Mr. James A. I can't fay precisely, but more than £1000. I believe between two and three thoufand pounds. Q. To what amount was the licence amended? A. Of tea to the value of £4000. I believe I mistook; it was the Pallas, not the Jamefon and Peggy. There was about £3000 worth of tea fhipped on board: it was the Pallas, and by licence from the admiralty. Q. Did you ever fee any lawyer's opinion on this fubject? Q. Do you recollect when the licences were ftopped? Q. How many licences did you object to? A. Those two, and another of Mr. Anthony Merry, with respect to fome greens, herbage being omitted in the licence. Q. Has he read the claufe in the prohibitory act, limiting the articles to be exported? A. Yes. Q. Is broadcloth comprized in that claufe? A. I did not think fo; but I thought we ought to take the entries according to the licences. My brother officers agreed with me in that opinion, that we were obliged to pass entries according to the licences; we thought we had no power to refufe fuch entries. Q. Was it your opinion? A. It was, and of all the officers that I confulted. Q. Was it the opinion of the officers that cloth, linen, and haberdashery, not fent for the ufe of his Majefty's troops, could be licenced? A. We understood the commiffioners of the admiralty were better judges than we were on that subject. Q. Do A. No. you know of any reference to the treafury? Q. Was there not a note at the bottom of the licences, that if other goods than thofe mentioned in the licences, and provifions for the fhip's ufe, were found on board, the ship and cargo was to be forfeited? A. Yes. Q. Did not this create a doubt? A. We have no power of feizing; that's the business of other officers, the fhipping officers and fearchers. Withdrew. Mr. James Hume, deputy comptroller of the customs. Q. Did Q Did he refuse to pass entries for Mr. Merry in March laft, in confequence of a licence from the admiralty? Á. I don't remember particularly for Mr. Merry. Q. For any other person? A. We refused to pass entries when they did not correfpond with the licence. Q. When any licences were prefented, did any objections occur to you or any of the other officers? A. None to the licences. Q. Were they referred to the commiffioners? A. Yes; they faid the law must be our direction. A. Because it was a new bufinefs, and we wanted their authority. Q. Did you conceive the lords of the admiralty could licence any other goods except ftores and provifions? A. Our ideas of ftores were what was specified in the licence of the admiralty. Q. Do you think broadcloth and haberdashery goods are ftores? A. We understood it in the licences as ftores. Stores we take to be any species of goods. Q. Do you confider all the articles for the American trade were comprized under the word ftores? A. I was not authorized to determine what was ftores. Q. If you had had authority, what should you have decided? A. Not being used to trade, I can't say. Q. Did you think you had no power to object to any article found in the licences? A. No. Q. Of any kind? A. No. Q. Are playing-cards ftores and provifions? A. If mentioned in the licence, I fhould have admitted them. Q. Were there no objections made to any entries mentioned in the schedule to any licence? A. The first entry from the committee appointed for sending goods for the relief of the foldiers, in which there was no difficulty but about the drawback on the tobacco. Q. Was any objection made to the entry of the goods on board the Pallas ? A. Some goods entered for that fhip which were wanting in the schedule, and therefore the licence was taken back and altered. Q. Were any goods objected to in the Jameson and Peggy? A. I don't recollect there was. Q. Were any objections made to goods offered to be, entered by Mr. Merry? A. I don't recollect. Q. Does he recollect the licence granted to the ship City of London? A. Not of that particular ship. Q. Did you require that the particular quantity of goods fhould be specified in the licence? A. It was generally specified. Q. Did you pafs any entry where the quantities were not Specified? A. We did in fuch articles as haberdashery, and where the quantities could not be afcertained. Q. Were there not some schedules in which the quantities were not specified ? A. Not that paffed, I think, to the beft of my recollection. [Schedule of the licence of the fhip City of London, 5th Feb. was then read.] Q. Did you pass any entry under fuch a licence? A. I don't recollect. Q. Informed as you now are, would you pass an entry on fuch a licence as that? A. I apprehend I should not. Q. Did you ever fend back a licence for an &c. put at the end of an article? A. Some fuch were tendered, but whether they paffed or no I can't fay. Q. Are you acquainted with the affortment of goods for the American market? A. Yes, I believe I am. Q. Whether the articles mentioned in those schedules are not the ufual affortment of goods for the American market? A. I apprehend they are. Withdrew. Mr. Anthony Merry called for. Committee informed that he was out of town when the order for his attendance was left at his houfe, but that his clerk, Mr. Henry Mathifon, attended. Mr. Mr. Henry Mathifon. Q. Where is Mr. Merry? A. At Milford. Q. When is he expected in town? A. It is uncertain: he has been gone a fortnight to-day. Q. Do you know of the different cargoes of goods which Mr. Merry fent to North America? A. Yes. Q. On whofe account were they purchased? A. On Mr. Merry's account. Q. What are the names of the fhips? A. Princefs Royal, Lord Rochford, Le Soye Planter, Mentor, Refolution. Q. Are they gone to Bofton? A. They were intended for Bofton. Q. Has Mr. Merry ever dealt in the North American trade before? A. He has occafionally; but that was not the general track of his bufinefs. Q. When did he begin ? A. I can't recollect. Q. Were any of the goods fhipped on the account of government? A. None of them. Q. What paper is that you have in your hand? A. Bills of lading of Mr. Merry's fhips. Q. What do they contain? A. Tobacco, French and Portugal wines, fallad oil, anchovies, raifins, cheese, portable foup, and tundry dried provifions. Q. Is this the cargo of all the fhips? A. I don't know. Q. When were they cleared out from London ? A. I don't exactly remember: I believe about a month fince. I heard of their arrival at Milford Haven about ten days ago they are bound to Bofton; at leaft they were intended to go there. Q. Only to Bofton ? A. I don't know; I understood fo. Q. What quantity of tea is there on board? Q. Was none in the licence? A. I don't know; but there was none shipped. Q. Had Mr. Merry any ship stopped in the port of London? A. The Mentor was ftopped, and fome goods relanded. Q. Were not fome things shipped by Mr. Smith for Mr. Merry for Boston ? A. I don't recollect the name of Smith. Q. What became of the part that was not relanded? A. It remained in the veffel. Q. What became of the veffel? A. I can't fay. Q. Who ordered the relanding of the goods? A. I believe the commiffioners of the cuftoms, but I did not know on what account. Q. What was done with the goods that were relanded ? A. They were returned to the different tradesmen who shipped them. Q. Has Mr. Merry sent any ships to Magadore? A. He has not. Q. Where had Mr. Merry the licences for the fhips now at Milford Haven? A. I can't fay. Q. Do you remember the application to the admiralty for thofe licences? A. I don't remember the exact time; for I don't live conftantly with Mr. Merry, only occafionally. Q. Was the application for the fervice of his Majesty, or only for a trading licence? Á. I don't know Mr. Merry's intentions. Q. Who applied for the licences? A. Mr. Merry himself. Q. Did the tradefmen, of whom the goods were bought, take them back again when they were relanded? A. Yes; but I don't know on what conditions they were taken back. Q. Were |