The Virginia Gazette

The SPEECH of the Honourable GEORGE CLARKE, Esq; His Majesty's Lieutenant Governor of the Province of New-York, to the Representatives of the said Province, the Twenty Ninth of August, 1739.

GENTLEMEN,

At the Opening of this Session, I recommended to you many Things of high Importance to His Majesty's Honour and Service, and the true Interest of the Province, which I hope you will now most seriously consider, and at the same Time provide for the finishing of the Battery in this City; that, before it be too late, it may be put in such a Condition, as may secure you from the Attempts of an Enemy.

The Mohawks are very uneasy that Fort-Hunter has been so much neglected; and if it be not out of hand re-built or repaired, I fear they may take a Resolution to leave their Country and go to Canada.

As my Thoughts are always employed to make this a more flourishing Country, I have reflected on the Decay of Ship Building; which, for many Years, has been much regretted, but little attempted to be retrieved. Nature has been very bountiful in giving you a better Measure than to your Neighbours, all Things necessary for so beneficial a Branch of Trade; beneficial to all Degrees of Men, and yet almost wholly unthought of or neglected. I am not ignorant that many Causes may be assigned for its Decay; some of which, and particularly one, it is not in the Power of the Merchant or Builder, at present, to remove: Nor I don't see any other Way whereby a Remedy may be apply'd, than by your Aid. If the Demands of the Builder be higher than in the Neighbouring Provinces, the Merchant will not, cannot build here, without injuring himself: If the Builder undertakes the Work at the same Rate that is given in the Neighbouring Provinces, he complains, and I fear, with too much Truth, that he labours only to be undone; for the excessive Wages of Carpenters, which he must be obliged to hire, for want of Apprentices, runs away with his Profit; and he cannot take Apprentices, being unable, in his present Poverty, to maintain them. It is you alone who can apply a Remedy to this Evil, and you may do it at a very small Annual Expence; for I am persuaded, that Two Hundred Pounds a Year given to Ship Builders with Apprentices, at the Rate of Eight Pounds a Year with each Apprentice for six or even Seven Years, will soon revive that necessary and useful Work. It will make Ship Builders willing to take Apprentices; enable them in their present Necessities to maintain them, and to build for the Merchant at as low a Rate as in the Neighbouring Provinces: And from such a Nursery of Ship Carpenters, you may, in a reasonable Time, hope to see that Branch of Trade grow to a great Height. You will then keep among you many Thousand Pounds, which are now Yearly exported out of this Province by your Neighbours, who are at present your Carriers. It will enable the Merchants and Factors to make quicker Remittances to England, and give new Life and Vigour to Trade in general: The good Effects whereof, every Man in the Province will soon feel; nor will any Part of the Money thus given by you, be lost to the Province, since it will all remain and circulate in it.

Something is absolutely necessary to be done to revive this withering Branch of Trade. And if you can fall upon any Method more easy, more practicable, and more conducive to that End, I will most heartily concur with you in it. Your own immediate Interest requires a speedy and effectual Remedy, and I hope you will not let this Session wear away without applying it.

Gentlemen,

The Governor of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay having sent me a Vote of the Assembly of that Province, and wrote to me himself, signifying his and their Desire to have the Boundaries of the two Provinces settled by Commissioners, I now lay those Papers before you, hoping that you will enable me to defray the Expence of that Work, on the Part of this Province, that the People of the Massachusetts may be confined within their proper Bounds, the Peace on the Frontiers preserv'd, and the Inhabitants of those Parts know more precisely to whom they owe Obedience.

If you do this, it will be necessary that a Law be passed in each Province, to make the Agreement of the Commissioners conclusive to both; and when I know your Resolution, I will write to the Governor of the Massachusetts upon it.

The Soldiers in the respective Garrisons being at present without Bedding, Kettles, Bowls, or Platters, I earnestly recommend it to you, to make, at this Juncture, some Provision for it, as well as for Powder, till Stores are sent from England.

GEORGE CLARKE.