in New Hampshire does the King and Kingdoms, he saw a quantity of noble timber for ships brought to Pescattaway by Mr. Partridge to be sent to Portugal in his great ship. I am with respect

"Mr. Eastwick the late Navall Officer of New Hampshire being dead, I have appointed Mr. Robert Armstrong to succeed him, who is well recommended to me from England; the persons bound for him are substantiall merchants of this place, whose bond is 1000£; I herewith send you."

I am with much esteem,

Gentlemen,

Your most humble and

faithfull servant

BELLOMONT.

[N. Y. Col. MSS., Vol. IV., pp. 668–679.]

Earl of Bellomont to the Lords of Trade. To the Right Honour able the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations.

My Lords.

[Extract.]

"I have further to acquaint you, that I am more confirmed than I was, of the certainty of making Tar to serve the King and all his Dominions; being assured by several hands that 'tis a thing of great yield or produce, where there are a number of hands to assist one another. If Mr. Bridger may be credited, who has made some Tar in New Hampshire, and sent it to England with the other specimens a number of men will with ease make a barrel of Tar a day all the year round for each man's share which is 37 ton and 6 barrels of tar, the yearly produce of each man's labour; at

which rate 600 soldiers will make 22650 ton of tar in a year,

which

is so vast a quantity, that one would think it would more than suffice for all the King's Dominions yearly; yet the making pitch will cause great diminution of the tar.

I am told that at present all Naval Stores [P. 670.] which we have from Sweden and Denmark, are paid for with ready mony, carried in specie from England, which some merchants have assured me is above a 100,000£ per annum, whereas I would undertake to pay for all the Naval Stores from New Yorke and New Hampshire with the manufactures of England.

I have been very particular in the foregoing account, about making tar, because I would gladly explain every part of it to your Lordships; and I hope what I have now to writ, will satisfie you of its being practicable beyond dispute or contradiction. I will now sum up the advantages which will accrue to England from this performance.

1st. It will take off the charge of the forces, the King would otherwise be obliged to keep in his pay, to defend the Provinces of New York and New Hampshire, against the French and their Indians, which in time of war cannot be less than a 1000 men, to defend them as they ought to be defended: and let it be considered too, that the securing of them, is in a great measure securing all the Plantations on this Continent.

2 It will save the King and his Dominions near half the mony that's laid out at present for tar, pitch, turpentine and rozen.

3 If it be true that above a 100,000£ in specie is exported every year out of England, by the Eastland Merchants, that sume of mony which is a very great one, (and is entirely sunk and lost to the Nation by never returning) will not only by this design be kept within the nation for the time to come, but it will also be the undoubted means of a very considerable additional export and consumption of our English manufactures, so that the advantage will be double, by saving so great a sume of mony which was carried out of the Nation before, and by turning that loss into profitt to England, in the increase of the Exports of our Manufactures as I just now said.

5thly But the greatest advantage of all is yet to come, which is, that the King and all his Dominions will be furnish'd with Naval Stores from his own territory, by which means that most important trade, (without which England could not subsist) will no longer be precarious.

The advantages that will redound to England by a right use of these Plantations, are infinite and inestimable, not only tar and pitch, turpentine, oyle of turpentine and rozen, will be furnished,

but also the deal boards, masts, yards & bowsprits, and all the larger sorts of ship timber for the King and all his Dominions: and taking one thing with another, I can demonstrate that all these commodities I have now named will be afforded cheaper to England, than they now are from forreign Countries. Deal Boards are what will turn to least account of any of the Commodities I have enumerated, yet a vessell wholly laden with them would make a saving voyage from these Plantations to England. The Deals brought from Norway are sold by tale, that is by the hundred, and the price is from 3£ 10s, to 5£ the hundred, their length from 10 to 12 foot, their breadth from 10 to 12 inches. In New Hampshire they sell their boards by the 1000 foot, 22 shillings per 1000 is the present price for such deale, the boards are rarely under 25 foot in length, and from 15 to 18 inches in breadth, and more free from knots than the Norway boards are, as they tell me here; when the deals are 2 inches thick they call 'em plank, and their rule is, to double their price, as the thickness of the board or plank doubles; for 2 inch deale they have £2. 4s per 1000 foot, and for 3 inch deale £3. 6s, and the advantages to the merchant or fraghter will be chiefly in the 2 and 3 inch deal plank for the decks of ships, and such plank as they saw in New Hampshire of 36 foot long and two foot broad, and upon occasion they can furnish plank that's longer and broader than even that. [P. 672.]

I desired Mr. Bridger to give me the prices of the principall ship timber, (as sold in the King's Yard at Portsmouth, where he serv'd his time) which are contained in the paper (marked F) but he told me he had put very moderate prices on the several sorts. And for instance he told me he had known 5 shillings per foot paid for great standards for a first and second rate man of war, which would be £15 per load, yet he has set down by £7 10s, per load in his said paper, which is but half a crown a foot. At the end of his memorial (marked D.) which answers my queres, he undertakes to save the King 2930£ 19s, in every ship load of masts, of what is paid to Mr. Taylor, and a ship making two voyages in a year from Pescattaway to England, the King will gain 5861£18s sterling, & two such ships of his own will gain him 11723£ 16s every year if the Navy will require so many masts.

That the masts, yards and bowsprits for the King's ships will be best and cheapest carryed home in ships of the King's own, is very clear and manifest. And I believe I shall as easily make it appear that the great and principal ship timber for building his ships of war, vizt beams, planks and compass timber (taking one

sort with another) will be sent home in the King's own ships, for very near half the prices those sorts of timber cost the King at this time in his yards. Mr. Bridger has estimated the building a hagboat in his said memorial (mark'd D.) and therein in his answer to my second quere, at 5625£ New England mony, the said hagboat to be of 500 ton, which said sume is over 4000 sterling, by Mr. Bridger's computation 600£ New England mony (which is no more than 420£ sterling) will purchase a load of ship timber, that in the King's yards in England will be worth 2000 sterling. And by Mr. Partridge's computation, the said cargo or load of ship timber will be worth 2500£ sterling in the King's yards. Mr. Bridger ought to be the better builder, but Mr. Partridge has had more experience in shipping and selling that sort of timber, but taking it at either of their estimates, 'tis plain 'twill be worth while for the King to carry home his principal ship timber, from New Hampshire in ships of his own; and a ship will make two returns in a year, between Pescattaway and England. The paper (marked G. G.) is an estimate by Capt. Belcher (an experienc'd man in those matters of this town) of the charge of wages, victualls, and wear and tear of a ship of 500 Ton.

[P. 673.]

I veryly believe all the Eastland Trade (except for flax and hemp) may be turn'd to these Plantations; and more than that, All the masts and scarcer sorts of ship timber for the use of all England, and the rest of the Dominions of the Crown, will be furnished from these Plantations cheaper than they now sell in England, taking one with another. And with a good regulation here will be a lasting store of all these things to the end of the world. This Province and New York abound with excellent ship timber of all sorts, and so does Conecticut Colony as well as New Hampshire.

And now my Lords I appeal to your Lordships whether the use and advantage I have propos'd by these Plantations to England, be not preferable to the selling almost all the lands in the Province of New York to Coll. Fletcher, and all New Hampshire, and a great part of this Province to Coll. Allen. I call it selling the lands of New York to Fletcher, because that whoever contrived that clause in his Ins.ructions, which gave him an unlimited power in the disposition of those lands (and that directly contrary to precedent in other Governors Instructions) may be truly said to sell those lands, and therein to betray the King and Kingdom in a very high degree. I also call it selling New Hampshire and a great part of this Province to Coll. Allen, for that Mason under

whom Coll. Allen claims had no opinion of his own title, is very plain having offered to sell it for a 100£, as Coll. Pinchon's Deposition does so far make out, as to satisfie any indifferent man of the truth of it; tho' it would not be allow'd a direct proof in law, because the offer was not made by Mr. Mason himself, but by a third hand, viz Doctor Owen a Presbiterian Minister. Then for Coll. Allen's title I send your Lordship's Coll. Hutchinson's Deposition, tied up with Coll. Pinchon's, they are both members of His Majesty's Council of this Province, and both of good reputation and substance. I have reason above other men to believe Coll. Allen's title is insufficient & defective, having been much urg'd to be brib'd, to favour his claim and pretention. There was an offer made me of 10,000£ in mony, and that Coll. Allen should divide the Province of New Hampshire with me; but I thanke God I had not the least tempting thought to accept of the offer, and I hope nothing in this World will ever be able to tempt me, to betray England in the least degree. This offer was made me three or four several times; and I am able to swear to time and place, and besides I have some letters from a certain man that mention enough of the matter to corroberate my own Testimony. I presume your Lordships will not have the better opinion of Coll. Allen's title, for the easy terms on which I might have come in for an equall share, or dividend with him, of that whole Country. I will make it appear that the lands and woods claim'd by Col. Allen are much more valuable than ten of the biggest estates in England, and I will sale those ten estates at 300,000£ apiece one with another which is 3 millions. By his own confession to me at Pescattaway last summer, he valu'd the Quit Rents of his lands (as he calls 'em) at 22,000£ per annum, at 3d per acre, or 6d in the pound of all the improv'd Rents; then I leave your Lordships to judge what an immense estate the impro'd rents must be, which (if his title be allow'd) he has as good a right to, as to the foremention'd Quit Rents. And all this besides the Woods, which I believe he might very well value at half the worth of the lands. There never was I believe since the world began so great a bargain as Allen has had of Mason, if it be allow'd to stand good, that all this vast estate I have been naming should be purchased for a poor 250£, and that a desperate debt too, as Coll. Allen thought, as per Coll. Hutchinson's Deposition aforesaid appears. This I thought my duty to acquaint your Lordships of, that you take such timely order therein, as to your Lordships wisdom shall seem proper. The consequence of Coll. Allen's claim, may prove highly prejudicial to England, he pretends to a great part of this