Letter from Henry Wilmot to Committee of Correspondence, relative to a Paper Currency and the bill for Septennial Elections. [From Skinner Papers among the manuscripts of W. A. Whitehead, Gentlemen BLOOMSBURY SQUARE 12th Dec 1769. I have been Several times at the Board of Trade; and I find that Administration are willing to let you have a paper Currency provided it be not made a legal Tender. The Governor, I believe was directed not to pass any Bill for Paper Currency, but to transmit such Bills over here as should be tendered to him for Consideration. Your last Bill was accordingly transmitted by the Governor, and I find it was the Opinion of the Board of Trade, and they So reported to his Majesty that in the Manner the Paper Money was made Current by the Bill, it would have been a legal Tender and therefore they would not direct the Governor to pass that Bill. But an instruction is gone to the Governor that it is the Intention of Administration that Paper Currency may be permitted, provided it be not. made legal Tender, and that he may Either Send over such Bills as are tendered to him for his Majesty's Pleasure, or he may take all possible Care that the Paper Money be not made a legal Tender, and pass the Bill with a Suspending Clause, so that I hope you will now have a Bill passed that will answer your purpose, and receive the Royal assent without difficulty. The Bill for regulating the Practise of the Law must wait 'till a Counsell is appointed to the Board of Trade, to whom it must be referred. As to the Bill for Septennial Elections, I perceive that this Bill is likely to lye some time, the Lords do'nt think it in any Haste, as Septennial Elections they say hath been the Constant usage without it. The Bill for choosing Representatives for the County of Morris, Cumberland, & Sussex will not be passed; The Board think there is no necessity of a Bill for it. All the members of Each County, they say, were chosen by Virtue of his Majesty's Instructions to the Governor, and his Majesty might direct his Governor to issue Writs for the Counties if he thought it right to do so. And if you apply to his Majesty by Way of Petition for this purpose Stateing the Necessity of it, and get the Governor to write his sentiments upon it to the Board of Trade, I have Reason to believe it will be granted, an Instruction sent to the Governor to issue Writs for that County. The Bill you mention to appoint Commissioners to supply the Barracks &c was rejected, so that hath had its Effect. I am with the greatest Honor & Regard Gentlemen Your most faithful & Most Obed Humble Servt HENRY WILMOT Order in Council appointing Stephen Skinner, Esq., to be of the Council of New Jersey, in the room of Lewis Ashfield, Esq., deceased. L. 8. [From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 108.] AT THE COURT AT ST JAMES'S THE 14TH PRESENT The Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas there was this day read at the board, a Representation from the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, dated the 13th of this instant, Setting forth, That there is a Vacancy in His Majesty's Council for the province of New Jersey, by the death of Lewis Ashfield Esquire, and that Stephen Skinner Esquire hath been recommended to the said Lords Commissioners as a person well qualified to serve His Majesty in that Station, and humbly proposing, that he may be appointed one of His Majesty's said Council in the Room of the said Lewis Ashfield Esquire deceased-His Majesty in Council approving thereof, is pleased to Order, as it is hereby ordered, that the said Stephen Skinner' Esquire be constituted and appointed a Member of His Majesty's said Council in the province of New Jersey, in the Room of the said Lewis Ashfield Esquire deceased; And that the Right Honourable the Earl of Hillsborough, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, do cause the Usual Warrant to be prepared for His Majesty's Royal signature accordingly. PHIL: SHARPE Letter from Gov. Franklin to the Earl of Hillsborough, transmitting Chief-Justice Smyth's Memorial respecting his Salary. [From P. R. O. America & West Indies, Vol. 175 (193).] BURLINGTON, Dec! 24" 1769 Right Honble the Earl of Hillsborough My Lord, At the Request of M Smith. Chief Justice of this Colony, I transmit the enclosed Memorial to your 1 Stephen Skinner was the second son of the Rev. William Skinner, of Perth Am boy, and Elizabeth Van Cortlandt, of New York. He was a younger brother of Cortlandt Skinner. For several years prior to 1767 he kept a "general store" at Perth Amboy, and engaged in the West India Trade. He was Treasurer of East Jersey for several years. (See ante, p. 37.) In April, 1775, he was elected to the Provincial Congress, but on the breaking out of the War he removed with his family to New York, and thence to England. His New Jersey property was confiscated.-Whitehead's Perth Amboy, 101, 111. Lordship. The Representation he has made of the Incompetency of his Salary, and of the little Probability there is that the Assembly will make any Addition to it till he holds his Commission during good Behaviour,' is most certainly just, and is a Matter that I have repeatedly mentioned in my Dispatches to His Majesty's Ministers, so that I need not trouble your Lordship with any thing further, at this Time, in favour of Mr Smith's Application. I was in hopes, at the last Session, to have prevail'd on them to appropriate a Part of the Interest Money, to arise from the Loan of the 100,000£ proposed to be struck in Paper Bills of Credit, towards making a more adequate Provision for the Support of the Officers of Government; and I urged to them that it would be a means of recommending their Law (which has a Suspending Clause) to His Majesty, and of obtaining the Royal Allowance thereto. But they declin'd complying with my Request, and the Law directs that the Money arising from it shall be disposed of by future Acts of General Assembly. However, if the King's Confirmation of the Act is refus'd, unless they will appropriate a Part of the Interest for this Purpose; and His Majesty will at the same Time be pleas'd to specify the Allowance that should be made to each Officer of Government (an Account of whose Salaries I formerly transmitted) it is not improbable but the Assembly may be brought to a Compliance, especially as there is no Method can be devised for Raising Money for the Support of Government, which will be more agreeable to the People I wrote to M Pownall a few days ago desiring him to acquaint your Lordship that Copies of the Minutes & proceedings of the last General Assembly were See N. J. Archives., IX., 323-5, note. making out, and should be transmitted to your Lordship as soon as they could be completed. Nothing remarkable occurred during the Session, which began and ended amicably. Endeavours were indeed used to induce the Assembly to refuse (in Imitation of the Assembly of S. Carolina making any farther Provision for the King's Troops, and to adopt. all the late Resolves of the Virginia Assembly but they were at length prevailed on to grant the same Supply for the Troops as heretofore, and they only concur'd in one of the Virginia Resolves, i. e. that respecting Tryals for Treason, & committed in the Colonies. I shall do myself the Honour to write to your Lordship more particularly respecting the Laws pass'd at the last Session when I transmit them for His Majesty's Approbation. I am, with the greatest Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient, & most humble Servant WM FRANKLIN. Memorial of Chief-Justice Smyth in Gov. Franklin's Letter of December 24, 1769. [From P. R. O., America and West Indies, Vol. 175 (193).] To The Right Hon ble The Earl of Hillsborough one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State &c &c &c. The Memorial of Frederick Smyth. Showeth. That your Memorialist through the Patronage of your Lordship, Lord North, Lord Hallifax and M Charles Townshend about Five years since was appointed Chief-Justice of the Province of New Jersey, |