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442 Correspondence of Governor Sharpe.
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Letter Bk. III
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disappointed for to speak the Truth I never expected to be
reimbursed any Part of the money which I had expended on
the Journeys therein mentioned. In a Letter I received a few
Days ago from Mr Dinwiddie he tells me that he had talked
with you on a Proposal to bring me back again into the Army,
as I flatter myself that what he said was out of regard to me
I must return him Thanks for his kind Endeavours to have
that accomplished which he imagined was agreeable to my
Wishes, he likewise tells me that he has found a good Deal
of Difficulty in getting his accounts passed but that at last he
has obtained his quietus. I am very far from thinking that
Govr Denny did well in Selling without having first taken
good Advice thereon so many Flags of Truce to enable the
Merchts of Phila to go into the Enemys Ports in Hispaniola &
purchase Sugars there for the European Marketts, but at the
same time I do not entertain so ill an opinion of those who
were concerned in that Trade as you seem to do, for I cannot
help thinking that it was for the Interest of Great Britain in
general since the Profitts to those that carried it on amounted
to much more than the French Planters got for their Sugars,
which were mostly purchased with Manufactures brought to
N America from Great Britain & being sent to Europe in
English Bottoms were sold at Leghorn, Genoa, Amsterdam,
& other Forreign Ports as I have been told for Cash which
was remitted from those Places to G. Britain to purchase
more Goods there for the same Trade, & the Consumption of
N America. Those Gentlemen whose Interest lies in the
British Sugar Islands may possibly have in some measure suf-
fered by it because it prevented their Sugars Selling at such
extravagant Prices as they would otherwise have done, but
then as most of their Sugars would have been still consumed
in G Britain & these Colonies (for they could not supply both
the English & Foreign Marketts) the Inhabitants of Great
Britain must have been impoverished just so much the more
to make the West Indians more rich, & if the Value of their
Estates is not vastly exaggerated they are in my Opinion
wealthy enough already & I think every Body must be of the
same opinion who sees the Interest they at this time have
in the House of Commons, while I believe there is not one
Gentln there whose Estate lies in North America. I have been
assured that Sugars at this time sell here at almost double the
Price they did twenty years ago, owing in a great measure to
the vast Increase of People on this Continent while the Pro-
duce of North America such as Corn & Lumber that is sent
to the Sugar Islands is sold at a less Price than ever, because
the Consumption of those Articles in the Islands is the same
now as it was then & therefore we are now obliged to remit
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