Informs him that Fettyplace discharged the guards at the forts in Marblehead and lodged all the public stores in a safe place and encloses an account [not present] of the stores.
Complains that the "present Troubles" render his own property of little
value and that unless their distresses end, every occupation in the colony
will be disrupted; remarks: "We are. . . so utterly unacquainted with
Military Matters that we all. . . are embarrass'd & at a Stand" and that
all measures prove ineffectual and only plunge the colony deeper in debt;
comments that the Virginians's expeditions "have prov'd not only abortive
but disgraceful" and have made them contemptible to the French and the
Indian enemies as well as to friendly Indians, and complains about the
behavior of the latter; mentions the "great consternation" and "dreadful
apprehensions" of settlers on the frontier and recounts stories about Indian
cruelties practiced on white captives.
Friendly letter; responds to his query whether breach of treaties instigated the Indians against the English colonies, comments that if the English had intermarried with the Indians it would have made them friends, and complains that whites and Negroes cohabit "by which means the country swarms with Mulattos bastards"; responds to his query whether slavery is agreeable to Christianity, complains that the [Royal] African Company and Board of Trade in England force slaves upon the colonists, and argues that the labor shortage and high prices make it almost impossible to live in Virginia without slaves; comments that if the French land in Virginia "we must take to the Woods and fight from behind the Trees"; [on verso]: Peter Fontaine to [Elizabeth?] Torin: discusses the death of a
relative and divine providence.
Friendly letter; remarks: "We have been Worsted and Shamefully defeated by the Enemy, not for want of men but money to carry on the War and some proper Military discipline. We have enjoyed Peace so long
whilst our Mother Country had been Involved in Blood, that we know not how to go about our own defence"; comments: "We.. . are fond of the vices of the age, and therefore deserve chastisement"; complains that treaties do not bind the French and the Indians and that the latter will use a cessation of hostilities to distress the Americans and remarks that the conflict should not be put off and left to their children; points out that "our Intestine Enemys, our Slaves, Encrease dayly" and that the females are more fruitful than white women, and remarks that Britain should "not suffer Such multitudes to be brought from affrica to pleasure a Company [the Royal African Company] and overrun a dutiful Colony."
Requests payment of interest due on a bond; complains that "repeated losses since the cursed Penobscot Expedition has very much diminished my Finances" and mentions that a brigantine in which Cabot has an interest was.captured by a British frigate; congratulates him on the safe arrival of his ship.
The Address and Petition of the People called Quakers: complains about "the extravagance and enormities which. . . have been introduced into this city and country" and requests that laws for the suppression of vice and immorality be reviewed and amended; signed in type by John Drinker, clerk., Printed
