to the owner or owners of such vessel. And if such vessel, so retaken, shall have been condemned by the enemy, then the money she and her cargo and appurtenances may sell for shall be delivered to the captors, as is above provided for vessels belonging to the said enemy.

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That each judge of such Courts shall appoint an able clerk, who shall keep a true and fair record of all the proceedings of said Court, and shall be duly sworn to act in said office with truth and fidelity, and his attestations shall be received as evidence in all courts of law.

STEPHEN MOYLAN TO WILLIAM BARTLETT.

Cambridge, November 11, 1775.

SIR: Your favour of the 9th instant, to his Excellency, came this morning to hand. As the people object to your taking charge of the schooner from Ireland, and as having any thing to do with vessels brought in as the North-Briton was will give both you and the General trouble, it is his advice that you have nothing to do with such, by any authority under his Excellency. By what Colonel Glover informs us, Captain Manly has a claim on this schooner. In this case you have an undoubted right to take possession of her. You must be a better judge of this matter, being on the spot, than we possibly can. If it is clear to you that Manly’s claim is a just one, it must be prosecuted. If it is not very apparent, don’t you trouble yourself or the General with a litigious dispute. I wish you could get rid of the trouble you must have with the cargo by the North-Briton. Suppose you were to give it, vessel, &c., up to the Commitee of Safety? In short, get rid of the trouble in the best manner you can, and let us hear nothing further thereon. I hope some good captures by the armed schooner will pay you for the plague you must have had. That the agency for the Continental vessels may be very beneficial to you, is the sincere wish of, Sir, your most humble servant,

STEPHEN MOYLAN, Sec. pro tern.

William Bartlett, Esq., Beverly.

STEPHEN MOYLAN TO JONATHAN GLOVER.

Cambridge, November 11, 1775.

SIR: Your favour of yesterday came to hand by Capt. James. Captain Manly is not to blame for taking the schooner, as she was in a suspicious place. It however appears to his Excellency that she was bound to Newbury. You will therefore discharge her, giving the Captain a pass. A pilot seems necessary. I wish you would put one on board in whom you can confide, that no tricks may be played. I hope Manly will soon send in some prize that will be of more consequence to you and to the publick.

I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,

STEPHEN MOYLAN, Sec. pro tern.

Jonathan Glover, Esq., Marblehead.

WILLIAM WATSON TO GENERAL WASHINGTON.

Plymouth, November 11, 1775.

SIR: Immediately on receipt of your Excellency’s orders of the 6th instant, relative to my taking charge of the wine cast on shore at the Cape, 1 despatched Major Soper, a gentleman employed in the publick service, to Cape Cod, with directions, which the Major will show your Excellency, and which, I hope, will meet your approbation. I believe the business is well done, and that Major Soper has conducted with integrity as well as with great despatch. It gives me pleasure that so much of this cargo is secured for its proper owners, and that the whole was not suffered to be embezzled by the mean curses of that place, which would very soon have been the case, had not your Excellency interposed in the matter.

Major Soper informs me that there are six negroes on their way to Plymouth, which, when delivered to me, I shall take care of, and will forward them to Head-Quarters as soon as possible.

The bearer will deliver your Excellency a packet containing the papers, &c., relating to this unfortunate vessel, and will acquaint your Excellency that it was impossible for me to go myself on this business, as I am much engaged in publick business at home, and could not leave it with any tolerable degree of prudence.

I am your Excellency’s very obedient much obliged humble servant,

WILLIAM WATSON.

His Excellency George Washington, Esquire.

GENERAL WASHINGTON TO GENERAL SULLIVAN.

Cambridge, November 12, 1775.

SIR: At a time when some of our seaport Towns are cruelly and wantonly laid in ashes, and ruin and devastation denounced against others; when the arms are demanded of the inhabitants, and hostages required, in effect, to surrender their liberties; when General Howe, by proclamation, under the threat of military execution, has forbid the inhabitants of Boston to leave the Town, without his permission first had and obtained in writing; when, by another proclamation, he strictly forbids any person’s bringing out of that place more than five Pounds sterling of their property, in specie, because, truly, the Ministerial Army under his command may be injured by it; and when, by a third proclamation, (after leaving the inhabitants no alternative, ) he calls upon them to take arms, under officers of his appointing—it is evident that the most tyrannical and cruel system is adopted, for the destruction of the rights and liberties of this Continent, that ever disgraced the most despotick Ministry, and ought to be opposed by every means in our power.

I therefore desire that you will delay no time in causing the seizure of every officer of Government at Portsmouth who have given pregnant proofs of their unfriendly disposition to the cause we are engaged in; and when you have seized them, take the opinion of the Provincial Congress or Committee of Safety in what manner to dispose of them in that Government. I do not mean that they should be kept in close confinement. If either of those bodies should incline to send them to any of the interior Towns, upon their parole not to leave them till released, it will meet with my concurrence.

For the present I shall avoid giving you the like order in respect to the tories in Portsmouth; but the day is not far off when they will meet with this or a worse fate, if there is not considerable reformation in their conduct. Of this they may be assured.

Sir, your most obedient servant,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

To General Sullivan

[Same to William Palfrey, Esq., Portsmouth.]

GENERAL WASHINGTON TO GOVERNOUR TRUMBULL.

Cambridge, November 12, 1775.

SIR: At a time when some of our seaport Towns are cruelly and wantonly laid in ashes, and ruin and devastation denounced against others; when the arms are demanded of the inhabitants, and hostages required, in effect, to surrender their liberties; when General Howe, by proclamation, under the threat of military execution, has forbid the inhabitants of Boston to leave the Town, without his permission first had and obtained in writing; when, by another proclamation, he strictly forbids any person bringing out of that place more than five Pounds of their property, in specie, because, truly, the Ministerial Army under his command may be injured by it; and when, by a third proclamation, after leaving the inhabitants no alternative, he calls upon them to take arms, under officers of his appointing—it is evident that the most tyrannical and cruel system is adopted, for the destruction of the rights and liberties of this Continent, that ever disgraced the most despotick reign, and ought to be opposed by every means in our power.

I therefore desire that you will delay no time in causing the seizure of every officer of Government at —, who have given proofs of their unfriendly disposition to the cause we are engaged in, and hold them as hostages for the security of those Towns now threatened with destruction. When you have secured them, take the opinion of the Provincial Congress, or Committee of Safety, in what manner to dispose of them in that Government. I do not mean that they should be kept in close confinement. If either of those bodies should incline to send them to any interior