air, with Zeal and Dispatch, than any Thing I
could say.

In Behalf of the Colony and for myself, with great Regards I subscribe

Your faithful Friend, and
the Colony's Obedient Servant

STEP: HOPKINS.

_201. Notes on Commissions for Trying Pirates. March 10, 1762, August
26, 1772._[1]

[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, Admiralty, 1:3679. The note of
March 10, 1762, and the list of commissions, were enclosures in the
note of Aug. 26, 1772. The writer, Samuel Seddon, was solicitor to the
Admiralty. John Clevland, to whom the earlier letter was addressed,
was secretary to that body from 1751 to 1763; Philip Stephens, from
1763 to 1795. For these commissions to try pirates, see doc. no. 51,
note 2, and doc. no. 106, note 1. The death of George II. and the
accession of George III., 1760, made necessary the issue of new
commissions. The persons included in the commission were, in each
case, the governor, the vice-admiral, flag-officers, and
commander-in-chief of any squadron within the admiralty jurisdiction
of the colony, its lieutenant-governor and council, the chief civil
judge, the judge of the vice-admiralty, the captains and commanders of
royal ships within the jurisdiction, the secretary of the colony, the
surveyor general of customs, and the collector of plantation duties.
_Acts of the Privy Council, Colonial_, IV. 485-487; John Adams,
_Works_, IX. 628.]

_Sir_,

I take the Liberty to acquaint you, that in Obedience to the
Directions of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, signified by
your Letter of the 30th December last, I have solicited the passing of
several Commissions through the proper Offices, for Trying Pirates at
the following Places, Vizt.

{ At Jamaica,
By the _Danae_ { Barbadoes,
{ The Leeward Islands.

{ The Bahama Islands,
{ South Carolina and Georgia,
By the _Gosport_ { North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia,
{ New York, New Jersey,
{ Pensilvania and Connecticut.

} Massachusets Bay,
By the _Launceston_ } Nova Scotia,
} Newfoundland, and
By the _Gosport_ Bermuda Islands.

And I herewith send you the Said Commissions, being Eleven in Number,
which have been passed under the Seal of the High Court of Admiralty,
and are all dated the 14th day of January last.

I am

Sir