20^th of March 1758—
Sir I do myself the honour to acknowledge the Receit of Your
Letter dated at N York the 15^th Inst. & also to inform you
that in Consequence of M^r Pitts Letters of the 30^th of Decem^r
our Assembly is to meet here on Thursday next when you
may be assured I will use my utmost endeavours to obtain as
large a Number of Men as possible for the Service of the
ensuing Campaign but at the same time I think it my Duty to
tell you that I am afraid the Assembly will not be prevailed
on to exert themselves in such a manner as you seem to
expect. It was not without the greatest Difficulty that I could
persuade them last Spring to augment our Troops to 500 tho
each of the neighbouring Colonies at the same time engaged
to raise & support more than double that Number & because
the Earl of Loudoun kept some of these 500 all last Summer
as a Garrison in Fort Cumberland the Assembly when they
met again in October pretended to be much dissatisfied tho
our Frontiers had in fact been effectually secured by that Dis-
tribution of them & when I desired them to make farther Pro-
vision for their Support they were so far from complying
with my Request as to Resolve that they never would pay or
victual any Forces which should be placed in Fort Cumberland
& moreover to insist that our Troops should be forthwith
reduced to 300 men. After some time they prepared a Bill
for raising money to support that number but the Gentⁿ of the
Upper House refused to accept or pass it because it did not
appear to them to be so much calculated to promote His
Majesty's Service as to introduce dangerous Innovations into
our Constitution, & because by restraining the Service of the
Troops which they proposed to keep up it infringed His
Majesty's Prerogative. When I found that the two Houses
of Assembly would not agree on a Bill for the Support of our
Forces I informed the Earl of Loudoun how matters stood &
intreated him to order some other Troops to Fort Cumberland
lest the Garrison that was then there should upon hearing
that the Assembly would not support them disband them-
selves & the Fort with its Artillery be thereby abandoned to
the Enemy, but as the winter was now far advanced & the
Roads to Fort Cumberland become almost impracticable His
Ldp was pleased to engage for the Payment of our Troops as
long as they should continue to garrison that place & Col^o
Stanwix gave orders for their being supplied with as much
Provision as they might stand in need of. Upon this Footing
have our Men remained ever since the 8^th of October last but
I am afraid the Officers will not be able to keep them together