[Extract]

I earnestly request you to send one of your frigates, or two or three of your ablest privateers to take the ship that infests our coasts, & clear the way for fishermen & coasters; & then perhaps some generous persons may be disposed to send us bread & take some of our lumber. I ask for a small army to subdue Nova Scotia, or at least that some person or persons, may have leave to raise men, & go against that Province, at their own risque. I believe men enough might be found in this county, who would chearfully undertake it, without any assistance from Government. The people this way are so very anxious about this matter, that they would go in whale boats rather than not go. Provided they might call what they took their own in common with the good people of that Province. I confess, I am so avaricious, that I would go with the utmost chearfulness. I hope, however, I should have some nobler view, for I think it our duty to relieve our distressed brethren, & bestow upon them the same glorious priviledges, which we enjoy, if possible, & to deprive our enemies, especially those on this Continent, of their power to hurt us; With these views the Committee of this place were petitioned for leave to go against that Province. And had our request been granted, in all probability, that Country had now been intirely ours, & vast quantities of provision would have been cut off from our enemies....