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"Tamer, Rebellion Road, November 4, 1775. "SIR: Without the aid of any secretary, armed as I am with truth, I can enter the lists even with Mr. William Henry Drayton, when his weapons are sophistry, falsehood, and the grossest misrepresentation. On after consideration, I did not think Mr. Laurens's letter worthy a written answer, as I never directly or indirectly harbored the runaway slave of any person, and I will answer for the gentleman who commands the Cherokee, that his conduct has been exactly similar to mine in these matters. It is not my business to enter into any detail of the treatment the King's representative and the other servants of Government have met with from those assemblies which you have dignified with the name of the publick; but I have prevailed on His Excellency to favour me with an extract of his letter to Governor Tonyn, at St. Augustine, which I now enclose, as it will enable the people of this Province to form a judgment of Captain Wanton's worth and gratitude, as well as of your candor and veracity. As I have some reason (o think the original is in your custody, or in that of some of your emissaries, you will hardly dispute its authenticity. But to the main purport of my letter. While I command the King's ships here, I will procure provisions by every means in my power. If the methods I am under a necessity of taking for that purpose should subject His Majesty's faithful and loyal people in this Province to any inconveniency, I shall be extremely sorry; but they are to impute it entirely to those who have plunged this late happy country into misery and distress, and not to me, who have always protected it to the utmost of my power. "To William Henry Drayton, Esq." Extract of a Letter from His Excellency the Right Hon. Lord WILLIAM CAMPBELL, to Governor TONYN, of ST. AUGUSTINE. " * * * The bearer of this is a man who says he was bound from Newport, in Rhode-Island, to Nantucket, in a small sloop which he had freighted, but in a hard gale of wind was drove to the southward, without either chart or quadrant, and with only two landsmen and a boy on board; by a kind of miracle lie made this harbour yesterday, and pushed in at a venture. The poor man's dreadful situation fully proved the truth of his story, although he had no clearance from Newport; and the unfeigned joy he expressed when he found himself in safety, left no doubt of the reality of the distresses he had suffered. By the late acts of Parliament he might be considered as a legal prize, but Captain Thornbrough, of the Tamer, and Mr. Furgusson, (who commands the Cherokee,) had too much humanity to think of that, though we were all a good deal difficulties what to do with him. Return he could not, and it would have been highly improper, as well as impoliticly to have suffered him to go to Charlestown, in the present situation of affairs there, as he had been only nine days from Newport, and not above a month ago was in the Rebels' camp near Boston. I therefore proposed sending him to St. Augustine, which Captains Thornbrough and Furgusson readily agreed to, at the same time generously offering to supply his little wants, and the man most cheerfully and with great thankfulness acquiesced. This arrangement gave me the more satisfaction, as it enabled me to furnish your Excellency with many particulars you will be anxious to know of the state of affairs to the northward, by means of this skipper, who you will find sensible and intelligent. His cargo consists of cider, apples, and cheese, and I shall be happy if it proves a seasonable supply of those articles to your Province, at this juncture. Captain Junes has given him a few lines to a friend of his in the mercantile way, to assist him in making the most of it, and procuring some employment for his bark till the summer, before which time he cannot venture to return home. To assist in navigating this vessel, and at the same time to prevent any attempt to run her into any of the little harbours on this coast, I have directed the gunner of Fort Johnson, one Walker, (an old seaman, and a poor man who has been cruelly treated by the Charlestown people,) to go in her to Augustine, and your Excellency will be so obliging as to send him back by the first opportunity." In Congress, Monday, November 6, 1775. The Congress met according to adjournment. Which being read, is as follows: "This day personally appeared before me, John Wanton, Captain of a sloop from Rhode-Island, who being duly sworn, sayeth: That on or about the twelfth of October last, he arrived in Rebellion Road, near Charlestown, in the Colony aforesaid, when Captain Thornbrough, of the Tamer sloop-of-war, caused his vessel to anchor under his stern, and caused him, the said deponent, to go on board the Cherokee, to speak with Lord William Campbell. That after the said Lord William Campbell had inquired into the deponent's case, he told him, that by the late acts of Parliament his sloop was liable to be seized, and that he should, in discharge of his duty, send him to St. Augustine; this deponent apprehending in order to be condemned: And afterwards his mate informed him, that an officer from on board the Tamer privately acquainted him, the said mate, that Lord William Campbell had determined to send the deponent's vessel to St. Augustine, in order to be condemned.
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