Whether their Lordships, in Case of a Sentence in their Favo_Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents

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,

Sir,

Your most obedient

humble Servant

WM. SMITH Junior.

Captain Morris,

[_Endorsed:_] By the _Leicester_ Packet: To Staats L. Morris, Esquire,

London.[4]

[Footnote 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]

[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, Admiralty, 1:3819. The writer,

Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785), celebrated as a governor of Rhode Island

(1755-1757, 1758-1762, 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.]

RHODE ISLAND January 15, 1759.

_Sir_,

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.[2] 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

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 one Mr. Gibbs was appointed to that

Office who hath been dead many years.[3]

[Footnote 2: 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 is commonly said

to have been judge for all southern New England from 1750 to 1767.

Andrews remained judge till the Revolution.]

[Footnote 3: George Gibbs, appointed marshal about 1743, _ibid._, I.

244.]

The General Assembly, sensible of the great Inconveniences and

Mischiefs likely to attend the Want of those Officers, as you will see

by their Vote accompanying this Letter, have directed me in their

Behalf to desire you immediately to make proper Application to the

Lords of the Admiralty, and use your utmost Endeavours to obtain a

and commissioned for this Colony.[4] You will also perceive by the

aforesaid Vote of the General Assembly that they desire the Office of

for Mr. William Mumford,[6] who have been the acting Persons in those

two Offices in this Colony for near Twenty Years past, and have each

in their several Duties of Office conducted themselves unblameably,

and in all other Respects maintained unblemished Characters.

[Footnote 4: Vote in _R.I. Col. Rec._, VI. 174.]

[Footnote 5: Postmaster of Newport. His diary during his banishment

thence as a Tory in 1776 has been printed in _R.I. Hist. Tracts_,

XIII. (Providence, 1881).]

[Footnote 6: Captain of Fort George, Newport.]

I am certain it must be needless for me to say any Thing further of

this Matter, since you will have the General Assembly's Order

concerning it, which must have infinitely Greater Weight in urging you

to prosecute this Affair, with Zeal and Dispatch, than any Thing I

could say.

In Behalf of the Colony and for myself, with great Regards I subscribe

Your faithful Friend, and

the Colony's Obedient Servant

STEP: HOPKINS.

_201. Notes on Commissions for Trying Pirates. March 10, 1762, August

26, 1772._[1]

[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, Admiralty, 1:3679. The note of

March 10, 1762, and the list of commissions, were enclosures in the

note of Aug. 26, 1772. The writer, Samuel Seddon, was solicitor to the

Admiralty. John Clevland, to whom the earlier letter was addressed,

was secretary to that body from 1751 to 1763; Philip Stephens, from

1763 to 1795. For these commissions to try pirates, see doc. no. 51,

note 2, and doc. no. 106, note 1. The death of George II. and the

accession of George III., 1760, made necessary the issue of new

commissions. The persons included in the commission were, in each

case, the governor, the vice-admiral, flag-officers, and

commander-in-chief of any squadron within the admiralty jurisdiction

of the colony, its lieutenant-governor and council, the chief civil

judge, the judge of the vice-admiralty, the captains and commanders of

royal ships within the jurisdiction, the secretary of the colony, the

surveyor general of customs, and the collector of plantation duties.

_Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial_, IV. 485-487; John Adams,

_Works_, IX. 628.]

_Sir_,

I take the Liberty to acquaint you, that in Obedience to the

Directions of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, signified by

your Letter of the 30th December last, I have solicited the passing of

several Commissions through the proper Offices, for Trying Pirates at

the following Places, Vizt.

{ At Jamaica,

By the _Danae_ { Barbadoes,

{ The Leeward Islands.

{ The Bahama Islands,

{ South Carolina and Georgia,

By the _Gosport_ { North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia,

{ New York, New Jersey,

{ Pensilvania and Connecticut.

} Massachusets Bay,

By the _Launceston_ } Nova Scotia,

} Newfoundland, and

By the _Gosport_ Bermuda Islands.

And I herewith send you the Said Commissions, being Eleven in Number,

which have been passed under the Seal of the High Court of Admiralty,

and are all dated the 14th day of January last.

I am

Sir

Your most humble and

most obedient Servant,

SAM'L SEDDON.

PICCADILLY

10th March 1762.

Honourable John Cleveland Esquire

_Sir_,

In Obedience to the Directions of my Lords Commissioners of the

Admiralty signified to me in your Letters of the 24th instant, That I

should let you know what Commissions for the Trials of Pirates in

America, I have passed through the several Offices, in Consequence of

Mr Cleveland's Letter of the 1st February 1762, and the Time when, and

by what Conveyances I sent them to the respective Colonies: And also,

whether any Commission has been passed in His present Majesty's Reign

for Trying Pirates at Rhode Island; I take the Liberty to acquaint you

for their Lordships Information, that in Obedience to an Admiralty

Order signified to me in a Letter from the late Mr. Secretary

Cleveland dated the 30th day of December 1761, I solicited the Passing

of Eleven Commissions for trying of Pirates at _Rhode Island_, and

other Places in America, all which were dated the 14th of January 1762

as appears by the enclosed Extract, taken from the Entries thereof

made in the Register's Office at Doctors Commons; And I further take

the Liberty to acquaint you, that on the 10th day of March 1762, I

sent the said Eleven Commissions to Mr. Cleveland; as appears by the

enclosed Copy of my Report to their Lordships of that Date

I am

Sir

Your most humble and

most obedient Servant,

SAM'L SEDDON.

PICCADILLY

26th August 1772.

Philip Stephens Esquire.

Extract of Commissions for Trying Pirates in America. 14th January

1762.[2]

[Footnote 2: The figures refer to pages in the appropriate volume of

the registers of the High Court of Admiralty.]

} Commission for trying such }

North Carolina } Pirates as shall be taken and }

Maryland, and } carryed into His Majesty's } 169

Virginia } Provinces of North Carolina, }

} Maryland and Virginia. }

} Commission for Trying such }

Bahama } Pirates as shall be taken and } 176

Islands } carried into His Majesty's Bahama }

} Islands. Dated the same Day. }

} Commission for Trying such }

} Pirates as shall be taken and carried }

Bermuda } into His Majesty's Bermuda } 180

Islands } Islands. Of the same Date. }

} Commission for Trying such }

Island of } Pirates as shall be taken and carried }

Newfoundland } into His Majesty's Island } 184

} of Newfoundland. Of the same }

} Date. }