To James Madison from Anthony Merry, 12 September 1806 (Abstract)
From Anthony Merry, 12 September 1806 (Abstract)
§ From Anthony Merry. 12 September 1806, Lancaster. “His Majesty’s Consul General at New York has transmitted to me the Papers of which the inclosed are Copies1 respecting John Thomas, Master of the British Letter of Marque Brig Fox, which arrived at that Port from Jamaica about the 12th. August.
“Mr. Barclay states to me, that on the 18th. of that Month Four of the Seamen belonging to the Brig, (Charles Mathews, George Robinson, John Reid and Edward Hicks) went before the Officers of Police and made Oath that the Master had on the Passage wilfully murdered a Negro Man, named John Geod, who had been Cook of the vessel, by treating him in a most cruel and wicked Manner; That, in Consequence of their Depositions, Captain Thomas was apprehended and committed; that a Bill of Indictment has been found against him, and he has been arraigned; that he has pleaded to the Jurisdiction of the Court, alleging that he is a Subject of His Britannic Majesty; and that the Crime, if any, having been committed on board a British Ship, on the high Seas, is only cognizable in a British Court; that this Plea has been overruled by the District Judge of the District Court of the United States, who has ordered him to plead in Chief; guilty or not guilty; and that the District Court is now sitting, but that every Effort will be used to put off the Tryal by Means of an Affidavit of Mr. Gouvernau (the Passenger on board the Vessel, alluded to in the Papers), who has been obliged to go to Canada on Business, being a material witness, until an Answer can be received to such Representations as I might make on this Subject to the Government of the United States.
“With Respect, Sir, to the Merits of the Case, you will perceive by the Deposition (D) of William Harst, the Mate, or first Officer, of the Brig and of the abovementioned Passenger, that their Evidence is in direct Contradiction to that of the Accusers; and, I trust I may presume to say, it would seem to be, in Equity, more worthy of Credit, than the Testimony of Four common Seamen, who are represented to have brought forward their Charge from Motives of Revenge, and to screen themselves from the Consequences of their Desertion.
“But the Point which I have the honor to submit to the Consideration of the Government of the United States is the Propriety of the District Court of New York persisting in taking Cognizance of an Offense committed by a British Subject, on board a British vessel on the high Seas, consequently, out of the Jurisdiction of the United States. I believe, Sir, that, agreeably to what the Counsel for the Defendant in this Case has argued on the Occasion, the Court may, according to a just Construction of the Laws of nations, be considered rightly as having arrogated to themselves improperly an Authority to try the Cause in Question, and that I may be justified in demanding the Person accused to be delivered up to be tried by a British Court of Admiralty as for an Offense committed on the high Seas.
“Should the Government of the United States acquiesce in this opinion, I can safely trust, Sir, to your known Sentiments of Justice and Humanity for your acceding to the Request which I have the Honor to make to you to adopt the most speedy and effectual Measures for preventing the Tryal in Question from taking Place.”
RC and enclosures (DNA: RG 59, NFL, Great Britain, vol. 3). RC 6 pp.; in a clerk’s hand, signed by Merry; docketed by Wagner. For enclosures, see n. 1.
1. Merry’s clerk wrote “ABCD” in the left margin here, but only one of the three sets of enclosed copies, marked “C.,” bears a letter designation. That set of copies (3 pp.) consisted of an 18 Aug. 1806 order for Thomas’s arrest given by “one of the special Justices for preserving the Peace” in New York, Jacob de la Montagnie, to city marshals and constables, stating the murder charge as made by the four seamen; a 19 Aug. order by de la Montagnie to the city prison keeper to hold Thomas until further notice; and certifications of the accuracy of both copies.
A second set of copies (10 pp.) comprised three depositions. Thomas’s, given on 28 Aug. 1806, stated that he was a native of Carmarthen, South Wales, had taken command of the Fox at Kingston, Jamaica, about 11 June 1806, and was attaching a copy of the ship’s letter of marque. On 20 Aug. 1806 William Harst, first officer of the Fox, deposed that Thomas had John Geon, the cook, flogged on 28 July in an attempt to make him confess to poisoning the coffee, which had a “very unpleasant … Smell and Taste,” and made a “Gentleman Passenger … by the Name of Govery (a Canadian)” extremely ill; that Geon admitted only to putting “Bilge water” in the coffee; that he was thereafter seen to “dance and sing, and did not appear injured”; that for several days before his death on 7 Aug. he refused to eat and drink, which Harst attributed to Geon’s dread of punishment when the ship reached port; that the cook’s body showed no signs of abuse and that “all on board” believed that self-starvation rather than whipping had caused his death; that Thomas, despite suffering “great Agonies” that he attributed to Geon’s poison, “never showed him any particular Resentment,” unlike the second mate, Charles Mathias, who threatened to kill the cook with an axe for having given him “Pains in his Limbs”; that George Robertson (or Robinson) had always been “disorderly and riotous,” and had menaced Harst and Thomas “with Something when they arrived at New York”; and that Harst believed the charges against Thomas were brought for spite and to cover Robinson, Hicks, and “John Budo” (probably a miscopied reference to John Reid), who had deserted on 14 Aug. The 22 Aug. deposition of Charles Governau, accompanied by a certification of the copy’s accuracy, endorsed Harst’s statement and attributed Governau’s illness to “something … Geon put into his Coffee, as he was immediately thereafter taken ill.”
The third set of copies (9 pp.) consisted of the Fox’s 25 Feb. 1805 letter of marque, which named Joseph Duval as master of the ship; a 27 July 1805 addendum substituting Franklin Gardner as master; and a 29 Aug. 1806 certification of the copy’s accuracy. Each of the three sets of copies bears Wagner’s docket.