Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 3
I have had so much drugery (signing Bills &c.) to do, that I have not had oppo
The affair of Petre, does not succeed to our wishes; but we go on making experiments, & hope we shall get into the best method: at Connecticutt they succeed better, as we are told, & a Comtee. is going thither to obtain all the knowlede they have. At Newbury, as I hear, they are seting up large works, under the direction of Mr. Peck, who has made some very good Petre.
Mr. G— has no appointment yet, which will provide for a Family, but I hope some opening will soon appear for his advantage; he has certainly exerted himself much, & deserves to be noticed.
Just now one Mr. Phips of Sherburne brot. about 1/2 Peck Petre, made by himself; says that there is much labour attending the Process, but no other difficulty attending it; & speaks very encourageing of the Manufr.1 Also just now passed a Resolve for 7/ Lmo. per lb.2 ‘till June next, for all the S P made in the Colony. Phipp’s S P is not refined, & is said to appear better than any other that has been inspected, but it snaps too much: However, according to Doctr. Shaw,3 the refining is a plain simple process, & the common salt seperates from the S P in the Operation. Shaw speaks from experimts. made by himself abt. the year 1733.
I must write a few Lines to our other Friends, & have not time to write much of any matter to any One.
11th. By Our Armed Vessels, Boats, & Wrecks, we have possession of 8 or 10 of the Enemies Cargoes lately. One from Ireland brot us the Budget now sent to the Congress by Mr. Revere; this will probably give you some trouble; but I hope that Your Plan was ripen’d for such an event4; No one can now have any thing to hope or fear from a favourable reception of the Petition last sent: But my hopes now rise in favor of liberty; & it lies with your Congress to set us free, free from a Charter which has been a curse to our Fathers as well as us. I weep, I deeply mourn being seper107ated from G B, but I think it looks as if we must be forever seperated. If She calls in foreign aid to Shackle us, may not we seek for help, from both God & Man, in such a righteous cause.
Adieu my dear Sir, & believe me to remain your Sincere Frd.
J. Adams, W. Cushing, W. Read, R. T. Paine, & N. P. Sargeant, Judges of S
Jedediah Phips appeared at the House of Representatives on Nov. 1 to announce his “important Improvements in the Manufacture of Salt-Petre” and “his entire readiness to communicate every Discovery he had made.” The House hired Phips for six weeks to join with its committee (composed of Dr. William Whiting, Dea. Baker of Bolton, and Capt. John Peck) to go to Newburyport “and use his utmost Efforts ... to make further Improvements in the Art of manufacturing said Commodity” (Journals of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, 51, pt. 1:218–219).
Seven shillings legal money per pound.
Probably Dr. Peter Shaw in Elementa Chemiæ (2d ed.; London, 1741), which is cited in RTP’s 1768 catalogue of his library as “Shaw’s Institute of Chymestry 2 Vols.”
This probably refers to the intercepted letters from Ireland mentioned by Edward Rutledge. “We find by them that Adminstration are determined at all Events to attempt the Reduction of America, that Boston will be made strong by 22 or 25000 Men in the Course of this Winter & the Spring—that Lord Kinmare has added to the King’s Bounty that of 10/6 per Man for all who shall inlist under Major Roche—that the City of Corke has followed the Example but more extensively, that Lord Bellamount has the Direction of the Recruiting parties in that part of the Kingdom—that the Roman Catholic Priests have been applied to to stimulate their Flocks against us, which they have promised to do, if the Regiments to be raised be officer’d by Gentn. of their religious pLetters of Delegates, 2:390).