The Journal of the Commons House of Assembly

JULY 31, 1760745at large, the Dangers to which this Province was exposed from that Quarter, towhich his Excellency is pleased to answer that he shall in due time pay a properAttention thereto, but that at present the Troops now in this Province must solelypursue the Ends they were sent for, vizt., the most effectual Punishment of theCherokees and their Abettors. So soon as that Work is compleated, which hisExcellency cannot help repeating he wishes it was, as he has occasion for themthey must that Instant come away; wherefore he should be glad I would expeditethe compleating the Regiment which this Colony had voted for that service,which he is sorry to learn had so few Men, & half those unfit for Service. HisExcellency is pleas’d to expostulate how it can be expected, when the Provincestands so much in it’s own Light, that the Enemy can be subdued & brought toreason. That he flatters himself no endeavours of mine have been wanting toforward this most essential Service & that I shall have proved more successfulin those Endeavours than heretofore.When I consider these and our other Circumstances, I do not think it advisableor for the Interest & Service of the Province at present to act offensivelyand carry the War into the Cherokee Nation, as all their Towns which can beeasily approached, have been destroyed by Colonel Montgomery & a furtherpenetration must be purchased with great Loss and could produce little if anyAdvantage. I should therefore think it most proper to calculate our Measuresfor a defensive Plan of Operations. And by this delaying the Indians would bereduced to the want of necessary Cloathing as well as Ammunition. I am thereforeof Opinion if I could engage the keeping only a Part of ColonelMontgomery’s Detachment here, our frontier Settlements & Forts will be countenancedand supported with a proper destination of our Rangers. In consequenceof this Opinion I sent off an Express last Evening to ColonelMontgomery to desire that he would order a Part of the Detachment under hisCommand to remain here for that purpose. And General Amherst availing himselfof so considerable a Reinforcement as he wou’d receive from those who wereembarked, I am in hopes, would be more readily induced on any future Occasion,even this Winter, to send us a Reinforcement, and wou’d not think me unreasonablein my request, or Colonel Montgomery incur any blame for complying with it.But now, Gentlemen, on the other Hand I think it my duty to recommendto You to make some suitable provision for encouraging Men to inlistin the new, as well as some Fund for recruiting and filling up the old ProvincialTroops to the number of three Hundred, that we may stand justifiedbefore the World in using our utmost Endeavours to exert ourselves withEffect, & to carry into execution those liberal Votes and Provisions which youhave so wisely made for the defence of our Country.31st July 1760.William Bull.