swer the same--there
being at present no gaol in the sd. county wherein to confine said
prisoner nor Courts held to determine such matters."

[125] Morrisania was in the Parish of Lincoln below Fredericton.

Israel Perley was a leading member of the Congregational Church and
frequently occupied the chair as moderator at important public
meetings. He was one of the committee who, in 1774, arranged with the
Rev. Seth Noble to become the pastor of the church at Maugerville. The
friendship that existed between Mr. Perley and the Rev. Seth Noble
very nearly involved the former in serious difficulty a few years
later, as will be seen in the following letter addressed by Major
Studholme to James White, Esquire.

"Fort Howe, 4 November, 1780.

"Sir,--The Inclosed letter from Mr. Perley to Seth Noble of
Newbury having fallen into my hands in the course of inspecting
the letters to be sent by the cartel, I have thought it necessary
instantly to secure the person of Mr. Perley and shall send him to
your house about 9 this morning, when I must request you will
closely examine him on the subject of the Inclosed letter. I
cannot but think it will be very difficult for him to reconcile
his styling himself the 'sincere friend' of a notorious rebel with
his own situation as one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace. *
* * "I am sir, etc., etc.

"G. STUDHOLME."

In the examination that followed Lieut. Samuel Denny Street, a lawyer
by profession and at this time a lieutenant of the garrison, appeared
for Major Studholme, and Mr. Perley was required to explain certain
paragraphs and expressions in his letter, also to explain why he
attempted a correspondence with "a declared and notorious rebel to
whom in his letter he subscribes himself a sincere friend." Mr. Perley
replied, "I meant not to maintain any correspondence with him, but as
his wife was going to him in the cartel I wrote the letter now
produced to acquaint him of the broken situation of the church here,
and that there would be no encouragement to him to think of
returning."

In regard to the expression, "your sincere friend," Israel Perley
stated that the Rev. Mr. Noble was "an old acquaintance before the
present disturbances arose and I had no reference, in styling myself
his friend, to anything but his person. I did not mean that I was a
friend to his principles."

Evidently there was a vein of humor in Mr. Perley's character. He is
said