My Lords,
I received your Lordships letter of the first of June about a fortnight ago, along with a letter of Mr. Pownals of the 30th of May including your report to His Majesty in Council and his Majesty's Repeal of the 7 Acts therein mentioned. Upon receipt of which I summoned the Council whether I should immediately promulge the Repeal of these Acts or wait the arrival of the Chief Justice or Attorney Gener1 till I could consult them upon so critical an Affair or if they should not arrive soon whether I could justify the delay of promulging the Repeal until the Assembly should meet in order to have a proper Bill or Bills past and allow the Courts of Justice to proceed and finish the Causes that are before them until the meeting of the Assembly, & they were unanimously of opinion that I should delay the publishing the Repeal either until the arrival of the Chief Justice and Attorney General or until the meeting of the Assembly in Novr next, because in the interim there would be a total stagnation of Justice, For the former Bills about the General Court and Courts of Oyer and Terminer having been repealed, we have no Laws subsisting about them from the year 1715, nor no place appointed to hold them in but at Edenton, the only place then in the Province in the extreme part of the Province; I believe the hasty repeal of these Laws, which certainly wanted to be amended or repealed was inadvertently advised by the Attorney General and Chief Justice, who did not consider that there would be a stagnation of Justice, for I am convinced they would not have done it solely with a view of their own conveniency to have all the Courts held at
Edenton, where they choose to reside, to be so inconvenient to the rest of the Province, and there was such a confusion in the Laws before and since 1715, until the former supreme and County Court Laws were made, that neither Judge nor Lawyers can know how to Act, until these Laws are again amended and enacted, so that I hope your Lordships won't blame me for delaying the publishing the Repeal for two months until new Laws be passed, and then the Repeal hanging over them proper Laws must be passed by the Assembly, the Vestry Law in like manner must be properly amended, for though last winter a Law was passed to allow a better stipend to the Clergy, yet as the Vestry Bill is repealed, there are now no Vestries to levy the Tax for the Clergy until a new Bill be passed.I find by your Lordships letter that you had only received my letters of Deceer 25th 1757, and of the 20th of December 1758, and that my dispatches of last February were not come to hand, I have heard since that the Vessel which carried them was lost in the Channel but hope ere this the Duplicates I sent by my Son who went in the Packet from New York are safely arrived, with another packet of May last, which I also sent by the Packett. I am extremely sensible of your Lordships goodness to me in your Report to His Majesty upon the suspension of Mr. Rutherford and Murray from the Council and in your Answer to the Lords of the Committee of Council upon Mr. Rutherford's Letter to the Lord President upon it but find the Council have not yet laid your Report before His Majesty.
As I don't find the Lords of the Treasury have yet done anything as to Mr. Rutherford's suspension from being receiver General nor in any relation to the provincial Treasurers I hope the Copy of the Act which you will receive by my son along with my other Letters will come time enough to be laid before them, and will appologize for my passing the Law for fixing the Seat of Government without a suspending Clause as it is sufficiently suspended by the other Bills being thrown out, without which it can't be executed without his Majesty's appropriating part of our proportion of the £50,000 when paid to that purpose, as no Tax is laid to finish the Buildings appointed by the Act. By these Letters you will also see the difficulties I lye under in making out Charters and issuing Writs before I can dissolve this Assembly.
The fixing the Boundary Line being so necessary for the Welfare of both the Northern & Southern Provinces of Carolina, I hope your Lordships will have it decided as soon as you can prudently apply
for it; as it is entirely in his Majesty's pleasure in what manner to fix it, neither Province having any legal Claim to any part of it but from His Majesty's pleasure, nor can the Council have any Difficulty in recommending a proper Line to his Majesty, as they have in proprietary Governments granted by Charter.Colonel Innes one of His Majesty's Council died at Wilmington the 5th instant by which there are at present 3 vacancies in case His Majesty confirms the suspension of Murray & Rutherford As I have already recommended 3 in their room, Justice Henley who was the 4th being dead, I beg leave to recommend the new Chief Justice whose name I hear is Barry, & John Sampson Esqre of Dupplin County to succeed in place of Col. Innes.
I have had Complaints sent to me that Haglar King of the Catawbas has threatened and dispossessed several of the Planters who had got out Patents within 30 miles of the Catawba's Town, under pretence that Governr Glenn had assured them that His Majesty had given them a scope of 30 miles round their Towns, about 18,000,000 of acres for 250 Men capable of bearing Arms. I hope when the French are drove out of America, their Boundary will be also fixed upon a more just footing 300 Tuskeroras were contented with 12000 Acres.
Brunswick
11th Septr 1759.
Additional Notes for Electronic Version: This letter enclosed General Assembly minutes - See Related Documents.