I wrote you the other Day under many
disadvantages of Body and Mind, and upon Recollection find I
gave but a very imperfect answer to your Letter, I men‐
tioned a Bill drawn in favour of
Mr. Breed for £160 I should
have said £180 And with respect to Bills to be drawn for
the future, as
Mr.
Moses Peck
watchmaker is my factor in
Boston, it may be necessa‐
ry that he should sometimes draw in my Stead which Bills I would
pray you to honour as if signed by myself, and no others unless
further advised, As to large sums for building that must re‐
‐main in suspense
'til I have further Advice from you, or 'til
God in his Providence shall point out the most convenient place
to fix the School, which I wait to have determined by its friends
on your side the Water, and
that for this reason, because so large numbers
have interested
themselves in that Matter and each party so
engaged
to have it in the place they have respectively fixed upon, and
many viewing the advantages and
conveniences of each place in so par‐
‐tial a manner that great
numbers must
necessarily be disobliged
let it be fixed where it will, and perhaps some disagreeable reflec‐
tions and
censures be incurred if it should be determined by myself
which may be of real and
lasting
disservice to the cause,
it has therefore been my declared purpose to refer the Determination of this matter to
its most important friends
with you. I wait in hopes
there may be
an opening to the
westward
which may exhibit such
prospects as
shall
outbid all others, I am waiting for an answer
from
Mr. Brainerd relative thereto, I wonder to hear nothing more from
Gen. Lyman, you kindly proposed the sending me a list of the most
important subscribers to this design, which I apprehend may be of real
Service, and accordingly Shall hope to be favoured with it in your Next X X Please
Sir
also to advise what gentlemen or whether any are to be addressed with my thanks on that head and whether
his
Majesty
would likely accept something of that Nature, and if any please to inform me of their titles and
anything as to manner of address
which you may think necessary for one in so obscure a Corner) The Youth
I expect from the wilderness are not yet returned and am at a loss for the
reason of their tarrying so much beyond the time appointed what new
intelligence
they shall bring you may expect by the first conveyance
as also an account of a remarkable occurrence among the Indians westward
of
Philadelphia as soon as I can
obtain a circumstantial
account of it —
Mr. Whitaker informs of the Difficulties he encounters from a Letter
wrote by
Mr. Oliver
Letter in the Name of
the Board of London Commissioners in Boston
*and represents
that it is of
importance that some insinuations in said
Letter especially that I reported that
Mr. Occom was a
mohawk lately
emerged from gross
paganism
etc. be effectually contradicted — Upon which I would
only observe *
Mr. Occoms Character has been so long and
so publicly known to gentlemen in all our Governments, as to
render it
near as
impertinent to take pains to contradict a report of
his being a
Mohawk lately
emerged etc. as of his being an Englishman if such a r
[gap: tear][guess: ep]ort
had ever been propagated
I never heard such a report nor did I ever yet find any other who had heard
Such a Report of him except what came from
the Boston
Commissioners, you may see by
Mr. Buells Sermon at the Ordination of
Mr.
Occom in the hands of
Mr.
DeBerdt
which has been made public in our Colonies
and
also by
Mr.
Bostwicks Letter at the end of
Mr. Randals Sermon preached before
the
Society in Edinburgh 1763, that
Mr.
Occom has not been hid in such a
corner, as that
any man of Sense could think it Safe to publish such an untruth
concerning him if he had
ever So great a thirst to get money
and
especially
considering that the tribe he belongs to is quite immaterial but his
emerging out of paganism is the only thing affecting in the account and that is true
concerning
him, I have seen the
account
which
Mr. Whitaker gives
Mr. Peck
etc.
[illegible] of that Letter and it seems strange that gentlemen who
have for Long had
opportunity
of acquaintance with
Mr.
Occoms Character and
who pretend to give such an account
of him to
the
honourable Society as
may Effectually prevent impostures, should yet be mis‐
taken in almost every particular they relate of him as you may See by comparing What they have
Wrote with the inclosed Copy of Mine To Messrs.
Peck
Mason
and
Austin.
I drew an Order upon
the Board in Boston
in favour of
Mr. Peck about a month ago for £10. of their Annual
Allowance
to
this School, which,
Mr. Peck
informed me last Week,
Mr. Oliver
had honoured at
first Sight. Which is the third Remittance he has made
without the least Objection,
Since he wrote that Letter to
Mr.
Mauduit.
and is the more remarkable
as the Grant made by them was
only during their pleasure.
Please to present
my
best Regards to those worthy Gentlemen you mention as associating with you for the Furtherance of this Grand Design, to Whom you will likely communicate what I have Wrote.