the lakes on the eastern side render the navigation still easier to the subjects of this Kingdom than to those on the opposite shore.* It is unnecessary, however, to dwell upon the practicability of trading on that river, as the fortunes acquired by the French settlers prove the fact unquestionably; and if France found the commerce highly advantageous, though consisting chiefly of articles which she herself produced in great abundance, must it not be more advantageous to this Kingdom, whose produce it does not rival in the least, but to whom, in exchange for manufactures, as the reader will remember already mentioned, it presents those expensive luxuries of life which are not to be obtained in her other Colonies, and which are now purchased at an immense disbursement of absolute specie from foreigners? When Louisiana was under the government of the French, the trade of the Mississippi was esteemed, according to the most accurate accounts, as worth three hundred thousand pounds a year. Twelve ships, from a hundred and fifty to two hundred tons burden, with wares and dry-goods from Europe and St. Domingo, scarcely answered the consumption of the inhabitants; and the intelligent may easily imagine that the estimate is not overrated, when the returns in peltry only, at the single port of New-Orleans, amounted annually to five millions of livres. As, therefore, not only from our ability to undersell every competitor, but from the peculiar happiness of situation in a junction with the lakes, this traffick must chiefly centre with the subjects of England. A very trifling duty on a few articles, together with a part of the quit-rents, will be amply sufficient to defray the charge of the new establishment. The sole question then is, will England, who has peopled so many deserts, protect a country ready peopled to her hands? She is not called upon for her citizens; she is only solicited to receive a nursery for thousands; she is not besought to do Florida an injury, but to distinguish it by an essential obligation; she is not requested to counteract the interest of her old Provinces, but to provide for their security. The Mississippi is at present virtually dismembered from its seat of Government, and is, even to speak favourably, without any manner of use. Dismembering it formally, will make it of the utmost utility, both to that Government and this Kingdom. The measure offers every certainty of a prodigious gain, without any possibility of the smallest loss; and nothing is required of the Parent State but to participate in the advantages, as an incontestable method is pointed out of defraying the whole expense.

A distinct establishment on the Mississippi in preference to any other, is recommended for two very forcible reasons: in the first place, a remoteness from the seat of the Provincial Government impedes the administration of justice; and every difficulty in executing the laws excites a spirit of disorder amongst the people. The present insurrection of the Regulators on the back settlements of North-Carolina, sufficiently support the propriety of this remark; and perhaps the restoration of order would be but little advanced, were the back settlers in that Colony indulged with a subordinate tribunal for the speedy decision of judicial complaints; because these subordinate tribunals cannot, in any civil case, determine upon property where it exceeds ten pounds; nor in any criminal case inflict a capital punishment on the blackest offender. The consequence of so limited an authority is apparent: many people will rather give up a legal right than contest it, where the expenses attending even the certain success of a suit, at the great distance of Pensacola from the Mississippi, will most commonly exceed the value of what is recovered in litigation. The evil, however, will not terminate here. Prosecutions, where life is affected, open a source of continual dispute between the dependant and the principal jurisdictions; at any rate they delay the sentence after a conviction; and if judges armed with sufficient powers are sent out from the latter, to try on such occasions, the innocent are liable to all the miseries of a long imprisonment; for, at the utmost, the courts cannot make above two circuits in the year. The second reason for a distinct Government is, the necessity of having the immediate representative of the sovereign, to encourage the aggregation of settlers, and accelerate the attachment of the Indians, who are superstitiously influenced by forms, and never conceive that a country belongs to any European prince without the positive residence of an acknowledged substitute. If any settlement thereof takes place on the British Mississippi, it should be subject to no control but that of Great Britain herself; the importance of the object deserves her own particular attention; and the more sensible she seems of this circumstance, the more strongly emigrants will be induced to realize the truth of the present representation.

JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT, TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS.

Philadelphia, June 15, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: By order of the Congress I transmit you the enclosed Resolutions, passed by the Congress this morning. The necessity of the present emergency requires a speedy compliance with the first, and I need not inform you that the nature of the service requires it to be done with as much secrecy as possible.

I am also directed by the Congress to request you will please to transmit them, as soon as may be, an estimate of the powder, arms, and ammunition in your Colony, including private as well as publick stocks. By Dr. Church, this morning, I forwarded you the resolution of Congress respecting the mode of Government. I am your most obedient servant,

JOHN HANCOCK, President.

To the Members of the Provincial Congress of the Massachusetts-Bay.

P. S. The enclosed letters for the Lieutenant-Governour of Rhode-Island, and the gentlemen of New-Hampshire, please immediately on receipt to send off by express. Pray don’t fail.

NEW-YORK CONGRESS TO GENERAL WOOSTER.
[Read in Congress June 19, 1775.]

In Provincial Congress, New-York, June 15, 1775.

SIR: You will see by the enclosed order, that this Congress think it expedient to request you to march to this Colony with the troops under your command. If you are not at liberty to comply with the terms of this order until you consult the Governour and Company of Connecticut on this subject, we beg you would immediately despatch this requisition to them, and transmit to us their determination as soon as possible.

As we have at present but few tents, we beg you would order such as you have, to be sent to the place intended for their encampment, and make such other dispositions for the support of your troops as are in your power.

We are, Sir, your very humble servants.

By order and on behalf of the Provincial Congress:

P. V. B. LIVINGSTON, President.

To Major-General Wooster, at Greenwich.

In Provincial Congress, New-York, June 15, 1775.

The Congress resumed the consideration of Mr. Foster’s motion of yesterday; and whereupon,

Ordered, That a message be immediately despatched to Major-General Wooster, now commanding a body of Troops in the southern part of Connecticut, requesting him forthwith to march the said Troops, with their tents and other necessaries, to the distance of five miles from this City, to be subject to the orders and directions of the Continental or this Congress while the said Troops shall continue in this Colony.

And Resolved, That we will assist the Commissaries of the said forces in procuring such necessaries for their accommodation as shall be to be procured within this Colony.

A true copy from the Minutes:

JOHN MCKESSON, Secretary.

ADONIJAH STRONG TO THE ALBANY COMMITTEE.

Albany, June 15, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: I beg leave to lay before this Board my information and request concerning the troops raised in and

*Governour Browne declares, that in his expedition to the Mississippi, he frequently went up the River at the most disadvantageous seasons of the current, twenty-five or thirty miles a day, with eight oars only.