citizens than to the government of the town, and their employment and attention at the request of the commander and the supplications of the people, were arduous and unremitted. In this situation all your memorialists continued until General Howe withdrew himself from Boston. On the 10th of March, 1776, General Howe issued his proclamation directing the people to deliver their goods on board the ship Minerva, to Crean Brush, as appears by paper numbered 1, herewith presented. On the same day the General issued his other orders, directed to Crean Brush, authorizing and requiring him to take into his possession all such goods as if in the possession of the American army would enable them to carry on the war, as will appear by paper No. 2; in consequence whereof the said Crean Brush took into his possession and carried away from the said John Rowe goods to the amount in value of two thousand two hundred and sixty-six pounds one shilling, as appears by papers numbered 3 and 4, the originals whereof remain in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth; and also took and carried away from the said Samuel Austin merchandize to the amount in value of three thousand six hundred and forty-six pounds seven shillings and ten pence, as appears by his account, duly attested, and numbered 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11; and goods of the said Partridge to the value of five hundred and thirtysix pounds sixteen shillings and a penny two farthings sterling money, as will appear by the papers Nos. 12, 13, and 14; and from the said Samuel Dashwood merchandize to the value of four thousand eight hundred and twenty-three pounds ten shillings, as will appear from papers numbered 15, 16, 17, and 18; the legal interest upon which sums has amounted to the several sums calculated and expressed at the foot of the accounts which the memorialists have herewith separately presented. Your petitioners feeling themselves exceedingly oppressed by the loss of their property, and knowing the same to be taken by order of the government which the town was then under, had strong hopes of regaining the value of their goods upon the commencement of a peace between the two countries, and therefore, soon after the late treaty, employed an agent to prosecute the matter; but on his arrival in England he found General Howe indemnified by an act of the Parliament of Great Britain from any action that might be brought against him, or any one acting under him in the measure aforesaid, a copy whereof is herewith presented, and numbered 19, and the last section therein is above referred to. The agent of your memorialists made application to the Honorable Mr. Adams, Minister of the United States at the Court of London, but he having no instruction from Congress upon the matter, could afford him no assistance. Your memorialists do humbly conceive that as their property was taken by order of the British Government while they were under the control, and, consequently, under the protection of the army of that Government, and taken, as they can make appear, with a professed intention as well for the benefit of the British merchants, to whom your memorialists stood indebted, as for the use of the army of the King of Great Britain, that the value thereof is clearly due to them within the spirit and meaning of the 4th article of the treaty of peace, and that there ought to be no legal impediment to their recovering the same; nevertheless, the abovementioned act of Parliament forbids their having a legal demand against Sir William Howe for the same, by means whereof they have now no redress but by applying upon national principles to the Government to which they owe allegiance. And do therefore pray your Honors to grant them relief, by requesting the United States, in Congress assembled, to instruct their Minister at the Court of London to demand of the Government there an equivalent for the property taken; and also by passing an act that no suit should be maintained against either of your memorialists for any money due from them respectively to any of the subjects of the King of Great Britain until such equivalent is insured, or the act of indemnity aforesaid is repealed. As your memorialists, as citizens of this Commonwealth, have to look to your Honors alone for assistance upon all matters of national right and justice, they can have no reason to doubt of your attention to their memorial, and rest satisfied that as the honor and interests of the United States stand sacredly pledged to assist each individual, where the wrongs committed by a foreign Power cannot be redressed by the municipal laws of the country, they shall have the wisdom not only of this Legislature, but that of the United States in Congress assembled, to obtain them a recompense for the injury they have sustained. JOHN ROWE, SAMUEL AUSTIN, A true copy, JOHN AVERY, Jr., Secretary. Attest: No. 4. An authenticated copy of a letter from Dr. Morris to Dr. Bulfinch, December 19, 1785. No. 5. Dr. Bulfinch's account. No. 6, 7, and 8. Affidavits of P. Roberts, Charles Joy, and John Hoffains, for Dr. Bulfinch. No. 9. John Rowe's account. No. 10. Philip Jarvis's deposition for John Rowe. No. 11. Samuel Austin's account. No. 12. Affidavits of Timothy Newell and Samuel Sloan for Mr. Austin. No. 13. Samuel Partridge's account. No. 14, 15. Affidavits of Lydia Brown, E. Ivers, and Ann Wheeler, in favor of Samuel Partridge. No. 16. Samuel Dashwood's invoice of goods, and his testimony. No. 17, 18. Depositions of Eliza Ivers, Ann Wheeler, and Isabella Welsh for Samuel Dashwood. No. 19, 20. General Howe's order to Crean Brush, and Brush's examination. No. 21. General Howe's proclamation of 10th March, 1776. Dear Sir, FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. Grosvenor Square, Westminster, November 4, 1785. Yesterday, at the Minister's levee, one of the foreign Ministers put into my hands a Leyden gazette, in which I found announced to the public an arrêt of the King of France of the 18th of September, in which a bounty of ten livres per quintal is promised to any French merchants who shall import into the market of the French West India Islands, or of Spain, Portugal, or Italy, any fish of the French fisheries, and in which the impost upon all foreign fish is raised to five livres a quintal. This amounts to an encouragement of fifteen livres a quintal upon French fish in the West Indies. As the supply of the French islands with fish is so material, perhaps so essential to our fishery, this ordinance deserves the earliest and most serious attention of every man in America who has any regard to our fisheries. As the supply of the French islands with fish is of so much consequence to the British fishery, I took occasion, in a conference with the Marquis of Caermarthen, to mention it to him, and to observe to him, that I left it to his Lordship to consider whether the British fisheries could be supported against the influence of this ordinance without the freest communication of supplies from the United States. His Lordship thought it deserved consideration, and that was all the oracle would deliver. I afterwards mentioned it to Mr. Frazer, his Lordship's under Secretary of State. The Marquis of Caermarthen, that I may let you into enough of his character to account for his conduct, is a modest, amiable man, treats all men with civility, and is much esteemed by the foreign Ministers as well as the nation; but is not an enterprising Minister, is never assuming, and, I believe, never takes upon himself to decide any point of importance without consulting the Cabinet. He never gives his private opinion, but in all things which respect America, I do not believe that he or any other of the Ministry has yet formed any. We shall, I think, learn nothing of their designs till they are brought forth in Parliament, in the course of the winter and spring. Mr. Pitt commenced his career with sentiments rather liberal towards the United States; but since he has been Prime Minister, he has appeared to have given ear to the Chancellor and Lord Gower, Mr. Dundas, and Mr. Jenkinson, with their instruments, Irvin, Chalmers, Smith, and others, so much as to have departed from his first principle. He has tried the experiments of the Newfoundland bill and the fourth Irish proposition; but finding the fatal success of both, he may be brought back to the system with which he set out; but I doubt it, or rather I am convinced he never will, until he is obliged to it by our States adopting navigation acts. There is published this morning in the Chronicle the proceedings at Charleston on the 15th August, which look very encouraging, if the Legislature of South Carolina lay partial restrictions on the ships of such nations as have no treaty of commerce with the United States. I think it cannot be doubted that all the other States will come into the measure, because there is none which will suffer a greater temporary inconvenience by it. These measures have a tendency to encourage the naval stores of North Carolina so much that she will be a gainer. But the principal danger is, that these restrictions may not be sufficiently high to give a clear advantage to the ships of the United States. I cannot repeat to you too often, sir, that all my hopes are founded upon such exertions in America. The trade with America must come under consideration of Parliament in the renovation of the intercourse act, if not of the Newfoundland act; and their deliberations will be influenced by nothing but American navigation acts. I fear there are not enough of these yet made, nor likely to be made this year, to have much effect. This nation is strongly blinded by prejudice and passion. They are ignorant of the subject beyond conception. There is a prohibition of the truth arising from popular anger. Printers will print nothing which is true without pay, because it displeases their readers; while the gazettes are open to lies, because they are eagerly read and make the paper sell. Scribblers for bread are wholly occupied in abusing the United States; and writers for fame, if there are any such left in this country, find the public applause wholly against us. The rise of the stocks established Mr. Pitt, and if he were willing he would scarcely be able to do right until America shall enable him and oblige him. I am, sir, &c., JOHN ADAMS. FROM JOHN JAY TO JOHN ADAMS. Office for Foreign Affairs, May 1, 1786. Dear Sir, It is the pleasure of Congress that you protract your negotiation with the Court of Great Britain, respecting posts which should have been, before this, surrendered to the United States, and other infractions of the said treaty by that Power, so as to avoid demanding a categorical answer respecting the same until the further orders of Congress. I have the honor to be, &c., JOHN JAY. FROM JOHN ADAMS TO JOHN JAY. Grosvenor Square, Westminster, November 5, 1785. Dear Sir, The Chevalier de Pinto, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from Portugal, after a long absence by leave of his Court, |