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This collection contains 56 letters and documents written and received by Irish politician George Macartney. Most items pertain to Macartney's service as governor of Grenada, Tobago, and the Grenadines from 1776-1779.

This collection contains 56 letters and documents written and received by Irish politician George Macartney. Most items pertain to Macartney's service as governor of Grenada, Tobago, and the Grenadines from 1776-1779.

The first item is an 11-page essay supporting the right of Parliament to tax Great Britain's North American colonies, written around 1765. The remaining material is comprised of letters and documents regarding British colonies in the southern Caribbean. Many items concern British military operations and the French navy, particularly the fleet of the Comte d'Estaing; some pertain to prisoners of war and to the payment of black troops. Macartney's correspondents included British Army general James Grant, Royal Navy officers Samuel Barrington and John Byron, and George Sackville Germain, Secretary of State for America during the Revolutionary War. One letter from French Army general Theobald Dillon is written in French, and is accompanied by an English translation (March 17, 1787). Other items, such as indentures and grants, concern the ownership of land in the southern Caribbean. Some correspondents discussed commercial affairs, such as exports from Curacao. One item, dated 1792, relates to Philippine commerce in light of the declaration of Manila as a free port (in 1785) and the French Revolution.

This collection consists of 6 documents related to the British governance of Nova Scotia in the 1760s and 1770s. The material concerns the taxation of alcohol, the provision of currency to the provincial governor and lieutenant governor, and the collection of evidence related to a complaint against Francis Legge.

This collection is made up of 6 documents related to the British governance of Nova Scotia in the 1760s and 1770s. The first two items are manuscript copies of legislative acts passed by the Nova Scotia Council and House of Assembly on June 30, 1762, concerning excise taxes and import taxes on alcoholic beverages. The legislation lists tax rates, outlines procedures for reporting imports and stores of alcoholic beverages, describes a permit system for merchants wishing to sell them, and lists penalties for noncompliance.

Three documents pertain to London resident Joshua Mauger's agreement to provide hard currency for the provincial governor and lieutenant governor in Nova Scotia, upon their request: Mauger's original proposal, addressed to John Pownall (March 5, 1763); an affirmative response from Charles Townshend, et al. (March 16, 1763); and Mauger's report for July 2, 1763-September 24, 1763 (December 8, 1763).

The final item is an extract from a letter that Francis Legge received from the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, who encouraged him to collect affidavits and other documents to defend himself against an unidentified claimant's complaints (February 27, 1775).