Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Part 83

_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 a.s.sembly'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 Ma.s.sachusetts; _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 a.s.sembly 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 Register in this Colony appointed by a Princ.i.p.al 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 one Mr. Gibbs was appointed to that Office who hath been dead many years.[3]

[Footnote 2: By vote of the a.s.sembly, _R.I. Col. Rec._, VI. 107, pa.s.sed 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 a.s.sembly, 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 Register and Marshal of the Court of Vice Admiralty to be appointed and commissioned for this Colony.[4] You will also perceive by the aforesaid Vote of the General a.s.sembly that they desire the Office of Register may be obtained for Mr. Thomas Vernon,[5] and that of Marshal 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 a.s.sembly'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 s.h.i.+ps 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 pa.s.sing 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.

} Ma.s.sachusets 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed 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 pa.s.sed in His present Majesty's Reign for Trying Pirates at Rhode Island; I take the Liberty to acquaint you for their Lords.h.i.+ps 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 Pa.s.sing 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 Lords.h.i.+ps 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. }

} Commission of the same Date, } Province of } for Trying such Pirates as shall } Nova Scotia } be taken and carried into His } 187 } Majesty's Province of Nova } } Scotia. }

} Commission of the same Date, } Island of } for Trying such Pirates as shall } 191 Barbadoes } be taken and carried into His } } Majesty's Island of Barbadoes. }

} Commission of the same Date, } New York } for Trying such Pirates as shall } New Jersey } be taken and carried into His } 195 Pensylvania } Majesty's Provinces of New } and Connecticut } York, New Jersey, Pensylvania, } } and Colony of Connecticut. }