IX. And it is hereby further enacted That in case any sugar or paneles of the growth, produce or manufacture of any of the colonies or plantations belonging to or in the possession of his Majesty . . ., which shall have been imported into Great Britain after .. [June 24, 1733,] . . . shall at any time within one year after the importation thereof, be again exported out of Great Britain, . . . all the residue and remainder of the subsidy or duty, by any former act or acts of parliament granted and charged on such sugar or paneles as aforesaid, shall without any delay or reward be repaid to such merchant or merchants, who do export the same, within one month after demand thereof. X. And it is hereby further enacted . . ., That from and after . . . [June 24, 1733,] . . . for every hundred weight of sugar refined in Great Britain . ; which shall be exported out of this kingdom, there shall be, by virtue of this act, repaid at the customhouse to the exporter, within one month after the demand thereof, over and above the several sums of three shillings and one shilling per hundred, payable by two former acts of parliament, one of them made in the ninth and tenth years of the reign of his late Majesty King William the Third, and the other in the second and third years of the reign of her late Majesty Queen Anne, the further sum of two shillings, oath or solemn affirmation as aforesaid, being first made by the refiner, that the said sugar so exported, was produced from brown and muscovado sugar, and that as he verily believes, the same was imported from some of the colonies or plantations in America belonging to and in the possession of the crown of Great Britain, and that as he verily believes the duty of the said brown and muscovado sugar was duly paid at the time of the importation thereof, and that the same was duly exported. * * No. 29. Writ of Assistance December 2, 1762 IN 1755 a writ of assistance, granting authority to search for and seize uncustomed goods, was issued by the Superior Court of Massachusetts to Charles Paxton, surveyor of the port of Boston. Similar writs were issued in 1758 to the collectors at Salem and Falmouth, in 1759 to the surveyor-general, and the collectors at Boston and Newburyport, and in 1760 to the collectors at Boston and Salem. By law the writs continued until the demise of the Crown and for six months thereafter. In 1761 the former writs, by reason of the death of George II., being about to expire, the surveyor-general, Thomas Lechmere, made application to the court for the grant of such writs to himself and his officers "as usual." On this application a number of merchants of Boston, and others, petitioned to be heard. The application was argued at Boston at the February term, Jeremiah Gridley appearing for Lechmere, and James Otis and Oxenbridge Thacher for the petitioners and against the writ. Judgment was suspended in order that the court might examine the practice in England. November 18, at the second term, the case was again argued by the same counsel, with the addition of Robert Auchmuty in favor of the writ. The judges were unanimous in their opinion that the writ should be granted, as prayed for, and December 2 a writ was issued to Paxton in the form following. March 6, 1762, a bill “authorizing any judge or justice of the peace, upon information on oath by any officer of the customs, to issue a special writ or warrant of assistance, and prohibiting all others," passed the General Court; but the governor, on the advice of the members of the Superior Court, withheld his approval. Writs of assistance do not appear to have been granted elsewhere in the colonies, except in New Hampshire; they were, however, legalized by the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767 [No. 38]. General warrants were condemned in England in 1766, but general writs of assistance continued to be issued until 1819, when an order of the Board of Customs practically abolished them. In the manuscript from which the writ following is printed, the words in brackets are interlined, and those in italics erased. The writ was drawn by Thomas Hutchinson, the chief justice. REFERENCES. Text in Quincy's Massachusetts Reports, 418-421, where is also, pp. 395-540, an exhaustive examination of the whole subject by Justice Horace Gray. Otis's argument at the February term, as reported by John Adams, is in the latter's Works, II., 521-525; the second argument, in November, is in Quincy, ut supra, 51-57. The earlier accounts, especially those in Adams's Works, II., 124, note; X., 246-249, 274-276; Tudor's Otis, and Minot's Massachusetts, must be read in the light of Gray's notes, above. Prov. of SEAL GEORGE the third by the grace of God of TO ALL & singular our Justices of the peace KNOW YE that whereas in and by an Act of Parliament made in the thir[four]teenth year of [the reign of] the late King Charles the second it is declared to be [the Officers of our Customs & their Deputies are authorized and impowered to go & enter aboard any Ship or Vessel outward or inward bound for the purposes in the said Act mentioned and it is also in & by the said Act further enacted & declared that it shall be] lawful [to or] for any person or persons authorized by Writ of assistants under the seal of our Court of Exchequer to take a Constable Headborough or other publick Officer inhabiting near unto the place and in the day time to enter & go into any House Shop Cellar Warehouse or Room or other place and in case of resistance to break open doors chests trunks & other package there to seize and from thence to bring any kind of goods or merchandize whatsoever prohibited & uncustomed and to put and secure the same in his Majestys [our] Storehouse in the port next to the place where such seizure shall be made. AND WHEREAS in & by an Act of Parliament made in the seventh & eighth year of [the reign of the late] King William the third there is granted to the Officers for collecting and managing our revenue and inspecting the plantation trade in any of our plantations [the same powers & authority for visiting & searching of Ships & also] to enter houses or warehouses to search for and seize any prohibited or uncustomed goods as are provided for the Officers of our Customs in England by the said last mentioned Act made in the fourteenth year of [the reign of] King Charles the Second, and the like assistance is required to be given to the said Officers in the execution of their office as by the said last mentioned Act is provided for the Officers in England. AND WHEREAS in and by an Act of our said Province of Massachusetts bay made in the eleventh year of [the reign of] the late King William the third it is enacted & declared that our Superior Court of Judicature Court of Assize and General Goal delivery for our said Province shall have cognizance of all matters and things within our said Province as fully & amply to all intents & purposes as our Courts of King's Bench Common Pleas & Exchequer within our Kingdom of England have or ought to have. AND WHEREAS our Commissioners for managing and causing to be levied & collected our customs subsidies and other duties have [by Commission or Deputation under their hands & seal dated at London the 22 day of May in the first year of our Reign] deputed and impowered Charles Paxton Esquire to be Surveyor & Searcher of all the rates and duties arising and growing due to us at Boston in our Province aforesaid and [in & by said Commission or Deputation] have given him power to enter into [any Ship Bottom Boat or other Vessel & also into] any Shop House Warehouse Hostery or other place whatsoever to make diligent search into any trunk chest pack case truss or any other parcel or package whatsoever for any goods wares or merchandize prohibited to be imported or exported or whereof the Customs or other Duties have not been duly paid and the same to seize to our use In all things proceeding as the Law directs. THEREFORE We strictly Injoin & Command you & every one of you that, all excuses apart, you & every one of you permit the said Charles Paxton according to the true intent & form of the said commission or deputation and the laws & statutes in that behalf made & provided, [as well by night as by day from time to time to enter & go on board any Ship Boat or other Vessel riding lying or being within or coming to the said port of Boston or any Places or Creeks thereunto appertaining such Ship Boat or Vessel then & there found to search & oversee and the persons therein being strictly to examine touching the premises aforesaid & also according to the form effect and true intent of the said commission or deputation] in the day time to enter & go into the vaults cellars warehouses shops & other places where any prohibited goods wares or merchandizes or any goods wares or merchandizes for which the customs or other duties shall not have been duly & truly satisfied and paid lye concealed or are suspected to be concealed, according to the true intent of the law to inspect & oversee & search for the said goods wares & merchandize, And further to do and execute all things which of right and according to the laws & statutes in this behalf shall be to be done. And we further strictly INJOIN & COMMAND you and every one of you that to the said Charles Paxton Esqr you & every one of you from time to time be aiding assisting & helping in the execution of the premises as is meet. And this you or any of [you] in no wise omit at your perils. WITNESS day of December in Thomas Hutchinson Esq at Boston the By order of Court N. H.1 Cler. No. 30. Treaty of Paris February 10, 1763 THE Ohio and Mississippi valleys, claimed by the French in right of exploration and colonization, were also claimed by the English under early colonial grants and charters; and these conflicting claims the boundary commissioners, appointed under the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, had been unable to reconcile. The Seven Years' war, known in America as the French and Indian war, began two years before the declaration of war by England against France formally opened hostilities in Europe. Washington's unsuccessful expedition against Fort Duquesne, in 1754, was followed in 1755 by the defeat of Braddock and the failure of the contemplated attack upon Canada; but some French forts in Nova Scotia were taken and the Acadians deported. The campaigns of 1756 and 1757 were also without substantial results for the English. The energy of Pitt, whom Newcastle was obliged, in June, 1757, to receive into the ministry as secretary of state, turned the tide. In 1758, Louisburg, Niagara and Fort Duquesne were taken; in September, 1759, Quebec fell; and with the surrender of Montreal, in 1760, the French power in America came to an end. The war in Europe went on for three years longer. In June, 1761, at the instance of France, negotiations for peace were opened; but the signature of the "family compact" between France and Spain, in August, caused them to be broken off. Pitt urged immediate war with Spain; but his views were not supported by the ministry, and he resigned. War against Spain was, however, declared in 1762, and English forces took Havana and Manila. In September, negotiations were resumed; on November 3, preliminaries of peace were signed at Fontainebleau; and on February 10, 1763, the treaty was concluded at Paris. The chief articles relating to America are given in the extracts following. In compensation for the loss of Florida, Spain received from France so much of Louisiana as lay west of the Mississippi river, including both sides of the river at its mouth. REFERENCES. Text in Chalmers's Collection of Treaties, I., 467-483. IV. His most Christian Majesty renounces all pretensions, which he has heretofore formed, or might form, to Nova Scotia or Acadia, in all its parts, and guaranties the whole of it, and with all its dependencies, to the King of Great Britain: more 'Nathaniel Hatch, one of the clerks of court. ED. |