The above is a Copy of my last, and no Ship has since sailed for Boston. A few Days after my leaving your Petition with Lord Dartmouth, his Lordship sent for me to discourse with me upon it. After a long Audience he was pleas’d to say, That notwithstanding all I had said or that could be said in Support of the Petition, he was sure the Presenting it at this time could not possibly produce any Good; That the King would be exceedingly offended, but what Steps he would take upon it was uncertain; perhaps he would require the Opinion of the Judges or Government Lawyers, which would surely be against us; perhaps he might lay it before Parliament, and so the Censure of both Houses would be drawn down upon us; the most favourable thing to be expected was, a severe Reprimand to the Assembly by Order of his Majesty; the natural Consequence of which must be, more Discontent and Uneasiness in the Province. That possess’d as he was with great Good-will for New-England, he was extreamly unwilling that one of the first Acts of his Administration with regard to the Massachusetts should be of so unpleasant a nature: That Minds had been heated and irritated on both sides the Water, but he hoped those Heats were now cooling, and he was averse to any Addition of fresh Fuel: That as I had delivered the Petition to him officially, he must present it if I insisted upon it; but he wished I would first consult my Constituents, who might possibly on Reconsideration think fit to order its being deferred. I answered, that the great Majority with which the Petition, and the Resolves on which it was founded, were carried thro’ the House, made it scarce expectable that their Order would be countermanded; that the slighting, evading or refusing to receive Petitions from the Colonies on some late Occasions by the Parliament, had occasioned a total Loss of the Respect for and Confidence in that Body, formerly subsisting so strongly in America, and brought on a Questioning of their Authority: That his Lordship might observe, Petitions came no more from thence to Parliament, but to the King only; That the King appeared to be now the only Connection between the two Countries; and that, as a continued Union was essentially necessary to the Well-being of the whole Empire, I should be sorry to see that Link weakened as the other had been: That I thought it a dangerous thing for any Government to refuse receiving Petitions, and thereby prevent the Subjects from giving Vent to their Griefs. His Lordship interrupted me by replying, that he did not refuse to deliver the Petition; that it should never be justly said of him that he intercepted he Complaints of his Majesty’s Subjects, and that he must and would present it, as he had said before, whenever I should absolutely require it; but from Motives of pure Good will to the Province, he only wish’d me not to insist on it, ’till I should receive fresh Orders. Finally, considering that since the Petition was ordered, there has been a Change in the American Administration; that the present Minister was our Friend in the Repeal of the Stamp-Act, and seems still to have good Dispositions towards us; that you had mention’d to me the Probability that the House would have remonstrated on all their other Grievances, had not their Time been taken up with the difficult Business of a general Valuation; and, since the Complaint of this Petition alone was likely to give Offence, it might perhaps be judg’d adviseable to give the Offence of all our Complaints at once, rather than in Parts and after a Reprimand received; I say, upon the whole I thought it best not to disoblige him in the Beginning of his Administration, by refusing him what he seem’d so desirous of, a Delay at least in presenting the Petition, till farther Directions should be received from my Constituents. If after Deliberation they should send me fresh Orders, I shall immediately obey them: And the Application itself may possibly derive greater Weight from the Reconsideration given it, while the Temper of the House may be thought somewhat calmed by the Removal of a Minister who had render’d himself so obnoxious to them. Accordingly I consented to the Delay desired, wherein I hope my Conduct will not be disapproved.

On this Occasion I think it fit to acquaint you that there has lately fallen into my Hands Part of a Correspondence, that i have reason to believe laid the Foundation of most if not all our present Grievances. I am not at liberty to tell thro’ what Channel I receiv’d it; and I have engag’d that it shall not be printed, nor any Copies taken of the whole or any part of it; but I am allow’d and desired to let it be seen by some Men of Worth in the Province for their Satisfaction only. In confidence of your preserving inviolably my Engagement, I send you enclos’d the original Letters, to obviate every Pretence of Unfairness in Copying, Interpolation or Omission. The Hands of the Gentlemen will be well known. Possibly they may not like such an Exposal of their Conduct, however tenderly and privately it may be managed. But if they are good Men, and agree that all good Men wish agood Understanding and Harmony to subsist between the Colonies and their Mother Country, they ought the less to regret, that at the small Expence of their Reputation for Sincerity and Publick Spirit among their Compatriots, so desirable an Event may in some degree be forwarded. For my own Part, I cannot but acknowledge, that my Resentment against this Country, for its arbitrary Measures in governing us, conducted by the late Minister, has, since my Conviction by these Papers, that those Measures were projected, advised and called for by Men of Character among ourselves, and whose Advice must therefore be attended with all the Weight that was proper to mislead, and which could therefore scarce fail of Misleading; my own Resentment, I say, has by this means been considerably abated. I therefore wish I was at Liberty to make the Letters publick; but as I am not, I can only allow them to be seen by yourself, by the other Gentlemen of the Committee of Correspondence, by Messrs. Bowdoin, and Pitts, of the Council, and Drs. Chauncey, Cooper and Winthrop, with a few such other Gentlemen as you may think it fit to show them to. After being some Months in your Possession, you are requested to return them to me.

As to the Writers, I can easily as well as charitably conceive it possible, that a Man educated in Prepossessions of the unbounded Authority of Parliament. &c. may think unjustifiable every Opposition even to its unconstitutional Exertions, and imagine it their Duty to suppress, as much as in them lies, such Opposition. But when I find them bartering away the Liberties of their native Country for Posts, and negociating for Salaries and Pensions, for which the Money is to be squeezed from the People; and, conscious of the Odium these might be attended with, calling for Troops to protect and secure the Enjoyment of them; when I see them exciting Jealousies in the Crown, and provoking it to Wrath against a great Part of its faithful Subjects; creating Enmities between the different Countries of which the Empire consists; occasioning a great Expence to the new Country for the Payment of needless Gratifications to useless Officers and Enemies; and to the old for Suppressing or Preventing imaginary Rebellions in the new; I cannot but doubt their Sincerity even in the political Principles they profess; and deem them mere Time-servers, seeking their own private Emolument thro’ any Quantity of Publick Mischief; Betrayers of the Interest, not of their Native Country only, but of the Government they pretend to serve, and of the whole English Empire. With the Greatest Esteem and Respect, I have the Honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient and most humble Servant