Page:Letters of John Andrews.djvu/51

 LETTERS OP JOHN ANDREWS. I ■")

Date aa not to comply, are oblig'd to take up their residence in this city of refuge, which the Governor and the Army esteem as yet unsafe for them as well as themselves, and notwithstanding the six field pi< planted al y° Neck, they have brought twelve cannon from the Castle, some nine and some lour pounders, which they have dispos'd about the entrance of the town. And this is not the only proof of their tear: for I am well intdrm'd that they keep so many and such strict guards of nights, that the soldiers don't get but one undisturb'd night's sleep out of four.

September Id///. They have drawn oil' the whole of the troops from Salem, and the Board of Commissioners, with the ( !o\ ernor's family and furniture, are all arriv'd here, not thinking themselves secure in a town surrounded by the country as that is: so that they disobey the Act of Parliament as well as y People, which is expressly, that no Commissioner shall remain in if town of Boston. The Tea arriv'd at that town in y e Julius Caesar is to go to Halifax, where it will meet with as unwelcome a reception, I imagine, as here ; as a number of y° inhabitants who are here, seem to breathe the same spirit of freedom as prevails through the continent. A chest of that which went from Portsmouth, was smuggled up to Windsor, a town about forty miles from Halifax, and lodg'd with a Magistrate, whose house was surrounded by the populace and threatened to be set on lire if he did not deliver it up ; and the waggon which convey'd it there was intirely demollish'd.

Su hi/hi/, September 11th. By the Eastern post last evening we are inform'd that a mast ship had arriv'd at Portsmouth with thirty chests of tea on board, which had taken shelter under the fort ; that the inhabitants had taken possession of the foil, and beset one Parry's house, to whom it came consign'd, he being a contractor there. And sometime yesterday a ship bound from Scotland to New York with passengers, put in here in distress, having been eleven weeks out and only two days provisions left. They apply'd to the Admiral for leave to victual, who very humanely told 'em, if they did not depart in six hours he would sink 'em ; and his secretary ask'd them, w hat the Devil they came to America for, to be made slaves of; that they'd much better go back to Scotland again; that they should not have any provisions in this province ; if they wanted any, they might go to Newport for it. Am told the Admiral us'd the same threats to the transports which sail'd a few days since lor Quebeck, as y captains were very unwilling to go, it being so late in the season, and they not at all relishing the thoughts of wintering there.

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