Halifax 5th January 1776.
My Lord
I did myself the Honor by My dispatch dated, as well as I can recollect, the 3d of August last, to inform Your Lordship of Governor Paterson's having sailed, the day before, from the Island of St John for England, & that I had, as the eldest Councellor, in his absence, taken upon me the Command of the Island. ー Shortly after, General Gage sent a recruiting Party to the Island, & I thought, my Zeal Could not be more usefully Exerted, than by Promoting His Majesty's Service at a time, when Rebellion was taking such hasty Strides.
For this purpose, I publickly forwarded, & assisted the Recruiting Service, and even in our little Island had the Pleasure of Meeting with Success. ー In consequence of an Express, I received from Lieutenant Governor [Hector T.] Cramahe, the People that had been collected, were sent up to the assistance of Quebec, & in order to be of as much use as I possibly Could, I forwarded Copy's of Mr. Cramahe's Letter, to General Howe and Governor Legge, also kept a Corporal to carry on the Recruiting Service, with an Intention of sending up to Quebec, whatever Force I raised.
By this I would not be misunderstood to claim any merit, as the Part I acted was no more than the Duty I owe my Sovereign, & what My Inclination strongly prompted me to; however, I had the Misfortune to feel the effects of the Rebels disapprobation of My Conduct.
On the Seventeenth November last, two Privateer Schooners belonging to Beverly in New England, one of them Armed with Six Six Pounders, the other four Six Pounders; & each of them with a number of Swivels, & Seventy-five Men, Arrived at Charlotte Town, the Capital of His Majesty's Island of St John, where I resided. They immediately made Preparations to fire on the Town, at the same time their Commanders, with Armed Party's landed. Not having heard that the Rebellious Colony's had fitted out Privateers, I Judged them to be Pirates, by their Conduct they were actually such.
In order to preserve the Town from being burn'd, I determin'd (not having force of any Kind to make Resistance:) to face them singly. ー Upon their landing, they made me Prisoner, & instantly Convey'd me on board one of the Privateers, after which they proceeded to Commit the most Wanton & flagrant outrages on Governor Paterson's & My House ー I may say they possess'd themselves of whole of my Property, to the amount of upwards of Two Thousand Pounds Sterling, & then sail'd with me and a Mr [Thomas] Wright, one of the Council & Surveyor General whom they also made Prisoner. ー Prior to their attacking the Island, they had remained in the Gut of Canso upwards of three Weeks, for the purpose of intercepting Vessells coming from, or going to Quebec, during which time they took five Vessels, loaded with Fish, & on their Return, they took three more, without meeting with the least opposition.
Armed with that boldness, My Lord, which your well known humanity inspires, aided by an approving Heart, and persecuted allmost to ruin in the Service of my Sovereign, I shall take the liberty to trouble Your Lordship with a tale of woe, which can best be felt by a Heart like Yours. ー
These unfeeling Monsters, not satiated with their flagitious Depredations on the whole of my Property, & the common Rights of Mankind, blood-thirstily sought Mrs Callbeck for the purpose (to use their own Words:) of cuting her throat, because she is the Daughter of a Mr Coffin at Boston, who is remarkable for his attatchment to Government. ー Fortunately she was at my farm, four miles distant, Else it is likely her treatment wou'd have been equal to their savage Declarations ー It is true she Escaped their diabolical machinations, yet she is left in so wretched a situation, that I am to suppose she is barely breathing the breath of life, without a neighbour, or person, capable of soothing the Affliction Natural to a young Wife in the absence of her Husband, Father & Friend, who has been torn from her; & to add to all, in a situation, that demanded every attention, she being with Child. These brutal Violators of domestic felicity, have left her, without a single glass of Wine, without a Candle to burn, or a sufficiency of Provisions of the bread-Kind; most of the furniture of her house taken away, & for what I know all her Cloaths. They certainly have taken away her best things, together with her Rings, Bracelets &c, none of which have been restored, altho' some of them have been seen wearing by the Connections of these Villains. ー Mr Wright has thought proper to goe to Britain, to make a personal application for redress ー I declin'd such a step, & intend as soon as possible, tho' at the risk of my life, to attempt geting to the Island, to attend my Duty; also to relieve a most distressed Woman, whose anxiety must be great, by her not having heard, what is to become of me. ー If I am fortunate enough to get to her, I present myself beggar'd & undone, & have only the consolation to reflect, that I have lost my all in the Service of my King & Country. ー Even in this favorable View my situation is peculiarly distressing.
I have had the Honor, My Lord, of His Majesty's Warrant Appointing me His Attorney General for said Island, upwards of Six years. Immediately after obtaining it, I repaired to the discharge of my Duty and in that Office, as well as others, also in my last, that of Commander in Chief, I flatter myself I have met with approbation. Yet tho' so long in His Majesty's service, I have received but a single year's Sallary. This has arisen from the failure of the Fund, His Majesty was graciously pleased to appropriate for the Payment of His Servants Sallarys in that Government. On my arrival, I was obliged at a Considerable Expence to build an Habitation, to shelter myself from the Inclemency of the Weather. Every year since, I have been in Expectation, under the auspices of Your Lordship that there wou'd be a change, so as to bring the Sallarys to a certain Payment; In the mean time to support myself, and the Service, I have been Employ'd in, I have exhausted the whole of my private fortune, as well as every aid I cou'd get from my Connections or friends, so that what I have lost of my Property has been acquired without the aid of the Payment of My Sallary. ー
Pardon me, My Lord, for this long digression; to apologize wou'd occasion me to be more troublesome ー All I shall offer in my Vindication is, that I was desirous to make you in part Acquainted with the distress of a man, whose hopes of Independence were crushed just as they began to dawn. These Sufferings, My Lord, related without Exaggeration, will, I flatter myself, interest Your Sympathy on my behalf, so as that you will be pleased to lay me, and my distress, with all Humility, before My Royall Master.
After a Passage of fourteen days, I arrived at Winter-Harbour East of Cambridge One hundred & ten Miles. ー On my Arrival I was received by Mr Washington very politely. The Relation of the many Acts of Cruelty that accompanied the seizing of my Person, affected those in Power so much, as shortly after to liberate me. Had I been taken without so much accumulated Barbarity, I suppose I should have been detained, until their ungrateful Chimeras were at an end. Fearing a change in their favourable Resolutions, which I had a right to expect, the Corporal I before mentioned being a Prisoner with me, and having Accounts in his Pocket of Money I advanced to carry on the Service, I hastened away after three days stay, & at a considerable Expence have fortunately got thus far, having been brought in a state of Captivity Six hundred Miles by sea, & travelled one hundred & twenty miles by land all which I have repeated on my return.
The Accounts of the Enemy that I can give Your Lordship are but very imperfect, My Situation, & time being so short, I had an opportunity of gaining but very little Knowledge Either from View or hearsay. The Strength & Extent of their Works Surprised me. The Hill named Prospect Hill is by far the best fortifyed, so much that it appears to me as if intended for the dernier resource. There lie behind the Lines, considerable Quantity of Spears, which they call Harpoons, but they are exactly resemblant to what We read of the Romans using in battle. These they have prepared under the direction of Mr [Charles] Lee, who at that time (: because there was a Scarcity of Gun Powder:) declared Powder was totally useless; that it was not what they ought to depend on. Now that they have got a little more, I believe he changes his note; however the Javelins remain, as I was told, to defend the Lines in case of any attempt to force them. They said they had in Camp twenty-two thousand men, I suppose they had sixteen thousand. Their Pay is forty Shillings lawfull money p month ー Provisions Excellent. At the time I was there, they were recruiting, but went on with little success. The Connecticut People had all most to a man declin'd staying. The Hampshire People appear'd the most forward; A Mr [John] Sullivan, who Acts as a General, held forth a Declamation for an hour to them, afterwards near two thirds of the Forces of that Province inlisted. ー I was detained at Salem seven days: the People Employed in recruiting were there four days before; during this whole time they got but three men. It appears to me, as if M.r Washington and their other Generals, suspected a failure in their recruiting for they shortly before the time Elapsed, that the Soldiers had been inlisted for, addressed them, representing how much they were indebted to the Southern Colonys for their liberal Supplys, for their rejecting what they called Lord North's proposals, & the Unreasonableness, on account of their distance of Expecting any of their People to assist in the field. ー After using every Argument to stimulate the People in Camp to inlist, they reduced their Army from thirty-Six thousand to Twenty-Six thousand. ー As far, as I could collect from the Southern People's Conversation, they Zealously wished for an Accomodation & by no means an Independency. The Northern Sentiments were in general otherwise; I heard they intended to push for opening a free Trade to their Ports in the Spring. If they do, I shou'd imagine that it will be the quickest means of a disunion, the Southerns being averse to any measure that bears the least resemblance to an Independency; They seem aware of the Consequence, that would Ensue, that of a Civil War among themselves, They talk with great freedom against the Northern Colony & take every opportunity of ridiculing them; Some say they are made tools of, that the Massachusetts Quota of the Supplys Amount to but fifteen p Cent, that by the Seat of War being with them, there is above forty p Cent Spent with them. In this manner they goe on in measuring many other Jealousies, & Grievances. In short they have Every Suspicion of the deceit & baseness of the New England Provinces. I believe they are sorry they even connected themselves with them, & continue only to Act upon the Apprehension, that, what they deem'd, their honor wou'd be called in Question, were they now to withdraw. Cou'd I venture to give my Opinion, it wou'd be, that if We keep possession of Boston, before next Campaign wou'd be over, there wou'd be a disunion among them; If that shou'd fortunately happen, the New England Provinces, notwithstanding their Numbers cou'd not hold it out. ー In my Circuit I observed a Shyness in taking Paper Money, tho' they have Nominated it Cash; what we call so, goes under the Denomination of hard Money, which the People give the preference to & are greedy after. ー They talked as if determined to burn Boston and that they only waited for the severe Weather to Sett in, to Answer two purposes, first that the fire Engines wou'd be impeded in their playing, & that at the same time they wou'd be accomodated with a bridge of Ice to attack the Town. I am inclined to think they are serious, at least in burning the Town; I form my opinion on the Conversation of the People at the Camp, from the Inquirys and Declarations of some of the better sort of People. As I travelled the road Eastward on my return, they seem'd desirous for the Accomplishment of it, as they formed to themselves the hope that His Majesty's Forces wou'd be obliged to abandon the Town ー There was another reason struck me, that at the time I came away, agreeable to an order, the Militia were coming in very fast which I conjectured to be for the Purpose of maning the Lines &c. However it might be on a Surmise that recruiting wou'd goe on but slow, & that they had provided the Militia to supply the Defect. They also talk'd that on their geting Quebec, they wou'd attack this Province: I suppose they will & if not sooner, very early in the Spring. ー All that I cou'd collect came from themselves; It wou'd have beep imprudent to me to have appear'd inquisitive. I did not hear a conjecture that His Majesty's Forces were to be any way distributed, nor the Scene of war to be changed to any other part of the Continent. They mentioned they had heard it was intended to take Long Island, & that some of the King's Forces were to Encamp there, for the purpose of getting fodder &c. But in their own mind, they make no scruple of defeating us. They were so self sufficient, that I had no way of bringing them down, but dinging in their Ears that Twenty thousand Russians wou'd be landed amongst them next Spring. The name of Russians seem'd to scare them much. What surpris'd me exceedingly, was the trade they carried on at most of the Ports East of Boston, while I passed and repassed, there were daily arrivals from the West Indies, but most from St. Eustatia, every one of which brings more or less of Gun Powder ー Some Vessells had sailed, numbers were fitting out, loaded with Fish & Lumber, & some with Specie, all I believe bound for the West Indies. At Portsmouth, Province of New Hampshire, there were four ready to sail. ー At Sacho, Province of Massachusets, two Brigs. I suppose they will be on their Return in March, & most of them will bring Gun-Powder. ー At Cape Anne, Marblehead & Berverly, they have Forts, & now some Powder: the Second is a strong one. ー Salem. & Newberry have Vessells sunk, so as to Confine the Channel to a narrow Pass. ー Portsmouth has same; besides a Boom & three strong Forts. From Portsmouth to Casco, every harbour & Creek has some insignificant Redoubt, Logg Wall or other Defence, & upon the least Alarm, the Country People come in. But from their Appearance & Preparation, I shou'd imagine they wou'd be but of a short duration. Shou'd it [be] judg'd proper to attack the Enemy, I am confident Lyne, which lies between Salem and Cambridge, wou'd be the best place to make a Landing. That part of the Coast is naked of Defence, the Country is clear & has every convenience for forming &c of these particulars I thought it my duty to inform General Howe, by Letter. If any Account or Hint, that I have given shou'd be of the least Service, I shall look on my distresses to be much Alleviated, & the Event in some measure fortunate. ー I neglect now, My Lord, to apologize for this Intrusion on your time, which at this distressfull period, must be precicius to my Sovereign & to the British Nation. But from my unparalell'd Suffering and Your Lordship's Magnanimity I draw my Security from censure. I have the Honor to be [&c.]