PRINCE AND BOSWORTH'S PETITION TO THE GOVERN- To the Right Honoured Magiftrates and Deputies of the My General Court of New-Plymouth, now fitting. TH THE wife providence of the great Guider of all men and actions having fo ordered, by his providence, to bring me here in this juncture of time, wherein there hath been brought under confideration that fifhing defign, of late years found out at Cape Cod, for mackarel with nets; which, when we came from home, I may truly fay, I had not the leaft thought to have, in the leaft manner, troubled this honoured affembly with things about; yet being here, and understanding that poffibly there may be brought under confideration, fomething in order to the reftraint of foreigners from fifhing there; and it may feem an expedient, founded on good reafon, that it fhould fo be, I would humbly intreat this honoured Court, that I may, as I defire with humblenefs, fo I may without any offence to this honoured Affembly, prefent you with fome particulars referring to that fmall town of Hull, in which we live. May it therefore please this honoured Court to understand, that my humble requeft is, firft, whether that the honoured Court may not have or fee juft caufe why our little and fmall place of Hull, though out of your jurif diction, may ftill enjoy the privileges we have hitherto had, though others fhould be denied; and the reasons I would humbly fuggeft are thefe; firft, because we were fome of the firft that were the difcoverers and first bringers of it to light, as it now is attended to the profit of the whole colony here, which we could willingly think were fome ground to build our hopes on, for the enjoyment of fuch a privilege. Secondly, because we humbly conceive that thofe of your town, who have been on that employ, will fay, as well as we know that ours coming there have been, a further aim and no hindrance to them. And, thirdly, let me with all humblenefs fay, that, had it not been T been for fome of us, we believe it had not been kept afoot to this time; for our friends in your patent, after the firft or fecond voyage, had given it off again, and had not fome of us kept on, and fo been inftrumental, beating out by evening there, and travelling on the fhore at all times and feasons, and fo difcovered the way to take them in light as well as dark nights, it had not been fo certain a thing as now it is; or had we kept but that one thing private, we know it had, if we may inoffenfively fo fpeak, been a great obftruction to it to this day. But we were open-hearted to yours, and told them what we knew, and we would hope that your Honours, and this honoured Affembly would be fo to us. We humbly befeech your Worthies not to be offended, though we thus fpeak, if it may be faid, that as we were the firft that laboured in it, fo we have had the firft and moft profit by it; may it please you to let us freely fay, without offence, that this laft year, wherein your both perfons and colony had the opportunity to improve it, hath yielded more profit clear than two or three years before, because we were but just now come fully to understand it; but the truth is, by reafon of the dearness of falt, and lownefs of mackarel in the years before, and our gaining was not fo confiderable; efpecially add this to it, that in three, we loft one voyage, for want of understanding what we have made them ac quainted with, as to the light moons. But if you think that the motion, as to the whole town, may be too large, because it may be there may be very many, we humbly leave it to the honoured Court to bound the town to what number you fee good, two or three, or what you fee good; and fo having made bold to prefent and trouble you with lines, I pray account it not a prefumption, but an humble requeft in the behalfs of that little town. of ours, which hath a great part of its livelihood by fifh ing. And fo, in all humblenefs, leaving these things to your confideration, I humbly take leave, and reft your humble petitioners, in the half of ourselves and town, C LETTER FROM WILLIAM BOLLAN, AGENT FOR THE MASSACHUSETTS, AT THE COURT OF GREAT-BRITAIN, TO JOSIAH WILLARD, SECRETARY OF THAT PROVINCE, RESPECTING AN INTENTION OF GOVERNING THE COLONIES LIKE IRELAND. SIR, CAS Henrietta Street, March 5, 1755. T is proper for me to acquaint you with fome intelligence gained while the claufe for extending the mutiny bill to the provincial troops was depending, and which I fhall endeavour to give you exactly as I received it, viz. when I attended at the House of Commons to have my petition against the clause presented, the member, who was to prefent it, happening not to come down fo early as I expected, and it being neceffary the speaker hould fee it before offered, and fearing there would not be time enough left for it, I got a minifterial member of my acquaintance to fhew it to the fpeaker, who, upon returning it to me, told me that if received, it would not be entered at large upon the minutes, for that would be fpeaking out to the people in America. This I believe flipt from him inadvertently; and two other members of good intelligence, firm friends of the colonies, and one of them a perfon of very confiderable note, while this affair was in motion, told me that it was intended, by fome perfons of confequence, that the colonies fhould be governed like Ireland, keeping up a body of standing forces, with a military cheft there; to which one of them, who was bred a lawyer, added, the abridgment of their legiflative powers, fo as to put them on the fame foot that Ireland ftands by Poyning's law. You are fenfible, that fince Poyning's act, in Ireland, the 10th of Henry VII. no act can pafs, in their parliament there, till it be firft affented to by the king and privy council of England. This information was given me with an injunction that it hould not be made public; but with an intent, doubtless, that the proper ufe fhould be made of it; and accordingly I now communicate it to you, adding, that another very intelligent and worthy perfon, a great friend of the S [Vol. vi.] colonies, colonies, has lately, at feveral times, made the like obfer vations to me, with refpect to the keeping up a standing mil itary force in the colonies. I need not obferve to you, Sir, that we live in times which require great caution, circum fpection, and fecrecy, on many occafions. From what has been faid to me, by a great man, I have fome fufpi cion that my intelligence has been difcovered; and I have been at a lofs to know whether my letters to you, in your public capacity, are wholly confined to the members of the General Court, and whether, by the nature of your office, there be any fecurity that the intelligence, which they receive from their agent, is not open to thofe, who ought not to be made acquainted with it. Permit me to obferve, that an improper difcovery, in this cafe, may not only prevent future intelligence, but also be attended with other inconveniences; wherefore I defire, that before mention be made of this matter, to any one, you will be pleafed to confer with Mr. Hutchinfon and Mr. Hubbard concerning the proper ufe to be made of this intelligence which, being given you just as I received it, you will be able to judge what credit and regard is due to it. I am with great efteem, Sir, your moft obedient and moft humble fervant, To the Hon. JOSIAH WILLARD, Efquire: W. BOLLAN MR. BOLLAN'S PETITION TO THE DUKE OF BEDFORD RELATIVE TO FRENCH ENCROACHMENTS, 1748. To his Grace the Duke of Bedford, one of his majefty' principal fecretaries of ftate, &c. The memorial of William Bollan, Efq, Agent for th province of the Maffachusetts-Bay, and fpeciall appointed to attend his majefty's minifters for th prefervation of Nova-Scotia, Humbly fheweth, THA HAT by the treaty of peace, concluded at Utrech 31ft March, 11th April, 1713, between the queen Great-Britain and the moft chriftian king, (article 12), was agreed, that all Nova-Scotia, or Acadia, with its a cien cent boundaries, alfo the city of Port-Royal, then called Annapolis-Royal, and all other things in thofe parts, which depend on the faid lands, fhould thereafter be poffeffed alone by British fubjects; and all right whatfoever, by treaty, or by any other way obtained, which the moft chriftian king, the crown of France, or any the fubjects thereof, had hitherto had to the faid lands and places, was,. by the fame treaty, yielded and made over by his moft christian majefty to the queen of Great-Britain and to her crown for ever. That the ceffion of all Nova-Scotia, or Acadia, with its ancient boundaries, muft, as your memorialist conceives, "neceffarily be understood to comprehend all that country, which was firft granted to Sir William Alexander by king James the firft, who, by the fame grant, gave it the name of Nova-Scotia, and by which it is exprefsly bounded by the river Canada, now called St. Lawrence. That the country lying between Nova-Scotia and the ancient province of Main, which was granted by king Charles the fecond to the duke of York, is, by the original grant thereof, bounded by the river Canada. And by the charter granted to the inhabitants of the Maffachufetts-Bay, by king William and queen Mary, that river is plainly fuppofed to be one of the chief boundaries of the lands thereby granted to them; it being therein exprefsly provided, "That no grant of any lands lying or extending from the river of Sagadahock to the gulf of St. "Lawrence and Canada rivers, and to the main fea north"ward and eastward, to be made by the governor and "general affembly of the faid province, be of any force, "without the approbation of their majefties, their heirs, "and fucceffors.' So that the river Canada, being the Inatural and great boundary between the British and French colonies lying to the eastward, has, as your memorialist apprehends, been, and ought to be, at all times, held and infifted upon as fuch, by the English. That by the treaty aforefaid, (article 15), the Five Nations or Cantons of Indians were declared fubject to the dominion of Great-Britain. That these nations being declared fubject to the domin ion of Great-Britain, by both crowns, the dominion in |