bers of the Church of England. I have the Honour to be, with the greatest Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient humble Servant W FRANKLIN Governor Franklin to Major William Trent. [From the original, among the Manuscripts of Wm. Nelson.] Dear Sir, BURLINGTON, Jan. 14, 1771. I Yesterday receiv'd your Letter of the 31st of October, & immediately sent for Mr. Allinson, one of the Burl Company of whom you borrow'd the 15,00£ on a Mortgage on Part of your Estate in Pensylvania. Western New York.-Duer's Life of Lord Stirling, 89; Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 467 et seqq. The minutes of the Council show that after his appointment in 1771 he was regular and faithful in his attendance until the close of that body's existence in 1775. He was a zealous Tory, and even the burning of his handsome residence at Trenton by the British, during their pursuit of Washington in December, 1776 (5 American Archives, II., 1376), did not impair his attachment to the Royal cause, for in 1777 he went to New York, where he remained till the close of the War, serving as Chairman of an Association of Refugees. Christopher Sower maliciously says he "was appointed to the chair to deprive him of the opportunity of speaking, as he has the gift of saying little with many words."—Sabine's Loyalists, I., 339. In June, 1779, he wrote to Joseph Galloway that he was confident the end of the Rebellion would come that Summer.-Hist. Mag., June, 1862, 181. He married June 5, 1771, Sarah, daughter of Dr. John Redman, of Philadelphia.-Records Christ Church, 2 Penn. Archives, II., 68. Dr. Redman was a surgeon in the American Army during the Revolution, and appears to have kept his daughter and her children with him much if not most of the time during the War. She was evidently in Philadelphia when Coxe wrote to Galloway in 1779. In 1780 she was again with her father.-Penn. Col. Records, XII., 390. In December of that year Coxe was Secretary to the British Commissioners appointed to receive and pardon repentant rebels, an office which proved a sinecure.-Moore's Diary of the Revolution. II, 378. At the close of the war he went to England, whither his wife and children followed him, probably in 1783, as in that year she and her father and her children were given passports from Philadelphia to New York.--Penn. Col. Records, XIII, 551. She returned in 1806, to comfort her aged father and dying mother.-Sabine's Loyalists, I., 310. Her husband died in England prior to 1828, for in that year she brought suits in New Jersey for her dower rights in his property which had been confiscated, and recovered judgment therefor.-N. J. Law Reports - 4 Halsted, 378; 5 Halsted, 328; 6 Halsted, 395. She died at Brighton, England, in 1843, aged niñety-one.--Sabine, I., 340. [W. N.] Upon my acquainting him with your Apprehensions of their proceeding to sell the Lands, and of the great Disadvantage it would be to you to have so valuable an Estate put up to Sale in your Absence, he has assured me that tho' several of them would be very glad to have their Money, having immediate Use for it, yet it was never their Intention to sell your Property until they had given you sufficient Notice. And he has promised me, in Behalf of the Company, to wait to the Time you request, and that they will do nothing unfair or unkindly by you in any respect. From my Knowledge of the Men, I am sure you may rely on this Declaration, & make yourself entirely easy. I have at present, Company in the House, & am a good deal hurried, but I have snatch'd as much time as to give you this Information least the next Post should be too late for the Packet. I shall as you desire acquaint M Wharton's Family with his being well, & the Reason of his not writing. It would give me great Pleasure to hear that you had succeeded in your Negotiations, & to see you both again in America. You cannot imagine what an infinite deal of Difficulty & Trouble I have had in the Management of that cursed Business of the Otago Tract, which turns out after all, an Object scarce worth Attention. But that is not the only Reason I have to repent my going to the Treaty at F. Stanwix. However, I have it not in my Power to tell you any more, at Present than that I am, very sincerely Your Friend & hum. Servant W FRANKLIN. [Addressed: To Major William Trent, To be left at the Pensylvania Coffee House, London via N. York P Packet.] Letter from John Pownall to John Robinson, relative to a bounty upon Slaves from America. Sir, [From P. R. O. B. T. Plantations General, Vol. 42, p. 376.] WHITEHALL MARCH 1, 1771. To John Robinson Esq The Report of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs containing objections to the granting a Bounty upon Slaves from America, which Report was inclosed in your Letter to me of the 16th day of last month, having been communicated to the North American Merchants, who had applied for the said Bounty, they have in Consequence thereof presented a Memorial to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations containing their Answers to the Objections stated by the Commissioners of the Customs; and I am directed by their Lordships to transmit to you the inclosed Copy of the said Memorial, and to desire you will be pleased to communicate it to the Lords CommissTMs of the Treasury; and to acquaint their Lordships, that the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations are of opinion that the Answers of the Merchants to the Objections made by the Commissioners of the Customs are full and satisfactory. I am, with great respect, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant Letter from Governor Franklin to the Earl of Hillsborough, relative to ordering recruiting parties. and to making provision for the King's troops ; also announcing the death of John Smith, a member of the Council. [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 176 (194).] BURLINGTON, March 27, 1771. Right Honble the Earl of Hillsborough My Lord, As soon as I was honoured with your Lordship's Circular Letter of the 11th of December, I summoned a Meeting of the Council, and by their Advice issued a Proclamation (a Copy of which is enclosed) requiring all Magistrates and other Civil Officers, and all other His Majesty's Liege Subjects in this Province, to be aiding and assisting to such Officers and Recruiting Parties as shall be ordered into New Jersey. His Majesty may have the firmest Reliance, that I shall exert my utmost Endeavours, in every Matter which may be in my Power, to give Efficacy & Dispatch to the Plan which has been formed for the Augmentation of his Forces. I have called a Meeting of the Assembly, to be held here on the 17th of next Month, to make Provision for the Troops stationed in this Colony, when I shall recommend it to them to give Encouragement to His Majesty's Subjects of this Province to enlist in the Battallions now serving in America, and to do whatever else may be necessary or proper for them to do for the fur ther Security of this Part of His Majesty's Dominions. I have the Honour to be, with the greatest Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient, & most humble Servant W FRANKLIN. P. S. I have just receiv'd your Lordship's Letter of Jan 24 1771, No 29. The Honble John Smith died here Yesterday.' This JOHN SMITH was the second son of the Hon. Richard Smith, of Green Hill, Burlington, and was a brother of Samuel Smith, the historian, and of William Lovett Smith and Richard Smith. He was born "1st mo. 20th 1722"-March 20, 1722. In 1741, he sailed in one of his father's ships to the West Indies, returning the next year, and in 1743 engaged in the West India trade, in Philadephia, where he resided for the next twelve or fifteen years, carrying on a flourishing business, and enjoying the company of a delightful society. He occupied a handsome house on Second street, and in 1746 bought a fine country estate at Point-no-point, on the Delaware, above the town. At these houses he entertained handsomely a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, including the leading men and women of his day. He and some of his young Quaker friends organized a sort of a club, devoted to social converse and mutual improvement, and the cares of business, and even the occasional loss of a ship, captured by Spanish cruisers, did not interrupt his quiet pleasures, nor divert his attention from the best authors of the day, Fielding's "Joseph Andrews," and Thomas Story's "Journal" being read with apparently equal interest, as they came from over the water. In 1717 he wrote for gratuitous distribution a pamphlet, "The Doctrines of Christianity, as held by the people called Quakers, vindicated, in answer to G. Tennent's Sermon on the Lawfulness of War." Withal, he found time to promote the organization of the Philadelphia Contributionship, one of the first fire insurance companies in the country, and helped found the Pennsylvania hospital (1751). He was also prominent in Friends' councils, being chosen a representative to the Quarterly and Yearly Meeting, and held some minor offices not inconsistent with his professions. In 1750, and again in 1751, he was elected a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. Meantime (1746-7), he had become smitten with the charms of a fair young Friend, Hannah, daughter of ex-Chief-Justice James Logan and Sarah Read (daughter of the Hon. Charles Read, of Pennsylvania). She was thus described, 1744, by an impressionable young gentleman from Virginia: "She was tall and slender, but Exactly well Shap'd; her Eyes Express'd a very great Softness, denoting a Compos'd Temper and Serenity of Mind, Her Manner was Grave and Reserv'd, and, to be Short, She had a sort of Majesty in her Person, and Agreeableness in her Behaviour, which at once Surprized and Charmed the Beholder." After this glowing description of the fair Hannah's charms, Mr. Smith's predilection is not to be wondered at. She was a delicate creature, and having accepted his invitation to accompany him and his sister to Evesham Meeting, he with a lover's solicitude for her comfort, borrowed Governor Belcher's four-wheeled chaise, said to be the only vehicle of the kind in New Jersey-to carry the party. He returned the compliment in October, 1748, when he brought over by one of his own ships the Governor's intended bride, and on her arrival at Philadelphia procured a four-oared barge and transported her up the river to Burlington. James Logan favored his daughter's suitor, and told him the girl owned 500 acres of land, that he would give her husband £750, that she should have £2,000 on her father's death, and £1,000 more on the death of her mother. Having duly “passed meeting," they were mar |