A. D. 1718. A FURTHER ADDITIONAL ACT to an Act entituled an Act for the better ordering and governing Negroes and all other Slaves; and to an Additional Act to an Act for the better ordering and governing Negroes and all other Slaves. (Ratified December 11, 1717. The Acts referred to are No. 314 and No. 344. See last volume.) No. 388. AN ACT TO IMPOWER THE HONOURABLE THE GOVERNOUR TO RAISE PAYMENT OF THE SAME. No. 389. WHEREAS, the safety of this Province does, under God, depend Preamble. on the friendship of the Charokees to this Government, which is in dayly danger of being lost to us by the war now carried on against them by divers nations of Indians, supported by the French, with the design to reduce them to the obedience and dependance of that enterprizing nation; and for the preventing of so great a danger, as much as in us lies, I. Be it enacted, by his Excellency John Lord Carteret, Palatine, and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of the Province of Carolina, by and with the advice and consent of the rest of the members of the General Assembly, now met at Ashley River Ferry House, for the South and West part of the said Province, and by the authority of the same, That it shall be lawful for the Honourable the Governour, immediately after the ratification of this Act, to commission one Captain and one Lieutenant, impowering them to raise and enlist eight and forty able bodied white men, and with the said men well armed and accoutred to march and encamp in such place on the frontiers of this Province as the Governour shall appoint, there to act as rangers for the defence of the same, until such time as the Honourable the Governour, with the advice of his Council, shall think proper to send them to the assistance of the Charokees. Enlistment of 48 men, or more if II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if upon further information the Honourable the Governour aforesaid, with the advice of his Council, shall find it absolutely necessary to augment the necessary. number of the said white men, to be sent as aforesaid, it shall also be lawful for the said Governour to issue out orders for raising and enlisting so many more white men under the command of such other officers, as he shall judge sufficient to assist effectually the said Charokees against their said enemies; and all such additional forces shall be under the same pay and discipline as the aforesaid forty-eight men and officers are by this Act. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the captain of the said forty-eight men shall have and receive from the publick Pay of the of this Province after the rate of thirty pounds a month, the lieutenant forces enlisted. twenty pounds a month, and each private man ten pounds a month, for so long time as they shall be employed in the publick service, to be paid to them at the end of the expedition to the Charokees, or at the time of their discharge from the said service. A. D. 1718 IV. And whereas the publick treasury of this Province is at this time exhausted, and as it is absolutely necessary for the safety of the same to Assessment to provide for the subsistence and payment of the said forces, which cannot raise £10,000. be done otherwise than by a tax on the inhabitants of the same; Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, that there shall be raised and levied the sum of Ten Thousand Pounds, that is to say, the sum of eight thousand three hundred and thirty-three pounds six shillings and eight pence, on the lands and negroes of the inhabitants, planters and others, residing, living and interested in the several counties in this Province; and one thousand six hundred sixty-six pounds thirteen shillings and four pence, upon the several estates, real and personal, stocks and abilities, of the several merchants and other inhabitants living and residing within the limits of the town plott in Charlestown, and upon the trading stocks of all and every person or persons who now do or shall hereafter, during the limitation of this Act, keep publick storehouses and vend goods and merchandizes in any part of this Province; which said sums, of eight thousand three hundred thirty-three pounds thirteen shillings and 4 pence, and of one thousand six hundred sixty-six pounds six shillings and eight pence, shall be paid on the second Tuesday in March which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and nineteen, unto the commissioners appointed by an Act of Assembly of this Province intituled an Act for raising the sum of ninety-five thousand pounds, &c. ratified the thirtieth day of June, Anno Dom. one thousand seven hundred and sixteen, and shall be enquired of by the same inquisitors and assessed by the same assessors as are appointed and impowered thereunto by the afore recited Act, or any other Act explanatory of the same, under the same pains and penalties therein mentioned, and after such form and manner, times of inquireing; assessing and other methods, as fully as if the said Act of the thirtieth of June, one thousand seven hundred and sixteen, or any Act explanatory of the same, were here inserted, so far as relates to the duties and offices of the assessors, inquisitors or commissioners therein mentioned. appointed. Orders for pay due, to bear interest at 15 per cent. per annum. V. And whereas the several sums of money payable as well for the subsistence as the pay of the said several forces, will become due to them Commissioners before any money to be raised by this Act can be paid in to the said commissioners, it shall be lawful for Mr. William Gibbon, Mr. Samuel Eveleigh, and Captain William Dry, who are hereby appointed commissioners of this Act, to draw orders on the said commissioners of the tax, payable out of the money to be raised by this Act, unto such persons who shall furnish provisions or other necessaries for the said forces, or the said expedition, and to the officers and soldiers who shall serve in the same, for their wages, in proportion to what time they served; which said orders shall from the date thereof bear interest of fifteen pounds per centum per annum, until they are discharged by the commissioners for receiving the said tax. And it shall be lawful for the commissioners to receive and discount any such orders as shall be tendered to them in lieu of money in payment of the said tax, with the interest aforesaid; and it shall also be lawful for Mr. Thomas Dymes and Captain John Canty, and they are hereby required, to furnish the said forces with such provisions and other necessaries as shall be requisite for their subsistence until and for their march to the Charokees, and give certificates of what they shall so proany, to remain vide unto the said William Gibbon, Samuel Eveleigh, and William Dry, Overplus, if in the hands of in order to obtain orders for the same as aforesaid. the commis sioners till disposed of. VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if the money arising by the said tax exceed the sum expended on the expedition, and the orders with the said interest drawn on the said commissioners A. D. 1718. for receiving the said tax, such overplus money shall remain in the hands of the said commissioners of the tax, until it is disposed of by an Act of the General Assembly; any thing to the contrary thereof herein contained notwithstanding. VII. And be it further enacted, That so much of this Act as relates to the raising forces and keeping the same in pay, do continue in force for the space of five months, and no longer. Read three times and ratified in open Assembly, ROBERT JOHNSON, NICHOLAS TROTT, Expired and repealed by Act of February 20, 1718-9, section 37, to raise £70,000, &c. AN ACT FOR THE MORE SPEEDY AND REGULAR TRIAL OF PIRATES. No. 390. WHEREAS, divers great disorders, wicked practices, treasons, murders, robberies, depredations and confederacies, have been lately committed in and upon the seas, by those called Pirates, who are not only enemies to his Majesty and his subjects, but to all mankind; and whereas Preamble. the numbers of them are of late very much increased, and their insolencies so great that unless some remedy be provided to suppress them, by a strict and more easy putting the laws in that behalf in execution, and having speedy justice done upon them, the trade and navigation into remote parts will very much suffer thereby: Therefore, to the intents that all such pirates as are or shall be taken and brought prisoners to this Province, or that are or shall be taken and apprehended in the same, may be proceeded against (so far as the same can be made practicable in this Province) according to the statute made in the 28th year of King Henry the VIII, declaring and enacting how pirates on the seas shall be tryed and punished; cies, &c. com tried in this I. Be it therefore enacted by his Excellency John Lord Carteret, Palatine, All treasons, and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of this felonies, piraProvince, by and with the advice and consent of the rest of the mem- mitted on the bers of the General Assembly, now met at the Parsonage House of St. sea, &c. to be Philip's, Charlestown, for the South and West part of this Province, and Province, by by the authority of the same, That all treasons, felonies, piracies, robber- commission. ies, murders or confederacies, committed or that hereafter shall be committed upon the sea, or in any haven, creek or bay, where the Admiral or Admirals of Great Britain have power, authority or jurisdiction, may be inquired, tryed, heard, determined and judged within this Province, in such like form as if such offence or offences had been committed in and upon the land; and to that end and purpose a commission or commissions from time to time, and as often as need shall require, shall be had and granted, in the name of the Lord Palatine and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of this Province, and tested and signed by the Governour or commander-in-chief of this Province for the time being, VOL. III.-6. A. D. 1718. and by three or more members of the Council, and directed to the judge or judges of the Admiralty or Vice-Admiralty of this Province for the time being, and to such other substantial persons as by the Governour or com. mander-in-chief of this Province for the time being, by and with the advice and consent of the Council, shall be named or appointed; which said commissioners, or such a quorum of them as by such commission shall be thereunto authorized, shall have full power to do all things in and about the inquiry, hearing, determining, adjusting and punishing, of any of the crimes and offences aforesaid, as any commissioners to be appointed by commission under the great seal of England, by virtue of the said statute made in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of our King Henry the Eighth, are impowered to do and execute within the Kingdom of England; and that the said offender or offenders, which are or shall be apprehended in, or brought prisoners to this Province, shall be liable to such order, process, judgment and execution, by virtue of such commission to be grounded upon this Act, as might be awarded or given against him or them if he or they were proceeded against within the realm of England, by virtue of any commission grounded upon the said statute. Commissioners to enquire of such offences by the oaths of 12 men, as if committed on the laud. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That such persons to whom such commission or commissions shall be directed, or four of them at the least, shall have full power and authority to enquire of such offences, by the oaths of twelve good and lawful men, inhabitants of this Province, in such like manner and form as if such offence had been committed upon the land, and within this Province, and that every indictment found and presented before such commissioners for any treasons, piracies, felonies, robberies, murders, man-slaughters, or such other offences committed or done in or upon the seas, or in or upon any haven, river or creek, shall be good and effectual in law; and if any person or persons happen to be indicted for any such offence or offences done or hereafter to be done in and upon the seas, or in any other place above limited, that then such order, process, judgment and execution shall be used, had, done or made to and against every such person or persons so being indicted or found, as against traytors, felons and murderers, for treason, felony, robbery, murder, or other such offences, done upon the land, and that the trial of such offence or offences, if it be denied by the offender or offenders, shall be had by twelve lawful men, inhabiting in this Province, and such suffer death&c. as shall be convicted of any such offence or offences, by verdict, confession or process by authority of any such commission, shall have and suffer such pains of death, losses of goods and chattels, as if they had been attainted and convicted of any treasons, felonies or robberies, or other the said offences done upon the land. And persons convicted shall And not to have benefit of clergy. shall be drawn. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That for treasons, piracies, robberies, felonies, murthers and confederacies, done upon the sea or seas, or in any place above rehearsed, the offender or offenders shall not be admitted to have the benefit of his or their clergy, but be utterly excluded from the same. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That thirty perHow the grand sons shall be drawn by lot to serve as grand jurymen at the court to be holden and petit juries before the said commissioners, commonly called the court of admiralty sessions; and in case there should appear above twenty-three persons out of the said thirty persons summoned, the first twenty-three persons upon the list, (without a reasonable excuse made by any of them, to be allowed of by the court) shall be sworn as grand jurymen, or any number of them not less than thirteen, may serve as grand jurymen; the said thirty persons to serve as grand jurymen at any Admiralty sessions, to be drawn out of the list hereunto annexed, entituled, A List of the Persons out of which A. D. 1718. the Grand Jury is to be drawn, to serve at an Admiralty Sessions: And that sixty persons shall be drawn to serve as petit jurymen at the said court of Admiralty sessions, out of the list hereunto annexed, entituled, A List of the Persons out of which the Petit Jury is to be drawn, to serve at the Admiralty Sessions: And the said persons to serve as grand jurymen and petty jurymen, at the said court of admiralty sessions, shall be drawn at such convenient time and place before the sitting of the said court, as the Judge of the Court of Vice-Admiralty, as the first commissioner in the said court of Admiralty sessions, shall direct; and the said persons, to serve as the grand and petty jurymen at the said court of Admiralty sessions, be balloted and drawn after the same manner as is directed for drawing and balloting other juries, by the several Acts of Assembly as is now of force in this Province, relating to juries, and subject to the penalties for not appearing or neglecting to do their duty, as in the said Acts of Assembly are mentioned. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Gen- The Assembly eral Assembly for the time being, shall have power by an ordinance to add may add or take or take out of the general lists hereunto annexed, or any other general list out of the lists by them hereafter to be made, the name of any person or persons as they for jurymen. shall think fitting, to be added to or strucken out. A List of the Persons out of which the Grand Jury is to be drawn to serve at the Admiralty Sessions. Alexander Parris, Esq. Robert Tradd, &c. &c. A List of the Persons out of which the Petit Jury is to be drawn to serve at the Admiralty Sessions. AN ACT for building a Bridge over the western branch of Cooper (Ratified Feb. 20, 1718-9. Repealed by section 29 of the Highway Act, Sept. 15, 1721. See last volume. This is among the instances of irregular numbering in the original; for the order of date does not justify the early number of this Act.) No. 391. |