It is particularly enjoined upon you, and through you upon your officers and crew, that no article intended for sale, or any property other than that which is laden under our direction, and expressed in your bills of lading and manifest, be taken on board of the Messenger, and that in all your proceedings you are bound to avoid the smallest infringement of the laws of the country to which you are destined. You will of course require of the Governor General a certificate of the delivery of your cargo at the port of St. Johns, to be transmitted to your owners as an evidence of the fulfilment of their engagements. We wish you a speedy and a favourable passage, and that you may be rewarded for your exertions to effect the object of your mission, with the thanks and blessings of "those who are ready to perish." We are, in behalf of the subscribers for the relief of the distressed inhabitants of St. Johns, your obedient servants, [No. II.] Letter to Gov. PICKMore. To His Excellency FRANCIS PICKMORE, Vice Admiral of the White, and Governor and Gommander in Chief in and over the Island of Newfoundland and its Dependencies, and President of the Society for the Improvement of the poor in St. Johns. SIR-The recent conflagration of a great part of the town of St. Johns, at a period of the year when it may be impracticable to obtain relief from the parent country, and the calamity which must necessarily ensue to a large number of our fellow beings, have been felt in this town with all the sympathy which they are calculated to inspire. t A subscription for the purpose of affording some imme-diate aid to the sufferers, has been consequently opened in this place, and the means of purchasing a quantity of such articles s are considered to be best adapted to the exigencies of the moment, have been readily contributed by a number of its inhabitants. The American brig Messenger, Capt. PETERSON, having been chartered for the exclusive object of carrying this offering to St. Johns, we have now the honour to enclose you a bill of lading and manifest of her cargo, consisting of the following articles :174 barrels Flour, 125 barrels Meal, 29 bbls. and 963 bags }Bread. 11 tierces Rice, which, in behalf of the contributors, we request that you will have the goodness to receive, and cause the same to be distributed among the sufferers by the late conflagration, in such manner and in such proportions as their respective circumstances may require. We beg leave to recommend the bearer, Capt. PETERson, to your kind protection, and pray that every facility may be afforded to him in the prompt discharge of his cargo and the despatch of his vessel. The cause of humanity alone, has induced him to undertake, at this inclement season, a voyage which, under other circumstances, he would have felt himself obliged to decline. We have the honour to be, with all due consideration, your Excellency's obedient humbie servants, (Signed) JAMES PERKINS, BENJAMIN RICH, TRISTRAM BARNARD, JOHN HOUSTON, Boston, Dec. 27, 1817. Committee of the contributors for the relief of the distressed inhabitants of St. Johns. [No. III.] Answer of Gov. PICKMORE. Fort Townshend, St. Johns, Newfoundland, 20th January, 1818. GENTLEMEN-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ult. acquainting me that a subscription had been entered into at Boston for the purpose of affording immediate aid to the sufferers by the recent conflagrations at St. Johns, and that a cargo of such articles as were considered best adapted to the exigencies of the moment had been purchased and forwarded by the American brig Messenger, Capt. PETERSON, consigned to me as President of the Society for improving the condition of the poor of St. Johns. I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that the Messenger arrived here on the evening of the 16th inst, and having discharged the cargo agreeably to the bill of lading, is now ready to return to Boston. I beg to assure the Committee that I shall use my best endeavours in the distribution of this bounty to fulfil their benevolent intentions; but I confess myself unable to express, in adequate terms, on the part of those whose relief has been the object of the humane consideration of the inhabitants of Boston, the feelings which their generous act has excited. Individually, I desire to offer my warmest acknowledgments to them; and shall not fail to communicate to His Majesty's Government this spontaneous act of liberality, which in its effects I trust will tend to increase and cement more firmly the relations of friendship which now so happily subsists between the two nations. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant, FRANCIS PICKMORE, Vice-Admiral, and Governor of Newfoundland. To JAMES PERKINS, ARNOLD WELLES, JONA. AMORY, jun. BENJAMIN RICH, TRISTRAM BARNARD & JOHN HOUSTON, Esquires. [No. IV.] RESOLUTIONS and ADDRESS of the Inhabitants of St. Johns. Ar a very numerous and respectable meeting of the Inhabitants of this Town, called by public advertisement this day, at 1 o'clock, it was Resolved, That Mr. HOYLES be called to the Chair. That an Address of thanks be drawn up in the most affectionate and grateful terms, as expressive of the feelings' of this Meeting, and that this Address be despatched by the brig Messenger, Capt. Peterson, to the COMMITTEE In Boston, by whose benevolence and zeal, timely supplies have been brought to this distressed and unfortunate Town, That Messrs. SABINE, CUBIT, HAIRE, JOB, and GEORGE LILLY, be requested to draw up the Address of Thanks, and present it for the approbation of the Meeting. That the Address now read, be approved and received. That the Thanks of this Meeting be most respectfully addressed to Capt. PETERSON, of the brig Messenger, and to his hardy and persevering Crew, for their attempting such a voyage at this severe season of the year. That the five Gentlemen who framed the Address, do, with the Chairman, wait on Capt. Peterson, with the Thanks of the Meeting and a copy of the Resolutions. That the Thanks of this meeting be given to the five Gentlemen who formed the Address. That these Resolutions and the Address be published in the Newfoundland Royal Gazette and the Mercantile Journal-as also in the London Courier, and Morning Chronicle. N. W. HOYLES, Chairman. ADDRESS To the Committee appointed by the Citizens of Boston, for the Relief of the Sufferers by the two late calamitous Fires in St. Johns, Newfoundland. GENTLEMEN-The nature of your benefaction is such as to excite no common feelings of gratitude in our minds -and to express, so far as we are able, the emotions which we feel is the purport of our present Address. We are aware that it is the peculiar nature of Christian benevolence, as well to shrink from praise, as to avoid ostentation-but such are our feelings, that we cannot express our thanks even to those to whom they are so justly due, without allowing ourselves to glance at those reasons which induce us thus to act⚫ tress. By awful events we are plunged into the deepest disOur houses were destroyed-our provisions, and great part of our furniture and clothes, consumed. In the general calamities of life, it often happens that the acuteness of feeling is caused by the suddenness of the shock— and that mental anguish often lessens, as time enables us to discover that we had not fallen so deeply as we imagined. Not so in the present instance. The full extent of our misery, was too great to be at once comprehended by our minds. We only began to see the horrors of our situation when the first violence of grief began to subside. We saw ourselves surrounded by miseries; and other miseries rapidly approaching-Our sun had set in clouds and darkness and tempest were before us. We had every reason to fear, that to the severities of winter, we should have to add, scarcity of Provisions-Providentially, however, our fears have, in this respect, been dissipated by the arrival of supplies in our harbour-We mention this, because we know that such information will give you pleasure-but when we view your generosity, we view it, not so much in connexion with those circumstances in which by a kind Providence we are actually placed, as with those in which |