ENPages
(seq. 42)
The Right Honourable The Lords of the Committee Council for Plantation Affairs.
May it please your lordships,
Having lately received a copy of your lordships Order in Council dated the 13th of April 1777 together with a copy of a petition of James Shepherd Esq late Chief Baron of his Majesty's Court of Exchequer in this Island; And your lordship's commands that I should return an answer to your lordships in writing. In obedience thereto, I beg leave to offer to your Lordships the extract of my letter dated 13th day of April 1776 to the Right Honourable Lord George Germain His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies. Which is as follows [viz?]
"In my letter of 15th February [no. 11?] I transmitted your lordship a copy of the Address of the General in Assembly to the King; and a copy of a private letter of my own to the Speaker of the Assembly, I then informed your Lordship that I had given orders for the suspending of Mr Duke from the post of His Majesty's Sollicitor General for proposing such an address to the House."
The real truth of Our Wants in expressed in my letter no. 10 and which are chiefly India and Guinea born for the Negroes, other provisions such as live stock of all kinds are in as much plenty as ever, and there seems to be no great scarcity of such provisions as we are supplied with from England and Ireland. As to these latter indeed the
(seq. 43)
To the Right Honourable The Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs. May it please your Lordships, Having lately received a copy of your Lordships order in council dated the 12th of April 1777 [of?] together with a copy of a petition of James Shepherd [esquire?] late Chief Baron of his Majesty's court of [Eaccheguer?] in this Island; And your Lordships Commands that I should return an Answer to your Lordships in Writing. In obedience thereto, I beg leave to offer to your Lordships the extract of my Letter dated 13th day of April 1776 to the Right Honourable Kord George Germain His Majestys Secretary of State for the Colonies. Which is as follows [Virginia?]
"In my Letter of 15th February [No 11.?] transmitted your Lordships a Copy of the Address of the General Assembly to the King; and a copy of a private Letter of my own to the Speaker of the Assembly. I then informed your Lordship that I had given orders for the suspending Mr. Duke from the postoffices Majesty's Sollicitor General for proposing such an Address to the House./
The real truth of our Wants is expressed in my Letter [No 10?] and which are Chiefly India and Guinea corn for the Negroes, other provisions such as Live Stock of all kinds are in as much plenty as ever, and there seems to be no great Scarcity of such provisions as we are supplyed with from England and Ireland. As to these latter indeed the
(seq. 44)
"The traders use every art to keep up the prices. Upon the whole I must say it is wicked to talk of famine in the most plentiful island of all the West Indies, and where I who have no plantation and must buy all the provisions for my table, can assure your worship, that scarcely any one Article of Provisions and livestock of the island has varied in price for near these three years that I have been here." Mr Duke has been very busy, since he was suspended from his post of Sollictor General. He sent a letter to Mr Workman and a memorial to me, copies of which papers I here inclose after which a cabal was formed to address a letter from the Freeholders of St Michaels' parish to their two members of assembly, who are Mr Duke himself and Mr Valentine Jones a merchant or storekeeper the substance of which is contained in Mr Duke's answer to the Freeholders, copy of which answer is here inclosed. The Freeholders' Letter was signed by few men of any property, the principal man among them was James Shepherd Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer who I am told was very busy upon the occasion, and whom I purpose to remove as having rendered himself unworthy of holding a post of that dignity by putting himself at the head of a cabal to create mischief many papers have appeared in the Barbadoes mercury under the signature of [Impavidurs] which nobody doubts being Mr Duke's composition; all levelled at me. These I overlook let him scribble on.
In the assembly held the 19th March some motions were made by Mr Duke and his colleague Mr Jones but they were not seconded and nothing succeeded so I suppose the matter is dropped.
All this bustle arises from a [pique?] of the assembly against myself and the Council for giving Captain Paine leave to buy provisions for General Howe's army at Boston because the assembly themselves were not consulted who had no right to be consulted for the Council was called upon that occasion as a privy council and not as the second branch of the legislature of the island.
Your lordships by this letter will perceive that faction and cabals were arisen in our community and which it was the duty of a Governor to oppose and crush. But I will only here remark that if James Shepherd had not acted from party or faction he ought to have known that neither the Freeholders nor the assembly had any thing to do with the Governor's suspending Mr Duke an officer of the Crown the governor being only accountable to his Majesty in all these cases. As to Mr James Shepherd's complaint, that I removed him from his Office of Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer with the advice or consent of the members of his Majesty's Council for this Island.
In answer to this complaint I offer to your Lordships the two following Articles of his Majesty's Instructions. "Art. 39. You shall not appoint any person to be a Judge or Justice of the peace without the advice and consent of at least three of our council signified in council
(seq. 45)
"Art. 40, you shall not displace any of the judges, justices, sheriffs or other officers or ministers within our said island of Barbadoes without good and sufficient cause which you shall signify in the fullest and most distinct manner to us by one of our principal secretaries of State and to our commissioners for trade and plantations for their information, by the first opportunity arch such a removal."
Your Lordships will perceive by these two articles that it is only upon the appointment of a judge, that his Majesty's Council of this island must be consulted. But the displacing of a judge must be for good and sufficient cause to be signified to His Majesty through his Secretary of State by the first opportunity. Here it will likewise appear that I am only accountable to His Majesty upon such occasions; and indeed to give my reasons to the persons removed, would be, opening a door to endless altercation and the [illegible] of the factions and ill disposed, all which is most humbly submitted to your lordship's consideration and superior judgments.
I have the honour to be with the most profound respect, My Lords Your Lordships, Most Obedient Humble Servant
14th July 1777