were for a long time oblig'd to drink of it unassisted & alone, a Peace at last will I believe be the thing & the terrible insults & injuries we have receiv'd be quietly pocketted

I always am

Dr S:

Y: Most faithful

& Humb! Serv

JN WATTS.

This minute I reca Maj. Gates fa: of 10th Oct: with the papers for which I pray you'd return him a thousand thanks The packet being on the point of sailing & my hands overloaded I sent the letters to Napier to answer, but his reply to me was unanswerable by G- however I don't think so & if I have a moment left it shall be devoted to his service, if not I acknowledge my self his debtor till the next conveyance.

SAME TO SAME.

DEAR SIR,

New York, 11a March 1764.

My last were by Aberdeen, the General's Steward, he had the papers, &c. & so had M: Gibson, M: Allen's relation who followed in the Halifax Packet. Lieut. Hogarth of the 77th I propose to entrust them to in this Packet, tho' I can't say the trust is very great considering the matter they are composed of

M: Colden has paid me £225. the half of a quarter's salary from 1 Sept: to 1st Dec! I don't remember to have either receiv'd or paid any thing else on your account, the Custom House have not yet paid me your proportion of the

seizure, nor the old man for the Chariot, he seems to be rather long winded, shall I give him a jog, the other gentry I shan't hesitate about at all. Bunyan says when he settles the amount of perquisites he will pay me your moiety — the Wine and Silver Urn are safe hitherto from all accidents. Greenwich stands still empty as it did, people wish you would fill it again, I observ'd before to you that Gen. Gage would like to have it, till either you arriv'd or relinquish'd it.

The Merchants send you a copy of their memorial on Trade tho' I believe it will come a day after the fair from what Mr. Allen writes me, 'Tis long and I think rather labored but has a tolerable share of matter in it that might have been or possibly may yet be of use, a copy goes recommended by his Honor & the Council, to the Board of Trade & now I mention His Honor & the Council, least you sho'd hear it improperly represented, I believe it may not be amiss to let you know, that they seem to have given their neighbors of Philadelphia some umbrage, how justly you shall judge. They had voted a thousand men, but disputed as usual about the mode of raising the money, by which the service stops. Therefore wanting men to protect about a hundred and forty Indians of all ages, sizes & sexes they have among them, from the Paxton Volunteers as they are called, who had already kill'd some at Lancaster; both to get rid of the expense of maintenance & to avoid the imputation, that must naturally fall upon such a feeble disjointed Government if the Indians sho'd be murder'd, they had the conscience to propose to let them loose upon our shoulders, provok'd & irritated as they were, by sending them through this Province up to Albany to get upon the Susquehanna from whence they would cut every body's throat that fell in their way they had proceeded as far as Amboy before the Government was informed of it, but the moment it got the notice they were forbid a passage & oblig'd to return not to the (Province) Island from

whence they came, but to the barracks, for the greater security. We cou'd not comprehend that because the Government of Pennsylvania would not do their duty, that we were to have a parcel of irritated savages, at present in our power, turned loose upon our Borders to destroy the innocent and defenceless settlers-If murders must be committed let them fall on those who deserve it, the Quakers or Indians or rioters or any body but the innocent peasant, who is guilty of no iniquity, nor concerned in any party to prevent the public good-I have mention'd all this to Mr. Allen I have wrote him - Franklin has wrote a pamphlet against the Paxton people & towards the conclusion gives this Colony a stroke for not permitting the Indians a passage, but unluckily a few lines further, as an argument against the rioters confesses the very reasons that govern'd us viz: that it was infinitely better maintaining them at some small expense than let them loose to cut our throats on the Frontiers.

upon the other

Upon Gen! Gage's succession to the command he permitted S Will. Johnson to accept of the Indians offers of services in consequence of which several parties were fitted out against the Delewares & Shawanese, a day or two ago, the Lieut. Governor receiv'd a letter from him of which the enclos'd is a Copy, there is also added the copy of a paragraph from Major Hogan, as the one throws a light If the Five Nations are in earnest these vermin will be soon either quieted or eradicated — at Pittsburg they have renew'd hostilities & killed one man out of a dozen of a wood cutting party near the Fort. If Philadelphia continues in dissentions & raises no men the Frontiers may smart most terribly & that will certainly drive the Paxtoneers to commit farther violences, perhaps in some striking instances too, the answer of the Quakers to their remonstrance is esteemed false & evasive. Peters is like to die at Philadelphia. Mr. Chambers will hardly outlive the month here I believe, no great loss is either to the world.

Coll: Robertson & Mallet are return'd, 'tis but a very indifferent country they have been visiting, particularly the Spanish part of it, they seem to be well rid of a formidable expense, without one earthly benefit attending it, the Indians will be extremely difficult to manage & must be very expensive if we keep well with them.—I have not been favored with any letters from you since the 10th Nov!— The January packet not arrived tho' a report prevails that she is below By one Capt. Fell I receiv'd a Bill of Lading for a keg at large, who it was for I did not know, but order'd it at a venture to be open'd, the contents were above the skill of my people, they judg'd Salmon had been in it, but nothing but pickle and some lumps like bits of fish remain'd I sent Deale his letter- My compliments to S: Harry, M: Porter Gates & all friends- Coll: Barre I find has fallen as fast as he rose, Dame Fortune is sometimes very capricious, still we woo her - Will they never have done with Wilks & think of the public good.

I always am with great truth

Dr S

Y: Faithful Humb! Serv

JNO WATTS.

Nothing transpires of Offices here, Elliot is said to be

thinks it long, as from age Morris has left a will, tho'

Collector, M: Read I believe his days are like to be short. an old one, and a handsome estate to his natural son and daughter of eight or ten thousand pounds a piece they compute.

The Honble Gen. MONCKTON.

SAME TO SAME.

NEW YORK 14th April 1764.

DEAR SIR,

I am very much oblig'd with your favor of 9th Feb! by this Packet, it was pretty long a coming but it made ample amends when it did come.

I thought our Committee of Correspondence would have wrote very copiously to the agent by this conveyance, but as the Assembly meets on Tuesday they chose to have their opinion & weight go along with it & therefore have only wrote in general terms The forbidding Paper money to be a legal tender would in my opinion take away what little energy it has & subject every Debtor with a real estate to the mercy of his creditor. Not having a legal tender to unburthen himself, the creditor must command his estates upon his own terms to suppose we can keep either silver or gold in the Colonies while our Mother Country will trust us both for necessaries & for luxuries is entirely ideal & destroying the intercourse between the Mother & her offspring may be very injurious to both that it has had no ill effect in N. England, I mean destroying the tender of paper money, cannot be allow'd, M: Johnson of Connecticut one of the first men there, says he has known it taken in execution & sold at outcry to the great grievance of Debtor, who had money that would neither save his person from a gaol nor his property from his Creditor. Limiting a certain sum may do if the Government at home never again intend to call upon the Colonies for assistance, for it would be an excellent pretence for doing nothing, and evidently cuts off all resources from, Paper Money being the only means of an immediate exertion. But why would they punish the Colonies indiscriminately, parents seldom do so, good ones at least, with their