ing the Value of Gold and Silver Foreign Coin current in the said. Province; and whereas it appears, that the said Proclamation is not warranted by the Act of Parliament, passed in the Sixth Year of the Reign of Her late Majesty Queen Anne, entitled "An Act for ascertaining the Rates of foreign Coins in Her Majesty's Plantations in America", and is therefore void in Law without Revocation; It is Our express Will and Pleasure, and you are hereby required and enjoined to take such Measures, with the Advice of Our Council for the said Province, as shall be necessary and effectual for putting an immediate Stop to the Operation of the said Proclamation; and if it shall appear to you and to Our said Council and Assembly to be necessary to make Provision by Law for the preventing any Prejudice to private Persons from any Transactions which may have passed under Colour of the said Proclamation, It is Our Will and Pleasure, and We do hereby permit and allow, that you do give your Assent to such Law, as shall be passed by the said Council and Assembly for that Purpose./ G. R.

[6-4]

[Thomas Bell's account for supplies furnished to the Fort, January 9, 1771. Allowed April 2. — Ed.]

[6-5]

[Dissent of Peter Livius from Vote of Council, 1771.] Province of New Hampshire

In Council 19th March 1771.

The Governor having desird the advice & consent of Council for the granting to his own use thro' the intervention of other Persons, all those Lands that were granted or reserved to the late Governor, The Grants thereof being, as the Governor alledg'd, void & of no effect in Law: & the Council having accordingly advis'd & consented thereto, I do dissent from the said Advice & Consent for the following Reasons

1st Because these grants were made at different times in a long course of Years, being the fruits of twenty five Years Service of the late Governor, & supposing them void it would be out of all Reason that they should be all granted in one hour to any other Person

2d Supposing these Grants void in Law, Apices Juris non sunt Jura, & it would be most agreable to the gracious & mercifull manner

in which his Majesty deals with his Subjects, & especially with his Servants, rather to confirm & ratify the grants made to the late Governor in his lifetime, than for a defect in form to vacate them, & grant the Lands to another,

3d Because these Grants have not been vacated in a due Course of Law & the Council is not a Court to declare them void.

4th Because many Purchasers under the late Governor have made great Improvements, & several have laid out their whole Substance on some of these Grants, these Men after many Years toil & Labour on the Lands would be ruind should the Lands be granted to another

5th Because the Opinion & Reasoning of Counsel learned in the Law has been read for vacating these grants, while no Counsel has been suffer'd on the part of the Purchasers of the late Governor, & it is very improper to give Judgment on hearing only one Side.

6th Because the Grants to the late Governor are not void in Law! The Custody of the Great Seal of England does not incapacitate the Keeper thereof from receiving a Grant under the Great Seal, neither can the Custody of the Seal of this Province incapacitate the Governor or Keeper thereof from receiving a Grant under the same Seal, especially as there is no other Method in this Province of making a Grant from the Crown.

7th Because by the Royal Commission the Governor with the advice & consent of Council is impowerd to grant the Crown Lands, with the Council & Assembly he can make Laws & levy money & appropriate it even to his own use, as is every Year done in every Government on this Continent in the matter of the Governor's Salary: Yet if this position be true that the Governor cannot make a Grant or appropriation to himself but what is & ought to be declar'd null & void, All the Governors who have receivd any Money in this way, have receiv'd it illegally, & ought to refund it which nobody I suppose will affirm

For these Reasons I humbly conceive it utterly inconsistent with that Loyalty & Fidelity which is suppos'd to have brought us all hither, & with the Justice we owe all Men, to advise or consent in the manner desir'd; Forward as I have ever been to support the Dignity & necessary powers of Government, I cannot assist in rendering the Royal Authority subservient to private &, as I think, unworthy purposes: & I pray these my Reasons of Dissent may be enterd on the Journals Peter Livius

Province of New Hamp

In Council 13th June 1772

Peter Livius Esq' having dissented from the Proceedings of the Council on the 19th of March 1771 and his Dissent being admitted on File, the Council, though they will not at present condescend to enter into a full Refutation of each Particular therein minutely, yet think it necessary to take some Notice thereof, and therefore resolve.

That Mr Livius has wholly misrecited the Questions laid by his Excellency the Governor before the Council for their Advice, and that it appears to the Council that the said Mr Livius did in this Instance wilfully depart from the Truth with Design to form a Pretense of placing the Conduct of His Excellency the Governor & Council in this transaction in a disadvantageous light, and that he was actuated in making & framing his Dissent by that Principle only in a Manner unworthy of a Member of the Council Board.

That the said Dissent contains Allegations, Insinuations & Reflections which are untrue, unjust and unbecoming; Therefore that the sense of the Council may accompany this Dissent, Resolved unanimously that this Minute together with the exact Questions proposed by His Excellency the Governor to the Council, and upon which only they did advise, be annexed thereto, and be signed by the Secretary of the Province, and every Member of the Council who was present when the said Questions were proposed: - And likewise that they may be a standing Justification of his Excellency the Governor and Council from the Falsities and injurious Aspersions uttered and intended against them by the said Mr Livius in his Dissent.

The following is an exact Copy of what passed between his Excellency the Governor & Council on the 19th of March 1771, recorded by the Secretary of this Province, & now perfectly remembered and confirmed to be just and true by each Member of this Board then and now present,

His Excellency the Governor informed the Board that in sundry of the Charter Grants of Townships of His Majesty's Lands in this Province, there were reserved five Hundred Acres for the late Governor Benning Wentworth Esq' in each of the said Townships, then asked the Opinion of the Council, whether the said Reservations being made to the said Benning Wentworth conveyed the Title of said Tracts to him the said Benning Wentworth? to which the Council gave it as their Opinion that it did not convey the Premisses they being made to Himself:- His Excellency then asked the Council if they would consent to and advise him to grant the said Tracts to

such of his Majesty's subjects as should settle and cultivate the Same To which the Council did consent and advise

& ca

Theodore Atkinson

D1 Warner

Jonathan Warner

Daniel Rindge

Daniel Peirce

Geo: Jaffrey

Daniel Rogers

This certifys that the Extract above referred to is a true Copy from the Journal of the Proceedings of the Governor and Council of the Province of New Hampshire

examin'd by Geo: King Depy Sec

[6-6]

[Letter from Trecothick to Atkinson, 1771.]

Theodore Atkinson Esq

London 25th April 1771

Sir I have the pleasure to acquaint you, that after much repeated Solicitation I have at last obtained a Vote of the House of Commons for the Sum of £6009,, 13,, 3 to reimburse the province their expence so long since incurred as 1756- which will be paid some time this year at the Treasury they say not till Autumn-but you shall have imediate Advice of the payment & of the deductions

The Earl of Loudon to whom this demand was last referred has been so particularly civil to the province that I think it my Duty to inclose you a Copy of his Report, remaining with great Respect & Esteem

Sir Yr most obedt hum1 servt
Barlow Trecothick

[6-7]

[Writ for Election of Representatives, and Sheriffs' Report, 1771.] Province of New Hampshire | George the Third by the grace of God in New Englandof Great Britain France & Ireland King defender of the Faith &c,,

Seal

}

To the Sherif of our province of New Hampshire aforesaid. We Command you forthwith to make out Precepts, directed to the following Towns, Parishes and Precincts - Vizt Portsmouth, Hampton, Dover, Exeter, Newcastle & Rye jointly, Kingston, Hampton

Falls, Newington, Stratham, Londonderry, Durham, Greenland, Newmarket, South Hampton, Chester, Plaistow & Atkinson and hampstead jointly, Holles, Sommersworth, Merrimack, Rochester, Kensington, Barrington, Salem & Pelham jointly, Amherst and Bedford jointly, Keene, Winchester, Charlestown, Nottingham West and Litchfield jointly,

all within our province of New Hampshire aforesaid, requiring them to cause the Freeholders of their respective Towns, Parishes and Precincts as before recited, legally qualified to Assemble at such Time and place as the Select Men shall respectively appoint; Except the following Places viz Newcastle and Rye whose Freeholders legally qualified, are to assemble at Newcastle- and Plaistow, Atkinson and Hampstead whose Freeholders are to Assemble at Hampstead, also Salem and Pelham whose Freeholders are to assemble at Salem also Amherst and Bedford whose Freeholders are to assemble at Amherst - also Nottingham West and Litchfield whose Freeholders are to assemble at Nottingham West,

The said Freeholders being notified Fifteen days before the day of their Meeting, then and there to Elect fit persons qualified by Law to represent said Towns, Parishes and precincts in General Assembly by us appointed to be convened and holden at the Court House in Portsmouth aforesaid on Wednesday the Twenty second day of May next, at Ten of the Clock in the, forenoon Vizt Three persons for Portsmouth, Two for Dover, Two for Exeter, Two for Hampton, Two for Newcastle and Rye to be chosen at Newcastle, One for Kingston, One for Hampton Falls, one for Newington, one for Stratham, one for Londonderry, one for Durham, One for Greenland, One for Newmarket, one for South hampton, one for Chester, one for Plaistow, Atkinson and hampstead, one for Salem and Pelham, One for Holles, One for Barrington, One for Somersworth, One for Merrimack, one for Nottingham West and Litchfield, one for Amherst and Bedford, One for Rochester, one for Kensington, One for Keene, One for Winchester, One for Charlestown,

And to cause the persons so elected, by a Major part of the Electors present at such Elections to be summoned by one of the Constables of said places respectively to attend on said Service in General Assembly at the Time and place herein before appointed, and so de die in diem during their Session or Sessions, and to return the said precepts with the Names of the respective persons so elected, to yourself-whereof you are to make return, together with this Writ under your hand, into the Secretary's Office at Portsmouth aforesaid and of your doings thereon, on or before the aforesaid 22nd day of May next.