A schedule of the Captain’s losses, attested before one of His Majesty’s Justices of the Peace at Halifax, was also laid before the council.  The reader will not be troubled with the items, suffice it to say the losses, including lands, amounted to seven thousand four hundred and sixty-two pounds.

His Excellency, finding that Captain Godfrey had acted conformably to the rules and regulations of the Province, returned to him his bond that he had given the government for carrying on a legitimate trade with the Indians.

He was also satisfied that the Captain’s losses were on account of the action of the savages, and being fully convinced of the great hardships and privations the Captain and his distressed wife and family had undergone, he was pleased to give him an honourable clearance out of the province, according to the regulations of said province, and also to recommend him to the protection of the Right Honourable the Earl of Hillsborough, at that time first Lord of Trade and Plantations for public relief.  The Governor had it not in his power to grant Captain Godfrey any suitable gratuity for the great loss he had sustained.

  COPY OF LORD CAMPBELL’S LETTER TO LORD HILLSBOROUGH.

  HALIFAX, October 9th, 1771.

  My Lord: 

The gentleman who will deliver this to you was lately a Captain in the 52nd Regiment of foot, and came out to this province in August, 1769, with his wife and a large family, to settle on some lands on river St. John, which he had purchased before he left Europe, with a view of carrying on trade with the Indians.  I have frequent complaints of those Indians since Fort Frederick, situate on the entrance of the St. John river, has been dismantled, and the garrison, which consisted of an officer’s command, reduced to a corporal and four.

The Fort, when properly garrisoned, kept the Indians of that district in pretty good order, but not so effectively by situation as it would if it had been constructed higher up the river, and as now the fort is entirely dismantled, I beg leave to offer to your Lordship’s consideration whether a strong Block House, properly garrisoned, might not prove a proper check upon the insolence of the savages, at the same time it would afford a secure protection to a very increasing settlement on the banks of the river St. John, a situation abounding with most excellent soil, which produces the most valuable timber of all sorts in the province.

These are considerations which I beg your Lordship will please to submit to His Majesty’s advisers.  The unhappy state of Mr. Godfrey’s misfortunes will, I am persuaded, speak everything in his favour with your Lordship, which his past services or present suffering can entitle him to.

  I have the honour to be,
  Yours, &c., &c.,

  WM. CAMPBELL.
  The Earl of Hillsborough.