1759

May 24

Instruction to Our Trusty & Wellbeloved Arthur Dobbs Esqr Our Captain General and Governor in Chief in & over Our Province of North Carolina in America, and in his Absence, to the President of Our Council or Commander in chief of Our said Province for the time being, Given at Our Court at Kensington the [intentionally blank] day of [intentionally blank] 1759, in the thirty Second Year of Our Reign.

Whereas by an Act pass'd in Our Province of North Carolina in 1748, entituled An Act for granting unto His Majesty the Sum of Twenty one thousand three hundred and fifty Pounds Proclamation money, and for stamping and emitting the said Sum of Twenty one thousand three hundred & fifty Pounds publick Bills of Credit of this Province, at the Rate of Proclamation money, to be applied towards building Fortifications in this Province, Payment of the Publick Debts, exchanging the present Bills of Credit, and for making proper Provision for defraying the contingent Charges of the Government &c, and also by one other Act pass'd in Our said Province in 1754, entituled An Act for granting to His Majesty the Sum of Forty thousand Pounds in publick Bills of Credit, at the rate of Proclamation Money, to be applied towards defraying the Expence of raising and subsisting the Forces for His Majesty's Service in this Province, to be sent to the Assistance of His Majesty's Colony of Virginia, and for other Purposes therein mentioned, it is enacted and declared, that the Bills of Credit, to be issued in virtue of each of the said two Acts, shall be a Lawfull Tender in all Payments whatsoever, as Proclamation money, or as Sterling money, at the proper Difference there is between Proclamation Money and Sterling, that is to say, at four Shillings Proclamation money, for three Shillings sterling; And whereas it hath been humbly represented to Us, that several of the Principal Merchants of London in behalf of themselves, and of several Gentlemen and Merchants in and from Our said Province have, by their Petition, humbly set forth their Complaint, that the said Provision is contrary to Justice and Equity, and highly injurious to the Trading Interest of this Our Kingdom, and Our said Province in general, and of themselves in particular, in as much as it establishes and declares the Sum of One hundred thirty three Pounds Six Shillings and Eight pence Paper Currency to be a good and Lawfull Tender in Payment of a real debt of One hundred Pounds Sterling, altho' in fact One hundred thirty three pounds Six Shillings & 8 pence paper Currency will not, as they allege, purchase more than Seventy Pounds Sterling, We having taken the Premisses into Our Royal Consideration, do hereby signify to you Our Will and Pleasure, that you do forthwith recommend it earnestly in Our Name, to Our Council and the Assembly of Our said Province, to pass an Act for amending the two Acts abovementioned, and that they do thereby provide, that all Debts and Contracts, already due or hereafter to be contracted, among the Inhabitants of Our said Province, or between them and Our British Subjects, be made payable in the said Bills of Credit, if the Creditor be willing to accept the same, and not otherwise, not according to their Nominal Value, as declared by the said Two Acts, but according to the real Difference in value between such Paper Bills and Sterling Money, at the time of discharging such Debts.

And Our further Will and Pleasure is, that you do not in future give your Assent to any Act, for emitting Paper Bills of Credit in Our said Province of North Carolina, upon any Occasion whatsoever, unless you take care that a Clause, to the Effect above stated, be expressly inserted in such Act.

And whereas it has been also represented to Us, that by the Provisions of the two Acts abovementioned, Our Quit Rents and every other Branch of Revenue, arising to Us within Our said Province, are made payable in the same Paper Currency, and at the same rate as any other Debt whatever, whereby Our said Revenue must be greatly prejudiced, It is Our express Will and Pleasure, and you are hereby strictly charged and commanded to take especial Care, that in the Act to be pass'd for amending the two Acts abovementioned, and also in every Act which may hereafter be passed for issuing Bills of Credit in Our said Province, a Clause be inserted declaring, that the Paper Bills of Credit, already issued or thereby to be issued, shall not be a lawfull Tender in Payment of Our Quitrents, or of any Debt of what Nature soever, due or to become due to Us Our Heirs or Successors.

Exd.