"I am, with sincerest duty and esteem, may it please your Excellency, your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant,
Eleazar Wheelock."
[13] Charles J. Smith.
In 1764, the Scotch Society, already referred to, manifested increasing interest in Mr. Wheelock's work, by appointing a Board of Correspondents, selected from gentlemen of high standing, in Connecticut, to coöperate with him.
We here insert entire, Mr. Wheelock's first letter to Lord Dartmouth:
"TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF DARTMOUTH.
"Lebanon, Connecticut, New England, March 1, 1764.
"May it please your Lordship,—
"It must be counted amongst the greatest favors of God to a wretched world, and that which gives abundant joy to the friends of Zion, that among earthly dignities there are those who cheerfully espouse the sinking cause of the great Redeemer, and whose hearts and hands are open to minister supplies for the support and enlargement of His kingdom in the world.
"As your Lordship has been frequently mentioned with pleasure by the lovers of Christ in this wilderness, and having fresh assurance of the truth of that fame of yours, by the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, from his own acquaintance with your person and character, and being encouraged and moved thereto by him, I am now emboldened, without any other apology for myself than that which the nature of the case itself carries in its very front, to solicit your Lordship's favorable notice of, and friendship towards, a feeble attempt to save the swarms of Indian natives in this land from final and eternal ruin, which must unavoidably be the issue of those poor, miserable creatures, unless God shall mercifully interpose with His blessing upon endeavors to prevent it.