The vote of the House for striking a 1000£ bills was nonconcurred and ordered to be sent down. The vote for an agent was non-concurred (& yo reason given) and ordered to be sent down. A vote of the Council to put 1500£ into the Treasury and for paying y Com's 308 pr day as N. Hamp half of their recompense was made and ordered to be sent down for con currence. His Excellency asked the consent of the Board for Issuing his Warrts on the Treasury for paymt of his salary as ye same shall become due by law, to which they advise and consent. Adjourned til tomorrow 9 o'clock a. M. [P. 155.] Pro. N. Hamp'. At a Gen' Assembly held at Hampton Falls by adjournment Thursday Oct. 18, 1737. Present in Coun: His Excellency Jona. Belcher, Esq. Gov' A message to the House by the Sec wth ye 5 votes last mentioned wch were ordered to be sent down yesterday. Adjourn'd til tomorrow 10 o'clock A. M. Oct. 19, 1737. [Met according to adjournm.] A message to the Board by Mr. Parker with a vote for settling accounts wth Mass. The Presbyterian Petition of Chester read & agreed & the opposite party heard & a vote made thereon & sent down by the Sec. P. M. The petition of Hampton agst Rye read & both parties heard, and the petitions sent down by Capt. Huske. A message to the Board by one of the members with the vote of Council for putting 1500£ into the Treasury nonconcurred. [P. 156.] A message to the Board by one of the members wth a vote for signing the 500£ in ye Treasury & striking 500£ more. Adjourned til tomorrow 10 o'clock A. M. Thursday, Oct. 20, 1737. Present in Council as before A message to the Board by Mr. Boyes wth the Presbyterian petition and votes thereon as follows. The Council read & non-concurred the vote of the House sent up yesterday for settling accts with Massa wch was sent down by Mr. Dennet. By him also was sent down a vote of Council for putting 500£ into the Treasury to pay the Com A message to the Board by one of the House for striking 1000£. A Vote of the House of ye 28 currt? (1) for signing ye 500£ in ye Treas & striking 500 more read & non-concurred. By the unanimous request of the Council his Exey was pleased to prorogue ye Gen' Assem. to Wednesday the first of March next at 10 o'clock a. M. then to meet at ye Court House at Portsm°. [P. 157.] Pro. N. H. At a Council held at Hampton Falls, Thursday Oct. 20, 1737. Mathew Livermore, Esq. Presented a Petition subscribed by about 50 persons praying for a Grant of Land within ye Province wch was read & ordered that the Petitioners have leave to prepare & present a Charter to the Board, which was done & the same was passed & ordered to be sealed. His Excellency was pleased to acquaint the Board that he had lately received several complaints of Clandestine marriages consumated by virtue of Licenses granted within this Province & therefore proposed that to prevent the like for the future, an order sh'd be sent to the Presat not to grant any more licenses without his Excellency's permission which was as follows: vide file. (1) 18 Aug't. ED. THE THOMLINSON CORRESPONDENCE. CORRESPONDENCE, chiefly between Theodore Atkinson, Esq., of Portsmouth, and Capt. John Thomlinson, agent of the Province in London, relating mostly to the settlement of the boundary lines between the Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire: This Correspondence is of great historical value, and should be carefully examined. ED. [Copied from "Belknap Papers" in a MS. volume belonging to the Library of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, in Concord.] No. 1. [P. 1.] Letter from Theo. Atkinson, Esq. to Capt. John Thomlinson. Capt. Thomlinson Sir-The last from you was by Capt. Ring, since which we have heard nothing from London but transiently by the Man of Warr who gave us some acct of the resentment of the House of Commons of Mr. Dunbars treatment, offered by the House of Representatives at Boston, & if a strict Enquiry should be made into that affair I am of oppinion his Excellency would be brought in for parte-which I believe Mr. Cook would Declare, having lately been displaced from the Judge's office of the Inferior Court by the Govs Influence. We are impatient till we hear what success the affair of the lines will meet with, tho' can't expect a determination till the Massa hath had time to answer, who Boast much of their Interest ag't New Hamp' which still we disbelieve this Goverm having never in one article disobeyed the Crown but have in every thing complyed with the King's Instructions, however the Dispute on the controverted Land will increase I suppose. Coll. Dunbarr who is now with us, & was an Eye witness of the Haverhill peoples behaviour the last week hath represented the affair home to the several Boards, how they came with fire arms &c. to take away grass at least Ten miles from the river-I wrote you how we Mr. Wentworth & myself were rejected by the Gov' upon showing him our Mandamus (1) which I think very Extraordinary he not assigning any reason when he took them 'tis impossable for me to say any more than that he hath disobeyed the King's positive comand, & I imagine will not receive thanks therefor, 'tis probable he will send home some reasons but must make them himself, other ways he would have Entered them with the Secretary which he never did and which his Instructions in case of a suspension of any [P. 2] member of that Board obleigidges him to do, however tis vic Volo sic Jubeo, however I never desire to sustain any post of that nature longer than I am determined to act & speak my oppinion which I am determined shall always be rectified by the dic(1) See p. 794, this volume. ED. tates of a right reason & a good conscience, & God forbid I should live to see the day when such a voyce should either dishon' my Sovereign or injure my country however I think it hard as well as Extraordinary to be rejected after obtaining a posative mandate? upon a solemn hearing at home, but those extraordinary acts here are now a days to frequent to be call'd a raryty. I should be glad if you'd pay my Hon' to Coll. Bladen, that Gentleman I am inform'd th... spoke favorable of me in the affair of the Petition before their Lordships & gratitude will always oblige me to make a hearty acknowledgment of such an hon❜. I have not to this moment heard one single word from Antigua & know not whether the ship Antigua gally be arrived here or not but hope if she did not miscarry in her passage Capt. Sutcliff hath wrote you to make Insurance for my interest which I would have you do in case she is at Antigua which you'l know by Capt. Ring or some other vessel. I would insure the value of my concern which you are as good a Judge as I am. I am Determined to sell my part & do desire you'd get her of for the most you can & receive the freight & settle with Capt. Sutcliff. You have my full power to act in any affairs with you: you I acknowledge have been verry good & I as troublesome, I think I have been mightily treated by the Gentlemen in the West Indies & therefore have followed your advise in sending a Power to Capt. Sutcliff to settle my accounts having not recd one [P. 3] Penny since last fall, & all the wines she carryed there the last year behinde yet as he will have the comand my parte I have ordered him to put the ship & freight into your hands I am this moment informed that this ship by whom this goes, goes via Lisbon but makes no tarry there & will be consigned you if she delivers at London. I have alsoe seen Mrs. Rindges letter from you giving an acct of Sutcliff's arrivall at Antigua, which as I mentioned is the whole acct I have had but hope he hath not omitted writing you for Insurence. We shall send what we think necessary relating to the Lines by a ship from hence in about fourteen days, I mean as a Comittee appointed for that end to write to Capt. Rindge or whom he should leave the affair with. We all heartily rejoyce that 'tis placed in your hands, 'tis the person I advised him too, I have often told the Assembly so who are very well pleased. I shall write you by Collins and in the mean Time subscribe myself your very humble servt. Augst 14, 1733. Superscribed--"To Capt. John Thomlinson Theod. Atkinson. pr. Capt. Estwick Mercht No. 2. [P. 5.] Sr [Probably from the same, to Mr. Thomlinson.] 28th Febry 1733-4, by Capt. Collings With this you'l receive the House of Representatives adress to his majesty as alsoe their Comittees Letter by way of adress to the La Commissioners for Trade & Plantations. Likewise several votes of the House in yr Late Sessions in this Province & some of the votes of the Massachusetts Assembly, and as all those will go open to you 'tis needless to mention any thing in them again, & I would observe that the Township No. 4 mentioned in ye votes at a place called Amoskeag is about 15 miles at least above Dunstable on the river described in Capt. Rindge's draught so that their Lordships may see how that Govermt is dayly Encroaching upon the Kings Province besides that very land hath been granted by this Goverm1 above 12 years and doth belong to the Town of Chester which is a regular well settled town & hath an ordained minister there, but they imagine the settlemt of the lines will not affect property & so are determined to take possession of allmost all the Kings Lands, however we are in great hopes that controversy is Determined ere this & in such a manner as will Quiet this Province from any disturbance of their neighbors. You'l observe by the several adresses that we have still one more favour to ask of his Majesty, that is a Permission to Emit about 50 or 60,000 this currency for which we propose this skeem that by the act of Gen Assembly the whole Province shall be security & the money so made shall be Let out to any Borrowers at 5 pr ct pr annum upon good improved Land security of Duble the value of the money each person takes exclusive of any buildings thereon, this 5 pr ct to be annually paid into the Treasury for & toward the support of the Goverm1 & for no other purposes whatever & after a certain term of years the Borrowers to pay in the Principal at 25 pr ct. in four successive years without Interest in order to sink the fund on which the money was Emitted; now it may not be Improper to inform you how the Province came into the Present difficult circumstances. The late war with the Indians was so long & vigorous that we could not maintain it by a [P. 6] Poll tax which was the only way except a small Excise which in the war time scarcely amounted to one hundred pound we had to supply our Treasury, and the charge of the war togeather with the support of Govermt amounted to twice the sum we could raise, so were obliged to Borrow money on the Credt of the Govrmt & pass acts for repaying the same in sundry successive years as for Inst. the money we borrowed in the year 1720, was to be repaid by a Tax in the year 1730, and when bro't in to be burnt in the sight of the Gen Assembly, and thus our then condition obliged us year after year to Borrow in order to save the Province, & all this money was Bona fide expended in the payment of our souldiers which we were so generous as bear what the Massachusetts called our Quota which far exceeded our Proportion for we sent 50 men of 500 as a travelling army through their Govermt & in all the last war had not one souldier in our frontiers nor one shilling of support from them-this togeather with the Bounty npon Indian scalps was the charge by which we came so much in debt, & now those years being devolved upon us we have the whole support of the Govermt to pay, which since we settled the sallary on the Govern' & other officers the Fort at the entrance of the river & other necessary contingent charges about 1500 pr annum & a 1000 at least on each year to the year 1743 towards sinking our fund, which to raise by a Poll Tax would be utterly impossible-the biggest rate we ever made being 1500 & that being attended with so much difficulty & hardship & that it held but I think one year, & a man in this Province thus paid moore than Double what a man of equall circumstances did in the Massachu |