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| Sept. 1. |
Orders of Council, Aug. 31, declaring the Act of Pennsylvania for preventing frauds, etc., void, displacing Mr. Markham, and ordering pirates to be sent home for trial, read, and a letter to Mr. Penn in pursuance of the same ordered. |
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Representation upon Mr. Grey's letter about Sta. Lucia ordered. |
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Letter from Col. Blakiston, Maryland, June 18, read. Directions given for answer. Note of the number of pirates at Madagascar taken. |
| Sept. 4. |
Letter to Mr. Penn and representation about Sta. Lucia agreed upon. |
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Letter to Col. Quary ordered. |
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Enquiry ordered of Mr. Sansom what proceedings or directions have been made upon any appeal relating to the three seizures made in Maryland mentioned in Col. Blakiston's letter, May 20. |
| Sept. 5. |
Letter from Col. Webb, Newcastle, Pa., June 26, read and directions given for including an abstract of its contents in representation about pirates. |
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Letter to Col. Quary approved. |
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Letter from Col. Winthrop, Connecticut, June 10, read. Account of pirates there given ordered to be inserted in representation. |
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Orders of Council, Aug. 22, about stores of war for New York, and Col. Codrington's Instructions read. |
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Letter from Sir W. Beeston, Jamaica, Ap. 14, read. Paragraph about soldiers' subsistence there sent to Mr. Blathwayt. |
| Sept. 6. |
Order of Council, Aug. 31, upon Sir Stephen Evance's petition read. |
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Representation about pirates agreed to. |
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The letters and papers from Lord Bellomont received Aug. 31st considered. |
| Sept. 7. |
A question occasionally arising about the manner of calling Assemblies in the Plantations, the copy of a writ for the election of Representatives for the City and County of New York, Ap. 15, 1698, formerly received from Lord Bellomont, was read. Ordered that as occasions offer of writing to the Governors of other places, they be desired to send copies of the forms of writs for such elections in each Plantation. |
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Letter from Mr. Jeffrey Jeffreys, Sep. 6, read. Letter to Lord Jersey ordered. |
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Letter from Sir B. Gracedieu about Mr. Toplady read. |
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Letter from Mr. Sansom, about the three ships seized in Maryland, read. |
| Sept. 9. |
Lord Bellomont's letters, Ap. 13 and Ap. 17, considered, and directions given for a representation relating to forts upon the frontiers of New York. [Board of Trade. Journal, 12. pp. 154–170; and 96. Nos. 134–140.] |
Sept. 5.
Whitehall. |
759. William Popple to John Sansom. What proceedings have been made or directions given about the appeals granted in the case of ships seized for illegal trade referred to by Col. Blakiston in his letter of May 20? [Board of Trade. Maryland, 9. p. 397.] |
| Sept. 5. |
760. Minutes of Council of Barbados. Letter from the Council of Trade, June 26, concerning Patentees referred to the Attorney and Solicitor General. Proclamation, concerning the ship Adventure and her cargo run away with from the Island of Nayas, Sept. 17, 1698, ordered. Order in Council, May 18, 1699, communicated. Mr. Secretary Vernon's letter of June 18, with a duplicate of a letter of Jan. 2, relating to the discouraging of the Scotch settlement at Cairatt near Darien, read and a proclamation forbidding any assistance to be given ordered. Magnus Popple's proposals for building a bridge and making a harbour between the town of St. Michael and the bay read, approved and recommended to the Assembly to be considered by a joint committee of the two houses. [Board of Trade. Barbados, 65. pp. 435–437.] |
| Sept. 6. |
761. Minutes of Council of Barbados. Capt. Collin Hunter, confined to his ship riding at anchor in Six Man's Bay, admitted to bail. [Board of Trade. Barbados, 65. p. 438.] |
Sept. 6.
St. Mary Axe. |
762. Jeffrey Jeffreys to William Popple. I have not the least notice of the contents of Col. Webb's letter, nor did I know that he was out of his Government. I believe he may have some effects of mine which I recommended him to recover there, and consequently I may be concerned in the vessel. It may not be amiss that the advertisement [see No. 550] be inserted in the Gazette as Col. Webb's, without mentioning my name, directing all Governors, etc. to stop the brigantine. I hope it may be of some effect; without promise of a reward. Signed, Jeff. Jeffreys. Endorsed, Recd. Read Sep. 7, 1699. 1 p. [Board of Trade. Proprieties, 4. No. 6.] |
Sept. 6.
Custom
House. |
763. John Sansom to Mr. Popple. For answer to yours of the 5th inst., Col. Blakiston informs the Commissioners that Richard Hawke, master of the Johanna, waives his pretentions to any appeal, and that no appeal had been designed in the case of the Pinck Daniel or the Amity of London, Jamie Duncan, master. But as to the last, condemned for being owned by Scotchmen, she, having been duly registered before her going out and proved to belong to Mr. Fowles and other Scotch merchants, inhabitants of London, the master having also a settled family here, upon the application of Mr. Fowles and others who brought parochial testimony, the Commissioners did, July 6, enclose to the Governor a duplicate of the Register, and acquainted him that it was the declared opinion of H.M. Council that natives of Scotland inhabiting with their families in England or Ireland were to be accounted English within the meaning of the Acts of Trade and Navigation, and therefore desired that if the ship was otherwise qualified and navigated according to law, he would direct the officers concerned to take off their hands and release the vessel, being here under
security to bring her lading to some port of this kingdom. Signed, John Sansom. Endorsed, Recd. Read Sept. 7, 1699. 2 pp. [Board of Trade. Maryland, 3. No. 71A; and 9. pp. 398, 399.] |
Sept. 7.
Annapolis,
Maryland. |
764. Thomas Laurence to the Council of Trade and Plantations. I transmit herewith the Journals of the Council and Assembly and the Body of Laws revised the last Assembly, and am acquainted by His Excellency the Governor that the Journals of those Councils which were held before the Assembly are already sent for England. Signed, Tho. Laurence. Endorsed, Recd. Nov. 16, Read Nov. 21, 1699. Enclosed, |
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764. I. List of Acts of Maryland, 1692–1698, continued as Laws by an Assembly held June 28, 1699. "Perpetual Laws without limitation." 8 pp. Endorsed as preceding. |
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764. II. List of Acts of Maryland passed at an Assembly held June 29—July 22, 1699. 6 pp. Endorsed as preceding. [Board of Trade. Maryland, 3. Nos. 72, 72I.–II.; and 9. pp. 416–434.] |
| Sept. 7. |
765. Sir Bartholomew Gracedieu to William Popple. I am informed that Mr. Toplady is a very infamous man, newly come out of gaol. Several gentlemen who have lived in Jamaica will wait on the Commissioners and give an account of him if desired. Signed, Bartho. Gracedieu. Endorsed, Recd. Read Sept. 7, 1699. [Board of Trade. Jamaica, 8. No. 133; and 56. pp. 358, 359.] |
Sept. 7.
Whitehall. |
766. Instructions to Christopher Codrington as Captain General and Governor in Chief of H.M. Carribbee Islands, lying to leeward from Guardaloupe to the Island of St. John de Porto Rico. Upon arrival to assemble the Council. Councillors nominated for Nevis:—Col. Edward Fox, L.G. of the Leeward Islands, Samuel Gardiner, Michael Smith, John Smergin, Edward Parsons, Azariah Pinney, James Bevon, William Butler, William Ling, Walter Hamilton, William Mead. For Montserrat:—Col. Thomas Delaval, L.G., Col. Edward Fox, Edward Parsons, William Fox, Anthony Hodges, junior, Thomas Lee, Richard Clayton, John Irish, William Fry, John Seet, James Thynne. For Antegoa:—Col. Edward Fox, John Yeamans, Rowland Williams, Francis Carlisle, John Fry, senior, John Hamilton, Edward Byam, Samuel Martin, Thomas Duncom, Edward Parsons, John Corbet, James Thynne. For St. Christopher's:—James Norton, L.G., Col. Edward Fox, John MacArthur, John Estridge, Edward Parsons, Michael Lambert, Henry Burrell, William Willett, Samuel Crook, John Garnet, Wm. Mead, Stephen Pain. The Governor is to publish his Commission in each of the Islands; then to take the oaths, administer them and communicate H.M. Instructions as necessary. The Councils are to enjoy freedom of debate and vote. The Governor is to transmit the
names of six persons fit to supply the vacancies in each of the Councils: he is to take care they are men of good life, estates and abilities and not to alter their number or suspend any without good cause and reason transmitted. Upon the death or absence of any L.G. he is to appoint some fit person till directions received. Councillors' places are to become void if they absent themselves without leave. He is to transmit the names and qualities of members put by him into the Council, and also authentic copies of laws within three months, or by the next conveyance, upon pain of the forfeiture of a year's salary. No Act is to be passed for levying money or inflicting fines etc., whereby the same shall not be mentioned to be reserved to His Majesty for such public uses of the islands as shall be therein directed. Grants to Governors to be made to His Majesty with the humble desire that they may be applied to the Governor's use. Upon the Governor's absence one half of his salary to be allowed to the L.G. He is not to be absent without leave from the King. Accounts of the revenue are to be transmitted half yearly. No money is to be disposed of without the consent of the Council: the Assembly is to be permitted to view the public accounts. Impositions on wines etc. are not to be for less than a year, and other laws are to be indefinite. No Act once enacted by the Governor is to be re-enacted but upon extraordinary occasions and in no case more than once. The Governor is not to remit fines or forfeitures (above £10) or dispose of escheats without H.M. directions. He is not to alter the value of coins or pass any law lessening the revenue without leave. The Secretary is to provide him with copies of Acts etc. for transmission; copies of the Journals of the several Assemblies are also to be transmitted. He is not to displace Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, etc. without good cause, or to express any limitation of time in any commission, or to execute any of the said offices himself or by deputy, or to dispose of any Patent place, or to erect any new Court of Judicature or to dissolve any already established without special order, but to transmit with all convenient speed an account of all Courts and offices. He is to call a Court of Exchequer whenever cases concerning H.M. revenue require it, and to inform the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations whether H.M. service may require the establishment of a constant one there. Salaries and fees are to be regulated within the bounds of moderation, and tables of fees to be hung up publicly. Proceedings are to be according to laws not repugnant to the laws of England. The Governor is to administer the oaths etc. to all public officers: to permit liberty of conscience to all persons, except Papists, so they be contented with a peaceable enjoyment of it. Drunkenness, debauchery and swearing are to be discountenanced. All Planters and Christian servants are to be well provided with arms and mustered and trained as often as thought fit. The Governor is to use his utmost endeavour that each Planter keep such a number of white servants as by law directed. He is not to make frequent or unnecessary marches and musters. Martial Law is not to be executed without the consent of the Council. He is to procure an Act for the punishment of mutiny, desertion and false musters; to take an inventory of arms and ammunition and send it home yearly. The sole power of impressing seamen is invested in him. He is to send an account yearly of the inhabitants, and also an account of stores. He is to settle public store-houses for arms and ammunition throughout the islands. Due entries are to be made of all imports and exports and transmitted yearly: the duties and collection of revenue are to be examined, improved, and account rendered half-
yearly. The Governor is to assist the Collectors of the 4½ per cent. duty, and to see that Divine Service according to the Church of England be duly performed, churches built and kept orderly, and ministers maintained and housed. No minister is to be preferred to any benefice without a certificate from the Bishop of London. Every orthodox minister is to be one of the vestry in his parish. Ministers are to be in due orders. The Governor is to collate the benefices and grant licences for marriages, etc. No schoolmaster to be allowed to come from England and keep a school without the licence of the Bishop of London, nor is any other to be permitted to keep school without the Governor's licence. Tables of marriages are to be hung up in the Churches. The Governor is to suppress the engrossing of commodities as tending to the prejudice of Trade; to encourage merchants, especially the African Company, "and as H.M. is willing to recommend to the said Company that the Islands may have a sufficient supply of merchantable negroes at moderate rates, so you are to take especial care that payment be duly made," and that there be no trading from the islands to any place in Africa within the Company's Charter. The Governor is to give a yearly account of the negroes; to give an account of the wants and improvements in the islands; to observe the Treaty of Madrid; and to inform H.M. of any injury to his subjects by subjects of other princes. He is to enquire into the complaints of the French of St. Christopher's, and oblige persons who have committed injuries to give redress. He is to get a law about the qualifications of jurors. Appeals are to be made from the Courts to the Governor and Council of the island he resides in, if the value exceeds £300 and security be first given by the appellant, and thence to the King, if the value exceed £500, the appeal be made within 14 days and good security be given by the appellant. None of the Members of the Council which receives appeals are to be judges in the Courts of Common Pleas. The Governor is to send accounts of the strength of his neighbours by land and sea: to assert H.M. title to the Virgin Islands (Crab Island) so that the subjects of any foreign princes be not permitted to settle in any of the said islands except St. Thomas'. The subjects of the King of Denmark, in case they act in prejudice to H.M. right of sovereignty in those islands, are to be given to understand that the King of Denmark hath no good title to St. Thomas itself. Any attempt at settlement to be notified at once. The Governor is to endeavour to get a law restraining inhuman severities and punishing the wilful killing of Indians and negroes with death; and also to encourage the conversion of negroes; to recommend the raising of stocks and building of public workhouses for the employment of the poor. He is to assist H.M. Plantations, especially Barbados, in case of need; and earnestly to recommend the building of houses for the Governors in the several islands, which he is frequently to visit, and to procure the repair of the prisons. In case of his death or absence the Lieut.-General of the Islands is to succeed him, and after him the L.G. of Nevis. He is not to declare war without H.M. commands. The laws relating to the Plantations and Trade are to be punctually observed. Signed, Tho. Cantuar, Lonsdale, C.P.S., J. Bridgewater, Jersey, Cha. Montague. [Board of Trade. Leeward Islands, 45. pp. 448–488.] |
| Sept. 7. |
767. Minutes of Council of New York. Depositions relating to Gillam sent by Peleg Sandford were read. Carsten Luersen examined. Search ordered for goods seized in Nassau Island and not brought into the Custom House. Mr. Nucella, Minister of Kingston, and John Martin ordered to appear before the Board and answer for their contempt and refusal to send Dellius letter. |
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J.Ps. of Suffolk ordered to enquire into a riot committed upon the land of Samuel Wood. Surveyor General ordered to lay out land in lots as desired by the inhabitants of Breeklandt in King's County. |
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The two bastions in New York ordered to be demolished. £30 paid to Elias Nean in commiseration of his great sufferings as a Protestant in France. John Barbarie discharged from his guardianship upon his petition. Several of the pinnace crew being absent by the advice of Mr. Hungerford, some soldiers were sent to watch a vessel lurking near Sandy Hook. Committee appointed to audit the Revenue Accounts. |
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The Attorney-General ordered to draw up a special commission to try the Indian that burned her master's barn. |
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The Surveyor General ordered to lay out the highways in Richmond County with the assistance of the Justices. [Board of Trade. New York, 72. pp. 278–280.] |
| Sept. 7. |
768. Minutes of Council of Massachusetts Bay. Joint Committee appointed to prepare a letter to Sir Henry Ashhurst. A Justice of the Superior Court took the oath. The Governor nominated:— |
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Abraham Preble, to be Justice of the Inferior Court, County of York. |
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William Geare ... Island of Nantucket. |
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Capt. Benjamin Skiffe ... Duke's County. |
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John Valentine to be Public Notary. |
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Joseph Prout, to be Coroner for the County of Suffolk. |
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Daniel Epps, to be ... Essex. |
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The Council consented. Licence was granted to Samuel Sewall to build a timber coachhouse and stable abutting upon the Common, over against the new burial-place in Boston, between the stables of Edward Bromfield and the Widow Pollard. Warrants issued for payment to Members of Council of their allowance; and for the killing of wolves. Some Eastern Indians praying for a free trade, advised to consult with Capt. Hill and Major Converse and to present their petition in writing. Warrant issued for payment of half the charge of repairing the Townhouse at Boston (£36 19s. 9d.) and for payment towards the charge of the new Bridge at Cambridge. [Board of Trade. New England, 49. pp. 239–242.] |
Sept. 9.
Boston. |
769. Governor the Earl of Bellomont to the Council of Trade and Plantations. I arrived at Pescattaway, New Hampshire, July 29, and on the 31st summoned the Council appointed by H.M. instructions; among them Mr. Partridge therein named Lt.-Governor. Writs were issued for an Assembly to meet at 8 days' notice, but I found they had been called formerly at 3 days' notice because of the smallness of the Province. I enclose my address and their reply. Mr. Usher gave me his reasons in writing why he would not sit in Council, which I send, and also two
charges against Mr. Partridge and against Messrs. Hinckes, Vaughan and Waldron. I told him they were general, and, being of a high nature, no less than taking up arms against the King, I did expect he would make them good by proofs. He said he could not then stay, having left his wife very ill at or near Boston. In obedience to your orders, Aug. 26, 1697, I made the [best] enquiry I could into the disorders complained of by Mr. Usher; particularly of Mr. Fryar and Coffin, two gentlemen of the Council that were in favour with Mr. Usher. By what I learn his complaints against Mr. Partridge and the others [were] not well grounded, proceeding more from Mr. Usher's unhappy, choleric temper than any occasion given by them. I believe he meant well, but might have managed the [people] of New Hampshire easily enough, had his carriage been more moderate. I delivered the persons accused copies of Mr. Usher's letters and your Representation, July 21, 1697, and the Order of Council, July 29, 1697, and enclose their answer. |
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By my arrival at Pescattaway all Commissions of the officers of Col. Allen's creation were superseded, by which means a trial between him and some of the present proprietors of lands about their title was interdicted, luckily enough for them. 'Tis not difficult to judge which way the causes had been decided, when 'tis plain Col. Allen was in effect Judge and party too. I send the Laws passed and the Minutes of Council during my stay. In the minute of July 31 is contained the Council's request to me to turn out [Willia] m Ardell from being High Sheriff. Col. Allen having got such a tool of a sheriff, it could not be supposed he would want a jury for his purpose. None of the Council inveighed more against Ardell than Messrs. Fryar and Coffin, Col. Allen's friends. The Judge of the Superior Court, made by Col. Allen or his son Usher, was Joseph Smith, a man of no visible estate but two acres of land, and all his estate real and personal rated in Hampton at £9 10s. Yet this man I found Chief Justice, Colonel of the Militia, Captain of Hampton Company, Treasurer of the Province, Naval Officer at Hampton and a member of H.M. Privy Council. The first day [of m]y holding a Council a petition was delivered against the Judges. We ordered a proclamation thereupon, continuing the Justices of Peace and Constables [only] in office, by which the Justices were under a suspension, till I should have time to inquire [into] the truth of the suggestions in the petition. By the King's instructions I am ordered not [to] admit any persons to be Councillors, Judges, etc., but such as are of [good] fame and not necessitous. That the Assembly thought the officers of Col. Allen's putting in unqualified [appe]ars by their address to me, Aug. 10, and on Aug. 11 the Council and Representatives jointly address me and complain of Col. Allen again and of four of his [officers] by name, whom I saw good cause for turning out. Mr. Sheaf, the Secretary, held his commission from Col. Allen, not from the King. On the 10th Aug. the House of Representatives addressed me humbly to represent to H.M. the want of a good fort on the island at the mouth of the river of Pescattaway and their inability to build one. I shall not now enlarge thereon, Col. Romar not having yet made his report. By the next conveyance I will give you particular account
of the nobleness of Pescattaway harbour. On Aug. 16 the Council and Representatives addressed me, reflecting on the indiscreet behaviour of Mr. Usher, while L.G. I could wish the propriety of lands in N. Hampshire and Col. Allen's claim were decided; he and the people he sued have agreed to come to trial in the Superior Court next Feb. His claim hovering over the country as it does gives great disturbance to the present proprietors and hinders others from going to inhabit there. 'Tis an impossible thing there should be a fair trial, for all are parties against him, except those that have no substance and are not qualified to be jurors. Therefore I submit that matter to the justice and wisdom of the Government of England. If Col. Allen have a right to the soil, 'tis fit he should enjoy it or receive some compensation. On 'tother hand, if report says true, Mr. Mason, the former pretender, resigned up his claim to that country to Mr. Allen to be discharged of £300 he owed him. If so, Col. Allen has had the cheapest purchase ever heard of, for he has often told me that he reckoned upon £22,000 per ann. in quit-rents at 3d. per acre or 6d. in the pound rent, and if he recovers the lands, he intends to sue the people for all damages and trespasses committed in the woods since '79, which will amount to several hundred thousand pounds. There were great complaints made of his behaviour in the Superior Court at a trial between him and some of the people about land. He came into Court, and was present at the trial, and hectored very much and gave very abusive language to the counsel that pleaded for the people against him. He would needs persuade me to restore his set of Judges and officers and favour him in his suit, and had the folly to desire me to be present at the trial and I was to find my account in it greatly, but I told him he took the direct way to lose me. His claim reaches as far as Salem, the second town in this province, and takes in several good towns and the best part of this Province for improvement. Let his title be what it will, I am sure the people here will never submit to part with their lands to him, and he must bring an army if he means [to] get possession of them. After all, I pity the man, he is very necessitous and much in debt. Mr. Partridge intended to arrest him on an action of £2,000 he owes him; but I prevailed with him to forbear and enjoined the gentlemen of the Council to be civil to him, since he [had] bore the King's Commission as their Governor. |
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There is a most intolerable waste committed of the woods in N. Hampshire, I refer you to my letter to the Lords of the Treasury, a copy whereof goes. A speedy course should be taken to appropriate the woods wholly to the King, allowing only tenant right to the inhabitants of using the woods for building, fuel, etc. My said letter will in a great measure answer your orders of June 26, for therein I complain of Mr. Brenton's Deputies in N. Hampshire and Rhode Island. He is Collector in both those places and of this province. He is now in England. His deputies are stark naught. He is the only Patent-Officer in my three governments that acts by Deputy. He has a deputy of another kind, Ichabod Plaisted, surveyor of the woods in N. Hampshire under him, to no manner of purpose but for their destruction. I send a list of six persons best qualified in that province to be
of H.M. Council. I find the provision of Naval Stores goes on very slowly there, yet the King is put to great charge. Mr. Partridge, one of the purveyors, owned to me at Pescattaway that pitch and tar could not be made in any quantity there, because of the scarcity of hands and dearness of labour, there being but 700 families computed to be in that province, and the least that's ever paid to a common labouring man 3s. per day. He owned my scheme (April 7th) was the only right method, and New York the fittest place. Mr. Partridge and Mr. Jackson complained that Mr. Bridger carries on a private management, which he keeps them strangers to, though they have as good authority to be concerned in a provision of Naval Stores as he has. He orders what work he pleases without consulting them, pays what he pleases and draws for money on the Navy Board from time to time, and they know nothing of the matter. They believed he had drawn for near £2,000. I do not find there is anything to show for it but [some] specimens of planks and knees for ships that he is now shipping for England. Mr. Partridge would undertake to furnish these for £200 at Pescattaway. I called upon Mr. Bridger here twice to shew me his accounts. First he promised them, then made a trifling excuse and went away to Pescataway. I told him as Governor I had a right of general inspection, but he fancies he is only accountable to the Navy Board. I send his memorials and a copy of my letter to the Admiralty. |
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In my discourse to the Assembly of N. Hampshire I told 'em that if the Eastern Indians did commit any hostilities on them, I would find an easy way of subduing them. I meant that I would bring down the Mohack Indians to cut 'em off, who are a great terror to the Eastern Indians. But this will not be done unless the Government of England use its authority in obliging the people of Massachusetts Bay to contribute to the charge of such an expedition; for they are as well interested in rooting out those Indians as the people of N. Hampshire are. I was no sooner arrived at New York last year, when hearing of the great mischief done this province by the Eastern [Indians] and the great number of people killed by 'em, I writ to the L.G., Council and Assembly and offered to send 2 or 300 of our N. York Indians to fall upon the Eastern. They refused my offer. I have been told their reason was they would not make use of the devil to destroy the devil; such a nicety and squeamishness as all the rest of the world will laugh at. They own here at Boston that it has cost [em] above £100,000 to manage the war with the Eastern Indians during this last war, and this Province sustained the loss of 1,000 families. I am of opinion that for £3,000 they may have a party of the Mohack and other Indians to fall on the Eastern Indians and cut 'em off. Among the Acts passed by the Assembly of N. Hampshire, there is one for the making me a present of £500 (£350 sterling). I desire your favour in obtaining the King's leave that I may have the benefit of it. Signed, Bellomont. I have received the new Great Seal for N. Hampshire, lately sent by Mr. Secretary Vernon, and have defaced the old one and had the King's warrant recorded. Endorsed, Recd. Nov. 22, 1699. Read. Feb. 13, 1699/1700. Holograph. 5 pp. Enclosed, |
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769. I. Abstract of above letter. 1½ pp. |
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769. II. Lord Bellomont's speech to the General Assembly of New Hampshire, Aug. 7, 1699. Endorsed, Recd. Nov. 22, 1699. Copy. 2 pp. Printed by Bartholomew Green and John Allen, Boston. |
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769. III. Answer of the General Assembly to Lord Bellomont's speech and congratulatory address to him. Same endorsement. 2 pp. Printed Copy. |
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769. IV. Copy of John Usher's reasons for refusing to sit in Council. Portsmouth, July 31, 1699. Having a command from Whitehall, Aug. 3, 1697, to take care of H.M. Government until Mr. Partridge had qualified himself or Lord Bellomont arrived, which commands was published in Hampton and Newcastle, Dec. 13, 1697, next day Mr. Partridge entered on the Government, with one hundred men seized the King's Port, and secured H.M. officer in the Sheriff, in contempt of the law which requires all persons to take an oath before entering on the Government. I charged him with this neglect and sent the charge against him to Whitehall. Until H.M. pleasure be known therein I cannot sit in Council with Mr. Partridge as L.G. Signed, Jno. Usher. Same endorsement, ¾ p. |
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769. V. Copy of John Usher's charge against Mr. Partridge (as above). Newcastle, July 31. Signed, Jno. Usher. Same endorsement. ½ p. |
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769. VI. John Usher to Lord Bellomont. In my letters to their Lordships at Whitehall, Feb. 16 and 18, 169 6/7, I laid a complaint against John Hincks, Wm. Vaughan, Richd. Waldron, for seizing H.M. Government, which I am ready to lay before you with my proofs. Signed, Jno. Usher. Same endorsement. ½ p. Copy. |
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769. VII. Messrs. Partridge, Hinckes, Vaughan and Waldron to Lord Bellomont. We send our reply to Mr. Usher's charges, from which it will appear that we are not the disorderly persons he has represented. Signed, Wm. Partridge, John Hinckes, Wm. Vaughan, Richd. Waldron, Same endorsement. Copy. 1 p. Enclosed, |
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769. VIII. Copy of replies to Mr. Usher's charges. (1) Mr. Partridge answers, that being informed the time for taking the oath enjoined on all Governors had been lengthened out another year, and Governor Lord Bellomont's arrival being daily expected, he by the advice of the Council, having taken the other usual oaths and caused H.M. Commission to him to be published, entered upon the Government, and his qualification was good. (2) John Hinckes, Wm. Vaughan and Richd. Waldron answer that, so far from seizing the Government and taking up arms against the King's Commission, they never acted but by the desire and consent of the very Council which Mr. Usher acknowledges as such. (3) The above accounts are true and all the disorders in the Government were purely occasioned by
Mr. Usher himself, as we, who were of the Council from the time of Mr. Usher's arrival until Mr. Partridge's entrance upon the Government are ready to take oath. Signed, Nath. ffryar, Peter Coffin, Nath. Wear, Henry Greene. Same endorsement. 2¼ pp. |
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769. IX. Copy of a petition by William Vaughan, Richd. Waldron, Henry Dow and Lt. Saml. Levitt against Col. Allen's Judges and other officers. Same endorsement. 1 p. |
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769. X. Copy of an Address of the House of Representatives against Col. Allen's administration, his judges and other officers. Aug. 10, 1699. Same endorsement. 2 pp. |
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769. XI. Copy of an Address of the Council and Assembly of N. Hampshire against Col. Allen's administration, etc. Same endorsement. 3 pp. |
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769. XII. Copy of the Address of the Representatives about the need of a fort at the mouth of Piscataway River. Same endorsement. 1¼ pp. |
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769. XIII. Copy of the Address of the Council and Representatives against Mr. Usher and vindicating Mr. Partridge. Aug. 16, 1699. Same endorsement. 2 pp. |
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769. XIV. Governor the Earl of Bellomont to the Lords of the Treasury. Boston, Sep. 8, 1699. I fear in a very little while, unless the whole arrear of subsistance of the Four Companies at New York be already paid in England, the Victuallers will be broke (they tell me they are out of pocket £7,000) and the soldiers turned a-grazing. Refers to Col. Fletcher's Grants of Lands and the disadvantages of the system of Deputies, instancing Mr. Brenton's. "I know by experience 'tis a very hard thing to find honest men in this part of the world to put into employment. The Clerk of the Council at New York and the Naval Officers who are the only officers I made there, prove both of them very idle, knavish fellows. They were the best I could get. But a Collector's is the most ungrateful office that can be; if he is just to his trust, they hate him mortally, so that I believe a man that's honest and of substance too, would hardly accept a Deputy Collector's place ... I desire you will order Mr. Brenton to his post ... I should advise your appointing a Collector for Rhodes Island and another for New Hampshire; they ought to be nicely honest, because they will be liable to temptations. They will deserve £100 a year each, and because the Collector will have little to do, there being very little trade there, he might be surveyor of the woods and receive that £50 a year, which Brenton has at present. I will be bound to say neither he nor Mr. Randolph who had it before him have ever done 6d. worth of service for it. Ichabod (Plaisted) the Deputy does as little good as Jahleel (Brenton), nay, does a great deal of hurt, for he trades in lumber and is building a saw mill to devour more timber. There are above
50 saw mills in the Province, half of 'em double ones. In a few years the King will not have a tree left that's fit for the mast of a ship. I should advise therefore that the Collector ought to be a right honest man and all the officers of the Province Englishmen, for they have little interests and friendships to gratify. They seem here to hate those that are English born as if they were foreigners. Signed, Bellomont. The Collector of N. York writes me that this proves the worst year ever known for the Customs. The produce of the sugar-islands failing this year, there is very little to be expected from the Customs this year. Only one sloop could get a loading at Barbadoes. Reflects on the "parcel of vile knaves and Jacobites who practice the law in New York. There is not one I have not proof of their being Jacobites and sinister practices, a softer word my Lord Bacon uses for knavish Lawyers," and begs for an honest understanding Chief Justice and Attorney General. Same endorsement. 4 pp. Copy. |
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769. XV. List of persons recommended by Lord Bellomont for the Council of N. Hampshire. William Vaughan, Samuel Penhallow, George Jeffrey, John Plaisted, Henry Dow, Mark Hunkin. Same endorsement. ½ p. |
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769. XVI. Mr. Bridger to Lord Bellomont, Aug. 30, 1699. We are very well satisfied with the quality of the tar so far obtained. The hemp we have planted is very like to prove beyond expectation. The rozen made in this river is approved of in England and here as good as any French. The masts are very good, and no other place produces the like for bigness. Rafters for oars are better than any other elsewhere. The oak timber is of a good sort and enough to supply the Navy, if demanded in time. If these specimens are approved, it will be absolutely necessary for H.M. to build ships for transporting these stores. Copy. 3¼ pp. Same endorsement. |
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769. XVII. Addendum to above, calling attention to the waste of mast trees, etc., contrary to a clause in the Charter. Signed, J. Bridger. Same endorsement. Copy. 1 p. |
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769. XVIII. Lord Bellomont to Lords of the Admiralty, Boston, Sept. 7, '99. I commended to you Capt. Leader of the Deptford, who brought me from England; but I find that he has since misbehaved himself extremely in abusing several masters of ships, taking their men violently from them and selling them again. Piracy grows daily and there is no help for it unless you speedily send two men-of-war, and unless one of them is a 4th rate, I fear you will hear the pirates have taken them. The vast riches of the Red Sea and Madagascar are such a lure to seamen that there's almost no withholding them from turning pirates. I send you a copy of my letter upon the subject of Naval Stores. I send copies of Capt. John Evans' letters.
Signed, Bellomont. I have appointed Mr. Thomas Newton, a lawyer, to succeed Mr. Lynde, resigned, as King's Advocate in the Admiralty Courts of N. Hampshire, Rhode Island and this Province, and John Vallentine to be Register in this Province and N. Hampshire in place of Capt. Hammond, deceased. Same endorsement. Copy. 2 pp. |
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769. XIX. Copy of an Act for regulating officers' fees in N. Hampshire. April 5, 1698. Same endorsement. 5 pp. |
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769. XX. Memorandum of Minutes of Council of N. Hampshire. July 30—Aug. 17, 1699. ½ p. |
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769. XXI. Memorandum of Acts of Assembly of N. Hampshire begun Aug. 7, 1699. ¼ p. [Board of Trade. New England, 9. Nos. 66, 66 I.–XXI.; and duplicate, letters and enclosures without abstract or memoranda) 67, 67 I.–XVII.; and(without enclosures) 37. pp. 341–362.] |
| Sept. 9. |
770. Minutes of Council of Massachusetts Bay. Letter to Sir Henry Ashhurst approved. Order to secure Caleb Ray. Petitions of Thomas Jacobs, and Seth Smith, committed for aiding pirates, for bail referred to the Judges. Accounts of Capt. John Hill, Commander of the Fort Mary at Saco, and of Mr. Bridger's Guard approved. Payment ordered. Memorial of the Eastern Indians renewing their submission to the Crown of England and making proposals for trade presented to the Governor. [Board of Trade. New England, 49. pp. 242, 243.] |
| Sept. 10. |
771. Copy of the Governor of Canada's passport to L'Espérance, with Brossard, St. Sauveur and John the Englishman, to go to Orange to fetch his sister and brother-in-law, prisoners of the Iroquois, recovered and brought there by the English. Signed, (Hector) Le Chevalier de Callières. 1 p. French. [America and West Indies. Canada, 485. No. 1.] |
Sept. 11.
Boston. |
771. A. Governor the Earl of Bellomont to the Bishop of London. You have recommended Mr. Vesey to me in one or two of your letters and I prevailed with the Council to settle £26 a year on him for the hire of his house and resolved to prevail with the Assembly if possibly I could to settle on him and his successors in that cure a further maintenance of £50 a year above the £100 a year he has at present. He told Mr. Graham the Attorney General he was much melted by my kindness and my moderation in the administration of the Government; that he wondered how any of his congregation could be my enemies; that he was weary of his life and must forsake New York, he was so teazed and reproved by the angry party for preaching up a good life and the fruits of it, viz. Peace, Love and Charity. But I verily believe he wants honesty and is by the angry party bribed, and am persuaded you will be of that opinion when you have read the enclosed papers. I expect that you will consent to his being immediately deprived of his benefice. Mr. Dellius is a liar, a drunkard and an immoral man as I can prove undeniably. He defrauded the Mohacks and a letter has just fallen into the hands of Mr. Nucella, a Dutch minister at King's Town, New York, from a Frenchwoman, who was a prisoner at Albany, and writes to Dellius from Canada lamenting
the disgrace of being with child by him. I cannot but fancy the sons of Eli that were destroyed by fire from Heaven were a type of Mr. Dellius. If he was innocent, why did he abscond when summoned to New York, as shown by the Minute of Council, June 21? Mr. Myles and Mr. Bridge are good preachers. I will give them all the encouragement I can. Our Church is very neat and convenient, but 'tis too small. Signed, Bellomont. Endorsed, Recd. Nov. 22, 1699. Laid before the Board, Jan. 25, 1699/1700. Copy. 3 large pp. Enclosed, |
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771. I. Copy of the indictment against Mr. Vesey's father, upon which he was fined and stood in the pillory. Endorsed, Recd. Nov. 22, 1699. 1¾ pp. |
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771. II. Depositions of John Nanfan, Robert Walters and Simon Smith. Aug. 14, 1699. On July 9, Mr. Vesey prayed for Mr. Dellius in his pulpit, after he had been deprived by the Assembly. Copy. 1 p. Same endorsement. |
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771. III. Copies of letters from the L.G. of New York, June, July, Aug., 1699, about Mr. Vesey praying for Mr. Dellius and omitting to pray for the Governor. 2½ pp. Same endorsement. |
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771. IV. Deposition of Mary Cross of Boston. About 12 months since at Braintry, Mr. Vesey baptised the children of Josiah Owen, who had married his brother's wife. Copy. 1¼ pp. Same endorsement. |
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771. V. Similar deposition of Susannah Saunders. Copy. 1½ pp. Same endorsement. |
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771. VI. Minute of Council of New York, June 21. ¾ p. Same endorsement. [Board of Trade. New York, 8A. Nos. 43, 43 I.–VI.; and(without enclosures) 54. pp. 71–79.] |
Sept. 11.
Whitehall. |
772. Journal of Council of Trade and Plantations. Order of Council, Aug. 31, about Mr. Day, read. Letters in pursuance thereof ordered. |
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Order of Council, Aug. 31, upon the petition of Charles Walker, Anthony White, and Thomas Harford, read. The solicitor of that business ordered to lay before their Lordships the papers therein referred to as annexed. |
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Mr. Attorney and Solicitor General's opinion about an English ship arrived at Venice with logwood from Honduras, read. Representation ordered. |
| Sept. 12. |
Letter to the Earl of Jersey about Col. Webb's ship agreed upon, and signed. |
|
Letters to Mr. Penn, Col. Quary, Governor Day, Messrs. Randolph, White, and Jones, signed. |
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Representation upon Ld. Bellomont's letter about Captain Kid and other informations about pirates in the West Indies, signed. |
|
Representation about the French settling upon Sta. Lucia, signed. |
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Upon further consideration of Mr. Richardson's memorial (mentioned Aug. 22), directions for a representation to be laid before the Lords Justices were given. [Board of Trade. Journal, 12. pp. 171–174; and96. Nos. 141, 142.] |
| Sept.11 |
773. Minutes of Council of New York. Thomas Clark, an abettor of Kidd, absenting himself to avoid giving evidence about Kidd's goods in Connecticut, the Governor of Connecticut was desired to arrest and send him and his goods to New York or Boston. Powder and shot ordered to be sent to the Schaakhook Indians. |
Sept. 13.
Sept. 14 |
Mr. Chiampanti, upon the Governor's recommendation, constituted Agent for the Province in England. |
| Sept. 14. |
Capts. Robert and Thomas Drummond and Capt. Samuel Vetch summoned to appear before the Board at 10 to-morrow morning. John Tuthill summoned to appear with Capt. Clarke's letter. Upon the petition of Thomas Wenham complaining of the seizure of the Speedwell by the Deputy Naval Officer, John Parmyter, he was summoned to appear, and said the action was depending in the Admiralty Court. Petitioner ordered to make his defence there. [Board of Trade. New York, 72. pp. 280–283.] |
Sept. 12.
Whitehall. |
774. Council of Trade and Plantations to the Lords Justices. Having laid before your Excellencies, Aug. 10, a Representation relating to the seizure of some pirates in Pennsylvania and West New Jersey and being daily made more sensible of the protection such persons find in H.M. Plantations, we offer some account of further information lately received. Substance of Lord Bellomont's letter of July 8 concerning Kidd, Bradish, Maise and Shelley, quoted. Information concerning Kidd, Henry Bolton and William Bourke communicated by the President and Council of Nevis, quoted. Governor Blakiston's advice of the seizure of Theophilus Turner and his depositions quoted. Governor Winthrop's announcement, that he had in custody ten of the seamen who ran away with the Adventure (Capt. Gullock), quoted. "Which men are another part of the same company which Lord Bellomont calls Bradish's crew." Governor Webb's account (June 26) of the Sweepstakes being run away with quoted. Having understood that your Excellencies have already upon our Representations been pleased to give some directions about persons seized for piracy in Massachusetts Bay, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and East and West Jersey, yet considering the growth of piracy and the spreading of pirates into other Plantations which may be apprehended when they come to understand to what places the directions which they have reason to fear are not extended, the want of laws in some places for punishing them, the insecurity of the gaols in many, and the great partiality and favour of the people towards them almost everywhere, of which we have lately had a notorious instance in some trials in Rhoad Island, we humbly offer that all pirates seized in any of H.M. Plantations in America whatsoever be sent hither together with the evidences upon which they have been or shall be seized and which may be of any use for their conviction here, that so they may be tried and punished according to law, with such regard to the numbers that may be taken and the safe custody of them in their passages hither by sea as to your Excellencies shall seem necessary. And that the Governors or Commanders in Chief of all the Plantations be directed to insinuate in the best manner they can to any pirates not in their power that those who shall be forwardest to surrender themselves and most
ingenuous in their confessions may have the surest grounds to hope for His Majesty's mercy. And that Lord Bellomont be particularly directed to use his utmost endeavours that the Jailer of Boston be punished with the utmost severity of the law for the escape of Bradish, and that if the law of that Colony be defective in that point he endeavour to get some more effectual act passed. Which provision of effectual laws to prevent the escape of all prisoners may be fitly recommended to all the Governors. Signed, Ph. Meadows, Jno. Pollexfen, Jno. Locke, Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Plantations General, 35. pp. 63–72.] |
Sept. 12.
Whitehall. |
775. Council of Trade and Plantations to the Lords Justices. Representation upon Mr. Grey's letter about the French settling upon Sta. Lucia. Upon some beginnings of a settlement made by the French upon that island about 1685, Col. Stede, then Lieutenant Governor of Barbados was directed in instructions from the late King James, March 19, 1685/6, (See Cal. A. and W. I. 1685, No. 603) to cause all foreigners, unless they acknowledged the King of England's sovereignty, to remove from the island, and upon all occasions in the best manner to renew the said claim and to give notice thereof from time to time to the French Governors and other officers in those parts. In 1686, Col. Stede having made several proceedings in prosecution of the forementioned instructions, an account thereof was transmitted by the respective Governors in those parts to the English and French Courts and an extract of a letter from Monr. Seignelay about the French claim, dated Nov. 19, 1686, having been laid before the Lords of the late Committee for Trade and Plantations, their Lordships agreed, Dec. 4, 1686, upon a state of the English Title to the island of Sta. Lucia. But the claims on both sides continued, and we find in the books in our custody a copy of a letter from the late King James to Col. Stede, dated April 1, 1688, wherein mention is made of Commissioners appointed by the said King James and the French King respectively for settling the bounds of the English and French Colonies in America and of an instrument signed and sealed by the said Commissioners for preventing hostilities, etc. between the respective subjects of both Crowns in those parts. Col. Stede was called upon to give an exact account of the boundaries and limits of the Government of Barbados. But we can find no copy of this instrument or of the proceedings of the Commissioners. Col. Stede, however, we find, appointed Commissioners to enquire into the King's title to the Islands of Sta. Lucia, St. Vincent's and Dominico, who made a report to him Sept. 23, 1688 (Cal. A. & W. I. 1688, No. 1898). It seeming to us by the aforesaid papers that his Majesty's title to the Island of Sta. Lucia is fully demonstrated, antecedent to any pretence made by the French, we thereupon humbly crave leave to offer your Excellencies some considerations upon the importance of it. The wood and timber that grows upon it, and which has been constantly fetched from thence to Barbados is of absolute necessity to that island, as well for his Majesty's forts there as for all other private occasions. If it should be possessed by any foreigners it would facilitate the escape of debtors, servants and negroes that at any time should have a mind to run away from Barbados, because
it lying to the leeward and in sight of Barbados, they could easily get thither. In time of war the possession of it by an enemy would be of the utmost mischievous consequence, because there is at Sta. Lucia a very good port for ships. And all ships from Barbados are obliged to pass to leeward, and for the most part in sight of it. Upon all which considerations, as well of interest and conveniency, we propose that such directions may be given to Mr. Grey and such care otherwise taken as your Excellencies shall think most proper to maintain his Majesty's right to the aforesaid Island of Sta. Lucia and to prevent the French from settling upon it. Signed, Ph. Meadows, John Pollexfen, John Locke, Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Barbados, 44A. pp. 325–329.] |
Sept. 12.
Whitehall. |
776. Council of Trade and Plantations to Governor Day. The enclosed order of Aug. 31 being an entire approbation of our proposals, we will only add this word of advice, that you can have no fairer opportunity of regaining that credit which your late imprudent conduct has impaired, than by complying candidly and ingenuously with its requirements. Signed, Ph. Meadows, Jno. Pollexfen, Jn. Locke, Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Bermuda, 29. pp. 209, 210.] |
Sept. 12.
Whitehall. |
777. Council of Trade and Plantations to Edward Randolph, Col. White and Edward Jones. We enclose the Order in Council of Aug. 31. We have sent a duplicate to Mr. Day, and you will do well to apply unto him for such commissions as he is thereby directed to give you and then to proceed speedily in the execution of them with all manner of fairness and impartiality. Signed, Ph. Meadows, Jno. Pollexfen, Jn. Locke, Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Bermuda, 29. pp. 210, 211.] |
| Sept. 12. |
778. Council of Trade and Plantations to William Penn. We enclose copies of the Orders of the Lords Justices, Aug. 31, that you may take care they are in every respect punctually observed. We are to supply to you their Excellencies' further directions. Instructions given as proposed in the representations of Aug. 4 and Aug. 10. 4 pp. Signed, Ph. Meadows, Jno. Pollexfen, Jno. Locke. Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Proprieties, 26. pp. 98–102.] |
Sept. 12.
Whitehall. |
779. Council of Trade and Plantations to Robert Quary. The reason for our not answering you before we acquainted you with by the ship in which Mr. Penn sailed [the Canterbury Merchant]. The Orders of Council (Aug. 31) are now transmitted to Mr. Penn. As he is directed to reform abuses and to support Admiralty officers, so you must be careful that those officers be respectful towards him, and that no unnecessary divisions be fomented. Their Excellencies have also given directions about pirates seized, which will undoubtedly be sent. Signed, Ph. Meadows, John Pollexfen, John Locke, Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Proprieties, 26. pp. 102–105.] |
Sept. 12.
Whitehall. |
780. Council of Trade and Plantations to the Earl of Jersey. We enclose copy of Col. Webb's letter (June 26). Signed, Ph. Meadows, John Pollexfen, John Locke, Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Proprieties, 26. pp. 97, 98.] |
| Sept. 14. |
781. Sir John Hawles (Solicitor-General) to the Council of Trade and Plantations. I have considered the petition of Mr. Bate and the papers and letters patents bearing thereon (enumerated), and think there is no pretence of title to the lands in question in the King upon Dr. Delarouze's being an alien. The letters patent of Charles I. in general words sufficiently authorised the Earl of Carlisle to endenizen in the island. Anyhow the many years' quiet enjoyment of his estate by Delarouze would cause a prosecution to be thought very hard and not to prevail. Signed, John Hawles. Endorsed, Recd. Sept. 14, Read Sept. 15. 2 pp. [Board of Trade. Barbados, 8. No. 16; and44A. pp. 331–333.] |
Sept. 14.
Whitehall. |
782. Representation of the Council of Trade and Plantations to the Lords Justices upon the case of Sir Peter Colleton's Executors v. Col. James Colleton of Barbados, recommending the Order in Council, Sept. 26. [Board of Trade. Barbados, 44A. pp. 329–331.] |
| Sept. 14. |
783. Minutes of Council of Massachusetts Bay. Expenses of dieting witnesses against Bradish paid. Warrant issued for a supply of £300 of cloths etc. for trade with the Indians. [Board of Trade. New England, 49. pp. 243, 244.] |
Sept. 14.
Whitehall. |
784. Journal of Council of Trade and Plantations. Mr. Secretary Vernon desiring to know whether Sir Wm. Beeston had sent any complaints against young Mr. Brodrick, whom Mr. Brodrick, late Attorney General at Jamaica, had left there in some public officer, ordered that an extract of Sir William Beeston's letter, July 5, 1698, be sent to him. |
|
Representation upon Mr. Richardson's petition (case of Sir Peter Colleton's executors, Barbados), signed. |
| Sept. 15. |
Representation upon Trade from Honduras to Venice agreed upon and signed. |
|
On consideration of Col. Blakiston's letter of May 20 about appeals from Maryland, ordered that Lord Baltimore's patent for Maryland be looked into. |
|
Papers that should have been annexed to Order of Council, Aug. 31, considered. Letters to Mr. Day and to Messrs. Randolph, White and Jones, ordered. |
|
Mr. Solicitor General's report upon the case of Richard Bate read and representation ordered accordingly. [Board of Trade. Journal, 12. pp. 175–177; and96. Nos. 143, 144.] |
Sept. 15.
Custom
House
London. |
785. John Sansom to William Popple. The Commissioners of Customs desire a copy of Gov. Nicholson's Instructions. Signed, Jno. Sansom. Endorsed, Recd. Sep. 15. Read Sep. 19, 1699. ¼ p. [Board of Trade. Virginia, 7. No. 1; and37. p. 336.] |
| Sept. 15. Boston. |
786. Mr. Addington to Mr. Popple, transmitting Minutes of Council and Journal of Assembly and Acts and Laws passed, Massachusetts Bay, Ap. 11—Aug. 24, 1699. Signed, Isaac Addington. Endorsed, Recd. Dec. 1, 1699. 1 p. [Board of Trade. New England, 9. No. 68; and 37. p. 229.] |
Sept. 15.
Boston. |
787. Governor the Earl of Bellomont to William Popple. Mr. Weaver being made Collector of N. York, I have appointed Mr. Chiampanti, son of Sir John Chiampanti, Agent for the Province.
if he will accept of it. He is an honest, ingenious man, and I desire you will instruct him in the business of the Agency. Signed, Bellomont. Please let Sir Harry Ashhurst have a sight of my letters about this province and N. Hampshire. I have not been able to get them copied. I send the speech of Mr. Cranston, Governor of Rhode Island, to the Assembly about a fortnight since, as a specimen of the temper of that people. 'Tis an original for insolence and nonsense. But that I know that Government and people to be the most piratical in the King's dominions I should not much care to execute this commission sent me by Mr. Secr. Vernon, for to be sure I shall have a million of curses. I desire you will procure the reading my letter to the Bishop of London to my Lords of Trade and to send a copy of my letter of Ap. 17 to the Lords of the Admiralty. Endorsed, Recd. Nov. 22, 1699. Read Jan. 9. 1699/1700. 2¼ pp. (with abstract). Enclosed, |
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787. I. Memorandum of a copy of Governor Cranston's speech, Aug. 21, 1699. |
|
787. II. Memorandum of a copy of Lord Bellomont's letter to the Treasury, Sept. 8, 1699. [Board of Trade. New York, 9. Nos. 1, 1 I.–II.; and 54. pp. 31–34; and (abstract) 45. p. 67.] |
| Sept. 15. |
788. Copy of Governor Cranston's Speech to the Assembly of Rhode Island upon notice of Lord Bellomont's coming to examine into the misdemeanours of the Government. Aug. 21, 1699. Endorsed, Recd. Nov. 22, 1699. Laid before the Board, Jan 9, 1699/1700. 2 pp. [Board of Trade. Proprieties, 4. No. 34.] |
Sept. 15/25.
Dieren. |
789. William Blathwayt to William Popple. There will be no further occasion for subsistence to the Company at Jamaica, H.M. orders with two duplicates having been at several times sent to that island very early in the spring for disbanding it. Signed, Wm. Blathwayt. Endorsed, Recd. Sep. 25. Read Sep. 26. 1699. [Board of Trade. Jamaica, 8. No. 134; and 56. p. 367.] |
Sept. 15.
Whitehall. |
790. Representation of the Council of Trade and Plantations to the Lords Justices upon the petition of Richard Bate recommending an Order in Council be made to the effect of (No. 781). Signed, Philip Meadows, John Pollexfen, John Locke, Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Barbados, 44 A. pp. 333–335; and 65. pp. 480, 481.] |
Sept. 15.
Whitehall. |
791. Council of Trade and Plantations to the Lords Justices. Representation on the case of the Sea-Flower (vide July 5 and 7). Honduras being no part of H.M. Plantations, there is no law which forbids the carrying of logwood thence to Venice, unless it be in ships belonging to H.M. Plantations. But by the Act of the 9th and 10th of his present Majesty to settle the Trade to Africa, the Sea-Flower is liable to forfeiture if she has pursued her voyage from Venice to Guinea. The matter do's not appear unto us to be altogether of so ill-consequence as the letter from Venice sets it forth. For though it would be to the advantage of H.M. Customs that no American commodities were carried to any place in Europe nor European commodities to Africa without first paying the duties imposed by law in England, if any effectual law were or
could be made to reach all those cases, yet, considering the drawbacks that are allowed here upon the exportation of all such commodities (not reckoned upon in the said letter), the prejudice arising to his Majesty in the present case will be found much short of the computations there offered. But considering further that Honduras is no part of H.M. Plantations and that the logwood which grows there may be cut and carried directly from thence to any place in Europe by any other nation as well as English, it seems some sort of hardship that Englishmen should not have the same liberty as others to reap any advantage that may be made by that trade. Nevertheless, the clause in the Act of the 22nd and 23rd, Car. II., whereby a greater restraint is laid upon ships belonging to H.M. Plantations than upon other English ships, having been intended for the better preventing of all private trade with the enumerated commodities (whereof dyeing wood is one) from H.M. Plantations to all places in Europe without first paying duties in England, and it being highly necessary that the utmost care and watchfulness be constantly employed for preventing of that pernicious practice, we think that H.M. Commissioners of Customs should be instructed to take care that the Sea-Flower, whenever she returns to England or can be met with, be prosecuted according to those Acts which she shall be found to have transgressed. Signed, Ph. Meadows, Jno. Pollexfen, Jno. Locke, Abr. Hill. [Board of Trade. Trade Papers, 14. pp. 345–348.] |
