SAMUEL SPARROW ~ 
18TH-CENTURY CAPE BRETON ISLAND 

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C-11530

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c11530/911?r=0&s=1 TO
http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_reel_c11530/914?r=0&s=1

http://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_104282

[f. 154]

Halifax, November 27^th 1787

My Lord

Having been Honored by His Majesty with the Appointment of one of the Council for the Island of Cape Breton, I am under the necessity of representing to your Lordship that upon my taking application to Lieut Gov^r. Macarmick for leave of absence for [?] [?]; Agreeable to His Majesty's Instructions, And depending upon the same being forwarded to [me] to this Port; In answer to my Application I have received a reply Insinuating that I am not a Resident on the Island, and that such a representation is made to your Lordship.

In respect to which I have to observe my Lord, that although there is [?] object in the present situation of things that [?] worthy my regard in that Island as a merchant, to occasions my Accounting all my time there, as my concerns [?] [expose] a less confined scale; [Yet] as I have been honored [f. 155] honored with the said appointment, I feel a very powerful motive to make it my chief residence, and to bend my whole Strength towards such objects as cannot fail of being of real utility to that Country, seeing that at present there is no one on the Island capable of [?] Shipping and Trade, in any Extent worth [examining]; But which I hope to be Encouraged by your Lordship to expect.

Therefore I think it my Duty to assert my [Indisbitable]  right to a seat in that Council under such His Majesty's pleasure; As to my not being a resident it is altogether groundless, seeing that I have a House and some Freehold Estates there It is equally certain that His Majesty's Intentions are that the Council are not to forfeit their Seats upon each Voyage or Journey they may take as there are Special Instructions provided for these cases.

I am exceedingly sorry My Lord to trouble you upon so very trifling a business  nor [f. 156] nor should I if I had not perceived the Insinuation to have arisen from that Disposition which has hitherto, and will for ever present this Settling of that Island in such a manner as to be of Service to Great Britain.

I have to Observe My Lord that it is my Intention to be in London soon when I shall be able to inform your Lordship of the real state of the island. I am a Creditor also of near five thousand pounds for Provisions, Stores, Lumber and Cash supplied to Governor Des Barres for the use of this Settlement, which I was induced to advance upon the full Reliance that this High Commission which [is?] held from His Majesty[?] be a sufficient [?] for [every things]. But I unfortunately perceive that I have to risk the propriety of that Gentleman's Conduct, which appears at present  by my holding his Bill to the amount of near Five thousand pounds under protest for non-payment.

I hope and Trust My Lord that the Creditors of [p. 157] of that Government will not be permitted to suffer as their reliance was founded on the great Confidence Implied in the Trust His Majesty was pleased to repose in him, and who were not to be supposed to be Judges of the limits of his orders.

I have the Honor to be my Lord
Your Lordship's most obed^t
 and devoted Hum^l. Serv^t.
Sam^l. Sparrow

The Right Honorable
                  Lord Sydney

/Endorsed
Halifax 24 Nov^r. 1787

M^r. Sparrow
         [One] of the Council of the Island of Cape Breton.

Setting for the the [sic] Proceedings of L^t Governor Macarmick for the purpose of depriving him of his Seat in the Council of Cape Breton

and

of his having Bills upon Govt[?] by M^r. Des Barres which have been protested.

 

Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, Original Correspondence (CO 217), Colonial Office, Cape Breton "A", DesBarres and Macarmick, 1787, M.G. 11, C.B., Vol. 4, November 27, 1787, pp. 154-157 (Col. Cor. C.B. Vol. 64, November 27, 1787, p. 175)

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(National Archives of Canada, State Papers, Colonial Correspondence,  Cape Breton, Volume 64, November 27, 1787, p. 175: 1787, November 27, Halifax Sparrow to Secretary of State (Sydney) Asserts his right to a seat in the Council of Cape Breton, from which he had been removed on the ground that he was not a resident) 

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