of Grand pauvre fired a gun for her to hoist her colors, she had none but English ones which were hoisted reversed, in order to shew that she was a prize, the Vessel passed without any difficulty with her flag reversed to the next battery, that of Gouyave, which is at a very little distance from the former, a gun was immediately fired, & the Vessel was hailed, in order to know who she was & whence she came It was answered that she came from Cork and was a prize, She was ordered to anchor, to put her boat to sea and send her papers, which was executed, but the men who were in the boat were arrested when they came ashore, & Mr Gautier, a Captain of the Militia of that quarter with twelve or fifteen men went on board, where they were received without any resistance, took possession of the Vessel, and had her brought to the port of this Island the same day at about four o'clock. The S' Gautier who imagined he had made a prize, remained on the Vessel, without thinking of making his declaration to the Admiralty, & you may remember, Sir, that you was obliged to interpose yr authority, in order to make him leave the Vessel with his people, & return the papers which he had in his pos session. On examining and questioning Six of the crew, I found that the Vessel was called the Ellen, that she was from the port of Newry in Ireland, & had left Cork the 19th Jany 1780 to go to Barbadoes and Antigua, that her Crew consisted of one Frenchman, three New Englanders, two Irishman, three Scotchman, a passenger & the Captain also an Irishman, that eight of those men vizt the Frenchman, the three New Englanders, the two Irishmen, and two out of the three Scotchmen had made a plot to take possession of that Vessel, that they had effected it in sight of Barbadoes, and had conducted the Vessel on the coasts of this Island, where Mr Gautier of the Gouyave Militia had taken possession of her, and brought her into this port You see, Sir, that the revolt on board could not be effected by New Englanders only, but by a Frenchman, two Irishmen & two Scotchmen, that in this manner, I could not give the price of this Vessel & her Crew to the insurgents. I could not give the prize to the Frenchman because according to our Laws, all prize made without a commission belong to the Lord high admiral, who in this case always gives up his right. I could not give it to the two Scotchmen or to the two Irishmen, because thereby I would have authorized a crime punished with death among all Nations, there were none then but the three New Englanders who had some right to it but being the smallest number, they followed the fate of the majority; Besides, I could not grant to them alone what they had not taken alone: I could not grant it to all. It is very certain that had they all been New Englanders, I would not have failed to allow them the prize, as I had already done in several Circumstances & particularly in the case of a Ship which some new Englanders had taken at Barbadoes, at the time of the Marquis de Bouillés second Voyage to that Island. In this Circumstance I thought it my duty to adjudge the Vessel and her Cargo to the King & my Lord High Admiral-the funds have been carried to the Treasury, & I am ignorant of their destination. In similar Circumstances the Admiral has very often if not always given up his right, or at least given a proportionable reward, & I make no doubt that on the representations of the Ambassador with Congress, to my Lord Admiral, the New Englanders will be excepted & rewarded. I will observe to you, Sir, that the St John McClintock has told an imposition in his Memorial, in pretending that he has been closely imprisoned for eight days, the New Englanders have only been in prison three days with every thing allowed them to which men who are not criminal are entitled, after which time they were left absolutely free, & at liberty to embark on Vessels of their own Nation at their choice. It is also a lie to pretend that they were flattered with the hopes of having their share of the prize, since I myself declared the contrary to them in causing the above mentioned reasons to be explained to them, as well as the hopes they might form from the kindness of the Lord High Admiral a true Copy I am with respect &c signed Durat signed Aubert [7-14] [Another about the Same Affair.] Grenada, June 17th 1782 Sir, I have received the Letter which you have done me the honor to write to me, dated Dec' ye 11th of last year, and the petition of the Sieur McClintock to the Council of New Hampshire; I enclose here a Copy certified by the Seneschal of Grenada, who is also a Judge of the Admiralty, which contains the motives of my Judgment — I have the honor to observe to you that in this Colony the same laws are followed as in the other French Colonies, & particularly those of the Admiralty, on which the Administrators have little influence; but the money arising from the prize in question having been put into the King's Coffers, to be distributed in France among those who have a right to it, all further claims must be laid either before the Council of captures, thro' the Minister of the Marine or directly before the Lord High Admiral of France who alone have a right to alter or break the local decisions of the Courts of Admiralty. I am with respect &c signed, Durat. [7-16] [Action of the House accepting the resignation of Chief Justice Weare, who retired on account of age and infirmity. - ED.] [7-17] [Petition for Increase of Currency, 1782.] To the Honorable Council & House of Representatives in General Court Convened The Petition of the Subscribers Humbly Sheweth That for want of a Currency the People of this State are really reduced to a most deplorable situation that with all their industry are unable to carry on any Commerce or Trade even with their Neighbors to pay any debt, tho' never so Just or trivial - And by reason of the scarcity & exhorbitant prices of Salt and other necessaries of Life the Small Quantity of Coin that was formerly amongst us is thereby taken away And unless there can be some Medium for Trade Your Petitioners must of Consequence fall victims to their Creditors & both they and their Families a Sacrifice to Beggery & Want by being depriv'd not only of the conveniences, but of things absolutely necessary for the Support of Life itself This is most severely felt both by Farmers and Tradesmen the former being obliged to trust the fruits of his Industry to his famishing Neighbor without the least hopes of a recompense and the latter after having expended all his property for Stock must distribute it to his needy customers for promises which they (though ever so willing) are unable to perform As a consequence of the above recited grievances we are threatened with speedy and inevitable ruin by the multiplicity of Lawsuits which with the extravagancy of Lawyers fees in many instances tend. to the Destruction of the unfortunate Debtors and will if not speedily mitigated end in the utter annihilation of all good order and harmony in this state These are a few of the many grievances which the good People of this State Labor under and cannot be unknown to the Honorable Court and our Eyes are to you Gentlemen, as the Guardians both of our Liberties & Properties to you we humbly look for redress — in you we trust & confide and as in duty bound shall ever pray &c November 12th 1782 Wm Livingston Samuel Smith William White David Scobey John Taplein Hugh Blair Robt Willson Barnebus McGinnis Robert Hogg Sam" Nutt Willm Nutt Simon Dodge Abner Hogg Wm Hogg Tobeas Butler John Wilson Samuel Wilson Wm Beard Andrew Walker Jacob Ober William Blair Jonathan Major Robert Walker Philomar Perkins Andrew Walker Jr Nehemiah Dodge Jr [7-18-19] [To two other petitions of the same tenor and date, are affixed the following names.] Elisha Dodge John McMillan Hugh Ramsey William Montgomery Jesse Cristy Jun Antipas Dodge Jn° Little Robert Campbell Josiah Warner Silas Walker David McCleary Samuel Morison Nathaniel Dodge Enoch Dodge Elisha Dodge Jr Robert White William White Junr Archibald mcallster John Wells David Mcglaughlon Benj' Dodge Jn° Little Jos Farmer [7-20] [John Sullivan to John Langdon, 1782.] Exeter November 15th 1782 Sir I had the honor of Petitioning the honble assembly at their last Session to obtain Liberty for Mrs. Holland to visit her Children in this State- but the prayer was not then granted and the reasons for refusal I have not been able to Learn. - I have received a recent application from Colo Holland to renew my requisition which should. be glad to Lay before the House together with some reasons which may convince the assembly of the propriety of my application & possibly induce them to comply with my request I should Esteem it a particular favor if the House will permit me to lay my reason before them this afternoon I have the honor to be with the most perfect Esteem Sir your most obedient Servant Jn° Sullivan Honble John Langdon Esq' [7-22] [Petition from Inhabitants of Cheshire County, 1782.] State of New Hampshire To the Honourable the Council and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened for said State The Petition of the Subscribers, Freeholders, and Inhabitance of the County of Cheshire Humbly Sheweth That your Petetioners together with Other Inhabitance of this State Labour under great and almost Intolerable Grieveances for want of Currency; there being among us not One fourth part of hard money for a medium of Trade. Our Distance from the Seaports and our Scituation in many Respects such that it is impossible for us to Obtain hard money in a way of trade- the consequence is that Lawsuits are Daily increaseing and Lawyers (tho often Necessary) take Exhorbitant fees by means of the Laws being imperfect (in that Respect) all which Grievences have a tendency to stir up mobs, Riots, Anarchy & Confusion -- We therefore humbly pray that your honours in your Wisdom will Devise means by which said Greivances may be Redressed by makeing State Securities Live Stock and Contry Produce of all Kinds a Lawful Tender to answer all Executions Levied on Debtors said Securities Computed at their Nominal value and Contry produce to be apprised by Substantial men; also to provide a way whereby Debtors may Discharge their Debts without |