nies, and the Indians in their Alliance? Look into the Commission from Governor Greene ; and after full Powers are given to do every Thing relative to the Indians in Alliance with us, What mean these following Words? "And also, what else may be necessary to prohibit the French, and their Allies the Indians, from encroaching on the Lands within the Dominions of His Majesty. And in general, as far as the Abilities of this Government will permit, to act in Conjunction with the said Commissioners, in every Thing necessary for the Good of His Majesty's Subjects in these Parts. And to answer as far as we can, the Designs of His Majesty's Instructions to this Colony, communicated to us by the Earl of Holdernesse." Surely such Words as these, have some Meaning ; and if the Commissioners were so unhappy as quite to mistake their Meaning, let those penetrating Wits who think so, shew to the World, how they are to be understood. But if those Authorities were too extensive, let them be blamed who gave such Authorities, and not those who executed them in the most sparing Manner possible. And will any Man believe, such exact Likeness in Substance, should be in the Authorities given by every Government to to their Commissioners, without having any Conference together about it, if the Directions from the Crown had not pointed it out to them in so plain a Manner, that they all understood them alike? And is it not as plain, from the Letters since received from the Secretaries of State, that they all understood them in the Sense the King intended them?
Altho' all this were allowed, yet some may say, If you had Powers given you to enter into some such General Scheme, you ought not to have consented to one so hurtful and destructive of our Liberties as this is ! Whether the Plan formed at Albany, be a good one, or a bad one, I shall not undertake to determin ; yet let it be considered, that the Rhode-Island Commissioners were but two of the whole Number, and therefore were far from being able to govern or form Things as they might think best ; neither did they ever pretend they could not be mistaken ; and Errors of Judgment will always be forgiven by Men of Candor.
And now let us examin what the Commissioners did relating to this Plan, and we shall find, they did no more than form it, and agree to lay it before the General Assemblies of the Colonies from whence they came, for their Consideration. They did not, as is falsly asserted, order it to be sent home. They did not establish it as an Act or Ordinance of the Board of Commissioners, as they all might have done, by the
