Report on the former Law, tho' it had the like suspending Clause, that a Matter of that kind, "ought “not to have been the Object of a Law in this Colony "without His Majesty's permission first obtained." As I have before, in a Letter to Lord Hillsborough, No. 39, made some Observations on this head, it is needless to trouble Your Lordship with a Repetition of them here.' 34 "An Act to enable certain persons to erect and draw a Lottery for raising the Sum of One Thousand & fifty pounds, to be applied for the purposes therein mentioned." The principal purpose of this Lottery is to defray the Expences of making a Road that will be highly beneficial to the Inhabitants settled in the North Eastern parts of this province, and to the City of New York, which must otherwise fall upon a public spirited Gentleman who has already expended considerable Sums on that account. This Law being of immediate Necessity, it would be extremely agreeable to the Inhabitants of that part of the Colony to have His Majesty's Confirmation of it as soon as possible, and I cannot but earnestly recommend it to Your Lordship for that purpose. The other Laws sent herewith have, I believe, nothing in them extraordinary, and therefore need not to be particularly mentioned. I am &c The act was confirmed by the King in Council Sept. 1, 1773.-N. J. Analytical Index, 433. 2 The road had been constructed some years before by Col. John Schuyler, at his own expense, for three miles through the cedars and the meadows, from his copper mine at Second River to the main road leading from Newark to New York. The law did not receive the royal assent until April 13, 1774.—Allison's Laws, 355; Josiah Hornblower, etc., 29-30, note.-[W. N.] Letter from the Earl of Dartmouth to Gov. Franklin, expressing his satisfaction with the conduct of the Assembly. [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 194, No. 68.] WHITEHALL 9th Dec 1772. Sir, Governor Franklin. I have received and laid before the King your letter to Lord Hillsborough of the 5th October N° 42. and also one addressed to me of the 19th of the same Month. As I have no Commands from His Majesty to signify to you upon either of these letters, I have only to add that it is a great Satisfaction to me to find that the Resolutions of the late Assembly had no Influence upon the Conduct of the present, & that they have given so proper a testimony of their Zeal for the King's Service, & respect for the supreme Authority of Parliament, in making the requisite Provision for the Support of the King's Troops. I am &ca DARTMOUTH. Letter from Gov. Franklin to the Earl of Dartmouth relative to papers transmitted to Chief-Justice Smyth. [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 177 (195).] BURLINGTON Jan 4th 1773. Right Honble the Earl of Dartmouth &c. &c. &c. My Lord, Immediately on the Receipt of your Lordship's Dis patch of the 4th of September (which did not come to hand till the 22 of last Month) I transmitted the enclosed Letter and Papers to M Chief Justice Smyth at Amboy, who in a few Days after set out for Rhode Island, in order to assist in carrying into Execution the Commission issued by His Majesty for enquiring into the Circumstances relative to the Destroying of the Gaspee Schooner. I have the Honour to be, with the greatest Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient and most humble Servant W FRANKLIN Letter from Gov. Franklin to the Earl of Dartmouth, transmitting a memorial from Attorney-General Skinner, with observations on the fees of the Governor and other officers. My Lord, [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 177 (195).] BURLINGTON Jan 5th 1773. I have the Honour to transmit to your Lordship a Memorial from M: Skinner,' His Majesty's Attorney General for this Province, representing the Insufficiency of his Salary, and requesting the Favour of your Lordship to lay his Case before His Majesty, in such manner that he may obtain a more adequate Compensation for his Services. The Facts are, to my Knowledge, truely Set forth in his Memorial; and as M: Skinner has besides, as Speaker of the Assembly, frequently exerted himself in promoting His Majesty's Interest in the House, I cannot but think that a Compliance with his Request will be consistent with good Policy, as well as Strict Justice. 1 See page 383. 66 66 At the last Session I endeavoured (as your Lordship will see by my Speech) to prevail on the Assembly to grant an additional Allowance to the Officers of Government; whose Salaries were too low even at the Time when they were first established, but are now greatly disproportionate to the encreased Expences of Living, and also to the encreased Abilities of the Province. In their Answer to my Application they Say, "When we consider that almost every Officer here is dependant on the Will and Pleasure of the Crown, we cannot agree that the Salaries of the Officers of "this Government are greatly inadequate to the Purposes for which they were given. Some we imag"ine equal to the Dignity of the Station, and others "proportionate to the Interest we have in them." I told them in my Reply, that "this Colony is by no "means so much inferior to the adjacent Provinces, "either in Extent or Opulence, as is the Support al"lowed to the publick Officers of Government, and "they hold their Commissions by the same or the like "Tenor in this Province as they do in the others.' And, I added, "it is a notorious Fact that none of the "Salaries are proportioned to the Ability of the Pro"vince, and that most of them are so extremely low, "that they would be thought a Disgrace to any other "Colony on the Continent." I likewise had it intimated to them, that unless they made a more adequate Provision for this Purpose, His Majesty would probably be induced to take the Payment of his principal Officers here into his own Hands, and cause them to be paid out of his Revenue, as had been done for some Time past in most of the King's other Colonies, and lately in the Case of the Chief Justice of this Province. On which I was given to understand, that whether the Crown paid the Officers or not was a Point they were very indifferent about; that tho' Some People in the Massachusetts Bay, in order to keep their Party alive and to give themselves Consequence, had made a great Clamour against the Payment of Salaries by the Crown to the Officers of Government in America,' yet the Assembly of New York had made no Opposition to it, nor had that Colony experienced any of the pretended Inconveniences from such Regulation; that it was Time enough to complain when any Injury was Sustained; that, besides, they could not see with what Propriety any Governor, or Officer of Justice, in America, can call upon an Assembly to encrease his Salary, when the People of the Colonies are obliged by Acts of Parliament to pay Duties expressly appropriated for “making a more certain and adequate Provision for "the Charge of Administration of Justice, and the Support of the Civil Government in Such of the Col"onies and Plantations where it shall be found necessary." 66 66 What may, perhaps, have contributed to make the Assemblies and People of New Jersey and New York the more easy about the Payment of the Officers of the Colony by the Crown, is that in Queen Anne's Reign, the Governor of both Colonies was paid in that Manner, which continued for many Years, and the Assemblies of that Time were so far from objecting to the Measure, when the Governor informed them of her Majesty's Orders in that respect, that the Assembly of New York (to use their own Words) “with "Hearts full of Gratitude acknowledge Her Majesty's "great Bounty and Justice," and the Assembly of New-Jersey expressed an equal satisfaction and Acquiescence with Her Majesty's Pleasure on the Occasion. Enclosed is a Copy of the Queen's Instruction, and an Extract from the Governor's Speech & the Assembly of New York's Address upon this Subject When the mode of paying the Governor of the two Colonies by 1 See works of John Adams, II., 299, 316, 328. |