Correspondence of Governor Sharpe. 427

his Confession together with a Copy of a Letter he wrote to
his Wife soon after he was committed to Prison which will
shew what People he is connected with there & perhaps lead
to a Discovery of other Crimes. On its being represented to
Me that the Sheriff of Frederick was apprehensive an Attempt
might be made to rescue Depriest & one Jn^o Cox who had
been also committed on a like Suspicion I have ordered them
to be brought hither & secured in this Jail till next April when
they will be remanded to Frederick County Assises but I much
question whether there will then be sufficient Evidence to
convict them tho Circumstances against them are exceeding
strong ; Should any Discoveries be. made in the mean time
that may subject them to punishment in Virginia you will be
pleased to give me timely Notice that an Order might issue
for their being delivered up to a Virginia Officer. Since I
am writing to you I cannot help taking some Notice of a Piece
which M^r Rind your Colony Printer thought fit to publish in
his Gazette of the 24^th Ult. replete so far as it relates to me or
to Transactions here with Misrepresentations & absolute
Falshoods. M^r Rind may perhaps think every Printer has a
Right & ought to publish whatever Paper is sent him be it
ever so personal & abusive tho he should himself disbelieve
the Allegations it may contain but to you Sir I am persuaded
such Conduct will not appear in a very good light, & that his
affixing M^r Grymes's Name to the piece does not entirely
exculpate himself. The unhappy Circumstances into which
M^r Grimes hath brought himself & the Chagrine occasioned
by the melancholly prospect before him seem to have put him
almost beside himself & to have rendered him an object of
Pity rather than of ones Resentment, nor do I think it at all
necessary to give any answer in a publick manner to any
thing he has advanced but if his Ruin hath been at all precipi-
tated by the Naval Officers seizing his Vessel here he should
consider that his own shuffling disingenuous Conduct for
several years past & his entire Disregard of our Laws laid M^r
Ridout under the necessity of acting in that Manner, I am
sure that instead of Rigour he has been treated here on many
Occasions with great Indulgence, infinitely greater than he
deserved or had a Right to expect. His Assertion that a
Precept was obtained here from Me to seize some of his
Slaves is I find a direct Falshood & tho I suppose what he
insinuates of my ordering a Demand to be made on the
Manager for the Shippers Wages be as well founded as
many other of his Assertions or Insinuations I do assure you
I was not apprized of any such Claims being made or to be
made, much less of a Suit to be brought till sometime after
the Writ had been served, my Servant who presented the

Letter Bk. III