Journal, January 1742: Volume 50

Journal, January 1742

Monday, January 11. Present:—Lord Monson, Colonel Bladen, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

Trade.

Wool.

The Board took into consideration the draught of a scheme to be laid before the House of Commons, for registering of wool, and made some progress therein.

Tuesday, January 12. Present:—Lord Monson, Colonel Bladen, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

Jamaica.

The Board had under consideration the memorial of several planters of Jamaica, with the Acts contained in the Schedule, thereto annexed, (as mentioned in the minutes of the 18th of the last month), and made some progress therein.

Ordered that the Secretary write to Mr. Sharpe, agent for the said Island, to desire him to attend the Board on Thursday morning next, the 14th instant, and that he bring with him such of the gentlemen that signed the said memorial, as are willing to come.

Wednesday, January 13. Present:—Lord Monson, Colonel Bladen, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

Jamaica.

The Board had again under consideration the Jamaica Acts, mentioned in yesterdays minutes, and went through the same.

Thursday, January 14. Present:—Lord Monson, Colonel Bladen, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

Jamaica.

Mr. Sharpe, agent for Jamaica, attending, (as desired by the minutes of the 12th instant), together with Messrs. Henry Dawkins, Henry Barham, John Pennant, and Richard Haltread; the Board had some discourse with them on the subject of the several Acts annexed to their memorial; and, after hearing their answers to the several objections made to them, the Board ordered the draught of a representation upon the said Acts to be prepared.

Friday, January 15. Present:—Lord Monson, Colonel Bladen, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer.

Newfoundland.

Read a letter to the Secretary from Mr. Corbett, Secretary to the Lords of the Admiralty, dated January the 6th, 1741, signifying that Captain John Byng is appointed to command his Majesty's ships, to be employed next summer at Newfoundland, and desiring this Board to consider of the powers and instructions necessary for him.

South Carolina.

The petition of William Livingston, Esquire, and his associates (mentioned in the minutes of August 11th and October 29th, 1741), was read, and Mr. James Home, their agent, attending, he was called in; and the Board, after some discourse had with him, finding his answers to their queries not satisfactory, the further consideration of the said petition was postponed to another opportunity. [See page 90 and 105 of the last year's Journal.]

Virginia.

Read a letter from Mr. Dinwiddie, Surveyor General of his Majesty's Customs in the South District of his Majesty's Dominions in America, dated at Virginia, the 20th of October, 1741, to this Board, complaining that the Council, immediately after his admission, objected against his being a member of the Upper House of the General Assembly, or Judge of the Inferior Courts in that Colony.

Tuesday, January 19. Present:—Colonel Bladen, Mr. Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

South Carolina.

Read a letter from Colonel Bull, President of the Council, and Commander in Chief of South Carolina, dated November 17th, 1741, inclosing the substance of an application made to him by six masters of ships and 47 sailors, now prisoners at St. Augustine, concerning an exchange to be made against so many Spaniards, prisoners in South Carolina.

Ordered that a copy of the said letter, and of the order of the Council of South Carolina, thereto annexed, be sent to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, to be laid before his Majesty for his pleasure thereon.

Wednesday, January 20. Present:—Lord Monson, Colonel Bladen, Mr. Ashe, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

South Carolina.

The draught of a letter to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, for transmitting a copy of one from Colonel Bull, Commander in Chief of South Carolina, as mentioned in yesterday's minutes, was agreed to, transcribed and signed.

Virginia.

Read an Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council, dated January 14th, 1741–2, referring back to this Board their representation to his Majesty upon an Act of Virginia for docking the Intail of certain lands in the county of Charles City, and vesting the same in Philip Lightfoot, Esquire, in fee simple; to reconsider thereof, and inform themselves whether Elizabeth, the wife of Beverly Randolph, has any issue, or is of an age to be capable of having any; and report the same to the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs.

Ordered that Mr. Robert Cary, Virginia merchant, be writ to, to attend this Board, as soon as he can conveniently, upon the subject of the said reference.

Thursday, January 21. Present:—Lord Monson, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Pelham.

Barbados.

Read a letter from the Duke of Newcastle, dated the 20th instant, directing draughts of a commission and instructions to be prepared for Sir Thomas Robinson, baronet, appointed Governor of Barbadoes.

Jamaica.

Ordered that the said draughts be accordingly prepared.

The representation to his Majesty upon several Acts, passed at Jamaica (mentioned in the minutes of the 12th instant), having been prepared, as ordered by the minutes of the 14th instant, was laid before the Board, agreed to and signed.

Friday, January 22. Present:—Lord Monson, Colonel Bladen, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham, Mr. Plumer.

New England.

The Secretary laid before the Board a letter from Mr. Belcher, late Governor of the provinces of the Massachusets Bay and New Hampshire, dated at Boston, the 31st of August, 1741, transmitting the returns made by two of the surveyors he sent in March last, to mark out two of the boundary lines of the said provinces.
Mr. R. Hazzen's Journal, in marking out the boundary lines of the Massachusets and New Hampshire, begun March the 20th, 1740–1, to April 6th, 1741.
A plan describing the Northern boundary line of the province of the Massachusets Bay, in pursuance of his Majesty's royal order for running the same.
Mr. Walter Bryent's Journal, in running the boundary between New Hampshire and that part of the Massachusets Bay, called County of York, in March, 1740–1.
Plan of part of one of the divisional boundaries between his Majesty's provinces of New Hampshire and the Massachusets Bay, made by Mr. Walter Bryent, at New Market, the 16th of April, A.D. 1741.

And their lordships agreed to take the same into consideration at another opportunity.

Tuesday, January 26. Present:—Lord Monson, Colonel Bladen, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

Barbados.

The draught of a commission appointing Sir Thomas Robinson, Baronet, Governor of Barbadoes, being prepared, as ordered by the 21st inst., a representation to his Majesty accompanying the same, having been likewise laid before the Board, was agreed to and signed, as also a letter to his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, for enclosing the same.

Virginia.

Mr. Robert Cary attending, as desired by the minutes of the 20th instant, was called in, and the Board, after some discourse had with him on the subject of the Order of the Committee of Council (mentioned in the same minutes), gave directions for preparing the draught of a report to the Lords of the Committee upon the said order of reference.

Wednesday, January 27. Present:—Lord Monson, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Pelham.

Virginia.

The draught of a report to the Lords of the Committee of Council upon a private Act of Virginia, ordered by the preceding minutes of yesterday, having been prepared, was laid before the Board, agreed to, and ordered to be transcribed.

Thursday, January 28. Present:—Lord Monson, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

Virginia.

The report to the Lords of the Committee of Council, mentioned in the preceding minute, having been transcribed, was laid before the Board and signed.

South Carolina.

Mr. Home, agent for William Livingstone, Esquire, and his associates, attending, with James Glen, Esquire, Governor of South Carolina, laid before the Board a new petition for a tract of land, proposed to be settled by them in South Carolina, and the same having been taken into consideration, the draught of a report to the Lords of the Committee of Council thereupon, was ordered to be prepared.

Friday, January 29. Present:—Lord Monson, Mr. Brudenell, Mr. Plumer, Mr. Keene, Mr. Pelham.

Leeward Islands.

Read a letter from General Mathew, Governor of the Leeward Islands, dated at Antigua, September 8th, 1741, inclosing a state of the respective Councils, and transmitting publick papers, viz.:—
Minutes of the Council of Antigua, from the 1st June, 1738, to the 17th February, 1740–1.
Minutes of the Assembly of Nevis, from the 31st of March, to the 27th May, 1741.
Two Acts, passed at Antigua, in May and July, 1741.
An Act, passed at St. Christophers, in August, 1741.

Ordered that the said Acts be sent to Mr. Fane, for his opinion thereon, in point of law.

Bahamas.

Read a letter from Mr. Tinker, Governor of the Bahama Islands, dated at New Providence, October 13th, 1741, acquainting the Board that he is informed that the vessel, by which he sent Journals of the Council, etc., had been taken by the Spaniards, and that he was preparing duplicates to be sent by the next opportunity.

Trade.

Wool.

The Board, after consideration of the several papers and proposals received (in pursuance of repeated advertisements published in the London Gazette and Daily Advertiser), to prevent the exportation of wool from Great Britain and Ireland, having, in obedience to his Majesty's order, signified to them by his Grace the Duke of Newcastle's letter, of the 27th of April last, prepared a scheme (mentioned in the minutes of the 11th instant), for the registering of wool in Great Britain, to be laid before the Honourable, the House of Commons, pursuant to their address to his Majesty; their lordships gave directions to the Secretary to transmit copies of the said scheme to several of the Great Ministers of State, viz.:—
To the Lord Hardwicke, Lord High Chancellor,
Earl Wilmington, Lord President of the Council,
Sir Robert Walpole, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
The Duke of Newcastle Lord Harrington
Secretaries of State,

Arthur Onslow, Esquire, Speaker of the House of Commons,
Horatio Walpole, Esquire, Auditor of the Plantations; and the said copies were sent accordingly.