Resolve for that sum, they could not in Honr pass this as a
Rider to a Money Bill for a Supply to His Majesty which is
inconstitutional & therefore rejected it. I took all the Pains in
my Power to convince them of the Irregularity of their Pro-
ceedings by acquainting them that the Resolve for that sum
with their other resolves, lay now with the King & Council; it
was therefore out of our Hands & we could not meddle with it
till we heard the Determination of the Council thereon; but
all the Arguments I cou'd use availed Nothing, they were
obstinate & by no means wou'd send the Bill without the Rider
to the Council, on which I was obliged to prorogue them till
the 17th of October, when I hope they will come in better Tem-
per; & before that Time I expect a Kings Ship with Mr Dobbs
Govr of N. Carolina, & by him probably shall have Acct of all
the Affairs that lie before the Council.
The Plan of operations that I proposed for this Fall are
entirely defeated. Ist By the N. Carolina Forces disbanding
themselves; which was occasioned by a monstrous mismanage-
ment of them from the Beginning: They raised 12,000 the
President of that Colony gave the private Men 3/ Procla Money
p Day, & the officers in Proportion, so that their Money was
wholly expended before they joined the other Forces, & wou'd
serve no longer without Assurance of the above Pay; This is
monstrous ill Conduct, & the more so, because I wrote the
President the Establishment of the Pay of our Forces. Next is
the reduction of the Number of our regiment those killed &
the Wounded unfit for Service, & Desertion, which has reduced
their Number to 150. — If the 20,000 had passed, I fully
intended to augment our regiment to eight Companies of 70
Men each, which, with officers wanted, wou'd have made 600
Men, & in course made up the Deficiency occasioned by the N.
Carolina People; but the obstinacy of our Assembly has
defeated my Intentions, & am now perswaded that no Expedi-
tion can be conducted here, with Dependence on American
Assemblies, I have therefore wrote to that Purpose Home, &
have proposed a British Act of Parliament, to compell the Sub-
jects here to obedience to His Majesty's Cornands, & to pro-
tect their Properties from the Insults of the French, by proper
supplies & a vigorous resistance, who no doubt will take
advantage of our Divisions, & I much dread their Incursions
among our Inhabitants this Winter.
Under these great Disappointments, I determine to keep the
few People we have in Pay; & propose one hundred of them
to march to Wills's Creek, to join the Independt Companies, &
to endeavour to secure a Pass over the Allegany Mountains by
erecting a Fort leaving a sufficient Number of Men therein with
a proper Quantity of Provisions to facilitate our operations next
|
