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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Letter from the South Carolina Commons House of Assembly to their agents in Great Britain
South Carolina. General Assembly
March 15, 1716
Volume 02, Pages 224-226

[B. P. R. O. B. T. Proprieties. Vol. 10. Q. 72.]
LETTER FROM THE ASSEMBLY OF SOUTH CAROLINA TO THEIR AGENTS IN GREAT BRITAIN, DATED THE 15th MARCH 1715/16 GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ILL STATE OF THAT PROVINCE.


Charles Town. March ye 15th 1715/16.

Gentlemen,

Wee have lately seen a letter from Mr Beresford dated December ye 27th 1715 directed to the Commissionrs appointed by ye late Assembly to correspond with you wherrin he mentions ye receipt of one from the said Commissionrs dated August the 25th 1715 with the address of our late house of Commons to his Majesty, to take the immediate Government of this Province into his own hands. We are glad to hear that you have delivered the same & rejoyce at the hopes you give us that something will be done at Court in our favour, at the same time we wonder that his letter should come onely from Mr Beresford, expecting that you both should act joyntly in all things which concern the good of this Province.

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Wee the Members of Assembly now sitting have thought fit by this oppertunity to send another address to his Majesty on the same head & desire that you will deliver ye same and that you will with your utmost application endeavour to get our request fullfilled for according to all human probability unless his Majestie doth take this Province under his immediate protection and sends us men to defend us and money to defray our Charges this once flourishing Collony will be reduced to nothing and become a pray to our Barbarous Enemies.

According to a moderate computation of ye Charges that this Government has been at for the Support of the Warr it amounts to near one hundred and forty thousand pounds what farther Charges we shall be at God alone knows, we need not use any arguments to make you sensible that this will be a greater burden than this poor Province can possibly bear.

We are now to inform you that the Forces wee had from Virginia and North Carolina are upon their departure home, being unwilling to stay any longer and our Government is ye more willing to gratifie them in that particular by reason the charge we are at in maintaining them is greater than we can bear.

We hope Gentl when you have duely weighed all these particulars that you will be fully convinced that our affairs do still look with a very dismall aspect and that no endeavours in you will be wanting to get as immediate assistance which onely under God can save this Province from utter ruin.

The vessel by whom you will receive the address to his Majestie & this letter is just now going over the Barr which obligeth us to come to a conclusion and to be very short in the relation of the affairs of this Province with the Government of Virginia. Wee shall onely mention that we are now finding out some means to give that Governmt all the satisfaction they can in reason desire the particulars of which you shall have by our next. Wee should not have mentioned anything on this head at this time had not the Governr of Virginia sent us word that he would endeavour to make us look as odious as he could both at home in England and in all the Kings Govmts in America upon the account of our non performance of every particular branch of the Treaty of assistance agreed upon between that Govermt and our agent sent thither for that purpose. At the same time we must confess that if our late Assembly had fully complyed with that agreement it would not have cost this

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Province near so much money as the measures we shall now be obliged to take

signed by order of ye house
THO: BROUGHTON. Speaker.

We order you to lay the State of this Province as you now receive it from us, before his Majesty as we have promist in our address you should.