified his Majesty's Commands to me for an Expedition against Canada, to assure me that you would do it. In a subsequent letter, which I had the Honour to receive from Your Grace dated the 3d. of October 1747,1 Your Grace was pleas'd to give me a repeated Assurance that his Majesty design'd to bestow on me the Government of Nova Scotia, to hold with that of the Massachusetts Bay; and Sir Peter Warren, soon after 1 Ante, pp. 320, note, and 401. |