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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Memorial from Henry McCulloh concerning his dispute with Gabriel Johnston over land grants in North Carolina
McCulloh, Henry, ca. 1700-1779
June 12, 1751
Volume 04, Pages 1137-1152

Mr. McCulloh's reply to the Answer given by Governor Johnston to the several Articles of Complaint contained in Mr. McCulloh's Memorial.

To the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantation.

May it please your Lordships,

On the hearing of the former part of this Complaint, I have endeavoured to demonstrate that the Governour hath used every art & contrivance, to stifle all information to your Lordships, to disguise facts and if possible to divert and draw your Lordships attention to an other object by artfully contriving several charges against your Memorialist, in matters for which (as he humbly conceives) he is not in the least responsible.

Therefore the better to explain the nature and true design of the said Governor's proceedings and to follow him through all his intricacies and mazes, and also to show that the whole of what he hath set forth in his answer is grounded upon wrong principles, and supported by evidences purposely contrived and framed to give a colourable pretence to his plea

I conceive it to be a duty incumbent on your Memorialist, humbly to offer to your Lordship's consideration several remarks on the evidence transmitted by the said Governor to your Lordships and afterwards to demonstrate that the evidences transmitted by him, do not in the least justify or excuse him from the charges in the said complaint, nor that he hath been able (notwithstanding his utmost endeavours and efforts to vilify and asperse your Memorialist) to produce one single evidence in support of the many heavy charges he hath brought against your Memorialist.

It is impossible for any person however innocent, to guard against the force of malice or detraction but in all such cases, false and virulent charges, will revert back upon the first author or contrivers of them, in

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case there be not proper evidences to support the same, or that undue methods be taken in leading and preparing the Evidences. Therefore your Memorialist humbly submits to your Lordships consideration the following remarks on the said Governor's proofs, viz.

The evidence given by John Rice Deputy Secretary is conceived to be evasive as he seldom or ever draws petitions for warrants of Lands, his saying that he hath prepared all such Petitions as he hath drawn agreable to the form annexed to his said Evidence proves nothing, and he also equivocates grossly in what he says relating to the Instructions No. 1 and 2.

His Father keeps one of the Secretary's Offices in his own house near Brunswick, a second office is kept in Edenton, a third in Newbern & a fourth in Edgcomb County, So that John Rice only swears that the said Instructions are the sole Instructions recorded in the office in Newbern, although he well knew that he had taken Copies of seventeen of His Majesty's Instructions to your Memorialist and entered them in the Secretary's Office near Brunswick, besides the form of the warrant by him referred to is not in any respect agreable to His Majestie's Instruction, as the rights proved ought to be specified in the warrant.

Edward Griffith swears that he acted as the said Governor's Secretary for eight years, although he constantly resides near one hundred miles from him and one Mr. Lovick who lives with the said Governor hath always been deemed the Governor's Secretary, but admitting the fact to be as Mr. Griffith represents it, what motive could the said Govr have to leave blank patents with his Secretary when by his Majestie's Instructions he is expressly enjoined to authenticate the same in Council, or can it be deemed any apology for the said Governor if he really had been in a hurry to do an illegal act contrary to all the forms of business and in contempt of His Majestie's Instructions, it is said indeed to be the first time of the said Governor's having done so, but this is a common pretence in all cases wherein persons act contrary to their duty yet it is demonstrable from the evidences which have been read to your Lordships that the said Governor made a common practice of issuing blank warrants and Grants, which in many respects may be fatal to his Majestie's Subjects in the said Colony.

Mathew Rowan, Esqre being interrogated by the said Governor whether he knew of any agreement between the said Governor and Captain Woodward when the said Rowan received His Majestie's warrant for twelve hundred thousand acres of Land, gives an evasive answer, saying that he doth not know of any Agreement whatsoever, both the question and the answer are wrong, for the said Governor is charged with

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having entered into an agreement with the said Rowan to pay the moiety of his Salary and Fees into Captain Woodward's hands, but he is not charged with having entered into any agreement with Woodward, however the said Rowan must have known of the said Agreement as the original paper signed by him hath been proved and evidence thereof transmitted to your Lordships.

John Sampson Esqre swears that he was Sheriff of the County when Mathew Rowan Esqre took out an action against Mr. Henry McCulloh and that he never knew or heard that the said Henry McCulloh was in close confinement, but on the contrary that he was always at large to go into what part of the Province he thought proper. It is not charged in the Petition of complaint that your Memorialist ever was in close confinement but that he was in the Custody of the Sheriff for upwards of eighteen months, Mr. Sampson would have done well to have expressed from what motive the said Henry McCulloh had the liberty of going into any part of the Province he thought proper.

What the said Governor transmits as his 5th Voucher is an Evidence of his own framing curtailed and parcelled from other papers which were formerly sent to him, and although he untruly represents in his said Answer to your Memorialists Petition of Complaint, that the said Paper was upon record yet in truth it never was or could be so in the shape he sent it, and accordingly the Secretary hath not certified the said paper.

The said Governor affixing the seal of the Colony to the Copy of any Paper said to be sent to him which is neither proved nor authenticated in any shape whatsoever, cannot make that an evidence which was not so before, nor as humbly conceived can such a paper be read in evidence consistent with the practise in business, as it would break in upon all the rules of office, besides what he would infer from the said paper is fully and plainly contradicted by every step taken by the said Govr and your Memt previous to and at the time of making out the Grants as may more fully appear by the Copy of a Memorial delivered to the said Govr in 174⅚, and by the said Governor's declaration and Order thereon to the Attorney General—And although the said Governor hath prevented the Secretary from transmitting the said Memorial, yet the original is now present, ready to be produced to your Lordships, and the said Governor's hand writing thereto can (if required) be proved.

The sixth Voucher transmitted by the said Governor to your Lordships is a Copy of Mr. Allen's representation to the said Governor and Council at New Bern the 6th day of April 1745. Wherein your Memorialist is called upon to answer before the said Governor and Council for doing an Act strictly conformable to his duty, and in obedience to his Majestie's instructions.

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If an Officer doth anything unreasonable or unwarrantable he is certainly in many Cases answerable to the Governor for his conduct, but to call an Officer upon his Trial for doing that which he is directed to do by his Majesty can have no other tendency than to obstruct him in the due execution of his Office.

Your Memorialist begs leave further to remark that although it is said there was an order to the Secretary for him to have notice to attend, yet he never was served with any such notice nor ever had the least intimation of the said representation until October or November 1746. And as this was charged in your Memorialist's Representation delivered to the said Governor in Council in November 1746 the Secretary ought to have given proof of the said service (if any such had been) which he hath not done in the papers transmitted to your Lordships.

The seventh Voucher transmitted by the said Governor to your Lordships is Mr. Allen's Memorial to the said Governor in Council dated the 28th June 1746. Whereby he endeavours to prevent your Memorialist from examining into the state of his accounts and insinuates as if his Accounts had been regularly audited and passed, although he never had one account regularly audited or passed from the year 1736 until the day of his death.

The said Governor & Council (three of whom were Parties to the bond in question) taking the said Memorial into consideration called upon the Attorney General and censured him for applying to the said Governor for the Receiver General's bond and thereby silenced the said Attorney General on that head. And further to intimidate your Memt and call him upon his trial for acting agreable to His Majesty's Instructions he is ordered to appear and answer for his conduct at the then next Council to be held at Wilmington in November 1746.

It is very observable that when the said Bond for four thousand pounds sterling was applied for to the said Governor the Attorney General was then censured for not taking a Copy thereof out of the Secretary's Office, but since Mr. Allen's death the said Secretary says in answer to his first Interrogatory that the said Bond of four thousand pounds was not upon record in his said office and that he sent the Original to the said Governor who now affirms that he hath not the Original so that the said Governor and Council formerly stifled all enquiry into the receiver's Accounts and now he is dead the said bond of four thousand pounds is not to be found or the Copy thereof on record so as to give any remedy to the Crown against the said receivers Securities.

On examining into Joseph Anderson Esqr's Deposition it will (as humbly conceived) appear evident to your Lordships that both he and

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the said Governor combined to dispense with the Laws and to sacrifice Mr. Lithgow to the said Governor's private views and motives of interest in supporting Mr. Rice the Secretary and Roger Moore one of the Council in such extraordinary and unheard of Acts of Violence as they had been guilty of against the said Lithgow.

The said Governor's Plea of his being ignorant of the Law, and of his acting agreable to the advice of the Attorney General is a common and stale pretence and cannot serve him in the present case, as the most ignorant man in the Colony if endowed with an honest heart must be shocked at such arbitrary and cruel proceedings.

In the Interrogatories exhibited to the Deputy Auditor in behalf of the said Governor and by him referred to in his eighth Voucher he hath used all the finesse in his power and endeavoured to draw the Deputy Auditor into a snare in even accusing himself of things whereof he had not any knowledge, and to cover this design, he never served the Deputy Auditor or your Memorialist's Agent with a Copy of what he intended to transmit as a rent roll, or with a Copy of his Answer to your Memorialist's Complaint, so as to enable them to expose that gross Deception he hath attempted in sending an imperfect Copy of the records to your Lordships.

The rent roll transmitted to the Auditor General by his said Deputy will fully demonstrate the said Governor's unfair Proceedings and likewise shew that the said rent roll is considerably more than the Establishment of the Officers' Salary in the said Province in case the said Governor had not screened or protected the receiver in not delivering a full and just account of the receipts of His Majesty's revenue of Quit rents.

That the said Deputy Auditor was often at a loss in returning yearly to the Receiver an Account of the Grants issued, was entirely owing to the said Governor's irregular method of proceeding in issuing blank warrants & Grants contrary to all the forms of Law and Justice and contrary to His Majesty's Instructions on that head.

The Evidence of Samuel Swann Esqre at the instance of the said Governor and in behalf of Enoch Hall Esqre the chief Justice, is of a very extraordinary nature and shows what some Gentlemen even of Character and fortune may be brought to by the influence of a Governor, he deposeth that your Memt had a fair & impartial Trial in the suits depending between Mathew Rowan Esqre and your Memorialist but if anything is meant or can be reasonably understood from the said $$Word$$ it must be that the Jury acted impartially in acquitting your Memt and yet (as humbly conceived) it never can be understood with any colour of reason to mean that the Chief Justice acted fairly and

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impartially in insisting on any Persons betraying the private conversation of his friend or that any Jury could consistently with Law or reason permit the Postcript of a letter to be given in evidence without producing the letter in court or even alledging that the same was lost. However the said Evidence is transmitted only as an opinion & no way contradictory to the Evidences given in your Memt's behalf on that head.

Having remarked on the several Evidences transmitted to your Lordships by the said Governor your Memt in all humble manner conceives that there is not anything contained therein which can in the least defend or justify the Governor's Conduct or impeach and lessen the Credit of the Evidences transmitted to your Lordships in support of your Memt's Petition of Complaint, but on the other hand considering the great power and influence of the said Governor and that he hath the records in a great measure under his own power and direction, the Lawyers and attorneys of the Court depending on him for their Licences to plead or act, and also that he lately hath new modelled the whole of the Magistrates in the said Province, it is matter of surprise that the evidences transmitted in behalf of your Memt are so clear, strong and free from all reasonable exceptions.

Your Memorialist's intention in so taking a Survey of the several Evidences transmitted by the said Governor, is thereby to demonstrate to your Lordship that he in his whole Answer had not any regard to truth, or to any evidences to support the several matters charged by him, but only laid down (to the utmost of his ability) a plausible plan to expatiate on, and then follow the said plan as if it had been supported by Truth and the evidence of Facts.

All which (as humbly conceived) will appear evident on considering the said Governor's Answer when compared with the Evidences transmitted by him.

In the very first outset he untruly represents the Powers lodged in your Memorialist as Commissioner and Comptroller of His Majestie's Quit Rents, he had not any Power to call for the Title Deeds of the Planters in South and North Carolina, other than what was persuasive in informing them of the nature of His Majesty's Instructions, that His Majesty would be graciously pleased to confirm all Titles to Lands on the terms therein expressed, provided the parties would record their Grants, and the Commissioner of the Quit rents had not any determinative power to confirm Titles & free the Possessors of Lands from any further trouble forever, nor did your Memt ever attempt to exercise that power, so that the invidious reflection made by the said Governor is

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wholly his own invention and the Commissioner of the Quit rents can with justice appeal to the Right Honble the Lords of the Treasury, and to your Lordships, whether he hath not frequently and on all occasions fully represented the state of the revenue and the difficulties or obstructions industriously thrown in his way, and if it should be your Lordships pleasure to enter into a detail of that matter he is ready to point out the several representations he made on that head.

And although the said Governor was very instrumental in obstructing your Memt in the execution of his said office, yet he now contrary to all justice and reason loudly complains of your Memorialist not having done things which the said obstructions rendered impracticable.

The said Governor further charges that although he and every body else were sensible that your Memt had procured his Instructions by false suggestions, yet he hath not been guilty of any breach of the said Instructions.

The said Governor would have done well before he attacked the wisdom and judgment of the right honourable the Lords of His Majestie's most Honorable Privy Council and the Right Honble the Lords of the Treasury to have pointed out in what particular they had been surprized on advising His Majesty to take the said Measures, but that was not in his power, as it is not possible to conceive how regulating the Land Office and keeping one uniform method of proceeding in the Records could be of any disservice to His Majesty or the least advantage to your Memt in the disposal of any Lands wherein he is concerned, however it is easy to judge in what respects the said Governor may think himself injured thereby in being prevented from issuing blank warrants and Grants for Lands in the manner hitherto practised by him.

Your Memorialist as the said Governor sets forth in the third paragraph of his said Answer hath all along taken it for granted that everything relating to His Majesty's Lands in the said Province was in great confusion or disorder before his arrival there, and the said Governor in his own representation to your Lordships in hath fully set forth the confused state of the Colony in relation to the old proprietory Grants, and the Auditor General's report to the Honble House of Commons in 1740 shew that neither he nor his Deputies had ever been able to procure a rent roll and further the several Evidences now transmitted to your Lordships in relation to the said Govrs method of issuing warrants and Grants fully and clearly demonstrate that whatever the said Governor's pretensions are of having obeyed His Majesty's Instructions, yet he hath not acted agreeable thereto, and by the very measures which he hath taken he must necessarily introduce the greatest confusion in the records and unhinge the property of the subject.

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What the Governor says of any disputes not having been in relation to the property of Lands is repugnant to truth, for your Memt hath really known fifty instances to the contrary but then the Governor and Council generally assume the priviledge of determining those disputes in Council.

The said Governor in the fourth Paragraph of his said Answer denys that your Memt did ever desire him not to issue any new Grants to persons who were in arrear of Quit rents although he was frequently moved thereto, and the said matter was particularly recommended to the said Govr in a Letter written to him by your Mt which said Letter is certified and sworn to by Doctr Houston.

The said Governor ought to have mentioned at what time he pursued the said measure, and where that standing Order of Council by him referred to can be found.

The said Governor in the fifth Paragraph of his said Answer denys his having ever signed any blank patents except once when he was called away on a sudden upon an extraordinary emergency—but he is not pleased to mention what that sudden and extraordinary emergency was, nor from what motive he left the Grants with the Secretary, as by His Majesty's instructions, no Grant is to be issued but in Council and agreable to the forms therein prescribed.

The said Governor in the sixth Paragraph of his Answer is pleased to assert that your Memt had given a very wrong account of the affair relating to Mr. Allen's Bond, but Mr. Allens representations, the letter written to him by your Memorialist and his representation to the Governr in Council in November 1746 (which are all transmitted to your Lordships) will fully demonstrate the truth of what your Memt hath represented on that head, and shew that the said Governor hath not fairly or impartially stated the said Case.

The said Governor and Council could have no motive in calling on your Memt to give an account of his conduct in a matter strictly agreable to his Majesty's Instructions other than to obstruct him in the execution of his duty, and the proceedings since had in relation to the said receiver's Bond of four thousand pounds sterling fully evince the truth of that matter.

And that Mr. Allen often threatened to take out an action of ten thousand pounds against your Memorialist, is well known to several persons in the said province.

The said Governor is also pleased to accuse your Memt of a shameful misrepresentation of such matters as relate to the Grants of Lands wherein he is concerned, in North Carolina without being able to shew

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any one particular wherein he misrepresented the same, and afterwards the said Governor artfully endeavoured to divert your Lordships attention and draw it to new objects so as to prevent an enquiry into his Conduct.

If what the said Governor alledges had been true, and that he had been apprized of any attempt to deceive or impose on the crown it was a duty incumbent on him to have informed His Majesty thereof before he issued the said Grants, But this is all of a piece with his other conduct, he readily asserts anything which he thinks will make for his advantage if he can find the least colourable pretence for so doing & that appears evident in the prosecution of the present case.

By His Majesty's Order in Council dated 19th May 1737 Murray Crymble, James Huey and their Associates were entituled to take out the Grants in such proportions as they thought proper to direct, provided that no Grant should contain less than twelve thousand acres the Grantees were not limitted in number nor as to their respective shares or proportions of the said Lands, & it was at that time the opinion of the right honble the Lords of His Majestie's most honble Privy Council and of the right honble the Lords Comrs for Trade and Plantation that provided the parties advanced so great a sum as would be necessary to discharge the Fees on such a large quantity of Land on the back and extreme parts of the Colony it would be a sufficient inducement or motive to them for prosecuting the settlement, and that in case the said settlement should miscarry or not be fully completed such proportion of the said Lands as was not settled should revert to the crown, and also that as fifty millions of vacant land and upwards then remained in the said Colony, so their Lordships were induced thereby to declare as their opinion that it might be for the service of the crown to permit the Petitioners and their Associates to undertake the settlement of those vacant Lands on the terms and under the conditions or restrictions expressed in the said Order, And in all probability had the said Grantees not met with any obstructions from the said Governor that settlement would have been carried on with great advantage to the crown, to the Colony, and to all the Parties concerned therein, and even as the affair of the Grant now stands it is not easy to conceive how the Colony can be injured, especially considering that the settlements therein are really become a very useful frontier to the Province and have been the means of increasing the inner settlements.

Before the said Governor received his Fees he had not any Objections to the legality of the said Grants, but after he received the said Fees and exacted even more than he was justly entitled to On finding that the said

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settlement increased much faster than reasonably could have been expected he began to change his sentiments, to obstruct the said Settlement and to represent everything relating to the said Grants in the most disadvantageous light and in consequence thereof he and Colonel Moseley in 1746 (being upwards of eighteen months after the right honble the Earl of Granvilles Grant was made out by the Crown) jointly agreed to run a new line from the place where the Commissioners formerly appointed by His Majesty had ended their line, and so to manage or contrive that in running that new line most of the lands belonging to your Memt were taken up into the said Earl's Division. Your Memorialist doth not pretend to determine whether the right honble the Earl of Granville's line might or might not be extended after the date of his said Grant if His Majesty had been consulted thereon, but humbly submits that point to your Lordships or to His Majesty's Attorney General, as the most proper Judges thereof.

Nevertheless your Memt prays leave humbly to observe that the power granted to the said Govr for appointing five Commissioners in conjunction with the like number to be appointed by the said Earl was limited to eighteen months from 15th September 1742, and that the said Governor had not any power from his Majesty nor could in any wise authorize or appoint any Commrs in 1746, to extend the said Earl's line unless he had received fresh Directions fron His Majesty on that head, And your Memt also prays leave to observe that if the said Governor had been of opinion that the said Earl was intituled to have the former line extended, yet his so taking Fees and issuing Grants to the said Murray Crymble, James Huey and their Associates was a fraud or deception of the highest degree. The intrigues which have been constantly carried on between the said Governor and Colonel Moseley since that time have been the first rise and cause of all the disputes which lately subsisted in the said Colony, and the principal motive in passing the law for regulating the Members of Assembly in order thereby to make way for the Currency and Quit rent Laws, which as humbly conceived are really calculated to raise vast sums of money under the plausible pretence of erecting forts, and also calculated to unhinge the property of many thousand people in the northern Counties.

What the said Governor represents as to the Property of the said Grant being wholly in your Memt is without the least foundation, as may appear by his own order to the Attorney General for making out the Grants, from the very Grants themselves and from the Associates who really are Parties in the said Grants, but all that is foreign to the present matter of complaint and calculated merely to avoid or frustrate any

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enquiry into the matters complained of by your Memt however it is humbly hoped that this matter will be attended to & considered hereafter, and that in consequence thereof your Lordships will be pleased to examine carefully into the mixed state of the Grants in the said Colony, and whatever your Lordships pleasure may be on that head your Memorialist will as far as it relates to him most readily acquiesce therein.

The said Governor in a very evasive manner denys the stipulation really agreed on between him and the Surveyor General, saying only that it was not in favour of Mr. Woodward, but the original agreement hath been produced and fully proved by the person who had it in his possession.

What the said Governor is pleased to represent in relation to the Courts of Chancery is also very evasive, as according to the Law by him referred to, but not transmitted to your Lordships the Courts of Chancery ought to be held at the meeting of the said Governour, Council and Assembly, and if the said Govr had really thought himself at liberty to call the Assembly elsewhere, he was also at liberty to hold the Court of Chancery.

What your Memorialist charged in relation to injunctions hath to his knowledge been frequently complained of by all the Lawyers in the said Colony, and if the Governor had been innocent in that respect he could easily have procured one or two of the most eminent of the Lawyers there to certify the falsity of the said Charge, but that would not answer his purpose wherefore he hath injoined silence under the penalty of withdrawing their Licences to plead.

What the said Governor represents in relation to Lithgow is quite contrary to the evidence by him transmitted to your Lordships, for it thereby appears that both the said Governor and the said Attorney General had agreed to sacrifice that poor man to the resentment of Mr. Rice and Mr. Moore so as to forward a reconciliation between the said Governor and them.

The said Governor is pleased to say that four pieces of Cannon are planted on one of the batteries there, but hath not transmitted any proof thereof, however it is evident that the said Governor could not be under the least necessity of giving his assent to the Currency Act without inserting a suspending clause therein, as four pieces of old rusty cannon could not be of any use to four or five different batteries in time of war, so in truth the war was made a pretence for unjustly passing the said Law contrary to His Majty's Instruction, and the said Batteries a pretext for raising six or seven thousand pounds sterling to be applied as the said Governor & Col. Mosely thought proper.

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In the next paragraph the said Governor untruly denies that any of His Majestie's Govrs in America ordered publick rejoicings on occasion of His royal Highnesse's victory over the Rebels at Culloden in Scotland, for Governor Gooch can testify the contrary to be true, and what Governor Johnston says of your Memorialist having represented him as a Jacobite and that he turned the poor palatines out of their lands to make room for Scotch rebells, is a very wrong suggestion for your Mem never did directly or indirectly say anything to that or the like effect.

If the said Governor's difficulties and discouragements (as he represents) had arisen from the unequal representation of the Lower House of Assembly it is humbly conceived that he ought (in discharge of his duty) to have represented the same to his Majesty from whom only he could have expected aid or relief—And not to have applied himself to a Faction in the Assembly who had not any power to take cognizance thereof but the truth was if he had duly followed the regular course of proceeding he would not have found anything worthy of Censure in the northern Members, nor could he or Colonel Moseley have had it in their power to introduce the Currency and Quit rent Laws, from which they have engrossed considerable sums of money to themselves.

The Apology which the said Governor makes in the next paragraph for himself and the late Receiver General, seems at first view a little plausible, but when it is duly considered that he at all times screened the said Receiver from being brought to a regular account, that he issued blank warrants and Grants, that he took exorbitant Fees upon all warrants and Grants of any nature whatsoever, and that he still kept open his claim for arrears of salary against the Crown, there is not any wonder (especially considering the principles of the man) that he chose to act that part.

What the said Governor urges in relation to the repeal of the Quit rent Law in 1739 is of an extraordinary nature, for he under colour of that Law, assumed a power to determine the value of the Currency every year and also to determine the property of the subjects as to Lands in a summary manner, without any Trial by Jury which powers never would be granted or assented to under an English Government, and all which the said Governor further represented in relation to the said Rent roll is without the least foundation in truth for the Deputy Auditor in 1745 transmitted to the Auditor General a rent roll which appears to be considerably more than the salaries payable to the Officers on that Establishment and it may reasonably be presumed that had not the said Governor deviated from his duty in protecting the receiver all the said Officers salaries would have been entirely discharged, and a surplus remaining to the Crown.

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The reason of the said Deputy Auditors not granting Debentures to the said Officers was that the Receiver General had not for seven years before his death produced Vouchers for any money said to be paid by him to the said Governor &c., and consequently the said Deputy Auditor could not make out Debentures, without having the Vouchers delivered to him whereby he might be enabled to judge what arrear was due to each of the said Officers on the said Establishment, and the said Deputy Auditor hath also been laid under many other difficulties in continuing the said Rent Roll, as appears by the evidences transmitted to your Lordships, and that the said Governor hath in most respects acted contrary to His Majestie's Instructions, especially in the manner of his issuing warrants and Grants for Lands.

What the said Governor represents in relation to the Harmony & good understanding he endeavoured to keep up with your Memorialist very ill suits with the whole of his conduct since your Memt went to Carolina, but the said Govr during the time of his acquaintance with your Memt in England did endeavour to keep up such understanding particularly from the year 1726. until 1734 while he was almost wholly supported by the money advanced to him by your Memt who not only paid the Fees of his Commission Freighted a ship at his own expense to carry the said Governor and his retinue to his said Government, bought plate and furniture for his house and (that he might not be immediately in want of money on his arrival there) gave credit to him for two hundred and fifty pounds sterling, so that in the whole your Memorialist was really in advance for him two thousand nine hundred pounds sterling and upwards (as may appear by his Bonds deposited with the said Enoch Hall) All which your Memt did without any real security, but what was the return of all this kindness, On getting His Majesty's Order of Council into his hands ungratefully makes a private agreement with the Surveyor to have half the Fees and Salary of his Office, and then he and the Surveyor and other Officers demanded no less than seven thousand pounds proclamation money for the said Fees, and moreover the said Governor for his own fees not only demanded a full discharge for the whole debt due to him from your Memt but on your Memt's objecting to those unreasonable demands, the said Surveyor entered actions against your Memt and the said Governor in concert with his party did from that moment continually vex and harass your Memt until the time of his leaving the said Province.

And now your Memorialist doth with all possible respect appeal to your Lordships whether it is in the least probable or even credible that under those circumstances your Memt would in any wise apply or attempt

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to make the said Governor's instructions subservient to any schemes in jobbing his Lands, or whether it was even possible as your Memt never had possession of any part of the said lands until the 3d March 174⅚.

What the said Governor further charges against your Memt as having jobbed his lands on all the way to Boston, is a mere contrivance of his own, for in truth your Memt never did attempt anything of that nature, but on missing his passage in Virginia, he and his family proceeded with all possible expedition to Boston in order to sail for England.

The said Governor further represents that your Memt and his open and avowed Agents have done all in their power to excite the people to a rebellion and would certainly have succeeded if things had not been managed by him with great temper and moderation, This indeed is a vile and malicious charge without any proof or colour of truth, but if any such thing had been attempted or that your Memt had in the least deviated from his duty in that particular, the said Governor could upon any information thereof have proved it so that this charge is not only improbable and all of a piece with his other groundless calumnies & false charges, but wholly a base contrivance of his own, for your Memt did not continue in the said Province six months after the said Governor laid the foundation of the dispute with the Northern Counties, nor was your Memt ever in any of the Northern Counties after passing the Law at Wilmington until his departure from the said Colony, except only in his passage through them to Virginia on his way to Boston.

And as your Memorialist hath been sometimes represented to be an Agent for the Northern Counties, so they at other times are represented as his Agents but the real truth of the matter is as follows vizt

Your Memt having discovered that the said Governor and Colonel Moseley had jointly entered into schemes contrary to His Majesty's Instructions, without any regard to the rights and properties of the people, and that your Memts private property was not only invaded but measures taken to prevent him from leaving that Colony, did from all those motives deem himself under an absolute necessity in acting the part he did in engaging to represent the case of the said Northern Counties to the Crown, and humbly hopes that he in so doing hath not in any wise offended or departed from his duty especially for that it would indeed be criminal in any officer to oppose the said Governor in the execution of his Office which your Memt (as he most solemnly affirms & declares) never did, nor ever persuaded or advised any other person to do.

On the other hand your Memorialist humbly conceives that it cannot justly be deemed a crime or offence in any Officer of the Crown humbly to represent the Grievances of the Subjects in the said distant Colonies to

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His Majesty as being their sovereign, best able and most willing to ease and relieve them in all respects especially under the arbitrary & tyrannical administration of a Governor obstinately acting in all matters contrary to the royal Instructions.

As to the particular charge of your Memt being an Agent for the said Northern Counties he denies his being such in any other respect than as above represented. And as in truth he hath not any salary or allowance whatsoever for his trouble about them so he doth not expect ever to be paid for the same.

The said Governor hath in the last Paragraph of his said Answer unjustly charged your Memt with having taken all methods to keep the matters in dispute from coming to a speedy issue, and also charged him with not having sent your Lordship's Order until the middle of November, and although the sickness and death which happened in his family might have given some delay yet your Memt can with great truth averr to your Lordships that he sent the said papers by the very first ship which (as he was informed) sailed to Virginia, and that he never wilfully gave the least delay in those matters, but on the other hand the said Governor who is so forward to accuse without any just cause, never served your Memts Agents with a Copy of his Answer, and thereby prevented them from sending several proofs which would have been necessary in the present case, and altho' the said Answer hath been in England for near twelve months and made use of in different shapes not only at your Lordship's Board but at the Treasury in order to represent your Memt in the most disadvantageous light yet he never heard or knew of the same until very lately nor was he ever served with a Copy thereof until 9th May last. For all the above mentioned reasons your Memorialist doth most humbly hope that on considering all the said several evidences transmitted to your Lordships, that you will be of opinion that all the charges by him laid against the said Governor are fully & clearly proved, and that on the contrary the evidences transmitted by the said Govr do not in the least justify or excuse his conduct, and also that the said Governor hath not been able after all his artful endeavours and utmost efforts to vilify or asperse your Memt to produce one single evidence in support of the many iniquitous charges which he brought against your Memt

The nature and duty of your Memorialist's office is such as must naturally create him many enemies, although he hath constantly acted under His Majesty's Commission and the Instructions thereunto relating with the greatest care and circumspection, but what support he hath met with in the execution of his said Office doth not now become him to mention,

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further than that it would have been better for him to be punished with death than to suffer all the arbitrary and cruel acts of Power to which an Officer in your Memts circumstances may be exposed by being left wholly subject to the violent hatred & resentment of his merciless enemies.

Humanity and Compassion are the most distinguishing Characteristics of the English Nobility and will upon all fit occasions shew itself.

It is therefore most humbly hoped that your Lordships will out of your great goodness and tender regard to the injured, compassionate your Memorialist's miserable and defenceless state, and that you will be pleased to recommend him to his Majesty as an object worthy of his Royal Compassion &c.


Received June 12th 1751.