America and West Indies: August 1719, 11-20

Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 31, 1719-1720. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1933.

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'America and West Indies: August 1719, 11-20', in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 31, 1719-1720, ed. Cecil Headlam( London, 1933), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol31/pp205-214 [accessed 3 December 2024].

'America and West Indies: August 1719, 11-20', in Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 31, 1719-1720. Edited by Cecil Headlam( London, 1933), British History Online, accessed December 3, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol31/pp205-214.

"America and West Indies: August 1719, 11-20". Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies: Volume 31, 1719-1720. Ed. Cecil Headlam(London, 1933), , British History Online. Web. 3 December 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/colonial/america-west-indies/vol31/pp205-214.

August 1719, 11-20

Aug. 11.
Virginia.
357. Lt. Governor Spotswood to the Council of Trade and Plantations. Acknowledges letter of 9th April, and will take the security required when Mr. Hart shal make use of his licence of absence etc. Continues: I should have been glad such a licence had come for myself that I might ease yor. Lordps. of the trouble of Mr. Byrds impertinent memorials, and myself of the disadvantage of defending my character against the calumnys of a person who durst not offer to my face, what he now so confidently affirms, under the security of a thousand leagues distance, etc. Replies to his memorial (v. March 24, 1719.) of which he has seen a copy. "Mr. Byrd having nothing to object against the plan of accommodation, which I offerred to his Party, and they scornfully rejected, craftily insinuates that yor. Lordps. authority is necessary to oblige me to a complyance with my own proposal" etc. Repeats case of Oyer and Terminer Courts etc. Continues:—Dec. 8th 1715 I directed the Minutes of each Council to be laid before them at their next meeting etc., and this hath constantly been observed by the Clerk ever since; but 'tis true that the Council often ommit to look upon these minutes or find leasure to hear them read. Only Mr. Ludwell hath not only had the perusal of all the Journals, but copys of the greater part of them, and yet I have never heard any entry therein faulted, etc. Refers to his answer to the Burgesses' charge, v. March 25. Continues: Those who do not know the character of this Memorialist, will be surprized to find that he, who not long before his departure from hence, joined with his brethren of the Council in acknowledging under his hand, my constant civilitys to the gentlemen of that Board, should now charge me with denying them the freedom of delivering their opinions etc. As to their consultations in Assembly, I do affirm that I never have interposed, but when they have vouchsafed to ask my advice, or when the King's service has obliged me to declare my opinion of their proceedings, and then left them to consider of it, and if some few instances may be given of my expostulating with some of them upon their opinions offerred in Council or General Court, yet I will maintain that my reasoning with them on those occasions ever was with temper and good manners: and if the taking notice of, and fairly laying open their sentiments, exposed them to reproach and ridicule, I shal answer little to that complaint, for as I do not grant that either in the capacity of Governor or Judge I am to sitt silent, and suffer absurd notions to prevail, so neither do I think that Mr. Byrd and his confederates have treated me with such decent respect as to deserve that I should be indulgently blind to all their errors etc. As to that part [of the Memorial] which proposes a reciprocal communication of complaints sent over by either Party: To this I have to object, that there is some difference in the character of those who are entrusted by the Sovereign with the chief administration of the Government, and the subordinate members of the Council etc., so that I hope all Mr. Byrd's rhetorick will never prevail with yor. Lordps. to levell the one with the other. This I only offer for preserving the dignity of the Governmt. and that the authority of such as H.M. shal think fitt to honour with the chief administration, may not be rendered contemptible among the people, who seing men of their own rank in as much consideration at home as their Governor, will be apt to fancy themselves his equal too, and lay aside their obedience when they have lost their reverence. For my own part, I should readily agree to what Mr. Byrd here proposes, were I to expect a fair communication from my adversarys of their complaints agt. me: but the fallacy of the proposal lyes in this, that they need send no publick representations to yor. Lordps., and consequently will have none to impart to me, for they have their Agent (Mr. Byrd) ready to act according to the private notice they give him, and if they have not real grievances, he can by the help of a ready invention frame complaints which were never thought of here, as he has in this memorial, in the case of the Governor's house, and the reading the Council Minuts; and a Governor's reputation shall be sullyed and blasted before he knows that he is accused etc. A gentleman of the Council here publickly said upon perusing the aforesaid memorial, that he would not for £1,000 have his hand appear subscribed to so many lyes as he knew that paper contained, etc. It is not in Virginia alone, where the conscientious discharge of a man's duty exposes him to the rage of ill men: The neighbouring Province of North Carolina, highly provoked at the suppressing the pyrates who had been sheltered and too much countenanced in that Province, seems resolved to revenge on me, as the author of that project, the disappointment of their expected gain, by being the repository of all the ill-gotten wealth of that abandoned crew, etc. All I shal at present say to the menaces of my angry neighbours, is that if in one of H.M. Provinces, governed, or which at least ought to be so by the Laws of England or such as are conformable thereto, pyrates may be admitted to bring in and expose to sale as their proper estate, 80 or 90 negroes confess'd by them to have been piratically taken from the subjects of the French King, His Majesty's ally: if the Governor of that Province and others in chief station there shal so far countenance that unjust traffique as to become the first purchasers thereby setting an example to the meaner people: If to condemn as lawfull prize a sloop piratically taken from the subjects of Spain in a time of peace and to vest the property of that vessell in the pyrate who was the captor, by a formal decree of a pretended Court of Admiralty: If to permitt the same pyrate to arm and man the sd. sloop with a number of his associates far greater than were necessary to navigate that vessell on a lawfull voyage to clear the vessell for a pretended trading voyage to St. Thomas without any cargo at all that could denote a lawfull design: If to permitt the same vessell to return in less than a month into that Province with a French ship piratically taken, to leave that ship and cargo to be disposed of at the pleasure of the pyrates, without questioning by what means that booty came to be theirs, and if instead thereof the chief Officers of the Governmt. combined with the pyrates, by receiving and concealing part of these pyratical effects: If in neither of the aforementioned cases no care was taken by that Government to observe the Treatys of Peace, which injoins that goods piratically taken or becoming wreck, and brought unto the Dominions of H.M. or the French King shal be reciprocally restored to the owners. If instead of securing the French ship last mentioned for the benefite of such as might claim the same a warrt. shal be prepared by the Secretary and sign'd and sealed by the Governor for burning that ship within a month after her arrival and when she might have been well preserv'd. If to keep a correspondence with these villains all the while they were perpetrating these acts of piracy; to give them the appellation of friends and to connive at their robbing H.M. subjects even in that Province and almost at the Governor and Secretary's doors: and finally, if when the Court of Admiralty for trying of pirates here, shal upon due prooff represent to that Government, that their Secretary and Chief Justice appeared to be accessory to piracy and thereupon desired he might be secured and sent to England for his tryal; no notice shal be taken of this representation, but on the contrary the offender suffered to enjoy his post, and those in principal authority joine in his vindication. I say if all these, and many other instances wch. I could give, and am able to prove, may be lawfully practised in the Province of North Carolina, Then I must own myself to have been too officious, in meddling at all in the reduction of those pirates, and too imprudently sollicitous for the observation of the Treatys between H.M. and his allyes etc. Appeals for their Lordps.' protection against the unjust clamour of prejudiced men. Continues: Your Lordps. may be pleased to remember how much I laboured wth the Assembly in May 1718 to get them to renew the peace with the Indians of the five Nations, thereby to secure our frontiers from the disturbances I then discovered those Indians were inclined to give us, but all my endeavours proving ineffectual to perswade either the Council or Burgesses to such prudent measures, The Indians have this year fallen down among the upper inhabitants plundered some familys and behaved themselves with such insolence as hath occasioned no small uneasiness among the people who are fearfull of more fatal attempts: there hath also been a rencounter between those Indians and our Tributarys wherin some on both sides have been killed. On these alarms the Militia of the frontier countys are ordered to be in a readiness to oppose their incursions, the only means left to protect the country, and even that like to be far more expensive than ten times the charge of obtaining a peace by way of Treaty: for if nothing more happens than only keeping the people in constant alarms, it will greatly injure them in their cropps, and probably force a great many to desert their Plantations, and perhaps the country too, when they perceive they cannot be safe, and their Representatives will take no care to protect them. And yet at last, these obstinate men who refused to come into the measures I proposed for obtaining a peace with the Indians will be forced to submitt to the same way, after all the dangers to wch. they expose their country and I'm confident with more charge and less honour than if they had sought such pacifick means at first: for I perceive such of the Council and Burgesses as acted by a spirit of opposition in the last Assembly, have lost all credit with the people upon this incident and will never be able to recover it, without falling in again with the true interest of their country, wch. the meanest Planter now sees, is only to be promoted by cultivating a good correspondence with the neighbouring Indians, and not by engaging in a warr under the disadvantage of our scattered habitacons and the uncertain and sudden attacks of such an enemy. It remains that I return yor. Lordps. my humble acknowledgments for yr. goodness in not giving ear to the malicious insinuations of my enemys, and more especially in resisting the pressing sollicitations of Mr. Byrd tho varnished over with the specious pretence of friendship and peace etc. Signed, A. Spotswood. Endorsed, Recd. 28th Sept., 1719. Read 15th June, 1720. 9½ pp. [C.O. 5, 1318. No. 73.]
[Aug. 11.] 358. Form of a certificate for the bounty on pitch and tar. Endorsed, Recd. Read 11th Aug., 1719. 1¼ pp. [C.O. 323, 7. No. 159.]
Aug. 11.
Whitehall.
359. Mr. Popple to Mr. Tryon. The Council of Trade and Plantations, desires to discourse with you and any of the gentlemen who signed a memorial in behalf of the sufferers at Montserrat in April, 1714. [C.O. 153, 13. pp. 424, 425.]
Aug. 11.
Whitehall.
359a. Same to Mr. Potter. Presses for what was desired of the Hudson's Bay Company, the 4th instant, as soon as possible etc. [C.O. 135, 3. p. 138.]
Aug. 12.
Whitehall.
359b. Same to Richard Harris. By the 11th Article of the Treaty of Utrecht, it is provided that the Commissaries to be appointed on the part of Great Britain and France, are to enquire into those things, of which the French subjects complain relating to the capitulation of Nevis, and Castle of Gambia, as also to French ships, if perchance any such have been taken by British subjects in time of Peace. The Council of Trade and Plantations desire you would give them the best information you are able of that matter and what they desired of you at their Board the 5th inst., as soon as possibly you can. [C.O. 324, 10. pp. 265, 266.]
Aug. 12.
Whitehall.
359c. Same to Governor Hamilton. Encloses duplicate of letter from the Board of 24th April, and the order in Council repealing the Additional Duty Act of Antegoa, with the Board's reasons for repealing it. By the said Order the Act to prohibit the importation of foreign sugars, etc. is likewise repealed. [C.O. 153, 13. pp. 425, 426.]
Aug. 13. 360. Memorial of the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay to the Council of Trade and Plantations. At the Treaty concluded at Uttrecht it was agreed between the Crowns of Great Britain and France that the Streights and Bay of Hudson should be deliver'd up to the British subjects, and that the limits should be settled between the said Bay of Hudson and the places appertaining to the French, and also that satisfaction should be given to the Company for all depredations committed against them by the French in a time of Peace according to an estimate thereof to be made at the requisition of the several parties. The first of these Articles vizt. the surrender of the Streights and Bay aforesaid has been made according to the tenour of the Treaty at least in such manner that the Company acquiesc'd therein, and have nothing to object or desire further on that head. The other two vizt. the running a line betwixt the English and French territories, and the making reparation to the Company for their losses and damages yet remain to be done, whereupon the Governor and Company most humbly represent to your Lordps. that they conceive it absolutely necessary that the limits between the two Nations be setled without delay, for that the French have since the conclusion of the Peace (vizt. in 1715) made a factory settlement at the Head of Albany River, upon which very river our principal factory is setled, whereby they intercept the Indian trade from coming to the Company's factories and will in time utterly ruin the trade if not prevented. It is therefore propos'd and desir'd that a boundary or dividend line may be drawn so as to exclude the French from coming any where to the northward of the latitude of 49, except on the coast of Labrador; Unless this be done the Company's factorys at the bottom of Hudson's Bay cannot be secure nor their trade preserv'd. As to the article of the Company's losses it will appear by a true and exact estimate to this Memorial annex'd that the French took from the Company in full Peace vizt between the years 1682 and 1688 seven ships with their cargoes and six forts and factories in which they found and carried away great stores of goods laid up for trading with the Indians the whole amounting to £38332 15s. principal money and £62210 18s. 9d. interest computed to the year 1713, which two sums being added together make the total £100543 13s. 9d. [v. Aug. 13.] The Company humbly referring your Lordps. to the estimate itself for particulars crave leave to make two remarks upon it. First that the loss of the forts is not charg'd therein, nor are the damages valu'd which the Company suffer'd by the depredations of the French which must be very great considering how long they held possession of our forts and enjoy'd the trade depending thereon, particularly they held Albany fort and all the places of trade in the Bottom of the Bay for six years, the bare interest only is charged, which is always suppos'd necessary to grow out of the principal and to be inseparable from it. Secondly, that the proofs and vouchers which support the account are such as the reason and nature of the thing will admit of especially considering the distance of time and place where the injuries complain'd of were committed, the seizure of the several forts and capture of the respective ships being acts of a publick and notorious nature 'tis presum'd they will not be denied, besides that there are living witnesses here to some of them. The cost of the ships and goods is extracted out of the Companys books where every article was fairly enter'd when there could be no foresight of the misfortunes which afterwards happen'd, the tradesmen's several bills are likewise ready to be produc'd to confirm the account. Wherefore the Governor and Company most humbly pray that your Lordps. will be pleas'd to espouse their just cause and so to recommend it to H.M. that they may have full reparation made them as was agreed and promis'd by the late King of France at the Treaty of Utrech. Signed, By Order of the Governor, Depty. Governor and Committee, Wm. Potter, Secry. Mem. The seal of the Company was affix'd to the original, wch. Col. Bladen took with him to France, in Sept. 1719. Copy. 3 pp. [C.O. 134, 2. No. 45.] Enclosed,
360. i. Account of the damages sustained by the Hudson's Bay Company from the French in times of peace. v. preceding. Endorsed, Recd. Read 13 Aug. 1719. 19 pp. [C.O. 134, 2. Nos. 45, 45.i.]
Aug. 14.
Whitehall.
361. Mr. Delafaye to the Council of Trade and Plantations. In pursuance of Aug. 4th, encloses following. Signed, Ch. Delafaye. Endorsed, Recd. 15th, Read 26th Aug. 1719. ¾ p. Enclosed,
361. i. Memorial of the Deputies of the States of Guipuzcoa to Col. Stanhope. Request prompt consideration of their claim to the freedom of fishery of the coast of Newfoundland, as well as to a free trade and commerce in the several harbours thereof, of which, as the first discoverers of those ports, the subjects of the Province have been in continual possession, confirmed by the Treaty of Utrecht etc. Signed, Dn. Miguel de Aranburu and 4 others. Spanish. Copy. 1 p. [C.O. 194, 6. Nos. 69, 69 i.; and (without enclosure) 195, 6. p. 511.]
Aug. 14.
London.
362. R. Harris to Mr. Popple. Encloses following. Concludes: I am to day informed that there is a man in town that was setled for some time on one of ye branches of Misisippi River, and by some of the Virginia merchants yt. the French have erected a setlement within two days journey of Maryland etc. I beleive Mr. Danson can farther informe etc. Signed, Rd. Harris. Endorsed, Recd. 17th, Read 18th Aug., 1719. ¾ p. Enclosed,
362. i. Mr. Harris to Mr. Popple. Reply to Aug. 5th and 11th. I have not heard of any capture of French ships, in time of peace, unless by pirates etc. Refers to French Senegal Co. and the African Co. Concludes: Touching Newfoundland, I cannot at present think where to find proof, that Sebastian Chabot was the first discoverer thereof; but I am pretty sure he was allways reputed so, and I beleive you have the time and relation thereof in Dr. Heylin's Cosmography, and 'twas in King Henry ye 7th time, in a ship fitted out of Bristoll etc. Signed, Rd. Harris. 2½ pp.
362. ii. Same to Same. London, Aug. 10, 1719. In pursuance of their Lordships' commands, Aug. 5th, offers suggestions as to the bounds to be fixed between the English and French in North America. Signed, Rd. Harris. 6¼ pp.
362. iii. Extract from Sir Francis Bacon's Resuscitatio, p. 27, relating to Spain and the trade to the Indies. Endorsed, Recd. 17th, Read 18th Aug., 1719. 1½ pp. [C.O. 323, 7. Nos. 160, 160. i.–iii.]
Aug. 14.
Hudsons Bay House.
363. Mr. Potter to Mr. Popple. In reply to Aug. 11th, encloses following. Concludes: The original was sent with ye Comps. Agent Capt. James Knight in June 1714 whome they order'd to take possession according to the Treaty of Utricht. Signed, Wm. Potter. Endorsed, Recd. 17th, Read 18th Aug., 1719. ¾ p. Enclosed,
363. i. Order by the French King for the surrender of the Bay and Streights of Hudson. Aug. 6, 1713. Copy. ¾ p. [C.O. 134, 2. Nos. 46, 46. i.]
Aug. 17.
Whitehall.
364. Mr. Delafaye to the Council of Trade and Plantations. Encloses following for their information. Signed, Ch. Delafaye. Endorsed, Recd. 18th Aug., Read 16th Sept. 1719. 1 p. Enclosed,
364. i. Earl of Cadogan (H.M. Ambassador Extraordinary at the Hague) to Mr. Delafaye. Hague, Aug. 18., (N.S.), 1719. Encloses following etc. Signed, Cadogan. ½ p.
364. ii. Directions of the Dutch West India Company to the States General. Amsterdam, 16th Aug. (N.S.), 1719. In reply to the resolution upon Lord Cadogan's complaint that deserters and slaves from the Leeward Islands are harboured by the Governor of St. Eustatia, the Directors are wholly ignorant of the fact etc. They will write by the first opportunity to the Governor in the strongest terms, enjoining him, in case such deserters and slaves are now at St. Eustatia, to deliver them all up to those who claim them through the Governor of the English Colonies from whence they have deserted, and that he should take particular care for the future not to harbour any deserters or slaves coming to St. Eustatia, but to cause them to depart as quickly as possible etc. Signed, Ferdinand van Collen jr., Van Beuningen. Endorsed, Recd. 17th Aug., 1719. Copy. French. 2 pp. [C.O. 152, 12. Nos. 149, 149. i., ii.]
Aug. 18.
Whitehall.
365. Mr. Popple to Mr. Pery. Similar letter to No. 359b, [C.O. 324, 10. pp. 265, 266.]
[Aug. 18.] 366. Dr. Coxe to the Council of Trade and Plantations. I believe there will be great difficulties in a treaty between us and the French about settling the bounderies of our English Collonies and those of the French; particularly the Province of Carolana, of which they seem very fond, having already made some settlements, and are preparing to make more, and greater etc. Proposes to assign to the French all the territory W. of the Mississippi and retain all that on the E. etc. Endorsed, Recd. Read 18th Aug. 1719. 1½ pp. [C.O. 323, 7. No. 161.]
Aug. 19.
Boston.
367. Governor Shute to the Council of Trade and Plantations. Refers to letters of 29th Sept. 1718 and 1st Jan. 1719. Continues:—I have not had the favour of hearing from your Lordsps. since etc. There is another vacancy in the Council of New Hampshire by the death of Mr. Atkinson. Recommends Robert Armstrong, collector in that Province, who is very knowing in the affairs of it etc. Refers to enclosures. Concludes: Peace still continues between these Provinces and the Indians: I shall use my utmost indeavours to cultivate friendship between us. Signed, Samll. Shute. Endorsed, Recd. 17th Oct. 1719. Read 3rd Aug., 1720. 1 p. Enclosed,
367. i. Account of stores of war expended at Castle William, Boston, 24th June 1718–1719. Signed, Zecr. Tuthill, Lt. 1 p.
367. ii. Account of stores of war remaining at Castle William, 24th June, 1719. Signed as preceding. Endorsed as letters. 1 p.
367. iii. Accounts of powder expended at Fort William at Newcastle in New Hampshire, 10th Oct.-27th April, and remaining on 15th July, 1719. Signed, J. Wentworth. Endorsed as letter. 3 pp.
367. iv. Account of imports into New Hampshire, Midsummer 1718–1719. Imports of rum, sugar, molasses, cotton, tar and pitch from the West Indies; salt from Tortuga, etc.; 10 ships from Great Brittaine and Ireland theire whole cargoes amounting to about £6000 sterl. Signed, Rot. Armstrong, Collr. Same endorsement. 2 pp.
367. v. Account of exports from New Hampshire, Midsummer 1718–1719, chiefly timber. Some small quantities of English goods to Virginia, Carolina, etc. Some fish, live stock and tar. Details. Signed and endorsed as preceding. 2 pp. [C.O. 5, 867. Nos. 62, 62. i.–v.]
Aug. 20. 368. Col. Moody to Mr. Popple. In answer to their Lordships' desire to know, what French ships have fished in the British parts of Newfoundland, since they delivered up Placentia, I have heard, that about 10 or 15 sail doe fish sometimes in the harbours belonging to Brittain betwen Port Rich and Placentia etc. I believe that several French ships from Cape Brittoon doe now and then fish in the remote and obscure Brittish harbours on the Cannada side of Newfoundland, where it is hardly possible to find them for rocks and foggs. Signed, J. Moody. Endorsed, Recd. Read 20th Aug, 1719. Addressed. 1 p. [C.O. 194, 6. No. 68; and 195, 6. pp. 510, 511.]
Aug. 20.
African House.
369. Mr. Pery to Mr. Popple. Reply to 18th Aug. The Sub-Governor and Court of Assistants hope to be ready on Tuesday etc. Signed, John Pery. Endorsed, Recd. Read 21st Aug. 1719. Addressed. ½ p. [C.O. 323, 7. No. 162.]