To Benjamin Franklin from Francis Bernard, 1 March 1764
From Francis Bernard
Letterbook copy: Harvard College Library
Boston Mar 1 1764
Sir
I am favoured with yours2 and shall immediately order the sum of £40 1s. 10d. (which I suppose is at 7s. 6d. per dollar) to be paid to Mr. Williams. There is still wanting the charge at Annapolis. I have heard that there has been a Dutch trading Ship seized at Anchor at Sandy hook. As the forfeiture arises from importing &c. Is it not worth consideration whether the Governor’s Share does not belong to the Governor of New Jersey? as Sandy hook is in that province and within the port of Amboy.3 I am &c.
See 15 Car 24
B Franklin Esq
2. BF’s of Feb. 21, 1764; see above, pp. 87–8.
3. BF passed this suggestion along to his son William, but it is not known whether anything ever came of it. See below, p. 178.
4. An Act for the Encouragement of Trade, 1663, the so-called Staple Act, 15 Car. II, c. 7, sec. 6, forbade the importation of any European goods (with certain exceptions) into the colonies except when laded in England, Wales, or Berwick-on-Tweed, and carried in British or colonial ships. In case of violation the ship and cargo were to be forfeited, one third going each to the Crown, the governor of the colony, and the informer.