Journal, December 1766

Tuesday, December 2nd. Present:—Earl of Hillsborough, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Dyson, Mr. Robinson.

Trade.

fo. 423.

Read an Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, dated November 29th, 1766, referring to this Board, for their consideration and report, copies of a memorial of the merchants of Liverpool; and also of a petition of several merchants trading to the dominions of the King of Sardinia, respecting quarantine.

Their lordships agreed to take this order of reference into further consideration on this day sennight, and directed that notice thereof should be given to the Italian merchants.

fo. 424.

Thursday, December 4th. Present:—Earl of Hillsborough, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Dyson, Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Robinson.

Trade.

Read a letter to the Secretary from Mr. Stanley, in the service of the Commissioners of the Customs, transmitting, by their direction, a report made to them by the Deputy Inspector General, containing reasons why the account of exports and imports to and from Portugal cannot be made out till the latter end of next week.

fo. 425.

Ordered, thereupon, that the further consideration of the Portugal papers be postponed.

Ordered also, that the further consideration of the petitions of the merchants of London and Liverpool, relative to quarantine, appointed for Friday next, be further postponed.

Monday, December 8th. Present:—Earl of Hillsborough, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Dyson, Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Robinson.

Plantations General.

fo. 426.

Read an Order of his Majesty in Council, dated December 3rd, 1766, directing this Board to consider and report their opinion upon Plantation Laws in the usual manner.

Massachusetts.

Read an Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, dated November 29th, 1766, referring to this Board, for their consideration and report, nine Acts passed in the Massachusets Bay in June 1766.

Ordered, that the Acts be sent to Sir Mathew Lamb, for his opinion thereupon in point of law.

Newfoundland.

Read a letter from Hugh Pallisser, esquire, Governor of Newfoundland, dated December 3rd, 1766, inclosing a state of the English and French fisheries within his government for the year 1766.

fo. 427.

Quebec.

Read a letter from Guy Carleton, esquire, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, to the Board, dated October 18th, 1766, relative to the southern boundary of that province; lands contained in Canadian grants given away by the Government of New York; and an attempt to monopolize the Indian trade at the five posts of the King's domaine; also inclosing several papers relative to his proceedings since his arrival in that government.

Plantations General.

Read a letter from Sir William Johnson, baronet, Superintendant of Indian Affairs, to the Board, dated October 8th, 1766, in answer to their lordships' letter of 11th of July last, relative to a petition on behalf of the inhabitants of Montreal.

fo. 428.

Leeward Islands.

Read a letter from James Verchild, esquire, Commander in Chief of the Leeward Islands, dated September 29th, 1766, relative to the suspension of Mr. Freeman.

Plantations General.

Ordered, that the Secretary do transmit copies of the abovementioned letters and papers to the Secretary to the Earl of Shelburne, for his Lordship's information.

Tuesday, December 23rd. Present:—Lord Viscount Clare, Mr. Jenyns, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Dyson, Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Robinson.

Miscellanies.

fo. 429.

A Commission under the Great Seal, bearing date the 18th instant, constituting and appointing the great Officers of State, together with the Right Honourable Robert Nugent (now Viscount Clare of the Kingdom of Ireland) Soame Jenyns, Edward Eliot, George Rice, John Roberts, Jeremiah Dyson, William Fitzherbert and Thomas Robinson, esquires, Commissioners for inspecting and improving the Commerce and Colonies of Great Britain, was opened and read, and Lord Clare took his seat at the Board.

Their lordships agreed to meet for the dispatch of business on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon.

Newfoundland.

fo. 430.

Read a letter to the Secretary from Hugh Pallisser, esquire, Governor of Newfoundland, dated December 17th, 1766, desiring he would move their lordships that he might have liberty to inspect a report made by this Board to the Council touching the complaints exhibited against him by Messrs. Bayne and Breymer, the said Bayne and Breymer having commenced an action against him in that case.

Ordered, that the Secretary do communicate to Governor Pallisser so much of the report he refers to, as relates to the said complaint.

Trade, Portugal.

Read a letter to the Secretary from Mr. Stanley, in the service of the Commissioners of the Customs, transmitting to him, by order of that Board,
An account of the exports and imports to and from Portugal and England from Christmas 1750 to Christmas 1765, distinguishing each year, and the quantity and value of the several commodities.

fo. 431.

Trade, East Indies.

Read an Order of the Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs, dated the 29th of November, 1766, referring to this Board, for their consideration and report, an account of several goods of the growth, product or manufacture of Great Britain; as also of other goods and merchandize exported from the Port of London for account of the East India Company from September 1765 to September 1766.

Ordered, that the said account do lye by for consideration and comparison when the accounts of subsequent years shall have been referred.

Grenada.

Read a letter from the Governor of Grenada to the Board, dated October 13th, 1766, informing their lordships that the chief of the Maroon slaves have been mostly destroyed.

fo. 432.

New York.

Read a letter from Sir Henry Moore, baronet, Governor of New York, to the Board, dated November 7th, 1766, informing their lordships of his proceedings, in conjunction with Brigadier Carleton, towards settling the boundary line between that province and Quebec, and respecting claims to lands on Lake Champlain.

Letter from Governor Moore to the Board, dated November 10th, 1766, explaining himself in regard to the map he intended to make of the Province of New York; also taking notice of the accurate latitudes of several places in that province.

Plantations General.

Ordered, that the Secretary do transmit copies of the abovementioned letter from the Governor of Grenada, and of that from the Governor of New York, dated the 7th of November, to the Secretary to the Earl of Shelburne, to be laid before his Lordship.

fo. 433.

Proprieties.

Read a letter from Horatio Sharpe, esquire, Deputy Governor of Maryland, dated July 25th, 1766, transmitting a collection of the Acts of Assembly passed in that province.

Trade, Italy.

Their lordships then took into consideration an Order of the Committee of Council referring to this Board, for their opinion, a petition of the merchants of Liverpool trading to the several Italian ports; and also a petition of the merchants of London trading to the dominions of the King of Sardinia, stating the inconveniences to which the trade of this kingdom with those countries is exposed, by all vessels arriving from thence being obliged to perform quarantine.

fo. 434.

Ordered, that the subject matter of these references be taken into further consideration on Friday, the 2nd of January next, and that the Secretary do give notice thereof to the merchants of Liverpool, (by letter to the Mayor of that town), and also to the merchants of London, and that he do signify to them at the same time, that their lordships wish them to come prepared to state the particular regulations established in the several Italian ports for the performance of quarantine, by all vessels arriving at those ports from the Levant.