SAMUEL OSGOOD TO JAMES BOWDOIN.*

NEW YORK, June 20th, 1785.

SIR, Whenever any event takes place which tends greatly to promote the true interests of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, my affection for her will not permit me to refrain from expressing sentiments of the most sincere satisfaction. Among the many instances which have inspired me with gratitude to Heaven for a favorable interposition, there are a few of that importance that they will never fail to make the deepest impressions on my mind.

The surrender of the British army at Saratoga.

The approbation of the good people of Massachusetts of the frame of government that was proposed to them. The termination of the late war in the acknowledgement of the independence of the United States of America; & a treaty of peace much more favorable than many expected.

These were great & happy events. And permit me, Sir, to add one to the number which must afford every virtuous man sincere pleasure, because it is an evidence of the wisdom & virtue of the Commonwealth, which is that of your Excellency's appointment to & acceptance of the chair of government.

Notwithstanding the limitation of power, yet your Excellency will have a great opportunity of displaying the true principles of a virtuous republican patriot, by a uniform adherence to the spirit of our excellent constitution, which I am sure will be adopted by you as a rule. not to be varied from in your administration.

That plain, unaffected conduct which marked you as

* Samuel Osgood was born in Andover, Mass., Feb. 14, 1748, graduated at Harvard College in 1770, and died in New York Aug. 12, 1813. He took a very active part in public affairs, and filled many important offices under the State and the national governments. See Appleton's Cyclopædia of American Biography, vol. iv. p. 600.- Eds.

one of the most worthy of the private citizens, because it evidenced a disposition not to procure preferment by undue means, will be equally valuable in public life, where example is frequently productive of the most happy consequences.

Without knowledge & virtue in the people as well as their magistrates, a republican government may become more oppressive & more dangerous than almost any other kind of government. It is therefore sincerely to be wished that they may be placed in such an advantageous point of light as to render them estimable in the highest degree. And I flatter myself that in this view, as in all others, your Excellency will be peculiarly instrumental in promoting the happiness of the Commonwealth; and in having done this, I doubt not, you will have obtained the ultimate object of your wishes.

I have to request that your Excellency will pardon me for intruding thus far; and that you will believe me to be, with sentiments of the greatest respect,

Your Excellency's most obedient servant.

The Inhabitants of the Town of Newbury Port beg leave to express to your Excellency their great satisfaction at your promotion to the place of first Magistrate of this Commonwealth.

The critical state of our commerce and the weight of public debt that presses us demand the strictest attention to every commercial and economical principle that may extricate us from our embarrassed situation; and it gives us the greatest pleasure to reflect that we

have by the blessing of Heaven a Governor whose abilities, integrity, and unremitted attention to the interests of the people, will provide every remedy in the power of the supreme executive authority of this Commonwealth.

When we look back to your Excellency's conduct during the administrations of the late royal governors, at a time when the rights and liberties of the people were struggling against the encroachments of ambition and the lust of power, when secret influence aided by all the douceurs in the gift of royalty was making large strides to divide and oppress us; we find your Excelleney, unawed by power, unseduced by the flattering attentions. of its artful minions, uniformly employed in stemming the torrent of corruption and in supporting the priviledges and freedom of your country. We cannot therefore but view it as an auspicious omen to our fellow citizens, that at this time the same gentleman is placed in the chair of government, that he may contribute to the preserving and continuing of those political blessings he was so greatly instrumental in procuring. We hope your Excellency will not consider this address as indicating an inclination to enjoy the particular attentions of the supreme Magistrate. We know your Excellency too well to expect any other advantages from your administration than what we shall receive in common with our fellow citizens; and it is our own opinion that such advantages only have we a right to expect. We are however fully sensible that the best administration of the several powers of government will not alone render a people happy. They must contribute to this benevolent design by a steady adherence to the principles of piety, religion, and morality: these principles ought to be widely diffused and deeply implanted. And it gives us sincere pleasure that the tenor of your Excellency's life exhibits a distinguished example worthy of our imitation. As the powers with which your Excellency is invested by the Constitution are a trust

delegated by the people, to be employed for their benefit, we beg your Excellency to be assured that in the application of them you shall receive from us every assistance we can afford you, necessary to render your administration honourable to yourself and useful to the public. By order and in behalf of the Town,

At a legal meeting of the freeholders & other inhabitants of the Town of Newburyport, by law quallified to vote in Town affairs, held this seventh day of July, a. D. 1785.

Whereas, the Town at this meeting, have ordered an address signed by the Select Men on their behalf to be presented to his Excellency the Governor,

Voted, that Honb' Nath" Tracy, Theophilus Parsons, and Honb1 Tristram Dalton, Esqrs, be a Committee to present the same.

Attest. M. HODGE, Town Clerk.

JAMES BOWDOIN TO GEORGE CLINTON.*

HIS EXCY GEORGE CLINTON, ESQ.,

BOSTON, July 18, 1785.

Gov' of ye State of New York.

SIR, The enclosed order of the Legislature of this Commonwealth will shew to yr Exc' their sense of the proceedings of the Legislature of the State of New York in regard to the territory lying to the westward of Hudson's river, and claimed by this State.

* Printed from a rough draught in Bowdoin's handwriting, with numerous interlineations and corrections. - EDS.

An attempt by either State to purchase of the natives their right in that territory, and to dispose of, grant, or settle any part of it, while their respective claims, (submitted to the decision of commissioners mutually chosen, under the authority of Congress) remain undecided, would, as we conceive, be judged by the States disinterested as altogether improper. And the impropriety of such a measure in itself considered, but especially considered in relation to the confederation, and the principles upon which that is bottomed, prevented this State from adopting it.

Though it appears by the New York newspapers, that your Excy with the other commissioners of the land office had returned from Fort Herkimer, having there held a treaty with the Oneida and other Indians, in pursuance of an act of the Legis. of New York, and accomplished your business very successfully, we cannot entertain a thought that either your Exc or your Legislature can intend, or will suffer, the cession or grant of lands made to your State by those Indians to operate in any respect whatever to the disadvantage of this Commonwealth.

By that Act passed y° 11th of April last for facilitating the settlement of the waste lands claimed to be within ye State of New York, it appears that the measures for accomplishing that business are to be pursued with great dispatch; and for that purpose that y° Surveyor General was directed by it to remove his office by the first of June (last) to Albany.

You will permit me to observe here, that although the Legislature of this State have no right to intermeddle in matters out of their jurisdiction, yet as your Exc must know or have reason to think that the said Act and the proceedings in consequence of it, have respect to a territory claimed by this State, they will not incur your censure for the order they have passed on yo occasion; and you will think it my duty to request, and accordingly in the name and behalf of the Legislature of this State, I