alsoe being Notifyed by m' Secretary to be this Day with the Honorable Councell, I thought It my Duety to Inform your Hons that I am not In A Capacity by Indisposednes to Appear there to Tender this Memoriall to that Honble board And as his Excellency mentioned in his leter of the 11th Inst that the ffrench fforces by Sea and land Are Designed to Invade this part of America and therefore urged In his leter to finish the fort abovenamed forthwith out of hand And As winter Is Soe near At hand I hope this board will one And Other take into Serious Consideration; If I had had the Dispose of the Complement of laborers and Carpend" As I Demanded Eleven weeks Since I beleave the ffort by this time had been finished, and I Dobt not At all If Every body Imployed will Doe his Duety As I my Self Doe (without Jactance) have don with all the zeale Imaginable and A Slaveish Service, I Can Doe It Still and finish It In thirty laboring Days provided that his Excellencyes orders be Executed And that the board let me have thirty six laborers And twelve Carpenders that understand workmanship and If m' Westbrook Doth not Deceve me About Some small mater of Timber yet behind which he promised In his last Contract and that Capt Icabod plaisted Sends me 275 peices for Spiles which Is yet behind of his promiss to me Eleven months Agoe Likewise Cap' Pickrin Is yet behind In his promis of Spiles some of Seven some Eight feet long; I have one thing more to Offer to this board which Is that his Excellencyes order may be put In Execucon Which he made last time he was Att Sa ffort Concerning the laborers and work men In Generall, That they Shuld be Punished In Case they Did not perform there Duety And behaveed themselves Uncivilly Against me with five Dayes labor after there ten Dayes was out, soe that I may not be Exposed to such Rude and Unmanerly behavier As I Mett with this week-when I told one of them viz. Robert Smart of Exeter wh was ordered on his not Doeing his Duety he answeared me, he would See Comon law for It first &c: I hope the board will Observe that I Dont live In this Meletary Execution of her Maje Service In building Her ffort Under the Comon law Which would be Altogeather Irronias and Contrary to the practice of urope & other parts of the world Which Is all what I have to offer Att present New Castle y 16 Sept 1704 [7-155] Wolfgang Wm Romer [Col. Romer's Memorial, 1705.] To the Honble Her Majties Councill now Assembled at Portsmouth. May it please Yo' Hon" I find my selff oblidged to notefye to Yo' Hon" that there is 6 or 7 weecks worck more to do at Her Majties Fort willm & Mary and that all materials in the major part are ready at hand there, for that finishing part, and whereas the Assembly, by their last Sessions, could not rayse anny supply of mony for that service, which is ye only obstackle that His Excell could not resolve on that head, I therefore by just raysons generously resolved in order to take that obstackle away of no mony in the Treasury to advance the mony necessary out of my one Estate.— Now to promote this important affaire for ower Great Queens service & the Publick interesst, I therefore desire Yo' Hons that You will please to make an effectuall adres to His Excell' that he may be pleased to order matters thus, that I may under a due protection finishe the Fort as aforesaid, and to consider that whereas there is no mony granted: sume worck halff finished, together with ye damage by the last violent storm & high water donne, will be of verry bad consequence, if not althogether in every respect prouve fatall; (which if should happen the fault can not be myn :) in cas it should not be finished at present & the damage as before hinted mended, which all I leave to Yo' Hon's Serious considerations, and I shall alwais remain the Same as have been hittheronto This Is to sertifie whome it may Conserne that Mr Sam" penhollow Treasurer hath supplyed several labourers att Her Majestys fort W and Mary full allowance Victuals and Drinck one hundred and twenty six days. [7-157] Wittnes G. Redknap Engener [Relative to a Bridge, 1719.] Province New Hampshire To His Excellency Sam" Shute Esq' Cap' Gen1 & Gov' in Cheife in & over his Majts Sd Province & Vice admirall of the Same & to the Honble The Councill & house of Representatives Now Setting in Gen" Assembly The Memoriall of Sundry His Majties Loyall & Good Subjects of ye town of New Castle Most Humbly Remonstrates That Whereas the Governm' in ye Reigne of our Late Soveraigne King Charles ye 2d of Blessed Memory, Did Under the wise & good Conduct of Edward Cranfeild Esq' then Gov' of Sd Province, order Erect & build a Bridge Over yt branch of Pisc River Cal'd ye ferry or fording place of Little Harbour, and that for ye Gen" Good & Benifitt of all his MajTM Good Subjects, in Saving Six Miles travill at least, from Hampton to York & So further East, as also a Much better & Safe Road in time of Warr & also that His Majts Fort on the Island May be Soon Releiv'd in Case of an Attack from forreign Enemies, as also to prevent that Common & frequent Practice of Wronging ye King of thee Revenues & Pt Duties Lay'd on Goods Imported Whereby his Maj's Governm' Might (& ought) to be Supported, & that to Ease to all his Majts Well Meaning Subjects in ye Province, the Which Bridge Did then prevent, (until the Providence of God did by a Very Great Storme &c break & Carry away S Bridge,) Since which his Majty & all his Good & faire Dealing Subjects hath been Much Impeded & hurt in their Just Duty & trade by Unfair Dealers Stealing into that Creek to Defraud the King & ye Province of ye Duty & Impost, and for as much as our late L Gov' & Comand' in Cheif, Coll Usher, with the Consent of ye Councill, Did Incorporate the Inhabitants of G' Island & Sandy beach into a town Cal'd New Castle, with Severall priveledges, as per Charter Inrold, whereby We are Oblig'd by Law to Repair all Bridges and high Waies within Sa Boundaries, of ye Charter & for as Much as y Said Inhabitants found Upon Serch that they Ought to Repair or Rebuild S Bridge, they Did in March 1712 Raise Mony by Publick Subscription to Cary on So Good a Work, but finding ye People So poor yt Could Not Accomplish Sd Work themselves, Whereupon Severall Worthy Gent of this & ye Neighbouring Province Subscrib'd their hands & Promised large Mony to help Carry on So Good A Work, & Accordingly ye Greatest part of ye timber, was Got & brought Nigh the place on Rafts, but was by Some Wicked & Unwarrantable hand Cutt Loose & turn'd a Drift, & we his Majts Good Subjts & ye Country in Generall, Much hurt, & was then & hath been Ever Since threatned yt if we went on, they would Cutt it Down Even in a Publick Manner & by force & Arms, Upon which we Remonstrated the Matter to our late Gov' Coll Dudley, whose Act on the Matter we Now Lay before you, where you will See the first part, or Introduction to ye Petition, we have been Serv'd With, by Sd papers, proved to be false & quite the Reverse 2ly As to the Query in Sa Petition, its Very Strange & odd for Men to Query wheither a thing Can be Done that hath been Done, and then to Call that the Main river of Little Harbour, & to Say its Navigable Up to the Bridge its a Very Great Mistake, for that we Do wade Over frequently, & When the tide is up Swim our horses for want of a Bridge, the ferry Never being Kept as it Ought to be, & that because the Right thereof is Disputable, as May Appear if Need be, tho he who of Right it belongs to Does Relinquish it for ye Sake of Sa Bridge and for as Much as your Querest there Sayes it's Not Justifiable Nor practi'ble to build a Bridge a Cross any Navigable River, (its plain its both) for that within our own town & Province, its Done, particularly at ye branch Cal'd Sevey's Creek, Stands, a tide Mill & a fast Dam, which Very Much Incommodes y Inhabitants of New Castle from Bringing of their Wood from ye Common Land, but for further Illustration, there is fast Bridges over both branches of Hampton River which is More Navigable, & hurtfull to those people, because they have No Other Way Up to their Estates which these have, as also at Newberry Lyn & Mistick, & Sundry Others as Cape Anne Cambridge &c and for as Much as this Bridge at New Castle No Waies hinders Vessells Comming in to the S Little Harbour for Safety if Need be in a Storm. And for answer to ye first Assertion, in Sd Petition, in Gen" terms, its a Mistake for first the ferry as afores" is Not Setled on the Person whome they pretend for that it has been Kept (as they have Kept it) by another & that there Never Was a high Way Laid out through. that proprietors land Neither is that Casway fit for a horse to pass over, 2ly as to the Inhabitants passing & repassing ferrage free on Publick Daies, its wrong, for that the town payes it & that ordered by a Publick Vote & tho it is pd by ye town yet Sundry ye Inhabitants of New Castle On Sandy beach Side, are as they have Often pretended (& we beleave Some truth in) So Much put to Difficulty, to Come over, with themselves & their little ones that they Chuse Rather to Neglect the Publick Worship of God, than to Come Over to hear their own Minister, & Even Wholly Neglect ye Ordinances App for themselves & Children, Unless Some Now & then, to Save being presented Ride Up to Portsm° tho other Arguments, & false Insinuations, hath been Used to Insnare Ignorant people to Signe against the bridge (to wit) that we Intend to hinder boats of Hay wood &c to Pass & Repass, & that it was to be a Province Charge, which Poor people already burthen'd with the Charge of y Publick taxes, groons under & that NCastle would have it a tole bridge & Ingross the Benifitt to themselves, 3d That ye Want of the Bridge will be a Security in Case of a War, is Very Inconsistent with reason, and has been Suffi ciently ans by all our former Gov" Masters of ye ordnance & Ingineers as also ye having it is a Great advantage to his Majts in ye Customs as per Rob Armstrong Esq' his Memoriall, Laid before Collo Dudly & the Lds Commissioners at home, 4thly That Whereas Sundry persons, have Laid Out, their Estates, in the fishery Who they Say Must be Unavoidably Ruined per Stopping their pass when its Evedent that they Could Never Could Come in, that Way Unless Just at high water, and then it is alwaies as Good & a Much Safer Way for them to Come in at ye Main Harbour, but were the Case So we humbly Conceive that two or three private Interests Should Not abridge ye Publick advantage of a Country. 5 as to the Ice Jamming at ye bridge its Wrong to Imagine that, for that the Narrows above alwaies breakes & Shatters the Ice, So yt it will Run through any one of ye Sluces of y Bridge, 6 As to that Unspeakable hardship, which is So Emphatically Express'd & lookt Upon to be ye Greatest Injury that yo Pets Set forth as Sufferers by Sd Bridge, is answered in Every Article for that their Will be ten Sluces fitting for any hay or Wood boat to pass & Repass, & that if y' Excellency & Hon" & Gentlemen of ye Assembly had Ever requir'd A Number of hands, to this Remonstrance We Do Assure you that we Could have had 50 to one for building y Bridge, & those to be Men of Honour, Justice & Estate & well Dispos'd to Serve the Publick Weal & Welfaire, & Not Men out of a private Sinister End Either to Defraud the King of his Dues, or Else for the Sake of Engrossing ye trade. & traffick of ye Country people And therefore your Memorialest, humbly prayes. their May be No Stop or hindrance put to Sd Bridge New Castle Aprill 30th 1719 [7-158] Hugh Reed Select in behalf of y• Rest Jn° ffrost John Watkins Jotham odiorne [Petition of Rev. John Blunt, 1737.] To His Excellency Jonathan Belcher Esq' Governour and Commander in cheif in and over his majesties Province of New Hampshire to His majesties Council & Honble House of Representatives in General Court assembled The Petion of John Blunt Humbly sheweth |