made seizures upon the Dutch and other merchant strangers, who for the most part plead and swear license from him, then to us he pleads the articles of Barbadoes against both the aforesaid acts, our instructions as commissioners (notwithstanding the oath he hath taken thereupon, and his personal letter also from the Protector): insomuch as, in plain terms, he refuseth to join with us in commission in any thing belonging to the seizures by us made, upon any of them, or in any commissions, instructions, declarations, &c. thereabouts. And when we demand reason, he tells us, his hand was to the articles of the place, and therefore cannot give it against them. The skippers sometimes, yea for the most part, swear they had not traded, but by his leave to trade; he denies not but he gave them free leave to trade, but in the tail of all he tells them, if they trade against the laws of England, at their peril and fortune be it; insomuch as now they complain exceedingly of him, and one of them hath produced a license under his hand and seal, whereof a true copy is sent herewith; but I fear the great gifts he is said to have received from them have been a snare unto him. 'Tis strange to see how generally they dote upon the Dutch trade, the English merchants protesting they will give more for a worse commodity to the Dutch, than for a better to themselves; so that you may hereby guess how unwelcome we are, for that we made seizure of them. And indeed the council and assembly were very much grieved at it, and at our coming hither. Some of them flew out against Colonel Muddiford, as the cause of all this, and stick not to call him traitor to the island; insomuch as some of us were necessitated to excuse him; but the very truth of it is, no man hath more closely adhered to us, and so much furthered our design, as he; nor is any man able, he being master of more reason than half the island, if not all; which is no small crime in other parts, as well as here, especially amongst persons of ordinary education. He was the man that per

suaded the assembly, being their speaker, to give the sixty horse to his highness for the present expedition: he convinced them, how good it was for them to let us beat up our own drums for men, telling them, they were all undone, if they did it not with cheerfulness; for, said he, if the Commissioners hold but up their fingers, all our servants will leave us, and then we are undone indeed. Briefly, the gentleman sets himself to the utmost, to see how he may endear himself to his highness; how he may recover his lost reputation; and for this also he is not a little envied.

"And whereas you told us of a great parcel of sugar was ready for our use, which was due upon the prizes taken by Sir George Ascue, we found not a penny in readiness, but abroad in such hands as were not well affected for nothing; having had the use of large sums for these three years, and have upon that foundation raised fine estates, which they are so loath to part withal, as I fear you will find them to be most ill affected, when they either pay, or must have those debts levied upon their estates, which must be forthwith done to discharge our engagement. The reason wherefore Colonel Morris will not go with us, is, because he hath so lovely an estate, which he fears may be seized for some other debts after he is gone. At first he told us, he hoped we would forgive him a small debt he owed the State, in regard of former good services he had done them, and losses sustained for them. To this we seemed willing, provided he went freely, knowing how necessary an instrument he might prove. This we found to be twenty-six thousand nine hundred weight of sugar. Afterwards, he told us in plain terms, if we would give him an hundred thousand weight of sugar, that so he might pay his debts, and leave his estate clear to his wife, then Lewis Morris would spend his blood for us. We told him it was beyond our commission: and General Venables told him, if he should offer up his commission, he durst not accept it, because it was sent by his highness, who expected

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so much service from him; besides, what he demanded was as much as all the field-officers of the army had; and it would make them think they were very much undervalued. After all this he came to me and said, there was another way whereby we might enable him to go with us, and pressed me to move it to General Venables and the rest, viz. the people of this island (saith he) never look for pay for their quartering the soldiers. Now, if we would bestow that on him, it would serve his turn. This I told him I would move, at his request, but was sure that the General and Commissioners more prized their honour than to do it. So this we rejected also; and the truth is, he confesseth he never was where we intend first to pitch and set down; so at last he told us, he would conceal his intention, and march his men on board the ship, for which we gave him thanks; but all these things are private as yet; but the Commissioners of the Prize-Office have summoned him to pay in his debt to the State, or shew cause. The truth is, he prizeth himself at so high a rate, as if the expedition could not go on without him; which made some of us in a loving way tell him, we should be glad of so experienced an instrument as he was; but withal let him know, our trust and reliance was not on him, but on God; and if the Lord would be pleased to use us as instruments in his right hand, and own us as such, which we hoped he would, we doubted not but we should be able to give a good account of our proceedings; and thus stands the case betwixt him and us.

"As for the 1500 muskets we are promised we should receive here (which I ever wanted faith to believe), 'tis credibly reported, that about six weeks before our arrival (information came hither from London of our intended voyage, and that they were appointed for our service,) by way of anticipation they were disposed of, insomuch as we had very few of them, as we mentioned in our general letter to his highness; but a great fear seems to be upon them, lest their servants should

rise when the fleet is gone, because so many of their freemen go with us; and if things be not better ordered before we depart, as to the safety of the place, they most justly fear it; for all places of trust are disposed of by favour, and not by a sound judgment; for few active able men are in power, that may prevent such a mischief, or provide for their safety and I hope it will be placed, I mean the military power, in such hands as will do both: they have 1500 horse, viz. the island, whereof the one half of them may be brought to service. The riches of the island far exceeds England's apprehension, the Dutch having hitherto reaped all the effects of the peace; and if we lay not a command upon the militia to be aiding to the Commission Office, I verily believe, when we are gone, we shall have them stopped by an injunction from the governor, and the cases referred to the common law; and my reason is, because these words, or the like, have many times come from him: 'What serves my power for? I received (it) first 'from the Council of State, which was afterwards renewed ' again, and since confirmed by his highness under the broad • seal in July last; and since that by letter, as governor of this island besides all this, he had his power from the 'Prize-Office in England; and is all this nothing?' To which he hath received many and sufficient answers; but I perceive not that he is satisfied; and for their trials at law, 'tis worth your observation, the laws of this place are generally made in favour of the debtor and the delinquent, whereas in other places the law gives every man the possession of his own, &c., and this is the complaint of many of their own to us, who seem to groan under the burthen of it.

""Tis true, that at the request of the gentlemen of the island, when we had spent many days in debate concerning the present expedition, to persuade them, by all the arguments we could use, what gainers they above all men would be thereby, yet after all we were forced to bluster, and let them know, that General Venables, whose carriage therein,

and so all along, deserves a good testimony, was generalissimo of all the English in America, and so of this island; and so he had command of all their forts and forces; and this became effectual, and upon this they condescended to the beating up of our drums, nay prayed us to do it, and raise our men ourselves. And since they must be weakened by the loss of so many men and quartering of so many soldiers, they prayed us to mediate for them with his highness, to give the Dutch license to bring thither goods of their own growth, of their own manufacture, horses, and negroes, as in our general letter; but I thought it my duty, though I am tedious therein, to let you understand the spirit of the place, that so his highness and the right honourable the council, to whom I pray you present the remembrance of my most humble duty and hearty service, may the better know how to demean themselves towards them. Yet truly, sir, withal take notice they are great sufferers by us at present, and therefore we may and do bear with them in many things; and I shall be glad to hear that his highness is sensible of it, so as the people here may see his care of and for them, some way or other.

"Our want of more commissioners is very great. We are like to have little assistance from Captain Butler, though we all persuade ourselves he is very honest; but hope, yea persuade ourselves, he will take with the better side, in case of difference in judgment. I beseech you, in case any be sent, let us have men of such principles as will neither scruple to give or take an oath. For my part, I look upon an oath as an ordinance of God, and as an essential part of government, the very bond of societies; yea so necessary, as without it the magistrate will not be able to determine between man and man. But if this particular be spoken of, I shall lose General Penn, from whom I have and do receive much love; and owe him also a great deal of respect, for the well performance of his trust. However, after I had spoken as full to him as I have written about it, I never heard more