Honorable Sir -- your courteous Letter of the 21*^ January I have received thought it my duty to returne an answer about the tuo irish rogues. I wrote to Maryland & Virginia & gott an answer from Coll: Good Chiefe commander in Maryland, in the words following I am heartily sorry I had no account sooner of these tuo rogues Henly & welch, I had thern very lately in custody upon Suspitione being strangers Irishmen papists & coming from 1 Here the sheet is torn and a sentence or two missing.

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Mortoneno, but they much appealed to your selves for justification upon which they were confined till they could produce a certificate from your honor of their good behaviour which they confidently promised but they soon undeceived us & made their escape towards pensilvania, but have made fresh persuite after them & doubt not to have them well retorned in yron & safely secured tliis is all w4mt I could have of them, the frenchof Canada with their Indianes committed six bloody masacres in this province three, &, in new England three, they have destroyed Skanectady a vilage 20 milles from Albany, murdered sixty three men women and children, carried captive 27: «&, have committed the greatest tyrranny imaginable, ript up women with chyld throwed children alive into the flame, dashed others agt door post till their braines stuck to it, another murder of eleaven people, and one or two committed since last fall, we send 52 men up to guard that place, but a certane niunber of people there maintaining the comissiones from sir Edmond Andross & Coll: dongan deryving from the authority of the late King James would not accept them there, but keept the fort by virtue of the s*^ Commission & would not suffer any of them to goe & guard s^ village being the fronteer but send of their people there, by which meanes from treachery cowardice & carelesnes that too unfortunate and to be lamented accident hes happened there, the river being frozen that noe forces could be sent up the winter, the well meaned people, lodged our souldiers who kept guard in the citty whereof the french & Indian (in number of 100 men) had advice the Indianes would not goe there & so altered the designe & that place was by that meanes spared our Indians persued them killd & tooke 25 frenchmen who gave us an account of severall troops out in a designe in the spring to come with 2500 french besides their Indianes, your honor great & generous example and loyall attempt agt the bloody enimies the french, you were pleased to acquaint me besides the foresight & good advice of the weaknes your honor suspects the french at Canada, wherein in the great advantages his Ma^ie & his subjects may reap by, who have resolved to us all the meanes imaginable to prevent & if possible destroy them there, and so soone the weather has permitted, wee