SIR,

THOMAS CUSHING TO DENNYS DE BERDT.

Boston, January 30th, 1768.

Inclosed you have a petition to His Majesty, from the House of Representatives of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, which they desire you would get presented as soon as may be, and in such way and manner as you may judge best. You will please also to advise as soon as possible what reception it meets with. You have also enclosed three letters; one directed to the Right Honorable the Earl of Shelburne, one to the Right Honorable Lord Camden, and the other to the Right Honorable the Marquis of Rockingham; which the House also desire you would deliver to those noblemen.

In the name and by order of the House of Representatives, I am your most humble servant,

THOMAS CUSHING, Speaker.

Dennys De Berdt, Esq.

SIR,

THOMAS CUSHING TO DENNYS DE BERDT.

Boston, April 18, 1768.

I acknowledge the receipt of your favor of the 21 December last. You mention in the postscript, your having wrote to [the] House by the same conveyance, but the letter never came to hand. I am persuaded it would be quite agreeable to the House to hear from you frequently; be sure as often as any thing occurs on your side the water that affects the interest of America. The traders here in the English way, begin to feel the effects of the measures entered into last fall, by the people here, to promote frugality and economy. As the consumption of British goods lessens, their sale diminishes, and I guess it will not be long before the merchants on your side the water will have reason to complain. The merchants in this and the neighboring Towns of Salem and Marblehead, have very gen

erally, I may say almost universally, agreed not to import any goods from England for twelve months from this time, provided the merchants in the other Governments come into the same resolution; and I am informed that your good friend, Mr. Richard Cary, has just received a letter from a friend of his at New York, informing him that the gentlemen in trade there, had come into the like agreement, to stop the importation until the duties are taken off; and by the last accounts from Philadelphia, it was highly probable that the merchants in that city would do the like. I believe the gentlemen in trade are one and all convinced that it will be to no good purpose for them to import English goods as usual, under the present distressed and embarrassed state of the trade. They despair of ever selling them, and consequently of ever being able to pay for them. I wish those who have the management and conduct of the affairs of the nation, may see its true interest before it is too late.

As the House ordered all their letters to be printed as an appendix to their journal, I have inclosed you a set of them, presuming it will be agreeable. The Governor has signed the grant of six hundred pounds the House made you the last session, and the treasurer informed me this day that he had the promise of a bill in about three weeks, and as soon as he obtained it should remit it to you.

I write you now only as a friend, and in my private character; and I doubt not, if you can make any improvement of the intelligence I have now given you, for the benefit of America, that you will cheerfully do it.

I remain, with respect, your most humble servant, THOMAS CUSHING.

To Dennys De Berdt, Esq.

THOMAS CUSHING TO DENNYS DE BERDT.

Boston, June 6th, 1768.

SIR, This will be handed you by Dr. Jeffries, a gentleman worthy your notice. I therefore recommend him to your

patronage. He goes for England with a view of making some further proficiency in the business he is engaged in Any favors you may do him while in England, I shall esteem as if done for myself.

I hope the new Parliament, when they meet, will be favorably disposed towards America, and that they will repeal the late revenue acts, which will restore that happy union, which till of late has subsisted between the mother country and these Colonies. Our money will soon be drained from us, by means of these acts, and the merchants on your side the water will soon be so sensibly affected by it as to become our greatest and warmest advocates. People here have formed great expectations from our Address to the King, and the representations to the ministry. If they are not attended to, I fear the people will be thrown into despair.

Your favor of the 5th of October last duly came to hand. I entirely agree with you, that the best method we can take to obtain relief from our burdens, is steadily to persevere in our scheme of economy and the non-importation of goods, which I am persuaded our merchants in general are resolutely determined to do. If any of the officers or the troops should be guilty of any outrage, or illegal conduct, we shall not incline to wait to procure redress in the Courts at Westminster, but the people are determined to prosecute them in Courts we have of our own. However, every thing at present remains quiet and peaceable. Our people behave with the greatest caution

1 On the back of this letter is the following remark: "This letter is dated Jan. 19th, 1768. It should be 1769-for it refers-"

and prudence, so that I am persuaded the commanders of the troops and men-of-war are not a little surprised at the errand they were sent upon; they find themselves placed among an orderly, peaceable and well-behaved people. The soldiers are continually deserting. They like the country, and it is so wide and extensive, that it will be very difficult to recover those that desert; and the charge of their being sent and supported here, will much exceed any revenue that can be raised by the late Act.

I am glad to hear that the friends to America increase. The more this affair of a revenue is considered and thought of, the more convinced the people on your side the water will be of the impolicy and inexpediency of the measure. I shall be always ready to furnish you with all the intelligence in my power, but must beg that you would not publish any more of my letters with my name affixed to them. I write to you as a friend, and in confidence, and with more freedom than I should choose to do, if I knew my letters were to be in print. I may by this means feel the resentment of some people which I should choose to avoid. I must beg, therefore, you would not suffer any more of my letters with my name affixed to be published. I have seen his Majesty's speech to both Houses, and am much surprised that we could have been so extravagantly misrepresented, as to give occasion for him to observe that the capital Town of one of the Colonies (meaning, as I suppose, Massachusetts) was by late advices in a state of disobedience to all law and government, and had proceeded to measures subversive of the Constitution. He must have been egregiously misinformed. Nothing could have been farther from the truth than such advices. However, I hope time, which scatters and dispels the mists of error and falsehood, will place us in our true light; and convince the administration how much they have been abused by false and malicious representations.

In the times of the late stamp act, there were riots and great mischief done; the stamp officers through the continent were obliged to resign; at New York, the King's fort was attacked. His Majesty at that time, in his speech to his Parliament, only just mentions that there had been some occurrences in America that demanded their atten

tion. Now, surely, no disturbances any thing like those above-mentioned have lately occurred in America; and yet we are represented as in a state of disobedience to all law and government. How, therefore, can we account for this difference in the two speeches, but from the base and false representations that have been made by some people of this government. I hope the Parliament will make a strict and thorough inquiry into this matter; and if they do, I am persuaded they will find that those misrepresentations have been made by those who, for a long time, have been set upon having a revenue out of America, and who expect to obtain great salaries out of the same. It is their interest, therefore, at all events, so to represent matters as to accomplish their designs; but a due inquiry will discover how greatly the nation has been injured, and this people abused by this set of people.

While writing, I received your favor of the 18 November last; am glad to hear the petitions from the other Colonies are come to hand, and that they, together with ours, will be brought before the Parliament. I hope not only a good part, but all the troops will soon be removed, as there is not the least occasion for them. The continuing any part of them here, will only serve to interrupt that harmony which ought ever to subsist between the two countries. It will keep in remembrance what ought to be forgot, as soon as possible, viz., the ill-treatment we have received, and the impeachment of our loyalty and love of good order. This has been a matter of grief to the people here, and has deeply wounded them. The removal of the Board of Commissioners I hope will take place at the same time.

I am surprised you should think our town meeting was disorderly. It was remarked by several strangers that were present, gentlemen of very respectable characters, that it was one of the most regular, decent, and orderly town meetings that ever they were at; every thing was conducted with the utmost propriety, good order, and decorum, and I cannot say it was in any respect culpable. There was one vote, recommending the inhabitants to be provided with arms, according to law, which I wish had been omitted-perhaps it was unadvised, but many people