“Yours of
Sep.r
3.d came safe to hand; and
I would now inform you, that if
M.r Oliver and
M.r Pemberton understood, that those small Circumstances which I
men‐
‐tioned as being untrue, in your Letter to
M.r Mauduit,
were the only, or chief objections I had against that
Letter,
they were much mistaken. I heard the Letter but one read,
And did not
think I was thereby well qualified to point out
the things which seemed at first
view, either aſserted or plainly
suggested therein, which were very unfriendly both to my
character, and to the Deſign which
M.r Whitaker was gone upon:
Nor did I think it would have been
modest in me, after such
strong Aſsertions, as they repeatedly made “that there was not
a word, nor suggestion
therein, unfavourable to any Cha‐
‐racter, or to
M.r Whitakers design,” to contradict them without
a further
Examination of what was written; but I aſsure
you, Sirs, that had I not apprehended there were things, both
untrue,
and unfriendly to
M.r Whitaker’s,
M.r Occom’s and my
own characters, and alſo to
M.r Whitakers design; I should not
^[left]have^ so earnestly desired a copy of it. And I now aſsure you, sirs,
that I apprehend there is not one material Article narrated
in that Letter that is true, excepting that
M.r Occom was a Mohegan,
which I never yet heard denied, and which
I had long before
your said letter, published in my narrative, 1700 Copies of
which
(If I mistake not) were printed at
Boston, and sent into all your
Country round about you.
And if you will pleaſe to favour me with a Copy of it, and I dont make it appear that there is not
one material Article in that letter that does not contain groſs falsehood I will freely confeſs I did not understand it when it was read to me. — And if I dont find
such things expreſsed
or
or at least plainly intimated in it, as both Friends, and Enemies
in
England, reaſonably
underſtood to be unfriendly, and deſign‐
‐edly conveyed by it, I will faithfully inform them of their
mistake, and
cheerfully do what I can to retrieve the —
Injury which your characters sustain
by their misunder‐
‐standing your letter.
As to what you say “this day came to your
Knowledge viz. my attempting to take
James
Dean away from you &c
by promising to take him into my school &c.
I answer. By word & letter from
Boston. I was
repeat‐
‐edly informed that
James Dean
deſigned to leave your
service, being diſsatisfied that you refused to give
him such an Education as you had encouraged
him
to expect, and sent his desire to me to take him, to which
I made no reply
at all. After some Time the
Rev.d
M.rHopkins wrote me at
Deans desire that I would take
him, — in answer to which I let
him know
that I would
do nothing to get him out of your hands — but
in caſe
he should be discharged from you I ſhould be willing to
take him, and treat him, as I did the rest of my english
scholars — and that what I wrote might be no inducement
to his leaving you; I
wrote that I should expect Bonds
for his entering upon and purſuing the Busineſs
proposed, which I had heard, you had offer’d, and he
had refused, and which I should not have mentioned
if it had
not been for the Reason I have given.
After this I saw
M.r
Moſeley your miſsionary, &
discourſed with him about it (but not as a Confident
or Councellor in any plot against you, but as I should
have discourſed with you yourselves, if I had been fa‐
‐voured with
the same opportunity) I told him I should
be glad to have the young man, if he left
you, but
told him I had no disposition to undermine you, or
defeat you of his
service, or to do any thing that could
be thought underhanded, or not fair, and above board;
and
to this purpose
M.r
Moſeley said repeatedly in my house,
last week, before sufficient Witneſses, y
t he had told you.
I
I never saw
M.r Dean, nor his Father y
t I know of in my Life.
and I dont remember to have discoursed with any but
those two
Gentlemen on the affair. where then you got that
Knowledge of my
doings in this Matter, I cant conceive. I think it must be from
some body who had no Knowledge of it himſelf.
I could no doubt have taken him out of your hands, by
speaking the
word, at any Time after you sent him into your
service, ‘till that very day on which that
fact viz. that I
had
been attempting to get him out of your hands, came
to your Knowledge; and nothing
ever prevented my doing
it, but y
e consideration y
t it would disoblige you. —
As to my not drawing with you in this Affair, the
Complaint is now,
having never heard it ‘till I was
last at
Boston, from
M.r Oliver, not as his own, but as
what he had from others —
And am now so far from
being conscious of the Justice of the Charge, that I
really
believe it may be found on search, to lie on y
e other side.
But it would be with the greateſt reluctance, If I should
ever be constrained to
[illegible][guess: make] up what has been said and
done on
your side, which I could understand
[illegible][guess: in a] other light, and which have been concealed on
purpose
that no difference might appear between us. And I do
aſsure you, sirs, I have the greatest Reluctance to
a controverſie with you, Gentlemen, whom I love, &
honour, and especially, as there are some of your number,
particularly
M.r Oliver, &
M.r
Cushing, of whom I never
think, but with the kindest
sentiments of gratitude
for the past expreſsions of their friendship towards the
Important Cause I have been pursuing. And I
believe
I shall ever be disposed to acknolwedge the same, in
the fulleſt and strongest Terms, whatever prejudices,
or ill opinions they may conceive
of me.
I am so far from being fond of controversie, that notwithstanding the reports of great Injury done me, and the
Cause, by your letter, I had determined not to trouble my head about it, but
leave the Issue & consequence of it with the great
Governor
Governor of the Universe; nor
^ſhould^ I have taken pains to hear
the letter, had not
M.r Oliver, by his letter of
July
6,
without any motion of mine, kindly Envited me to
hear it, that I might be convinced there was nothing
contained
in it unfavourable, either to Characters, or
M.r Whitakers design. And I dont determine to this
Day, but that,
Friends and Enemies at home, and
particularly
the
venerable Society to whom it
was wrote, have all mistaken the true
Import,
Aim, design, and Tendency of that Letter, and
if so, I should be glad
for your sakes that it might
appear. as I am sincerely
Much Hon
d
ſirs,