Journal, December 1771: Volume 78

Journal, December 1771

Tuesday, December 10th. Present:—Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Fitzherbert, Lord Robert Spenser.

Grenada, St. Vincent's.

fo. 200.

The Earl of Hillsborough, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, attends, and, by his Majesty's commands, lays before the Board, for their consideration, a letter from Lieutenant Governor Fitzmaurice, Commander in Chief in the Governor's absence of the Southern Charibbee Islands, inclosing an Act passed in the Island of St. Vincent in July last, intituled, "an Act declaring all purchases and conveyances made, or agreements entered into with the Charibbs of St. Vincent to be ipso facto null and void, and for inflicting punishments on such persons, as shall hereafter receive from the Charibbs any conveyance of the land they hold under his Majesty's sufferance," and, for their lordships' further information, his lordship communicated to them several other papers relative to the subject matter of the said Act, the titles of which papers are as follows, viz:—
Copy of a letter from the Earl of Hillsborough to Governor Melvill, dated Whitehall, January 25th, 1771.
Additional instruction to the Governor of the Grenades.
fo. 201.
Grenada.
Copy of instructions to the Commissioners for the sale of lands in the Grenades.
St. Vincent's.
Letter, No. 51, from Governor Melvill, to the Earl of Hillsborough, dated July 12th, 1771, signifying his having given his assent to the Act of St. Vincent's relative to the purchases of lands from the Charibbs.
Letter, No. 52, from Governor Melvill, to the Earl of Hillsborough, dated July 15th, 1771, relative to his departure from Grenada, and the reasons for passing an Act of St. Vincent's, which respects the purchases of land from the Charibbs.

Ordered, that the said Act be referred to Mr. Jackson for his opinion thereupon in point of law.

fo. 202.

Ordered, that the Secretary do acquaint the Secretary to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, that the said Act hath been received, and, with the caveat against the same, entered in this office in behalf of Richard Burke, Esquire, and that this Board submit to their lordships, whether it may not be expedient, that the law servants of the Crown should be retained in support of an Act so essential to his Majesty's interests.

fo. 203.

Thursday, December 12th. Present:—Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Fitzherbert.

The Earl of Hillsborough, one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, attends, and lays before the Board, by his Majesty's command, for their consideration and representation to his Majesty thereupon several papers, viz:—
Georgia.
Memorial, with papers thereto annexed, of James Wright, Esquire, Governor of Georgia, to the Earl of Hillsborough, one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, respecting the necessity of some further regulation relative to Indian affairs, and further suggesting the propriety of obtaining from the Cherokees the cession of certain lands therein mentioned.

fo. 204.

Ordered, that the said memorial be taken into consideration on Wednesday next, and that Governor Wright be desired to attend.
New Jersey.
Extract of a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, from the Governor of New Jersey, and minutes of Assembly of that colony thereunto annexed, relative to a dispute with the said Assembly concerning their claim of a right to issue a writ for a new election for the county of Essex on the resignation by the representative for the said county of his seat in the Assembly, on account of insolvency.

fo. 205.

Ordered, that the said extract of letter and proceedings of the Assembly be referred to Mr. Jackson for his opinion, as to the legality of the claim set up by the Assembly.
West Florida.
Copy of a letter from the Secretary to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to Mr. Pownall, as under Secretary of State to Lord Hillsborough, inclosing several papers relative to a complaint made by the Collector of the Customs in West Florida against an Act passed there in December, 1770, for regulating coasting vessels and for other purposes.

Ordered, that the Secretary do transmit those papers to Mr. Jackson, before whom the said Act now lyes, for his opinion thereupon in point of law.

fo. 206.

Africa.

Read a letter from the Earl of Rochford to the Board, dated July 17th, 1771, transmitting, for their lordships' information,
Extract of a letter from his Excellency Sir Joseph Yorke to the Earl of Suffolk, Hague, July 12th, 1771, relative to the provisional order made by the Dutch West India Company for the direction of their servants on the coast of Africa.

Newfoundland.

fo. 207.

Read an order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, dated October 10th, 1768, referring to this Board, for their consideration and report, a petition of George Milner of the town and county of Poole, merchant, relative to his losses by being divested of his property in Newfoundland, and praying that his Majesty will be pleased to grant him such relief, as shall appear just and reasonable.

Mr. Milner attending, was called in and heard in what he had to offer in support of his petition.

Georgia.

Read a petition from Lewis Dumesnil de St. Pierre to the Board, dated November 15th, 1771, praying, for the reasons therein contained, that a grant may be made to him of twenty thousand acres of land in Georgia.

The petitioner attending, was called in and heard in what he had to offer in support of his petition.

Africa.

fo. 208.

Read a letter from Philip Stephens, Esquire, Secretary to the Lords of the Admiralty, to the Secretary to this Board, dated December 10th, 1771, transmitting copies of accounts of the state and condition of the forts and settlements on the coast of Africa.

The Secretary laid before the Board several papers received from the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, the titles of which are as follows, viz:—
A list of the Committee of the Company of Merchants trading to Africa, chosen 3rd of July, 1771, for the year ensuing.
Copy of a letter from David Mill, Esquire, to the Committee, dated Cape Coast Castle, 28th of February, 1771.
Copy of a letter from David Mill, Esquire, dated Cape Coast Castle, March 18th, 1771, to the African Committee.
fo. 209.
Copy of a letter from David Mill, Esquire, to the Committee, dated Cape Coast Castle, April 15th, 1771.
Copy of a letter from David Mill, Esquire, to the Committee, dated April 15th, 1771.
Copy of a letter from Governor Mill to Captain Fielding, and Captain Fielding's answer.
Copy of a letter from Governor Mill to Captain Fielding, dated 13th April, 1771.
Governor Mill's certificate concerning two persons charged with piracy.
Copy of a letter from Governor Mill to Captain Fielding concerning two persons charged with piracy, and Captain Fielding's answer.
Copy of the Committee's letter to the Governor and Council at Cape Coast Castle, dated 19th June and 7th August, 1771.
fo. 210.
Copy of the Committee's letter to the Governor and Council at Cape Coast Castle, dated October 2nd, 1771.
Copy of the Committee's letter to Mr. Lionel Abson, Chief of Whydah, dated October 2nd, 1771.
Copy of the Committee's letter to the Governor and Council at Cape Coast Castle, dated November 20th, 1771.

Trade.

Read a letter from Edward Stanley, Esquire, Secretary to the Commissioners of the Customs, to the Secretary to this Board, dated August 7th, 1771, transmitting,
Copy of the Customs House Leidger for year 1766.

Massachusetts.

Read a letter from Thomas Hutchinson, Esquire, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, to the Secretary to this Board, dated May 16th, 1771, transmitting the laws passed in the last session, and containing remarks on those that relate to incorporating towns.
fo. 211.
Sixteen Acts passed in April, 1771.

Read a letter from Thomas Hutchinson, Esquire, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, to the Board, dated July 16th, 1771, transmitting,
Nine Acts passed in June and July, 1771.
Remarks of the Governor upon laws passed in the last session of Assembly.

Plantations General.

Duplicates of letters and papers received by the Earl of Hillsborough from the Governors and other officers in his Majesty's colonies in America, relative to public proceedings in the said colonies for some time past, were communicated to the Board, and the said letters were read and ordered to be bound up under the several heads to which they belong.

fo. 212.

The Secretary laid before the Board public Acts and proceedings of the legislatures of several of the colonies, the titles of which are as follows, viz:—
Duplicate of a letter from Captain Holland, to John Pownall, Esquire, dated September 16th, 1771, relative to the progress he has made in his survey of North America.
Quebec.
Minutes of his Majesty's Council for the province of Quebec from January 5th to March 31st, 1771.
Ditto: from April 1st to June 30th, 1771.
Copy of a proclamation, September 26th, 1771, notifying Mr. Cramahe's appointment to be Lieutenant Governor of the province of Quebec.
Minutes of Council from July 12th to September 30th, 1771.
fo. 213.
Nova Scotia.
Minutes of his Majesty's Council for the province of Nova Scotia from January 30th to June 22nd, 1771.
Ditto: in Assembly from June 5th to July 6th, 1771.
Printed journal of the Assembly for the same time.
Twenty two Acts passed in June and July, 1771.
Minutes of Council on September 27th, 1771.
Massachusetts.
Letter from Thomas Hutchinson, Esquire, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, to John Pownall, Esquire, dated August 23rd, 1771, transmitting,
Journal of the House of Representatives from May 29th to July 5th, 1771.
Virginia.
Journal of his Majesty's Council for the colony of Virginia from December 12th, 1770, to July 13th, 1771.
fo. 214.
Journal of the Council in Assembly from July 11th to 20th 1771.
Four Acts passed in July, 1771.
Three resolves of Assembly.
Remarks by the President on the said Acts and four resolves.
Titles of the said Acts, and five resolves.
Printed copy of the Address of the Council to Mr. President Nelson and his answer.
Printed copy of the Journal of the House of Burgesses on the 11th and 12th of July, 1771.
North Carolina.
Abstract of patents for lands granted in his Majesty's part of the province of North Carolina.
Minutes of Council from February 13th to March 19th, 1771.
fo. 215.
Georgia.
Journal of the Commons' House of Assembly in the province of Georgia from April 23rd to 26th, 1771.
Minutes of Council on 23rd and 26th of April, 1771.
Journal of the Upper House of Assembly from April 23rd to 26th, 1771.
East Florida.
Journal of his Majesty's Council for the province of East Florida from July 5th, 1770, to June 29th, 1771.
West Florida.
Minutes of Council for the province of West Florida from March 13th to April 8th, 1771.
Journal of the Upper House of Assembly from June 25th to July 30th, 1771.
Ditto: of Assembly from June 25th to July 30th, 1771.
Five Acts passed in June and July, 1771.
Bermuda.
fo. 216.
Minutes of Council for the Bermuda Islands, from January 15th to May 4th, 1771.
Ditto: in Assembly from November 5th, 1770, to May 4th, 1771.
Votes and proceedings of the General Assembly from November 5th, 1770, to June 11th, 1771.
Leeward Islands, Antigua.
Minutes of his Majesty's Council for the Island of Antigua from June 13th to December 18th, 1770.
St. Christopher's.
Minutes of Council from December 10th, 1770, to June 14th, 1771.
Journal of the Assembly from June 7th, 1770, to April 12th, 1771.
One Act passed, May 20th, 1771.
Nevis.
One Act passed in the Island of Nevis, June 20th, 1771.
fo. 217.
Tobago.
Three Acts passed in the Island of Tobago, November 2nd, 1770, and April 3rd, 1771.
St. John's.
Copies of two Ordinances passed in the Island of St. John in November, 1770, and February, 1771.
Journals of the proceedings of Council from September 19th, 1770, to June 1st, 1771.
Copy of an Ordinance on the Quit Rents passed in 1771.
Barbados.
Minutes of his Majesty's Council for the Island of Barbados from September 4th, 1770, to August 5th, 1771.
Ditto: of the Assembly from August 7th, 1770, to June 18th, 1771.
Five Acts passed in December, 1770, and May and August, 1771.
List of the Members of the Council, August 22nd, 1771.
Abstract of all persons born, christened and buried in Barbados from January 1st to December 31st, 1770.
Barbados.
fo. 218.
An account of the number of new negroes imported into Barbados from August 11th, 1770, to August 11th, 1771.
Storekeeper's account of Gunpowder collected from August 11th, 1770, to August 11th, 1771.

Dominica, St. Vincent's.

Several petitions, praying the Board's approbation of certain leases of lands granted to French inhabitants in the Islands of Dominica and St. Vincent's, being assigned to British subjects, were read, and the Secretary was ordered to certify their lordships' approbation accordingly, viz:—

Dominica.

Petition of Claude Auffray, senior, Claude Auffray, junior, François Auffray, Leonard Le Sueur, Pierre Jourdan, Henry Rice, and John Donaugho, to assign five leases of land in Dominica to the said Messrs. Rice and Donaugho.

fo. 219.

Petition of Michael Nathaniel Veyrierr to assign a lease of twenty seven acres of wood and fifty seven acres of cleared land in Dominica to James Bruce, Esquire.

Petition of Crocquet Beaubois, administrator to the late Bourke de Beauchamp, to assign a lease of fifty acres of cleared land and six acres of wood land in Dominica to Charles Winstone, Esquire.

Petition of Jean Baptiste Lafaille to assign a lease of twelve acres of cleared land in Dominica to Abraham Shaw, Lewis Isaac, Judah and Francis Margarett.

Petition of John Peter Dauberminy to assign a lease of twenty eight acres of land in Dominica to Henry Moore.

St. Vincent's.

Petition of Claude Duval Dumay to assign a lease of a lot of land in St. Vincent's, containing eleven acres, to James Hartley.

fo. 220.

Wednesday, December 18th. Present:—Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Fitzherbert, Lord Greville.

The Earl of Hillsborough, one of his Majesty's principal Secretaries of State, attends.

Georgia.

Their lordships took into consideration an Act passed in the colony of Georgia in the year 1770, for granting to his Majesty the sum of three thousand, three hundred and fifty five pounds, nine shillings, together with Mr. Jackson's report stating sundry objections thereto, and Governor Wright, lately arrived from that colony, attending, was informed of the said objections, and he stated several arguments in answer thereto.

fo. 221.

Their lordships also read and considered an order of his Majesty in Council on the 1st of May, 1771, referring to this Board, for their consideration and report to a Committee of Council thereupon, a petition to his Majesty of sundry inhabitants of Georgia, praying that the Attorney General of that colony may be ordered to defend them in any suit that may be brought against them on the ground of title to lands they possess, by any persons claiming said lands under a grant of a barony from the late Lord Proprietors of Carolina, and their lordships had some discourse with Governor Wright thereupon.

fo. 222.

Proprieties, Pennsylvania.

Read an order of the King in Council, dated October 9th, 1771, referring to this Board, for their consideration and report to a Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, twenty one Acts passed in the province of Pennsylvania in February and March last.

Massachusetts.

Read an order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, dated October 4th, 1771, referring to this Board, for their consideration and report, twenty five Acts passed in the Massachusetts Bay in April, June and July, 1771.

Trade.

fo. 223.

Read a letter from Ralph Woodford, Esquire, to the Board, dated August 30th, 1771, relative to the present state of the British commerce at Hamburgh.
Copy of a letter from Mr. Woodford to the Earl of Suffolk, dated Hamburgh, July 5th, 1771, relative to the state of trade with that city.
Navigation of Great Britain to Hamburgh, and of all other Maritime States, 1770.
Estimate of the French imports at Hamburgh, 1770.
Ditto: of the British imports at Hamburgh.

South Carolina.

fo. 224.

Their lordships took into further consideration the memorial of Monsieur de St. Pierre, praying for a grant of lands in America, for the purpose of improving the culture of vines, and the draught of a representation to his Majesty, recommending that Monsieur de St. Pierre may have a grant of five thousand acres of land in South Carolina, was agreed to, transcribed and signed.

New York, Virginia, South Carolina, Leeward Islands, Jamaica.

Their lordships read and considered several laws of a private nature passed in the colonies, together with Mr. Jackson's reports thereupon, and no objections appearing thereto, representations to his Majesty in Council were signed, proposing that the said Acts, the titles of which are as follows, may be confirmed, viz:—
New York.
fo. 225.
An Act to impower Philip Cortland, the eldest son and heir at law of Mary Walton Hughes, tenant in tail of a certain house and lot of ground in the City of New York, to hold the same in fee simple.
Virginia.
An Act to dock the intail of certain lands whereof Llewellen Jones is seized, and for settling other lands and slaves in lieu thereof.
An Act to dock the intail of certain lands whereof David Garland is seized in fee tail, and for vesting the title in Francis Eppes, gentleman, in fee simple, and for settling the value thereof in slaves to the same uses.
An Act to vest certain intailed lands therein mentioned in Charles Carter, and for settling other lands to the same uses.
An Act to dock the intail of certain lands whereof Francis Eppes is seized, and for settling other lands in lieu thereof.
South Carolina.
fo. 226.
An Act to promote and carry more fully into execution an Act to incorporate the Winyaw Society, now of force in this province.
Leeward Islands.
An Act to enable the honourable John Estridge of the Island of Saint Christopher, Esquire, and William Wallwin of the same Island, Esquire, the guardians of John Taylor Milliken, an infant of the age of fifteen years or thereabouts (eldest son of James Milliken and Elizabeth his wife, both late of the Island of St. Christopher, deceased), to purchase all the estate, right, title and interest of Samuel Oakes Taylor, Esquire, of, in and to a certain plantation, etc. etc.
Jamaica.
fo. 227.
An Act for vesting several pieces and parcels of land situate, lying and being in the parish of Westmoreland in the said Island, being part of the estate of George Ricketts, late of the same place, Esquire, deceased, in certain trustees to sell and dispose of the same, and for applying the monies arising from such sales to and for the use and benefit of his son William Henry Ricketts for and during the term of his natural life, and to and for such other uses agreeable to the will of the said George Ricketts.

Plantations General.

fo. 228.

Duplicates of letters and papers received by the Earl of Hillsborough from the Governors of his Majesty's colonies in America, relative to public proceedings in the said colonies for some time passed, were communicated to the Board, and the said letters were read and ordered to be bound up under the several heads to which they belong.

The Secretary laid before the Board public Acts and proceedings of the legislatures of several of the colonies, the titles of which are as follows, viz:—
South Carolina.
Journal of the Commons House of Assembly, of South Carolina, from September 17th to November 5th, 1771.
List of grants from May 4th to October 1st, 1771.
West Florida.
fo. 229.
Minutes of Council from April 23rd to September 9th, 1771.
Four Acts passed in June, 1771.
Antigua.
St. Christopher's.
Two Acts passed in July and September, 1771.
Mopntserrat.
One Act passed in June, 1771.

Georgia.

The further consideration of Governor Wright's memorial, relative to the cession of a tract of land by the Cherokees, mentioned in the minutes of the 12th instant, was put off to another opportunity.

Nova Scotia.

fo. 230.

Read a letter from the Rev. Dr. Majendie to Mr. Pownall, representing the case of the Revd. Mr. Martel, who was appointed to officiate as Minister to a settlement proposed to be made in Nova Scotia in the year 1765, with the promise of a stipend of one hundred pounds per annum, but not having received any more than fifty pounds, and the settlement not taking effect, is now returned to England in a most distressed situation.

The agent for the colony of Nova Scotia, having certified to the Board the truth of what is represented in the above letter, with regard to Mr. Martel's appointment as Minister to the Settlement in Nova Scotia, and that he had received orders to pay him a part of the stipulated allowance out of the ballance remaining in his hands of the monies granted for the civil establishment of Nova Scotia, it was ordered, that the said agent should pay to Mr. Martel a further sum of fifty pounds out of the said ballance.