reserving, Nevertheless as Ordinary of the said province all Judicial power in Controverted Cases, according to the Usage and Custom of the said province hereby giving and granting unto you the said Joseph Reed the said Office of Provincial and Principal Surrogate of the Province of New Jersey, with all Fees, perquisites and Emoluments, profits and advantages to the same belonging or Appertaining or that of right ought to belong or appertain or that legally have been taken and received, or that of right ought to have been taken or received by any person formerly Surrogate in the said Province; you the said Joseph Reed being accountable to me or the Governor and Commander in Chief of this province for the time being, for the Seals Affixed in the said Office, In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Caused the prerogative Seal of the said Province to be hereunto Affixed at the City of Burlington this nineteenth day of November in the Eighth year of the Reigu of our Sovereign Lord George the third by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith &c. Anno Domini One thousand seven hundred and sixty seven.

W. FRANKLIN.

Circular Letter from the Earl of Hillsborough, to all the Governors in America, informing them of his appointment as Secretary of State for the Southern Department.

Sir

[From Plantations General (S. P. O.) CCLIV., No. 1.]

WHITEHALL Jan: 23. 1768

His Majesty having been graciously pleased to appiont me to be one of his principal Secretaries of State, and to committ to my Care the Dispatch of all such

Business relative to His Majesty's Colonies in America, as has been usually Dispatched by the Secretary of State for the Southern Department, I have His Majesty's Commands to signify this Arrangement to you, and His Majesty's Pleasure that your Dispatches be for the future addressed to me, conformable to the Rule of Correspondence prescribed in His Majesty's Order in Council of the 8th of August, 1766, a Copy of which is herewith transmitted to you.'

It is His Majesty's intention in making the present Arrangement that all possible facility & Dispatch should be given to the business of his Colonies and as nothing can more effectually contribute to this Salutary purpose than a frequent and full Communication of all Occurrencies that may happen and a regular and punctual transmission of all Acts and Proceedings of Government & Legislature and of such Papers as have any Relation thereto, I have it in Command from his Majesty to recommend this to your particular Attention, His Majesty having observed with Concern that this Essential part of the duty of His Officers in America has scarcely anywhere been duly attended to, and in several Colonies particularly in the Charter and Proprietary Governments almost entirely neglected.

I have nothing further to add but to express my earnest wishes that by the utmost Attention & Application I can give, I may be able to fulfill His Majesty's most gracious Intentions, and I take the liberty to assure you that I will not omitt to lay your Dispatches, as soon as I receive them before the King, and to forward and assist as far as I am able, your measures for the Publick Service

I am &c

HILLSBOROUGH

1 See New Jersey Archives, IX., 566.

Letter from the Earl of Hillsborough to Governor Franklin, relative to making provision for quartering the King's troops, and expressing the King's satisfaction with the submission of the Colonies to the Authority of the Mother Country.

Sir,

[From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 173 (191).]

WHITEHALL, Feb'ry 23rd 1768

Governor of New Jersey.

Since the Earl of Shelburne's Letter to You, dated the 18th of July last,' Your several Letters to His Lordship, No 3. 4. 5. have been received, and laid before the King.

The Law passed in June last for making Provision for quartering His Majesty's Troops, is before the Lords of Trade for their Consideration, and it will be a great Satisfaction to His Majesty, if upon their Lordships Examination of it, It shall be found to be conformable to what has been directed in that Case by Act of Parliament."

The very becoming Testimonies which have been lately given by almost all His Majesty's Colonies of their dutyfull Submission and Obedience, to the Laws and Authority of the Mother Country, have given His Majesty the greatest Satisfaction, & cannot fail of restoring that mutual Confidence so essential to the Interest and Welfare of both.

As the future Disposition of His Majesty's Troops in

1 New Jersey Archives, IX., 636.

2 This act was passed June 24, 1767.-Allinson's Laws, 300-1. The Board of Trade recommended its repeal, June 10, 1768, and it was repealed by the King in Council, August 12, 1768.-See post, under these dates. See also N. J. Archives, IX., 576, note.-[W. N.]

America, will very soon come under the Consideration of the King's Servants,' I shall not fail on this Occasion to have a proper Attention to what is suggested by You in respect to the Dissatisfaction arising from the Inequality of the Expence attending the Manner in which they are at present stationed.

The Attention which has always been given by the Commander in Chief of His Majesties Forces in America, to establish good Order & Discipline, leaves no room to doubt, but that every Irregularity & improper Behaviour, either of the Officers or Soldiers, would, upon a proper Complaint, be severely punished, and therefore, it can never with Reason be urged, that the Injuries sustained by the disorderly Behaviour of the Soldiers, counterbalance the Advantages which the Colonies receive from the Money which is spent amongst Them.

I am &ca

HILLSBOROUGH.

An Account of His Majesty's defacing in Council the old Seals of several of the Islands and Colonies in America.

[From P. R. O. B. T., Plantations General, Vol. 30 (28), V. 3.]

AT THE COURT AT ST JAMES'S THE 20TH DAY OF APRIL, 1768.

PRESENT

The King's most Excellent Majesty in Council

WHEREAS there was this Day laid before His Majesty in Council pursuant to His Majesty's Orders in Council and Warrants the old Seals which have been

1 Under date of October 22, 1767, Governor Franklin had suggested that England should "appropriate some of the Monies arising out of the Revenues of the Crown in America, and the Defraying of those Expences for the future."-N. J. Archives, IX., 643.-[W. N.]

received from the following Islands and Colonies in America in Order to their being Defaced Viz! Jamaica, Barbados, Leward Islands, South Carolina, Georgia, Nova Scotia, New York New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay And his Majesty was pleased to Deface the said Seals accordingly.

Circular Letter from the Earl of Hillsborough to the Governors in America, relative to a flagitious attempt to disturb the public peace.

Sir

[From New York Colonial Documents, Vol. VIII., p. 58.]

WHITEHALL, APRILI, 21. 1768

I have his Majesty's Commands to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter from the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay; addressed by order of that House to the Speaker of the Assembly of each Colony upon the Continent of North America.

As his Majesty considers this Measure to be of a most dangerous & factious tendency calculated to inflame the minds of his good Subjects in the Colonies to promote an unwarrantable Combination and excite and encourage an open opposition to and denial of the Authority of Parliament, & to subvert the true principles of the Constitution; It is his Majesty's pleasure that you should immediately upon the Receipt hereof exert your utmost influence to defeat this flagitious attempt to disturb the Public Peace by prevailing upon the Assembly of your Province to take no notice of it, which will be treating it with the contempt it deserves. The repeated proofs which have been given by the Assembly of of their Reverence and respect for the laws, and of their faithful Attachment to the Con