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The Money that had been disbursed for raising and cloathing the
Company of Soldiers commanded by Capt. Dagworthy, and to pay
the Officers and Men to a certain Day in February, amounted to
upwards of £2000 and it was estimated, that several contingent
Charges (Accounts of some of which had been delivered in to me,
and others not) would amount to upwards of £1000 more, so that
there was by the Estimate I had then made, very little more than
£1000 remaining and unengaged of the whole £6000 which had been
granted in the preceding Summer. After the Assembly was Prorogued
(which it was the 26th of March) I sent, according to Custom, for the
several Letters, and for all the Papers, that I had laid before the
House during the Session, they were accordingly all returned to me ;
but whether those Papers were sent or brought to me by the Clerk
of the House, or the Clerk of the Committee, I cannot say I at this
Time perfectly remember, the Transaction having happened near
Three Years ago. After the Conclusion of the Session, there was
likewise returned to me, as usual, a Copy of the Journal of the Pro-
ceedings of the Lower House during that Session; and on perusing
it, I found therein, a Report of a Committee which had been ap-
pointed to examine the Papers that I had laid before the House with
my Message of the 26th of February. It appeared that the Report
had not been concurred with by the House, and for that Reason I
suppose was never Printed in the Journal; but as I perceived that the
Committee had made many Remarks on Colonel Cresap's Papers,
Estimates or Accounts, or whatever you will be pleased to call them,
and Reported that many of his Charges were Extravagant, I thought
it was very proper he should be acquainted with the Committee's
Opinion of him, and therefore I took a Copy thereof, and ordered
Mr. Ridout to send it to the Colonel, together with the said Papers,
by the first Opportunity of Conveyance, and at the same Time to
desire, that he would immediately call in all the Accounts of the
People from whom he had purchased any Thing for the Use of the
Troops, and that he would then make out and send down, with proper
Vouchers, a regular, methodical, and clear Account of every Thing
that he had purchased, and of the Money which he had paid, for any
Services done by my Order.
If it should be still insisted on by any Person, that these Papers
of Colonel Cresap's were really Accounts, I shall only say, that
whatever Light they may have appeared in to any one else, I did not
consider them as such, when I laid them before the House; and for
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L.H.J.
Liber No. 40
Dec. is
p. 200
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this I appeal to Mr. Waggaman, a Member of your House, who was
one of that Committee, and remembers, that during the Session held
in February 1755, I Declared, that by sending those Papers to the
House, I intended nothing more than to shew what Colonel Cresap's
Demand, on a Settlement, might in all Probability be. But let it be
supposed they were returned by Col. Cresap as proper Accounts,
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p. 201
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