said ship have declared to us, asking from us a let-pass and clearance, by which foreigners may be assured that this city is not infested by a plague or any other contagious disease. Since certainly it is a part of our official duty to meet the needs of our citizens and to offer testimony to the truth, especially for those who ask it of us, we assure all those to whose care this matter belongs, that through the goodness of God Almighty this city is not infected with the plague or any other deadly disease; and accordingly we desire that those who are requested should accord to this master, together with his ship, his shipmates and goods, free transit and the opportunity to carry on traffic freely by land and sea, and should prohibit that any hindrance should be offered to him in this matter, nay rather that they should aid him, when his needs require it; whereby they will lay us under strict obligations to render to them the same good offices. In testimony whereof we have caused these letters to be provided with our seal which we use publicly for business,3 and signed by the hand of our secretary, on the ninth day of November in the Year of Salvation 1757, new style. J. BJELLE. 198. News of Privateers. May 19, 1757.1 By a Master of a Vessel lately arrived from Hispaniola, we are inform'd, that on the 13th of April there lay at Port of Prince 2 a Brig of about 120 Tons, mounting 14 Carriage Guns, and 200 Men, also a Sloop about 70 Tons, 8 Carriage Guns and 100 Men, both intended in Consort (as it was there said) for the Coast of New-York and thereabouts. The Brig is Rhode-Island built, black sides, with a white Bottom, the Sloop is painted very gay, as with red, yellow, black and green. He heard likewise that at another "In Continental practice, a municipal corporation usually had, besides its great seal used for the more solemn public documents, a lesser seal, called the sigillum ad causas, used for minor public documents or for private papers authenticated by public authority. This paper bears a seal having the legend "Sigillum ad causas oppidi Rotterodami”, encircling an impression of a castle with portcullis, standing on a shore, with a swan swimming in front of the gate. From the Boston News-Letter of May 19, 1757. "Port au Prince, on the west coast, the present capital of Haiti. Port in the said Island, there was fitting out a Snow (which had been lately a Packet taken from the English) to mount 16 Carriage Guns, and to be commanded by one Palanqui (a very noted Commander) to come on the same Coast. We hear from Bristol, in Rhode-Island Government, that Capt. Mark-Anthony De Wolfe in a Privateer Sloop of 50 Tuns, with 40 Hands and 6 Guns, belonging to Warren, sail'd from thence the 24th of April, and put into Newport, from whence she sail'd three Days after; and on the 4th of this Instant May, to the Northward of Bermudas, took a French Snow of 150 Tons, with 18 Men, who made but little Resistance, having but 2 Guns, and no one killed or wounded on either side: The Privateer return'd with her Prize to Bristol the 15th, having finished this Cruize in 3 Weeks to an Hour. The Cargo of the Snow consists of 200 Hogsheads of Sugar, a Quantity of Coffee, Indigo, Elephants-Teeth, Logwood, etc. and was bound from St. Domingo for Old-France. Yesterday the Privateer Ship Hertford, commanded by Capt. Thomas Lewis, lately fitted out from this Place, brought into our Harbour a valuable French Prize, a Ship of about 240 Tuns, which he took about three Weeks ago, to the Southward of Bermudas in Lat. 29: She was bound from Porto Prince in Hispaniola to old France; her Cargo is said to consist of 400 Hogsheads of Sugar, and a considerable Quantity of Indigo, Cotton-Wool, Hides, etc. valued at about 9000£ Sterling. She sail'd out with 4 other Vessels bound also to France, and had parted from her a Day or Two before she was taken: One of which is the Prize carried into Bristol as beforementioned; and another of them is said to be the trading Sloop that was seized at Rhode-Island last Week. Two other Vessels, they say, sail'd the Day before them for Cape-Breton. Several French Letters found on board this Prize con "He was brother-in-law of Captain Simeon Potter, and sailed with him, as clerk, on the Prince Charles of Lorraine (see docs. nos. 176, 177) in 1745His son, James De Wolf, United States senator 1821-1825, was one of the most successful of owners of privateers; one of his vessels, the Yankee, captured or destroyed five million dollars' worth of British property during the war of 1812. Munro, Tales of an Old Sea Port, pp. 214-223. firm the Arrival of the Squadron mentioned in our last, commanded by Monsieur Beaufremont; and that he had sent out two Frigates to clear the Coast of our Privateers; but that the English Squadron approaching, they ran into Porto Paix, and informed the French Admiral thereof; who thereupon put to Sea, and a great Number of Cannon were heard for several Hours; so that we may expect to hear of some smart Engagement. 199. Letter of William Smith, jr. April 8, 1757.1 NEW YORK 8 April 1757. Sir, On the 6th Instant, a French Snow 2 laden with Sugar 3 and Indigo, to a very considerable Value, was brought into The Chevalier de Bauffremont, prince de Listenois, chef d'escadre in the French navy and later vice-admiral, had sailed from Brest at the end of January, with a squadron of six vessels, for St. Domingo, capturing the Greenwich, 50, on his way. From the West Indies he sailed for Louisbourg, where he arrived May 23. Lacour-Gayet, La Marine Militaire de la France sous Louis XV., pp. 383, 495. "Port au Paix, on the north coast of Haiti. 'London, Public Record Office, Admiralty, 1:3882. Le Bon Rencontre. The case was a curious one (notes of Judge Hough, from the papers relating to it in the files of the New York vice-admiralty court). On March 22, 1757, this French snow of 160 tons, while on a trading voyage from Port Louis in Guadeloupe to Bordeaux, was captured off Bermuda by the English ship Maxwell, Etherington master, and the New York sloop St. Stephen, Thomas, who sent her with an English crew to New York; but neither of them had any letters of marque, or commission authorizing them to take prizes. The snow was brought to anchor inside Sandy Hook. Early in the morning of April 6, John Crew, captain of the New York privateer Fox, came aboard from a small boat with a few men, and took possession. Later, the snow was taken over by the Sutherland man-of-war. Thus, the Bon Rencontre was without doubt a captured enemy vessel, but the captors had not been authorized privateers, and the authorized privateer and the king's ship had not made the capture. Under these circumstances the admiralty judge, Lewis Morris, ordered the marshal to take custody of the snow, and appointed Benjamin Nicoll and William Smith, jr., the writer of this letter (see doc. no. 188, note 13), to be advocates for the Lords of the Admiralty, whose interests seemed to him to be involved. Thus there were four parties claiming the original captors, Crew, the King, and the Admiralty. April 7 the snow was libelled on behalf of the Admiralty. Later, Etherington withdrew and Crew's claim was ruled out, but as between the King and the Admiralty Judge Lewis Morris gave no decision before his death in 1762. His successor, Judge Richard Morris, gave judgment Aug. 10, 1764, but it has not been preserved. ม 200 hogsheads, says the New York Gazette of Apr. 11; the Gazette of June 27, by the way, enumerates 23 privateers then in New York harbor. this Port, by two English Merchant men, who captivated her on the High Seas in March last, tho they had neither Letters of Marque nor other Commission. After her Arrival in Port, she was seized first by a Privateer, and then by the Southerland Man of War, who both claim her as their Property respectively. Colonel Morris, the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty, apprehending that the Lords of the Admiralty might be interested, issued a Warrant, by which the Snow was taken into the Custody of the Marshal of that Court; and as their Lordships have as yet appointed neither Proctor nor Advocate in this, and the Colonies of Connecticut and New Jersey, his Honour the Commissary was pleased on this Occasion to assign Council (as you will perceive by the inclosed) to examine into the Affair, and prosecute on their Lordships Behalf. We have accordingly interposed a Libel for that Purpose, and let me beg the Favour of you, to wait upon their Lordships, for an authentic Copy of their Patent, and such In-formation, as may be thought proper to be transmitted. Whether their Lordships, in Case of a Sentence in their Favour, will be pleased to consider the Captors, or chuse rather to reserve the Prize to themselves, I conceive it will be necessary, that a proper Power be sent over; of which you will be so good as to put their Lordships in Mind; and whatever Directions and Papers are given into your Hands, please to forward them with the utmost Dispatch to, Captain Morris, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant [Endorsed:] By the Leicester Packet: To Staats L. Morris, Esquire, London.* 4 Staats Long Morris, son of the judge and brother of the "signer" Lewis Morris, was at this time a captain in the British army, later married the Dowager Duchess of Gordon, and died a British general. 200. Letter of Stephen Hopkins. January 15, 1757.1 Sir, RHODE ISLAND January 15, 1759. You may remember that near a Year ago I wrote you by Order of the General Assembly to endeavor to procure a Judge of the Court of Vice Admiralty to be appointed within and for this Colony. And as you very soon finished that Affair successfully, a Judge being appointed and commissioned, so he hath been accordingly sworn into his Office. Notwithstanding this being so far done, yet there appears to be a Deficiency of the Officers of that Court, as no Register or Marshal have been appointed. It is true there hath commonly been a Deputy Register in this Colony appointed. by a Principal living in Boston at a great Distance from the Colony, and within another Jurisdiction, which seems incompatible, and it is solely at his Option, whether he will appoint a Deputy to attend in this Colony or not, the Inconvenience of which is obvious at the first View: And it doth not appear that any Commission hath been given for a Marshal of the Court of Vice Admiralty in this Colony since 1Public Record Office, Admiralty, 1:3819. The writer, Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785), celebrated as a governor of Rhode Island (1755-1757, 17581762, 1763-1765, 1767-1768) and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was at this time governor. The letter is a duplicate bearing an original signature. It was addressed to Richard Partridge, agent in London for the colony from 1715 to 1759. He dying March 5, 1759, receipt of this letter is acknowledged by his executor, Joseph Sherwood, May 11; letter in Miss Kimball's Correspondence of the Colonial Governors of Rhode Island, II. 289. Sherwood, appointed agent as Partridge's successor, pursued the general assembly's request, but apparently without success, the Lords of the Admiralty thinking it unnecessary to appoint a register and marshal in Rhode Island, when there were already such officers in Massachusetts; ibid., II. 289, 293, 298, 304, 306. By vote of the assembly, R. I. Col. Rec., VI. 107, passed at the October session of 1757, Stephen Hopkins was instructed to write to London requesting the appointment of a vice-admiralty judge especially for Rhode Island, and recommending Col. John Andrews to be the person. He wrote to Partridge, who on May 13, 1758, acknowledges receipt of the letter, Kimball, Corr. Govs. R. I., II. 273, and on May 24 announces his success, ibid., II. 275, where also is printed the warrant of the Lords of the Admiralty to Sir Thomas Salusbury, judge of the High Court of Admiralty, to issue a commission to Andrews. Thus Rhode Island was taken out of the jurisdiction of Chambers Russell, vice-admiralty judge at Boston, who |