WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO THE DUKE OF MY LORD DUKE, Boston, N. Engld. May 4., 1742. Mrs Shirley having inform'd me that your Grace has been pleas'd to permit her to give Security to the Commissioners of the Customs for my son as Naval Officer of this Province; This waits upon your Grace wth my Gratefull acknowledgmts for this fresh Instance of your Grace's Goodness to my family, & to promise in my son's behalf that he shall behave in his post wth Diligence & Integrity; And it gives me no small pleasure to find that as my son's succeeding Mr Pemberton was at first universally acceptable to the people, so yr Grace's Confirmation of him in it is equally agreable to 'em. Mrs Shirley having also inform'd me that your Grace was pleased, out of your exceeding Goodness to me, by Mr Western to order her to endeavour to get an Interest in Ld Wilmington's favour for me, I have made my Application to that Noble Lord so successfully that I have reason to hope his Lordship entertains favourable sentiments of me, as he has done me the honour to order Mr Thomlinson to let me know that he would be my Friend. I would now mention to your Grace that Mr Willard, who has been Secretary of this Province upwards of Twenty Years, wch post he at first purchas'd of a Gentleman, who resign'd in his favour, & depends upon chiefly for his Bread, still continues to discharge it with good Abilities, Diligence and fidelity; and as he is a person of remarkable worth, and very serviceable to his Majesty and the province in the post he sustains; and I have certain Intelligence, that a Scheme has been form'd by Mr Auchmuty, who is lately gone from hence Agent for the Province to London, to supplant this Gentleman in favour of another, by misrepresenting him as too old and infirm for his Office; I have taken the liberty to do him this Justice, esteeming it not 1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 900, 58. only an Act of Humanity to Mr Willard, but of Duty to his to me Your Grace's most Oblig'd, and most Devoted, Humble Servant W. SHIRLEY. His Grace the Duke of Newcastle. Endorsed: Boston. May 4. 1742 GOVR SHIRLEY B July 13th WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO THE LORDS OF MY LORDS TRADE 1 Boston, N. Engld. June 23d, 1742. I have before transmitted to your Lordships Copies of my several Messages to the late Assembly, in which in obedience to his Majy's 23d Instruction to me I recommended to 'em in the most pressing manner, I could, the Settlement of a Salary of £1000 Sterling p anñ on me and my Successors in this Government, and (upon their Refusal to do that) on myself during my Administration, and also Copies of the Answers of the House of Representatives in that Assembly to those Messages, and of their Refusals to comply with the Settlement of the Salary either way, together with Copies of the two Grants which the Assembly offer'd me for my Support, the first after the rate of about £750 Sterling p anñ, and the next of about £950 Sterling, both which as they were not conformable to his Majy's Instruction either in the sum or manner of granting it, I refus'd, and at the end of the year, when the Royal Charter required it, dissolv'd that Assembly without accepting any Salary from 'em. Upon the Meeting of the present Assembly I recommended to them also the Settle1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 883. ment of the Salary, and now inclose to your Lordships a Copy of their Vote, in which they unanimously refuse to settle it in any way: But they have complied with one part of his Majesty's Instruction by making his Majty a Grant of £1300 Bills of Credit of the last Emission, which may be deem'd of the value of £1000 Sterling according to the price of silver and gold in Boston, thô not of private Bills of Exchange payable in London, for my support; which Grant being the first Act of their Session, I have pursuant to the power given me in his Majty's Instruction accepted, as I could not entertain, after the full and unanimous votes of two Houses of Representatives against the Settlement of the Salary, reasonable hopes of prevailing for it at present; And I esteem it no small point gained to have prevail'd with the Assembly to raise their Grant from the value of £680 Sterling p anñ, which is what Mr Belcher accepted from 'em for the greatest part of his Administration, to £1000 Sterling, which is a larger Salary than any Governour ever yet received from 'em; And I hope it may possibly be a leading step towards the Settlement of it, thô I can't pretend to promise more upon this point than that I will use the utmost attention to find some favourable opportunity of effecting it, which may possibly happen if the Harmony at present subsisting between me and the Assembly should continue, which I shall always endeavour to preserve, thô even that must be reckon'd precarious, as the irregular things which the Assembly of this Province frequently affects to do in Government must sometimes unavoidably involve me in Disputes with 'em. The inveterate Aversion, which the Body of the people have contracted to the Settlement of the Salary from their Disputes with his Majy's Governours about it, in which they have ever maintain'd their Ground (thô Govr Burnet endeavour'd to bring 'em into it by Acts of Power, and the Province had reason to expect at the same time that his Majesty would shew some Resentment of their Behaviour in that Affair) has made it so unpopular a Point among the Representatives, who by being annually elected are render'd extremely dependent upon the Humour of their Constituents, that even those Members, who are well disposed to vote for the Settlement of the Salary, dare not try their strength or Interest in the Assembly upon it. And if ever it is effected without the Interposition of Parliament, it seems to me that it must be done, not by dint of Dispute when the people are upon their Guard against it, but at some unexpected Juncture when their settled affection for a Governour may give the Representatives Courage to venture upon a short Settlement at first, out of a personal regard to him, which might easily perhaps be follow'd with a Settlement of it during his Administration, from which precedent it might be difficult for the Province to recede upon the Appointment of a new Governour. I have the honour to be wth the utmost Regard My Lords your most Obedient and Rt. Honble Lds Commissrs of Trade &ca. Endorsed: Massachusets W. SHIRLEY. Letter from Mr Shirley, Govr of Massachusets-Bay, dated at Boston the 23d of June 1742, relating to his Disputes with the Assembly, about getting an Established Salary. Recd Augt 30th 1742 WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO THE DUKE OF MY LORD DUKE, NEWCASTLE 1 Boston, N. Engld. Septr. 15, 1742. In my Letter to your Grace of the 30th of Aprill I mention'd the Consternation and Distress, which the 1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 900, 67. Effects of the Act of Parliament lately made for suppressing the Land Bank or Manufactory Company had occasion'd to such of the Directors and Partners, as had in Obedience to the Act brought in their Quota of Manufactory Bills to be consumed; inasmuch as they still remain'd exposed by the Act to satisfy the Demands of the Possessors of all the other Bills, and for want of doing it to incurr the penalty of a premunire, without having any Remedy against those dishonest Partners, who stood out in defiance of the Law; And that to relieve such Persons as much as might be without interfering with the Act of Parliament, I had upon their earnest Petition form'd and proposed an Order, which afterwards pass'd the General Court, and I hoped would contribute towards bringing in the other Partners to do their Duty by a Compliance with the Act: Since which that Order has had the Effect to reduce the Outstanding Bills, which amounted to the Sum of £49,250 Lawful Money, to about £11,000, and brought in upwards of six hundred of the Partners to comply with the Act of Parliament; and in order to give the finishing Stroke to the whole Scheme by compelling the Delinquent Partners to redeem and bring in the Remainder of the Outstanding Bills to be consumed, I have this day given Orders to those Partners, who have done their Duty, to cause Demands to be made and Actions commenc'd against the most Refractory of the Delinquent partners, in order to bring 'em within the Penalties of the Act of Parliament upon their persisting to stand out against it, and caus'd an Order of Council to be pass'd directing the Attorney General to prosecute 'em forthwith; which Steps will, I doubt not, now put an end to this pernicious Scheme; thô they might some months ago have probably been attended with Disorder and other ill Consequences. To apprize your Grace fully of the late dangerous Tendency of this Scheme it will be necessary to observe to your Grace that the late Land Bank Company consisted of between eight and nine hundred partners, chiefly Countrymen, and of some landed Estate; That the Merchants, |