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wish well to the peace and prosperity of the British Dominions, will give full credit to Parliament for that true affection towards the Colonies, which appears in the declaration that they will redress every real grievance of His Majesty's American Subjects, and give due Attention to every Complaint they shall make in a regular manner, and founded upon principles not inconsistent with the Constitution.

I have the pleasure to acquaint you that the Queen was happily brought to bed of a Princess on Tuesday last, & that both Her Majesty and the young Princess are as well as can be desired. I most heartily congratulate you upon this increase of the royal Family, an Event that affords the greatest satisfaction to all His Majesty's Subjects. I am &ca

HILLSBOROUGH

Letter from Chief-Justice Smyth to the Earl of Hillsborough, relative to the insufficiency of his Salary.

My Lord,

[From P. R, O. and West Indies, Vol. 174 (192).]

NEW JERSEY Nov! 20th 1768

On the recommendation of Lord North, M' Charles Townshend, Mr Attorney General, D Hay, and M Bacon, of Norfolk, about four years ago I was appointed Chief-Justice of New-Jersey.

If the Letters which I had the happiness to obtain from your Lordship, and others of His Majestys Ministers, at the time I left England, to the Governor of this province, had produced that effect in the Assembly of New-Jersey in my behalf which might reasonably have been expected, I should have now no occasion to trouble your Lordship with this application; but after having resided in this province so many years, con

stantly engaged in the duty of my station, with a conduct irreproachable even in times of the utmost danger, and difficulty, so far from any support or allowance from this Country adequate to my station or services, my applications to the Assembly for that purpose, repeated at every Session, have been hitherto utterly disregarded.

My circumstances are such that I should not have allowed my self to continue in an office of the Crown which I am obliged to fill almost at my own private expence, if I had not been assured before I left England that the Judges in the Colonies might expect to receive their Salaries from the Crown, and be made independent of the people.

The language of a late Act of Parliament gave me farther hopes that this measure would be accomplished.

I have also had in view the instance of the late ChiefJustice of New-York, who to compensate the neglect of the Assembly obtained a Mandamus for the payment of £500 Sterling pr. ann out of the Quit rents due to the Crown in that Province.

But by some information I have lately received from the Agent of this Colony, it seems now to be doubtfull if any alteration will take place with respect to the payment of the Judges in general in the Colonies.

The Governor of this Province assures me that he has so often applied to your Lordship and the Ministry from time to time in my behalf, that I am unwilling to trouble him farther; tho' I know my application to your Lordship would be more regular through him. But permit me my Lord once more to beg the honour of your patronage and assistance, that the bounty of the Crown may be extended to me as some reward for past services, and as an encouragement to continue the same resolution and address in the discharge of the duty of my station, which I will be bold to say has

hitherto contributed very greatly to the preservation of that order, and regularity, for which this province has been particularly distinguished.

I am my Lord with the utmost respect

Your Lordships most oblig obed! Hum Serv

FREDERIC SMYTH.

Aug.16.

Letter from Gov. Franklin to the Earl of Hillsborough, defending his Conduct during the last Session of the Assembly of New Jersey against the Censures of his Lordship.

[From P. P. R. O., America and West Indies, Vol. 172 (162).]

BURLINGTON New Jersey Nov! 234 1768 To the Rt Honble the Earl of Hillsborough My Lord,

The Animadversions and Censures which your Lordship, in your Letter No. 18. has thought proper to make upon my Conduct during the last Session of the Assembly of this Colony, give me much Concern; but my Uneasiness would be far greater were I not conscious that they are unmerited, and that it is in my Power to prove them so to every impartial Person. As such, I flatter myself I may address your Lordship, as you have, with the greatest Appearance of Candor and Impartiality, been kindly pleas'd to say, "that "you should be happy, by my Explanation of the Mo"tives of my Conduct, to find that there has not been "so just Grounds for those Animadversions as you "have too much Foundation to apprehend." This Explanation, my Lord, I shall therefore give you fully and freely, as it is a Duty I owe to your Lordship's Station, and to my own Character.

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The first Matter mentioned by your Lordship is, That His Majesty is concerned to find by the "printed Votes of the House of Representatives, "(transmitted by me) that they have thought fit, by "their Resolutions and Proceedings, if not openly to "deny at least to draw into Question the Power and "Authority of Parliament to enact Laws binding upon "the Colonies in all Cases whatever." As this relates to the Assembly only, whose Sentiments or Conduct I am no ways concerned to vindicate, and as I have myself neither openly nor privately deny'd or call'd in question the Power of Parliament, it is not necessary for me to urge any thing in my own Behalf on this Head. I shall therefore only observe to your Lordship, that the Right of Parliament to lay Taxes on the Colonies is not questioned by the Assembly of New-Jersey alone, but also by every other House of Representatives on the Continent. Your Lordship, however, says "The King is the more surpriz'd at such a Conduct in "his Assembly of New-Jersey, when His Majesty con"siders the Example set them by the Assemblies of “the neighbouring Colonies of New-York and Pensyl"vania, who appear to have entertained a very just 66 sense of the unwarrantable Measure recommended "by the Assembly of Massachusets Bay." But I do assure you my Lord, that whoever gave the King such Information respecting the Assemblies of New-York and Pensylvania, has been greatly mistaken. The Assembly of New-York had it not even in their Power to set such an Example, had they so inclin'd, for they never met from the Time the Massachusets Circular Letter was wrote till the 27th of last Month, which was above Six Months after the Meeting of the New Jersey Assembly, and even Two Months after the Date of your Lordship's Letter now before me. After they had met some Time, I happened to pass thro' New York in my Way Home from the late Congress, when

I was inform'd by some of the principal Gentlemen there, that the House was a good deal embarras'à about the Massachuset's Letter. Some of the Members were for Suppressing it totally, being apprehensive that they would involve themselves or the Colony in some Difficulties with Government, should they take that Notice of it which they would think themselves under the Necessity of doing, if it was once laid before them. Other Members were for having it immediately communicated to the House, as they should otherwise, they said, lose their Interests and Characters with their Constituents, and excite their Resentment for having given up their essential Rights and Privileges. In this Dilemma were they for a few Days after their Meeting, till at length they agreed, to postpone the Laying of the Massachusets Letter before the House till they had compieated the Business of the Session, and that their Speaker should only lay before them the Letter he had receiv'd from the Speaker of the House of Burgesses in Virginia; the Contents of which were not known in England when your Lordship's Letter, directing the Governor to prorogue or dissolve the Assemblies in case of their receiving, &c. of the Massachuset's Letter, was wrote. This Account, as I before mentioned, I had from some of the principal Gentlemen of New York, and the printed Journals of the Assembly seem to comfirm it. For not the least Notice is there yet taken of the Massachuset's Letter, but it appears that the one from Virginia (which I believe your Lordship will think full as exceptionable as the other) was laid before the House by the Speaker; when, so far were the Assembly from inclining to set such an Example, as your Lordship mentions, to the other Colonies, that they soon determin'd to follow the Example of Massachuset's Bay in the same Manner as had been done before by Virginia. In Pursuance of this Resolution, they made the following Order, viz:

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