Journal, October 1735: Volume 44

Journal, October 1735

Tuesday, October 14th. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Mr. Bladen, Sir O. Bridgeman, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plummer.

North Carolina.

Blank patents for granting land considered, and sent to the Attorney General.

Captain Burrington, late Governor of North Carolina, presented a letter from himself, relating to blank patents for granting of land in that province, in contradiction to Governor Johnston's state of them, sent the 3rd of the last month to the Attorney General, was read.

Ordered that a copy of this letter be also sent to the Attorney General, and that he be desired to attend the Board next Thursday upon that subject.

Captain Burrington complains of Governor Johnston.

Then Captain Burrington presented the copy of an address from two precincts in North Carolina to Colonel Johnston in favour of Captain Burrington, and complaining of many hardships they lye under by the present Governor, the Chief Justice, etc.

Letter from the Governor about quit rents, blank patents for land.

Letter from Mr. Johnston, the present Governor of North Carolina, dated July 10th, 1735, complaining of difficulties in collecting the quit rents, and passing an Act for that purpose; and upon his erecting a Court of Exchequer, the people objected to it; and that Mr. Hammerton has interrupted the collection of quit rents; and transmitting,

Heads of a bill for settling the quit rents,
Case of that bill when rejected by the Council and
Case of the blank patents.

Plantations General.

Petition for a new settlement rejected.

Then were read, copy of an order in Council, dismissing a petition of Sir William Chapman etc., for a tract of land in America, 400 miles distant from any European settlement.

St. Christophers.

Powder duty to be continued.

Two copies of orders in Council for repealing an Act of St. Christophers, continuing the powder duty, and approving the draught of an instruction to the Governor thereon.

South Carolina.

Two petitions for land.

Two copies of orders in Council, dated July the 9th, 1735, upon the petitions of Colonel Horsey and Mr. Rutherford for land in South Carolina.

Jamaica.

Four orders in Council about laws.

Copies of four orders in Council of June 11th, July 9th and 30th, 1735, relating to Jamaica, vizt.,
1st. Instructing the Governor to pass a law against persons engrossing large tracts of land.
2nd. Allowing the Governor to pass an Act laying a duty on negroes imported [fo. 72].
3rd. Against his Majesty's supplying the troops there with salt provisions.
4th. Confirming Golding's Act [fo. 42].

Wednesday, October 15th. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Colonel Bladen, Sir O. Bridgeman, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plummer.

South Carolina.

Quit rents and granting land.

Eight baronies claimed by Lord Carteret.

The Attorney General's report upon heads of a bill for securing the quit rents in South Carolina, read January 2nd, 1734/5, together with remarks thereon by Mr. Yonge, and a letter from Mr. Allen, in behalf of the purchasers of Lord Carteret's eight baronies in that province, were again read, and ordered that Mr. Allen attend thereon to-morrow [fo. 3, 230, 232. Bundle E44. Do. 70. D51].

Thursday, October 16th. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Colonel Bladen, Sir O. Bridgeman, Mr. Plummer.

South Carolina.

Lord Carteret's eighth part of it.

Mr. Allen's letter, read yesterday, about Lord Carteret's eight baronies, was again read, and Mr. Allen desiring to have another day appointed, and to have further notice, the Board agreed thereto [fo. 229, 232, 272].

New Jersey.

Bills of Credit.

A letter from Mr. John Sharpe, of September 26th, 1735, with his objections to the Act of New Jersey for making £40,000 in bills of credit, and a letter from Mr. Partridge, in answer to Mr. Sharpe's objections to the said Act, being also read, the Board resolved to consider the same to-morrow morning.

Friday, October 17th. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plummer.

New Jersey.

Paper money.

Mr. Partridge attending, as he had been directed, the Board resumed the consideration of the New Jersey Paper Money Act, with the objections and answers relating thereto, read yesterday; their lordships demanded of him what discount the paper money bore, and he answered the current bills were about 1/6 in the pound worse than money, and were not so valuable now, as at first issuing them [fo. 234].

Miscellanies.

Incident expences and salaries wrote for.

The secretary then laid be fore the Board the account of the incidental charges of this office from Midsummer to Michaelmas last, and a letter to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, desiring payment thereof, as also of the salaries due to the secretary and other officers in the service of this Commission, was signed.

Tuesday, October 21st. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Colonel Bladen, Sir O. Bridgeman, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plummer.

South Carolina.

Quit rents.

Mr. Yonge, agent for South Carolina, attending, their lordships took into consideration the state of the quit rents in that province; they asked him what might the increase of the quit rents be, if the present Act were repealed; he said the increase would not be above £90 per annum, the disputed lands not amounting to above 90,000 acres, no land under old patents having been taken up since the passing of the quit rent law [fo. 229, 230, 233].

North Carolina.

Memorial from Cape Fear.

Mr. Wragg then presented to the Board a memorial from the inhabitants of Cape Fear; which memorial was delivered to Mr. Attorney General for his opinion thereon, as also some other papers. (fn. 1)

Blank patents for land.

Captain Burrington, late Governor of North Carolina, attending, informed the Board that blank patents were patents signed by the Governor and half the Council without the seal, which was never affixed till the land was surveyed, and entered in the Receiver's office, to whom all arrears of quit rent is paid, from the date of the blank patent and the purchase money, and that Mr. Little's widow has a book, wherein is an account of all grants made in that province and to whom [fo. 227, 242].

Mrs. Little has accounts of them, that account be wrote for.

Ordered that a letter be wrote to the Governor to get that book.

South Carolina.

Quit rents.

Ordered that the draught of the quit rent Act for South Carolina, and Mr. Yonge's remarks thereon, be sent to the Attorney General, and that he be desired to attend the Board on Friday next at one o'clock [fo. 229, 232, 240. Bundle E44 and 70].

Wednesday, October 22nd. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Colonel Bladen, Sir O. Bridgeman, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plummer.

New Jersey.

Bills of credit and appropriations.

The Act of New Jersey, passed in 1733, for making £40,000 in bills of credit, was again considered, and Mr. Partridge and Mr. Sharpe attending, the Board had some discourse with them upon the subject of the two papers read the 16th instant, for and against the said Act [fo. 231, 238].

Ordered that two reports be prepared, recommending the said Act to his Majesty for confirmation, and the same for the Act for appropriating part of the interest money payable into the Treasury for the charges of Government.

Nevis.

Duty on liquors.

The Board took into consideration the Nevis Act for continuing the duty on liquors imported, and acquainted Mr. Sharpe with what they had wrote to Governor Mathews on that subject on the 12th of September, 1735.

Jamaica.

An Act against selling English goods there to foreigners, and officers enlisting soldiers, reported against.

Mr. Fane's report upon five Acts passed at Jamaica in May, 1735, was read, which objected to two of them; then was also read the Act for raising several sums of money etc., for subsisting the officers and soldiers etc. and preventing the exportation of several commodities to the French and Spanish islands, and their lordships observing that it laid a penalty upon officers for enlisting of soldiers [fo. 238];

Ordered the draught of a representation be prepared against the two clauses, for preventing the exportation of several commodities, and that against enlisting of soldiers there.

Thursday, October 23rd. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Colonel Bladen, Sir O. Bridgeman, Mr. Plummer.

Plantations General.

Parliament addresses for several papers.

The two letters from the Duke of Newcastle of the 29th of May, read the 10th of June, 1735, inclosing several addresses from the House of Commons to his Majesty for copies of several papers relating to duties raised on negroes, wines etc., a state of the British Colonies in America with regard to their trade and commerce, the danger of the growing power of the French in America, duties or imposition laid on the trade and shipping of this kingdom in the plantations, and losses sustained by the depredations of the Spaniards, were again read [Trade Bundle N. 6 and 7. fo. 237].

Letters to Secretaries of State thereon.

Then the Board read several representations and letters from this Board to Secretaries of State upon the foregoing subjects, as had a particular regard to the island of Jamaica; and ordered what papers therein should be copied for the House of Commons, in pursuance of the said addresses, and resolved to proceed further thereon to-morrow morning [fo. 237].

Friday, October 24th. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plummer.

Jamaica.

Barbadoes.

Papers for the Parliament.

The Board went through the reading of the papers relating to Jamaica, required by the addresses from the House of Commons and agreed upon such as should be copied for the House and then made a progress in those relating to Barbados [fo. 236, 238].

Tuesday, October 28th. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Colonel Bladen, Sir O. Bridgeman, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plummer.

Jamaica.

Act for subsisting soldiers.

The representation upon the Act of Jamaica for raising several sums of money, and subsisting the officers and soldiers etc., ordered to be prepared the 22nd instant, was considered, and Sir Challoner Ogle summoned to attend thereon to-morrow [fo. 235, 241].

New Jersey.

Paper money.

The draughts of two representations, for confirming the two Acts of New Jersey, for making £40,000 in bills of credit and for appropriating part of the interest money paid into the Treasury, were agreed to [fo. 234].

Barbadoes.

Papers for the Parliament.

Then the Board made a progress in considering the papers relating to Barbados, required by Parliament [fo. 237, 242].

Wednesday, October 29th. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Colonel Bladen, Sir O. Bridgeman, Mr. Plummer.

Jamaica.

Trade with the Spaniards and French.

The Board resumed the consideration of the draught of a report, ordered to be prepared the 22nd instant, upon an Act passed at Jamaica in May, 1735, for raising several sums of money, and subsisting the officers and soldiers, etc., and Sir Challoner Ogle attending thereon, informed the Board that the trade between Jamaica and the French and Spanish islands is carried on by Jamaica sloops only; that the French and Spaniards have no fleet among their islands; the Spanish Barlovento fleet is nothing but two sixty-gun ships and one sloop; the French send once a year a forty-gun ship to receive the King's revenue in kind, and that the Harbour of St. Augustine is only fit for sloops and small ships.

Rebellious slaves, how to be destroyed.

Sir Challoner is of opinion that when the bill, passed in Jamaica last summer, for cutting roads and building barracks is' put in execution, martial law will be no longer necessary; he does not think the Musqueto Indians can be of any service to Jamaica, their country being plain and flat, and that they are not able to pass the rivers and mountains of Jamaica; our own Mulattoes are the most proper to fight the rebels, and the Spaniards use this method.

Good coffee produced there but small money wanted.

That the planting of coffee improves very fast in Jamaica, great quantities and very good now sent over, much more will come next year; their having no smaller money in Jamaica, than a bit worth 7½d., is a great grievance; interest there is 10 per cent.

New Jersey.

Representation for confirming two Acts for paper money and appropriating the interest etc., signed.

The two representations, agreed to yesterday, for confirming two Acts of New Jersey for making £40,000 in bills of credit and for appropriating part of the interest money etc., were signed.

South Carolina.

Quit rent law considered.

Mr. Attorney General, Mr. Yonge and Mr. Fury attending, their lordships took into consideration the draught of an Act to be passed in South Carolina, for better payment and securing his Majesty's quit rents in that province, and made a progress therein.

Friday, October 31st. Present:—Earl of Fitzwalter, Mr. Pelham, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plummer.

Massachusets.

Governor's salary.

Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council, directing the Board to prepare the draught of an instruction for Governor Belcher, allowing him to receive his salary annually, was read, and the draught of an instruction, with a report accompanying the same, were agreed and signed [fo. 201, 263].

Jamaica.

Enlisting of soldiers.

The draught of a representation upon the Act passed in Jamaica in 1735, for raising several sums of money, and for subsisting the officers and soldiers etc., proposing an order to be sent to the Governor not to pass any more Acts with clauses interfering with the prerogative of the Crown, in relation to the inlisting of soldiers, was agreed to and signed [fo. 238, 250].

South Carolina.

Public gaol.

Order of the Committee of Council, referring to the Board Mr. Morley, the Provost Marshall's petition, for an allowance out of the quit rents for the charge he has been at in building a provincial gaol and for a salary, was read; and he was ordered to attend next Tuesday [fo. 243].

North Carolina.

Blank patents.

Letter from Captain Burrington, dated 28th October, 1735, about the blank patents for land in North Carolina, was read; ordered that Mrs. Little be wrote to for the entry of those patents [fo. 233, 270].

Barbadoes.

Papers for the Parliament.

Then the Board made a progress in reading papers relating to Barbados, required by the Parliament, and began with those relating to the Leeward Islands, also [fo. 238, 244].

Plantations General.

What men of war are in America.

Ordered that a letter be wrote to Mr. Burchet for an account of what men of war and of what force and where stationed, are in America.