Colonial Williamsburg Digital Library

a pretty severe indisposition for upwards of
two months past obliged me to content myself with sending
you several short letters by the late ships.

I duly received your Fav^r of 31^st March with the
goods shipt on my own Acc^t: you mention in y^r Letter the
amount to be £272..15..2, when the invoice amounted to
£253..4..2: this must have been a mere mistake on taking
the cost of my Things from the the Foot of the Invoice
sent to the printers I only note it that the thing may be
set right. Before this reaches you, you will, proba
bly have rec^d the material sent to the printers,
which they reship'd by Cap^t Estein, as they did
not correspond with their order & would by no
means answer the purpose for which they were
design'd, I also wrote to you on this Subject by
Cap^t Estein. I am sorry that I can't give you a better acc^t
of your affairs in M^r Cary's Hands; your son I pre
sume has given you a full state of them; upon
receipt of y^r first letter, recommending these affairs
to my attention, I advised M^r Norton to hurry the
settlement, which he did, but it was postponed from
time to time by different pretences; a meeting
was prepared at Col^o [Snel]son's where Col^o Hill & M^r
Jerdone might examine the acc^ts ; your son atten
ded, but I understand M^r Cary omitted to carry the
most Material of his Books. I was astonish'd to
hear this, but was still of opinion that the best
way would be to endeavor to procure an ami
cable settlement: the Books of acct were all in
M^r Cary's Hands & the whole transaction rested
in his knowledge, so that it would have been necessary
to commence a suit in chancery to bring him to acc^t
& you know how very tedious Proceedings of that
sort are with us. With respect to the exact Bal^a
due to you, that can't be fix'd, y^r son tells me,
'till he receives an acc^t of the Remittances
made by Cary; he has taken a mortgage of every
thing M^r Cary has, & is in hopes of procuring
personal Security for any Deficiency that
may happen. The outstanding debts, he is labouring to get bonds & security for, & has employ'd two diligent
young men to assist him in doing this & collecting
what money can be got; tho' this article is so
very scarce, that the most, which can be done at
present, will be to put the Debts upon as sure a
Footing as may be. I was sorry to learn you were
ingaged with M^r Waters, as there seems to be no
probability of securing any part of that Debt.
I have spoke to his Executor upon the subject; but
he assures me that there will not be near enough
to discharge the judgements already obtained,
so that 'twill be hardly worthwhile to commence
a suit, when the Fruits of it will only an additional
Expence to you. The unhappy circumstances of
this poor Gentleman astonish'd every one here;
for my own Part, I always [thought] him so safe
a Hand, that I would not have scrupled trusting
him with any part of my Tob^o on board Cap^t Walker:
I mention'd the Reason of it in a former Letter;
your Ship had staid out so long, that I despair'd, almost,
of her Arrival; add to this the prospect there was,
at that Time, of an enormous Crop all over
the Country, which made me anxious to get my
Tob^o , as early as possible, to market. When Cap^t
Robertson first arrived, & indeed for some time
after, your son seem'd so very apprehensive that
he might be panick'd, that I determin'd to assist
him all in my Power, & accordingly purchased
fifty-Hogsheads, besides my overseer's shares inclu
ded in the forty by Walker; the three last, which
M^r Norton purchased for me, Cap^t . Robertson
could not take in, & they were put on board [of]
young Cap^t Estein, as I before have advised you.
How these ventures may turn out, I can't say, but
hope for the best; [Inclosed] 25/p[er] c^t for my own crop
& gave from 21/ to 26/ p[er] c^{t for} what I purchased. Your
Endeavours for my Interest, I don't doubt will equal
my earnest inclination to serve you. Perhaps I may remit you some Bills this Fall; or
I probably may have occasion to draw on you; this
will depend upon my Receipts, which ought to be
considerable, tho' I can't at present depend with cer:
tainty upon any thing in the cash way.

M^r Cocke rec^d his goods in proper order,
tho' it's a pity they had not come sooner. If you'll
be pleased to turn to my Letter, in which I de
sired them to be ships, I think I mention'd how very
essential it would be to him to receive them
early in the spring; he had laid his acc^t in dis
posing of most of them during the assembly, [gen^l]
court & court of Oyer & Terminer, which I am per:
sauded would have enabled him to have made
you a full Remittance by Return of y^t Ship;
I know he depended partly on receiving a conside
rable sum, which was due to him by a safe Hand,
but in this he was disappointed; so that his Re:
mittance has fallen too short. I have promised to give
him credit with you for £100 stg; which you'll
be pleased to do & charge me with that sum,
advising me as soon as it is done. He is in Hopes
of making you a handsome Remittance from
the approaching Court. He talks of writing for
a few more Things; I have told him, if he can satis:
fy you as to the Terms of remitting, that I will [send]
his security ultimately, so that, if you please
you may value yourself upon me in that
Respect. He is diligent, industrious, & frugal.

In a late letter you seem to wish
to know my sentiments of the [money tokens]
lately sent to our agent; I can hardly refuse
to comply with any Request of your's; but will you
excuse me if I chuse to be silent on this [Head^g]
Our friend, poor M^r . Edw^d Ambler has been in a
very dangerous way for some Months; he is now
here for change of Air, & we have great Fears
about him. When the year ends, you'll be pleased to
discontinue sending the Reviews & London [presag]ing
upon our joint Accounts, & only send me the Gent. Mag.
& the best daily papers. Any entertaining pamphlets or
books of small price, I should be glad of by different
opportunities; if Things of this sort don't so immediately
fall under y^r notice, perhaps some Friend may point
them out to you.

We, on this side the water, are become
very anxious to know what is preparing for us at
Home. However we may have been misrepresented,
you, my friend who lived so many years amongst
us, and too intimately acquainted with our Dispositions
to believe that Virginians are become disaffected
to their King or Mother Country. Let but Things re:
turn to their old channel, thro' which mutual &
reciprocal advantages ^{have constantly} flow'd to us all, & we shall
ever by happy in our connections. We affect not, we
have not the most distant wish of an Independancy:
we only desire a free enjoyment of our Birth Rights:
possibly these may be wrested from us, but the Ameri:
cans, I hope & am persuaded, will never resign them.
[What] can Great Britain desire more of us than the
Fruits of our whole Labour, which she already
reaps? I could ela enlarge, but this is become so
trite a subject, perhaps, in so doing, I should
be [too] tedious. For the sake of Peace & Happi
ness, my constant & earnest Prayers are that
these unfortunate Disputes may have a speedy
& favourable [illegible]; but, be this as it may, I shall
ever retain the sincerest Regard & Esteem for
you & all your's, being very truly, my dear Sir,

I have by several op:
purtunities advised you
of the very great Alteration
in our Crop of Tob^o ; it is agreed
that it must be exceedingly
short & very mean in Quality.

Virginia 3^d Oct^o 1768
R. C. Nicholas
Rec^d 30^th Nov^r
p[er] Nicks

Goods ent^d pa: 51
Ans^d y^e    Dec^r 1768
p[er] Theodorick