Governor Tryon to Lord George Germain. [New-York Pipers (B. P. 0.) CLXIX.] N° 48. My Lord, New York. 20 March. 1778. I am honored with your Lord^s dispatch of the 10,b January last. As soon as I receive the Lords Commiss" of the Admiralty's authority to grant Commissions of Marque against the Rebels, (which I can not learn is transmitted by the Harriot Packet, unless in Lord Howe's dispatches, which are forwarded to Rhode Island) I shall be carefull to carry all his Maj commands into execution relative to the disposal of the Prisoners of War taken by the ships Bo commissioned. 1 have the satisfaction to assure your Lord that this measure is most gratefully received by the Citizens, and that several have already begun to fit out their vessells, that they may be ready to put to sea, so soon as they can be Commissioned. Great expectations are formed of their success as the Commanders of these Privateers have a perfect knowledge of the Coasts, and will go into Creeks & Harbours, that will not admit of the King's ships, it is also believed that numbers of men in the Rebel ships, will quit that service, to enter aboard these Privateers - I am ettc. Wm TRYON. N° 48. My Lord. Governor Tryon to Lord George Germain. [Now-York Paper» (8. P. 0.) CLXIX.] New York. 15 April 1778 I have the honor to transmit the inclosed correspondence between Lord Howe and myself, (with the Attorney General's opinion) on the subject of issuing letters of Marque, in the present State of this Province; But have not yet received the necessary powers from the Lords Commies" of the Admiralty. As the letters of Marque would be always subject to the search of the Officers of the King's ships, and as Masters of Transports who lost men, might be empowered also to search the said letters of Marque; I am apt to think, few Men in the King's service could be carried off, in the said vessels by stealth. I can assure your Lord, it will be a deep chagrin and disappointment to many of the Loyal Inhabitants in this Govern', to be deprived of fitting out letters of Marque against the Enemy. 1 am with all possible respect ettc Wm Tbyon. P.S. I received by the Andromeda, late last night Your Lord's dispatches, with those for Gov' Tonyn1 ettc. and shall with all expedition, carry His Mai'*'' commands into execution. W- Tbyon. 1 General Patrick Tontn was appointed Captain on the 15th May, 1751, in the 6th or Enniskillen Dragoons, which regiment served in Germany in 1758. In 1761 he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 104th or King's Volunteers. This Sir, Lord Howe to Governor Tryon. [New-York Papers (S. P. O.) CLXIX.] Eagle, off Sandy Hook. 11. April 1778. Capt Duncan has delivered to me the copy of the circular letter from the Secretary of State, & the Message he was charged with by Your Excell, respecting your determination to grant letters of Marque conformable to the tenor of it, as soon as you shall be furnished with the requisite authorities from the Lords Commiss" of the Admiralty. Persuaded of the dangerous consequences that must ensue to the King's service, by the temptation thereby offered the Seamen to withdraw from the transports, on which the subsistence of the Army immediately and entirely depends, as well as from the ships of War, I trust that you will, in regard thereof, be prevailed on to postpone the issue of such letters of Marque; at least in the present circumstances of the War, or until the King's further pleasure (if deemed necessary to be taken) can be had upon the matter. I am more particularly encouraged to hope for this testimony of your indulgence when I consider the tenor and spirit of the circular letter, which as I conceive, is not obligatory, nor indeed applicable to the State of this Province. The letter obviously respects the Provinces, in which the civil Govern' is regularly exercised, and the Laws are still in Force. Application is to be made to the Assemblies regarding the maintenance and security of the Prisoners; and as a necessary ground for the operation of that civil authority, it is presupposed, that the captures will be brought into some port within your Gover", whereas, by the late restraining Acts, the special License of the Commiss" therein mentioned, is required for exempting this Port from the Effect of the General prohibition extended in the case, to all the Provinces not in the king's peace. I have the honor to be, with great respect Sir, Your most obedient humble servant. Howe. Copy of Mr Kemp's (Attorney General) opinion on fitting out letters of Marque. Upon mature deliberation, I cannot help thinking that the issuing letters of Marque here, may be attended in some degree with the inconveniencies mentioned in Lord Howe's letter; nor can I see any means by which they can effectually be prevented. The most obvious is that of taking securities from the owners of the Vessels to be Commissioned, that no Seamen belonging to the Transports, or the King's ships, shall be engaged by them or their officers; but this will be subject to evasion and abuse, as no precaution will be effectual to prevent them from being imposed upon, by Seamen, who wish to engage with them, and who will not hesitate to declare themselves perfectly disengaged from His Ma^'* or the transport serviceregiment was disbanded in 1763, and he remained on half-pay until 1775, when he was appointed Governor of East Florida. He became Colonel in the army 29th August, 1777; Major-General 19th October, 1781; and retired from the Government of East Florida in 1783. He was appointed Colonel of the 48th Foot 23d May, 1787; Lieutenant-General 12th October, 1793; General in the army 1st January, 1798, and died towards the close of the year 1804. Army Lists. — ED. and as justice could not forfeit these bonds, unless they were wilfully violated, the difficulty of making this appear, would render them almost useless. I am not a sufficient judge, how far these inconveniencies may be counterballanced, by the good effects, which may probably result from the issuing of letters of Marque; they appear to me to be these:—a greater Number of vessels will be distressing the Rebels, and without expence to the Crown-Vessels which are now useless to us, will be thus employed; 'tis not improbable that some which might otherwise cruise against us, will cruise against the Rebels— They will generally be small vessels, capable of running into the inlets on the Coasts, where our Frigates cannot go, and into which great part of the importations for the use of the Rebels is made, and from whence their exportations are also made, and will in general be commanded by persons well acquainted with these little harbours. Add to this, that the spirit of privateering is so prevalent in this Province in particular, and in the Colonies in general, that we may expect the most vigorous exertions will be made, and that a great many who Man the Rebel ships (Cruizers as well as Merchantmen) will be induced to come over to us, as they will be employed as much to their interest, and more to their safety; besides this, many Landsmen, now in the Enemies lines, who do not come over to us for the want of the means of subsistence (and who do not chose to become Soldiers) will probably come into us, partly from interest and the spirit of privateering, and partly from the dread of being compelled by the Rebels into their army as soldiers. Your Excellc* is the best judge how far the tenor and spirit of the circular letter is obligatory upon you, and how far your powers are discretionary, this indeed will be best determined by the inspection of your powers when they arrive. I cannot see, why the circular letter is not applicable to the State of this Province, so far at least, as it respects the measure under consideration. If this measure had not been thought proper to be pursued here, by His Majesty's Ministers, and the Lords of the Admiralty, it seems unaccountable why the one should delegate the powers, or the other direct you to pursue them; the State of this Province does not seem to have been in his Majty'' Councils at home, an objection against the pursuit of this measure; 'tis true, till the Assembly shall again meet, the Prisonners cannot be maintained, by a provision to be made by the Legislature here, for that purpose, but there is an alternative mentioned in the letter by which they may be supported. I should judge therefore that the circular letter respects this Province altho' the Civil Govern' is not regularly exercised in it, nor do I see how this affects the question, or that it can operate against your powers in this instance; indeed, to be explicit, I cannot conceive that any of your authorities in the civil line as his Maj'' Gov' of this Prov", may not be exercised, nor that the Laws have ceased to be obligatory, altho' the exercise of the one and the operation of the other have been suspended by the violence of the Rebels. Without the Commiss" license for bringing the prizes taken by letters of Marque into this Port, the same doubts of the competency of the Court of Admiralty to condemn such prizes will recour as took place the before passing the late Act of Parliament- Add to this, that their prize goods cannot be exported but by the License of the Commiss"; the want of these licences 'tis probable will give such a check to the letters of Marque, that few will chose to meddle with them. Sir, Brigadier-General Parsons to Governor Dijon. [New-York Paper. (S. P. O.) OLXIX. ] 1. January 1778. Since I received yours of the 23rt of Novemb' I have been employed in matters of importance, which have not left me at liberty to acknowledge the receipt of your letter before; lest you should think me wanting in the respect due to your character. I beg your acceptance of this letter, which closes our epistolary correspondence. It will ever be my intention to dictate with decency any letters I may send, however remote it may be from my wish to copy the examples of the persons my duty may compel me to correspond with; as propriety and decency ought to be observed in every transaction even with the most infamous characters, I shall never hope so nearly to assimulate myself to them as to be found wanting in that respect which is due to all my fellow beings in their stations and characters in life. I should not have entertained a thought you have failed in the duty you owe to your King in every part of the Globe, or that you did not fully possess the spirit of his Ministry, which has precipitated the present crisis, even though you had omitted to assure me this had been the first correspondence you had held with the King's Enemies in America. The conflagration of New York, you are pleased to charge to the American Troops under the decent name of a party. This deserves no other answer, than to assure you, it has not the least foundation in truth, & that we are assured, it gains no credit with Officers, whose Rank and Candor gives opportunity to know and believe the truth. This, like many other circumstances is charged to the account of those who were never believed guilty, to excite the rage and resentment of the ignorant and misguided, ag" very improper objects. Perhaps I might suggest, with as much propriety and more truth, this unhappy event was brought about by your own party from the same motives which induced them in August 1776. to mangle the dead bodies of some of the Foreign Troops in a most shocking and inhuman manner, and place them in the most conspicuous parts of the Roads their brethren were to pass. A justifiable resistance against unwarrantable invasions of the natural and social Rights of Mankind, if unsuccessful, I am sensible according to the fashion of the World, will be called Rebellion; but when successful is viewed as a noble strugle for every thing important in life. Whither I am now considered as a revolted subject of the King of Britain, or in any other light by his subjects is very immaterial and gives me very little concern-future ages, I hope will do justice to my intentions and the present to the humanity of my Conduct. Few Men are of Talents so very inconsiderable as to be unalterably excluded from every degree of Fame. A Nero and a Caligula have perpetuated their memory; perhaps twenty silver dollars may be motives with those you employ, to do great honor to your Machiavelian Maxims, especially to that which advises, never to comit crimes to the halves, and leave lasting monuments of your principles and conduct which will hand your memory down to posterity in indelible characters. We act on a different scale and hold ourselves indispensably bound, never to comit crimes, but execute what's necessary for our safety uninfluenced by sordid mercenary motives. In the field of conjecture, I shall not attempt to follow you; your talent of guessing may be greater than I can boast of, this satisfaction at least you may enjoy, if you find yourself mistaken in one conjecture, you have an undoubted right to guest again. I shall content myself to wait 'till the event verifies your prediction or shews you are mistaken. Assuring you, I shall never pursue your measures for restoring peace, whither my authority should be greater or less, further than necessity shall compel me to retort the injuries the peaceable Inhabitants of this Country may receive from the hand of violence and oppression. I am Since my circular letter of the 9,h of March I have received your Dispatches N° 45, 46, 47 and 48. and a private letter of the 18 of March. It was a great pleasure to me in the course of last Month, to have the honor to lay before the King for His Maj'' Royal signature, a Commission giving you the Rank of Major General in America, according to that you held as Colonel, and which your merit and services so well entitle you to, and upon which, and your appointment to the command of 70th Regiment, I beg you will accept my congratulations. Some legal difficulties, that I was not informed of, I find were the occasion that the Lords of the Admiralty did not send you a Commission to grant letters of Marque at the time I acquainted you it would be dispatched. Those difficulties I have the satisfaction to tell you, are now so far obviated that you will receive herewith, the necessary authority to grant letters of Marque in all such case as the prohibitory Act will allow. These cases, are ships in the service of Govern', Ships licensed to bring provisions or Stores to the Fleet or Army, or for the supply of the Inhabitants, & ships carrying out prize goods. Under these descriptions only it is, that any Trading ship can enter or clear at New York without incurring forfeiture, and therefore none else can possibly perform the requisites that entitle them to letters of Marque; but of this you will be fully informed by the Acts themselves, and the Instructions you will receive from the Lords of the Admiralty; I have therefore only to add my wishes, that you may find the Authorities you are vested with, sufficient for the purpose and satisfactory to the Loyal Inhabitants. I am ettc. GEO: GERMAIN. |