The said sub-committee further report another letter from the committee of Elizabeth-Town, enclosing an affidavit of Samuel Lee; which letter and affidavit are in the words following, viz.

SIR,

ELIZABETH TOWN, March 14, 1775.

Inclosed I send you the affidavit of Samuel Lee, boatman, relative to the unloading part of the cargo of the ship Beulah, which needs no comment.

I am, however, particularly desired by our committee earnestly to request of your committee to protect Mr. Lee, as far as lies in their power, from any insult on account of this affair. He is a person well known here to be of good character, and who by his honesty and industry, has justly acquired the esteem of all the inhabitants of this town. And it is the opinion of our committee, he was unwarily led to act the part he did, as will in part appear by his affidavit. I will only add, that we should be glad that wherever the affidavit shall be read, this letter may be read also, By order of the committee

JONATHAN HAMPTON, Chairman.

NEW JERSEY, BOROUGH OF ELIZABETH SS-Samuel Lee of ElizabethTown, boatman, being duly sworn on the holy Evangelist of Almighty God, deposeth and saith, that on Sunday the 5th inst. he (at the request of Ichabod B. Barnet, Eq;) sailed from Elizabeth-Town aforesaid to New York, in the boat or sloop he usually goes in, the said Barnet going as a hand with him; that he arrived there the same evening; that while they were on their passage, said Barnet informed this deponent, that he must make haste to unload his Boat as soon as he should arrive at New-York, for that a vessel was arrived at the Hook from the West Indies, and that he wanted this deponent to go with him with his boat, and take some goods out of her;-that said boat was unloaded at New York on Monday morning, and immediately thereafter this deponent, and the said Barnet sail'd with the said boat for Sandy Hook; that at the dusk of the evening of the same day, they came alongside of a ship, which this deponent believes was the Beulah, and about 8 o'clock he was told that he might go to bed, which he accordingly did, and went to sleep, about 12 was awakened, and desired to put off from said ship, and make sail, which accordingly was done; that he saw the said Barnet, with Mr. John Murray, and one Graham, his clerk, were then on board his boat; that on Tuesday morning they touch'd on Staten-Island, where Mr. Graham landed, but no goods were landed there; that on Wednesday morning about 1 o'clock they came alongside the store of said Barnet, at Elizabeth-Town, where they the said John Murray, Ichabod B. Barnet, and this deponent, landed and stor❜d in the said Barnet's store, as near as he can remember, the following goods, to wit, a small bale, a box about three feet long, one do.

about a foot square, the contents of which are unknown to this deponent; also a quantity of sail duck, a number of bolts of oznaburgs about half a dozen pieces of linen, and some pieces of linen cloth, which this deponent supposed to be drilling; which goods in the whole, this deponent thinks were in quantity about one ton and an half, or not exceeding two tonsAnd this deponent saith, that said goods must have been taken out of said ship, and put on board said boat, while he was below as aforesaid as there were no goods on board his boat when he left New York to go to said ship; and further the deponent saith, that he did not sleep so sound but that he heard the noise of people working upon the deck and that when he was called up as aforesaid, and had come upon deck, he perceived the hatches of his boat open, and the said goods then lying in the hatchway.— And further the deponent saith not.

SAMUEL LEE.

Sworn at Elizabeth-Town this 13th day of March 1775, before me, JOHN BLANCHARD, Alderman.

Which report being read, Resolved, That this Committee do approve thereof: And ordered, that the same be published agreeable to the directions of the 11th article of the Association.

By order of the Committee

ISAAC LOW, Chairman

Further Proceedings of the Elizabeth-Town Committee of Observation, in relation to the landing of goods from the Beulah.

[From the New York Journal, or the General Advertiser, Thursday, April 6, 1775, No. 1683.]

ELIZABETH Town, March 27, 1775.

It being duly proved to the Committee of Observation of this Town, after enquiring into the conduct of Ichabod B. Barnet, and John Murray, respecting the landing of goods imported from London after the first day of February last:-That a ship called the Beulah, arrived from London at the Watering place at Staten Island, in the Colony of New York, after the said first day of February, where she lay some time under pre

tence of fitting for the seas-That on Sunday the 5th instant, she fell down to Sandy hook, where she came to anchor, and on Monday evening following, the said Ichabod B. Barnet, with a boat by him provided for that purpose, went on board the said ship, where John Murray then was, out of which ship, the said Ichabod B. Barnet and John Murray, the same night, took and received into the said boat, a quantity of goods, imported in the said ship from London, of considerable value; and in the night following, privately landed them in Elizabeth Town, which transaction is contrary to part of the tenth article of the Continental Association, which is in the words following, to wit. "If any goods or merchandizes, shall be imported after the first day of February, the same ought to be forthwith sent back, without breaking the packages thereof."

The Committee, therefore order the above conduct of the said John Murray and Ichabod B. Barnet to be published, according to the eleventh article of the said Association.'

Signed by order of the Committee

JONATHAN HAMPTON, Chairman

1 The Elizabeth-Town Committee subsequently declared Capt. Lee to be "a person well known here to be of good character, and who by his honesty and industry has justly acquired the esteem of all the inhabitants of this town." The Provincial Congress of New Jersey condoned the offence of the Murrays and Barnett. The goods were delivered to the Elizabeth Town Committee, to be kept until after the war. A year or two later several bales of the oznaburghs were used for tents for the troops. "What became of the rest of the goods does not appear. The affair created at the time no little excitement, and the vigilance of the Committee had a most happy influence in promoting the patriot cause."-Hatfield's ElizabethTown, 414-16,

Letter from Gov. Franklin to the Earl of Dartmouth, transmitting secret intelligence.

[From P. R. O. America and West Indies, Vol. 177 (195).]

PERTH AMBOY April 3 1775.

Right Honble the Earl of Dartmouth, &c

My Lord,

I am honoured with your Lordship's Dispatches N° 13 & 14, also two Circular Letters dated the 10th of December and 4th of January last.

It gives me great Pleasure to find that my Attention in transmitting the Papers which accompanied my Dispatch of the 6th of September is approved by His Majesty.

I cannot but consider it as my indispensible Duty, while the Affairs of N. America continue in so critical a Situation, to transmit every important Piece of Intelligence respecting the publick Transactions of any of the Colonies as may come to my Knowledge. But as the Persons from whom I may procure Intelligence will, most probably, be entirely ignorant of my Intentions of communicating it to His Majesty or his Minis ters, and as it is best they should be so, lest they might be deterred from giving me Information, it is of the utmost Consequence that it should be kept as secret as possible. I shall therefore, with Confidence, rely on the Assurances your Lordship has given me, that what I may transmit of that Nature will be kept most secret, and communicated only to the King's confidential Servants.

The inclosed Extracts of Letters are of the kind before mentioned, and will serve to give your Lordship a more perfect Idea of some of the public Transactions in this, and one of the neighboring Colonies,

than perhaps, any other you may receive. As they were not wrote with the least Intention of any such Communication, but merely as private Intelligence from one Friend to another, your Lordship will consider them in that Light, and make Allowance for any Inaccuracies or Improprieties.

I find, by your Lordship's Dispatch (N° 14) that Lieu Gov! Colden had likewise transmitted to your Lordship a Copy of M: Galloway's Plan of a proposed Union between Great Britain and the Colonies, Since which he has published a pamphlet containing his Plan, with Reasons in Support of it, which I now send inclosed. The principal Objection made to it, by those who are for an American Parliament, is its not having a Council, or middle Branch of the Legislature. As M: Galloway has distinguished himself in opposing many of the Measures of the Congress, and is a warm Friend to Government and the British Constitution, I thought his Sentiments on the Subject might not be unacceptable to your Lordship.

I am concerned to find that the Letter I wrote to your Lordship from New York, dated Oct: 29th enclos ing the printed Extracts from the Proceedings of the general Congress had not been received. It was sent by one Capt. Millar, and I was in hopes would have been the first that got to hand.

The Assembly had resolved upon appointing Members for the intended general Congress in May next, and were prorogued, several Weeks before your Lordship's Circular Dispatch of the 4th of January arrived. But had it been otherwise there would have been no possibility of preventing Delegates being appointed from this Colony, as the popular Leaders were determined, in case the Assembly had not done it, to have called a provincial Convention of Deputies from the several Counties, for that Purpose.

I think it proper on this Occasion to mention to your