EGMONT’S LETTER TO HOLLAND. 15

views of the Board of Trade, and on the 9th of May, 1764, came the climax to Lord Egmont’s proposal, in the form of a minute of council, embodying a report adverse to the pro~ position of the Earl,-and ordering that no grants be made of land in the Island'of Saint John upon any other principles than those comprised in the reports of the Lords Com- missioners of trade and plantations.

About the time- of the arrival in London of Captain Holland’s plans of the island, the friends of Lord Egmont' again mustered in great strength, including officers of high rank in the naval and military service, bankers, and mer- chants, and drew up a final memorial in behalf of his Lord- ship’s scheme, which closed with these words :—“That if at the end of ten years any ill consequence should be found to have arisen therefrom, upon an address to the two houses of parliament, His Majesty in council might change the jurisdiction in such manner as experience of the use or abuse might then dictate or demand.” That Lord Egmontu was sanguine as to the success of this last appeal in his behalf, appears evident from a manuscript letter now before us, addressed by him on the 8th October, 1765, to Captain Holland, in which he says :—“ I think it proper to let you know that a petition will be again presented to His Majesty in a few (lays for a grant of the Island of Saint John, upon the very same plan as that proposed before, which I have now reason to expect will meet with better success than the former. The same persons very nearly will'be concerned, those only excluded who were drawn away by proposals and grants elsewhere by the Board of Trade, in order if possible to defeat my scheme. For yourself, you may be assured of your Hundred, as formerly intended, if I have anything to do in the direction of the 'afl'air,——Which probably I shall have in the same mode and manner. Whether the grant