My Lords, [of the Board of Trade]
Having summoned the Assembly upon the shortest notice to meet me here the 8th inst. in order to raise Men for his Majesty's Service pursuant to his Orders, they met here and are now prorogued without passing an Aid Bill, unless the Governor and Council should give up his Majesty's Prerogative and the Rights of the Upper House to a Junto of the Assembly the Speaker, his two nephews and Republican Treasurer Starkey his creature, as you will find by the Copy of the Bill laid aside in Council which I send you, they having altered the Bill by striking out the Foreign Clauses tacked to it. They have only passed two small Bills, one for a Lottery for finishing the Churches of Wilmington and Brunswick, which I consented to as the like Bills are always passed in the Northern Provinces, and we
can't get Vestries here that will lay on any Taxes to build Churches, the other a County Bill, both which I send your Lordsps. If you approve of what I have done for preserving His Majesty's Prerogative, and the Rights of the Council you will find it absolutely necessary that I should dissolve the Assembly, since the Speaker is irritated at his not being appointed Chief Justice, and therefore wants to make a breach in the Province betwixt the Council and lower House, but am assured he will never again be chosen Speaker Your Lordships will also see the necessity of repealing the Bill which has established the Public Treasurers, and to give me an Instruction to make none but during pleasure, or for a short time nor agree to any Bill that Members of the Assembly should be Treasurers, they now deny they are His Majesty's Treasurers, but say they are Public Treasurers of the Assembly, which they call the Province, and only accountable to them, you will also wonder how far it may be for His Majesty's service to have them appointed by the Assembly, or whether his Majesty or Governor and Council here should appoint one or two Treasurers who should account with the Government here and with the Treasury in England. I hope by the blessing of God we shall soon after this campaign have a glorious peace, and then His Majesty will have no great Demands upon this Province, which will prevent the Encroachments of the Assembly upon the Prerogative, and then they will have time to cool and act for the General good of the Colony. Had the Aid Bill passed in the form they insisted on it would have been of no service to his Majesty, they had lowered the Bounty money granted last year of £10 procl. to £5. and with that Bounty last year we could not raise above 200 men, when the number should have been 300, and these if enlisted could not be ready before the end of July, so that the Campaign would have been over before they could join the Army, and were to return to be disbanded by the 10th of Decer and for this imaginery Aid which they expected, Britain was to pay, His Majesty was to give up His Prerogative and the Rights of the Council, by allowing of Clauses for private jobs to be tacked to the money Bill, and thus give up all power to the Lower House.I have now wrote to Brigr Stannix, that I have power to send the two Companies of 50 each if required, and can be of service by the last Act, but then we shall have none left to defend our Forts, and
he must advance the pay while abroad, as we have no Credit out of the Province.New Bern 18th of May 1759.
Additional Notes for Electronic Version: This letter enclosed a number of other documents - See Related Documents.