Robert Treat Paine Papers, Volume 4
I1 am Necessiated to Trouble you at this Time, for some advice in my Department as Agent for Indians as well as Commanding Officer.
The Great Expence which the States are at in furnishing a Truck House & Other Supplys for the Eastern Indians, may be Attributed to the Degenericy of many of the Inhabitants who seem to have Lost all Sience of Virtue, Quiting the Public Wellfare, so as to Stick at Nothing to Accumalate Riches.
The General Court of this State has been peculiarly Indulgent in this Departmt., and tho’ many very Necessary Articles Coud not be procured, Still we have been pretty well of for the Staple Commoditys of Life. The Indians have in General Pretty well Satisfy’d and have become Warmly Attach’d to Amarica, I have been compelled to be very Lavish with them, RTP46 for in time of War, they are more Carless then at other times & thinks that they must be Supplyed without Restraint, when in Want, much Clamour Takes Place & often Departures.
Shoud they Distroy or Dispose of their Property to any person in Liquor & not Git the Quarter Value, they Lay the Blame when in their Common Siences, to the White people, and from some Imprudent step of an Inhabitant, they think General Washington is as much Concern’d as the person who Injures them.
They tell you, that when they do any thing out of the way it is the Consequence of being in the Service, & that if they were allowed to go where they pleased they woud have no body to Blame. But now when they Loose any matter it must be made good.
By this it may be seen the States Stores is the Resaurse, & notwithstanding the Resolves of the Court, the repeated requests I have made for People to Desist Trading with the Indians & Selling Rum, they Dispise every thing that is done & Said, & Does Constantly pratise Disposing of Spirituous Liquors for Articles more in Value by a 1000 pr. ct. This Occations a Multitude of Evils, Often Cannot send intended Expresses, & a Veriety of business I have to do Often Omitted, Often Insulted in my House & Sometimes a day togeather Cannot do business of Importance. It Impovershes the Indians, they sell every thing for Rum, which makes full 100 pr. ct. odds in Supplying them.
The General Court has passed two resolves, the Last £50 penalty, but how it is to be prosecuted I Know not, the Last Year I had Two Actions before a Majestrate an Appeal was made to Pawnalboro’ Court, I sent the papers & Word to the Gentleman who Acted as States Attorney, but the Business was Sett aside, and myself to pay all Expences.
My Time will not allow me to inquire accurately into these matters. I Can Gite no body (I must Confess) to Confide in, or I woud not Trouble you, must Now pray for your Interposition and if not Inconvenient Give me Directions what are the suitable Steps to take, & how the matter is to be proved, wheather an Indians Oath will do, for if not there may be Never Another way to Come at it, & Such other Necessary Advice requesite to Stop this Great Evil.
I must further pray your advice respecting persons, taking the Liberty of Going Backwards & forwards Eastward. I have Apprehended Several, Complained to the Committee to have them Bound, or otherwise secured According to their Offences, allso Torys & others Disaffected. Their Answer 47 is generally that they think they have no Authority for so Doing, that as a Commanding Officer is here, it is not for them to Say any thing about it.
This appears to me Intirely Erroneous, for I have been learnt to look to the Civil Power allways first, & as a Military person stand ready to Assist. I have Endeavourd to make them Sencible of the Jurisdiction & Authority of a Committee, but they will Lay all on me—& must Confess I have been Necessiated to act In my opinion Contrary to my Duty, & probable Subject myself to prosecutions.
This Department is very Precarious & Criticial, it is the Bounderys of the United States Eastward, Connections & An Intercourse is keep up with many within the Viccinity of Nova Scotia several of whome looks on themselves to be under the protection of the States, others Zealous Torys. This Situation Gives an Opportunity of Intilligence Going to the Enemy, for the Vorocious appitites of many here after Gain is such, they will deal with any person & do any thing for that End.
Several Persons refugees from Nova Scotia makes an Excuse to go & see their familys, they with many others here goes & Comes as they Please, some has friends to the Westward, some Gits Letters of Recommendation & Various Excuses, people being Credilous here & afraid to disoblige takes no Notice. Many dares every Authority, & where they have private Prejudices will Exaggerate & do every thing to Aggravate, to force Severity, upon the whole the Burden Lays on myself, I must Either Act the Justice, Committee & Constable, or Tolerate an Open Intercourse with Nova Scotia. From this, I request your advice how to Act in this matter & if it is proper for me to Take Bonds &c. for Every person Convicted or Suspected, to Stop Going to Nova Scotia, take up any when they return, & what in General to be Done to secure these parts, from the Mal proceedings of such persons, in a way Consistent with my Duty as Commg. Officer.
I woud Allso take the Liberty to Inform you of some Horrid Depredations Committed by small Privatiers on the Coast of Nova Scotia. There is no person more Zealous to Distress our Cruil Enemys then myself, but as a Subject of the United States, I fell a resentment when I see any thing done which reflects Dishonor on the Cause, By persuing measures, which are Utterly Condem’d by Civilized nations & Contrary to the Honor Necessary to be followed in Time of War.
Lett Steps what will be taken respecting Nova Scotia, must be Conducted with the Greatest Dilicacy, if any thing is Intented to reduce it to 48 the Obediance of the States. Shoud it be Tolerated to Distroy the Interest of Torys, the Connections & Intercoarse of all ranques of People are Such, that the Greatest friends to the Cause will be Sufferers—if to Distroy in General because being in a British Goverment, I Coud wish timely notice might be Given Our Friends to Remove.
Capt. West with Two Whale Boats under the Appelation of the Schooner Congress2 arrived here a few days ago from a Cruize in Menas Bason.3 I Tremble to think of the Conequence. It is Uncertain to me what he has done, for they Act so much with deception that perticulars Cannot be Known, he secreted the Plunder at the Mouth of the Harbor, has Distributed most of it among his men, a Considerable of which has been bro’t up here, I understood he was afraid I woud Stop Him, so has pushed of.
I find he has been at Cornwallis, broke into one William Best Esqr.4 House Secured the Family (Mr. Best being at Halifax) & Took every thing Valuable Article of furniture they Coud bring of. This Mr. Best is a man a long time Employ’d in Government as a Master Mason, tho’ never heard of his being forward against Amarica, he has been a great Means of bringing that part of Nova Scotia to what it is, has Aided & supported many Destress’d familys Particularly Capt. West & his Family has often Assisted. His only son is marry’d to Mr. Filles Daughter a Distinguished person in Nova Scotia for his attachment to the United States. How far Mr. West may be Countenanced in this I Cannot say, But It will Certainly Occation such a Tumult in that Country As to Give the Loyalist an oppo. of Gluting their revenge on the Whigs. The Militia without Doubt will be raised & people Necessited to take Care of their own property, so as to Subject themselves to every Difficulty shoud the States think proper to send an Army in that Country.
The Commission Mr. West had I am Ashamed to say, that there is any man who lives under the Protection of the Laws of the States, woud so Trample upon the resolves & orders Congress, it was Issued before Independance was Declared, & is razed, Defaced, & Interlined, in a very Ignoble & Dishonorable Manner—I hope Authority will Stop such Proceedings.
I am afraid by this time you will think me Troublesome Letagious, but relying on your Candour & your Zeal & Attention to what Concerns the Interest & Honor of the United States, that you will please Excuse the Leberty I take & the Incorrectness, being in Much Hurry.5 49
I prosume it woud be very Necessary to Steer the Committees this way. If Convenient a Lesson to them Woud be very Seasonable.
John Allan (1747–1805), son of a British army officer in Nova Scotia, held various offices there in Cumberland County including sheriff, justice of the peace, and clerk of the Supreme Court. However, his loyalties lay further to the south, and after failing to convince Massachusetts to militarily support an uprising in Nova Scotia, Allan moved his family to Maine in 1776, settling at Machias. He personally appeared before the Continental Congress in Jan. 1777 to discuss the Nova Scotia situation and the possibility of organizing Indian assistance in the cause. Throughout the war, Allan remained active in supporting war efforts in Maine (Dictionary of Canadian Biography).
Jabez West, who like Allan moved from Nova Scotia to Machias, was commissioned by the Massachusetts Council as commander of the privateer schooner Congress on July 18, 1778 (Mass. Soldiers and Sailors of the Rev. War, 16:894).
The Minas Basin is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia.
William Best (d. 1782) had originally settled in Halifax but moved to Cornwallis by 1759 (Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, The History of King’s County, Nova Scotia [Salem, Mass., 1910], 564–565).
Allan’s letter to Jeremiah Powell as president of the Massachusetts Council, dated Aug. 17, is published in Documentary History of the State of Maine. Collections of the Maine Historical Society, 2d ser., 16:71–74.