America and West Indies: February 1695

Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 14, 1693-1696. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1903.

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'America and West Indies: February 1695', in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 14, 1693-1696, (London, 1903) pp. 429-434. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol14/pp429-434 [accessed 20 April 2024]

February 1695

Feb. 4. 1,667. Minutes of Council of Barbados. The Governor brought forward a petition from three ship's masters to sail to England, which was rejected. The Governor consented to let the Play, prize, go convoy to certain ships to Salt Tortudas, provided that the masters undertook to man the Play. [Col. Entry Bk., Vol. XII., p. 502; and Board of Trade. Barbados, 65. pp. 37–38.]
Feb. 7. 1,668. Minutes of Council of New York. On the petition of the Mayor of New York on behalf of the drinking-houses, it was ordered that a full account be exhibited of all the houses that have entertained the Fusiliers and how many days each, that an order may pass for the whole sum due. [Board of Trade. New York, 72. p. 9.]
Feb. 9. 1,669. John Povey to the Agents for Barbados and the Leeward Islands. Directing them to attend the meeting of the Lords of Trade and Plantations on the 12th, bringing all such papers as have been transmitted to him from Barbados. Draft. ½ p. [Board of Trade. Leeward Islands, 4. No. 47.]
Feb. 9. 1,670. John Povey to Henry Guy. The Lords of Trade and Plantations expect the report of the Treasury on the memorial as to the revenue of Virginia and on the estimate for stores of war on the 12th inst. Draft. ½ p. [Board of Trade. Virginia, 5. No. 64.]
[Feb. 9.] 1,671. Abstract of the memorial relating to the revenue in Virginia (see No. 1087), praying that the debit balance of £765 may be discharged out of the quit-rents. Draft. 1 p.
A cleaner draft of a part of the same abstract. ½ p. [Board of Trade. Virginia, 5. Nos. 65, 66.]
Feb. 10. 1,672. Copy of royal warrant for establishment of Colonel Henry Holt's Regiment of Foot in the Leeward Islands, to consist of five companies, each of one captain, two lieutenants, three sergeants, three corporals, two drummers and one hundred privates, besides field-officers and staff. The pay is the same as for the English establishment, only, the Regiment being of Fusiliers, there are two lieutenants instead of a lieutenant and ensign. Total annual cost, £8,988 2s. 6d. The establishment is to take effect from the 1st of May, 1695. 1 p. [Board of Trade. Leeward Islands, 4. No. 48.]
Feb. 12. 1,673. Minutes of Council of Barbados. The Council met at Fontabelle to consider the Excise Bill and rejected it on second reading. Order for a Committee of Council to meet a Committee of Assembly on the subject at next meeting. [Col. Entry Bk., Vol. XII., p. 503; and Board of Trade. Barbados, 65. p. 38.]
Feb. 12. 1,674. Journal of Lords of Trade and Plantations. Register of certain documents received on the 11th, 18th and 25th of January, and on the 11th of February.
The laws of Jamaica passed in 1693 were referred to the Attorney General.
Feb. 13. Report of the Admiralty and Navy Board on the petition of George Everet read, and copy thereof ordered to be sent to Mr. Everet.
Sir William Beeston's letters of 5th, 15th and 16th November read. The memorial of the Agents for the Leeward Islands as to the want of a supply read; agreed to lay it before the King, with a recommendation. Petition of traders to Barbados read; agreed likewise to lay it before the King. The Attorney General's report as to an Act of Jamaica concerning Thomas Ballard's estate read, and reserved for further consideration.
Sir William Phips's petition read. Agreed to appoint a day for hearing the case against him as soon as the complainants are ready. [Board of Trade. Journal, 7. pp. 400–407.]
Feb. 13. 1,675. Memorial of the Agents for the Leeward Islands to the King. We beg to represent the great want of supplies in the Leeward Islands, not one ship having gone thither this winter from the port of London, as has been usual in other years. Many of the ships that went thither last year were taken or lost at sea, and few returned until very lately, so that the traders and others concerned in the Islands were unable to send any, and so they have not had the usual allowance of two hundred seamen. We beg therefore that your Majesty will grant us two hundred seamen to man ships for the Leeward Islands, so that the inhabitants may be supplied with what they want, and their produce brought home to England. Signed, Bastian Bayer, Joseph Martyn, Rd. Cary. ½ p. Endorsed, Feb., 1694–5. [Board of Trade. Leeward Islands, 4. No. 50.]
Feb. 13.
Kensington.
1,676. Order of the King in Council. Report of the Attorney General. I have examined Lord Baltimore and Sir Thomas Laurence as to the dispute between them about land grants in Maryland. The first point in controversy is whether the returns of certificates from Lord Baltimore's surveyors should pass through Sir Thomas Laurence's office or not. They have now agreed that the fees allowed thereupon shall be equally divided between the Secretary for the time being and Lord Baltimore's officers. The next point is whether Lord Baltimore's land grants should pass under his seal or the seals of the Province, and this has been decided by Lord Baltimore's offer to divide the fees taken for his seal with the officers who are in charge of the Province's seals. The parties have also agreed that Lord Baltimore's officers shall pay the same fees as other persons for searching the records, though Lord Baltimore shall pay no fees for making up his rent rolls. Signed, Tho. Trevor, 21 Jan., 1695–6. Ordered accordingly. [Board of Trade. Maryland, 8. pp. 213–214.]
Feb. 13.
Kensington.
1,677. Order of the King in Council. Ordering the preparations of a warrant for pardon of George Mason and William Burley, convicted of the murder of John Payne. [Board of Trade. Maryland, 8. p. 215.]
Feb. 13. 1,678. Memorandum. A letter was signed by the Council to Governor Nicholson requiring strict observance of a letter from the Commissioners of Customs respecting an Act lately passed in Scotland for erection of a Trading Company to India, Africa and America. [Board of Trade. Maryland, 8. p. 216.]
Feb. 13.
Admiralty.
1,679. William Bridgeman to William Blathwayt. The ship designed for the Leeward Islands is a new fifth-rate, which was lately sheathed and launched at Shoreham, where she is fitting for that service with all possible despatch. Signed, Wm. Bridgeman. ¼ p. [Board of Trade. Leeward Islands, 4. No. 49.]
Feb. 14. 1,680. Minutes of Council and Assembly of Antigua. Message from the Governor asking for an additional member to be elected to the Assembly, and pleading the royal prerogative for calling in such an additional member. The Assembly refused to admit such a member, as contrary to the Act to fix its members, and added that since the divisions of Belfast and Nonsuch are so favoured by the Governor that their claim to an additional member is encouraged, they would wish that all other divisions which can make the same claim should enjoy the same benefit. The Governor answered that he could not consent. Message from the Council desiring that the lists of negroes belonging to the Council and Assembly may be sworn to enable the Treasurer to collect the tax thereon. Two members of Assembly sworn, and several petitions referred to the Assembly.
Feb. 15. The Council and Assembly agreed to the appointment of a joint Committee to report as to the question of commuting the four and a half per cent. duty, and that an Agent should be sent home to conduct the business. Seven proposals for the more convenient collection of the four and a half per cent. duty. Message from the Assembly that the Island's creditors should be paid but three fourths of the sums due to them for them for the present, the balance standing over until next year. The Council in reply ordered the Treasurer to consult with the Assembly on the question. Joint Committee appointed to inspect the accounts of the public gunpowder. The Governor and Council pressed the Assembly to pass a bill for completion of the works on Monkshill, but the Assembly declined. Orders for payments. [Board of Trade. Leeward Islands, 64. pp. 128–133.]
Feb. 15. 1,681. William Blathwayt to the Attorney General. I forward several Acts of Jamaica for your opinion as to their confirmation or disallowance, also a petition against the private Act for investing Henry Low with Sir Francis Watson's estate. [Board of Trade. Jamaica, 54. p. 36.]
Feb. 17. 1,682. Minutes of Council of New York. The Council advised the prorogation of the Assembly to the 21st of March. The contending parties as to the boundaries of Newtown and adjacent towns not appearing, a new day was fixed for hearing the dispute. [Board of Trade. New York, 72. p. 10.]
Feb. 18.
Treasury
Chambers.
1,683. William Lowndes to William Blathwayt. Your letters of 14 June last and 9th inst. to Mr. Guy, with the memorial relating to the revenue of Virginia and an estimate for military stores, have been laid before the Lords of the Treasury, who are of opinion that the stores ought properly to be provided by the Office of Ordnance, and that the same may be paid for out of the balance of the quitrents of Virginia, to be remitted to the Treasurer of the Ordnance here. Signed, Wm. Lowndes. ½ p. Endorsed, Read 22 May, 1695. [Board of Trade. Virginia, 5. No. 67; and 36. p. 283.]
Feb. 19. 1,684. Minutes of Council of Barbados. Orders for sundry payments. The Governor reported that he had intelligence of the intentions of some evil-disposed persons against the Island, and that, looking to the probability of attack, measures should be taken to put the Island in a posture of defence. The Governor then submitted certain questions as to the framing, publication and enforcement of articles of war, to which each member of the Council returned his answer. [Col. Entry Bk., Vol. XII., pp. 503–507; and Board of Trade. Barbados, 65. pp. 38–41.]
Feb. 20. 1,685. Minutes of Council of Massachusetts. Order for payment of £218 to John Phillips, late Treasurer, pursuant to the report of a Committee. Mr. Treasurer Taylor ordered to reimburse himself £15 from the public revenue. [Col. Entry Bk., Vol. LXIV., pp. 502–503.]
Feb. 20.
Whitehall.
1,686. John Povey to William Lowndes. I shall at the meeting on the 22nd lay your letter of the 18th inst. as to the revenue of Virginia (see No. 1,683) before the Lords of Trade. But the Lords will expect a report also as to the other part of the memorial, praying for the balance of £765 to be repaid to the accounts against which it is debited out of the quit-rents. Draft. 1 p. [Board of Trade. Virginia, 5. No. 68.]
Feb. 28. 1,687. Minutes of Council of New York. The dispute as to the boundaries of Newtown and other towns was heard, and the question adjourned till some fuller Council. Orders for sundry payments. [Board of Trade. New York, 72. pp. 10–11.]
Feb. 28. 1,688. Circular warrant to the Governors of the Colonies. Authorising the use of the existing Great Seal of King William and Queen Mary, notwithstanding Queen Mary's death, pending further orders. [Col. Entry Bk., Vol. C., pp. 377–378.]
Feb. 28.
Whitehall.
1,689. Order of the King in Council. Referring the petition of Jacob Leisler, junior, and Abraham Gouverneur, for reversal of the attainder of the late Jacob Leisler and others, to Lords of Trade and Plantations for report. Copy. 2 pp. [Board of Trade. New York, 6. No. 1; and 48. pp. 193–195.]
1,690. Memorandum. Shipping has been taken up by the Commissioners of the Navy for one hundred and fifty men for New York. The Captains have raised fifty men more to complete their companies. Orders are requested for these men to sail with the rest, there being room for them in the ships, that they may be victualled for the voyage, and that the convoy with them may be hastened from Plymouth. [Board of Trade. New York, 48. p. 188.]
Feb. 28. 1,691. Minutes of Council of Maryland. Order for a commission to George Robotham to be Admiralty Judge of the five counties on the Eastern shore, and Nicholas Greenberry of the five counties on the Western shore. [Board of Trade. Maryland, 12. p. 143.]
Feb. 28. 1,692. Journal of House of Burgesses of Maryland. The members were called over, and the House attended the Governor, who delivered to the Speaker a Bill to continue the proceedings of St. Maries County Court, the order of Council for removing the records from St. Maries to Anne Arundel town, sundry letters written to honourable persons in England, and other papers. The Bill was then read a first time, and the order in Council, lists and other documents concerning the records were entered in the Journals. The Bill was then sent up to Council, returned by them as having passed first reading, read a second time and sent back to Council, returned again and read a third time. A private Bill was also read twice, also a Bill for receiving certain laws. Orders for public ferries to be kept on South river in Anne Arundel County and Patuxent river in Calvert County, to carry over any persons having business at the Courts or Assemblies in Arundel town.
March 1. The Act of last session for a duty on liquors was discussed, and an unanimous resolution passed that ships built or owned in the province since the proclamation of that Act should be exempt from its provisions. Bills to revive certain laws and as to St. Maries County Court read a third time, On the proposal of the Governor it was resolved that the records be lodged in Mr. Edward Dorsey's house for the present; and that the whole House inspect the clay cast up for the brick. Voted that the Governor appoint suitable persons to inspect the records of the Commissary's office and see to their removal to Anne Arundel. Surveyors appointed. Order as to a gift of fifteen acres made to the town of Oxford, but imperfectly recorded. The House attended the Governor, and the Bills as to St. Maries County Court and for reviving certain laws, as well as one private Bill, were assented to and passed. Adjourned to the 8th of May. [Board of Trade. Maryland, 12. pp. 415–423.]
Feb. 28. 1,693. Minutes of Council of Maryland in Assembly. The Governor explained that it was necessary to pass a Bill owing to the falling of St. Maries County Court, whereby the County might be damnified to the value of 100,000 lbs. of tobacco. The Burgesses were then summoned and the Bill delivered to them, which they presently returned, read a first time, together with two other Bills. Petition of Charles Carroll read and referred to the Burgesses, whose suggestion thereupon was accepted.