43, no. 48, and no. 49) which show a curious connection of American colonial history with the very first (and characteristically illegal and unscrupulous) exploits of the Brandenburg-Prussian navy.
The range of repositories from which the documents have been procured is also considerable. Many were found in the state archives of Massachusetts, many in the files of the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County, many in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, others in the archives of Rhode Island and New York, in the office of the surrogate of New York City, and in the New York Public Library. A very important source of material, indispensable indeed for certain classes of document, was the records and papers of the vice-admiralty courts of the colonial period. Extensive portions still remain in the case of four of these courts, at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston (see the first foot-notes to docs. no. 126, no. 184, no. 165, and no. 106, respectively). A large number of the documents, larger indeed than from any other repository but one, were drawn from the inexhaustible stores of the Public Record Office in London, namely, from the Admiralty and Colonial Office Papers. Others came from the Privy Council Office; a few, but among them two of the longest and most interesting, from among the Sloane and Harleian manuscripts in the British Museum; one whole group from the Rawlinson manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Three of the Kidd documents were obtained from among the manuscripts of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey. Several of the pieces, and a number of lesser extracts used in annotations, were taken from colonial newspapers, and two from printed books not often seen.
Archivists and librarians have assisted the editor with their customary and never-failing kindness. It is a pleasure to express his gratitude to Mr. J.J. Tracy and Mr. John H. Edmonds, former and present archivists of Massachusetts, Mr. Herbert O. Brigham of the Rhode Island archives, Mr. A.J.F. van Laer and Mr. Peter Nelson of those of New York; to Mr. Worthington C. Ford and Mr. Julius H. Tuttle of the Massachusetts Historical Society; to Hon. Charles M. Hough, judge of the United States Circuit Court in New York; to Miss C.C. Helm of his office; to the late Miss Josephine Murphy, custodian of the Suffolk Files; to Miss Mabel L. Webber, secretary and librarian of the South Carolina Historical Society; to Mr. Victor H. Paltsits of the New York Public Library; to Rev. Richard W. Goulding, librarian to the Duke of Portland; and to the authorities of the Public Record Office, the Privy Council Office, the British Museum, and the Bodleian Library. Special thanks are due to the officials of three libraries in which the work of annotation was mostly done—the Library of Congress, that of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and that of Bowdoin College. On a few nautical points the editor had the advice of his old friend the late Captain Charles Cate of North Edgecomb, Maine. And especially he has to thank the chairman of the Committee on Publication, Mrs. Charles E. Rieman, for her interest in the work and for the exemplary patience with which she has borne the delays in its completion.
It is perhaps needless to say that the spelling of the originals has been carefully preserved; it is hoped that it would not be thought to be that of the editor. The punctuation of the originals has not been deemed equally sacred. In general, it has been reproduced, but where small alterations would make the sense clear to the modern reader but could not change it, or where that same effect would be produced by introducing punctuation-marks, which writers nearly illiterate often omitted entirely, it has seemed the part of good sense to make reading-matter readable. Also, names of vessels have been uniformly italicized even when not underscored in the original manuscripts. Dates previous to 1752 are old-style dates unless, as in the case of Dutch or French documents, new style is indicated.
J. Franklin Jameson.
Washington, October 19, 1923.
[1] See R.G. Marsden in English Historical Review, XXI. 251–257, and a commission in Rymer's Foedera, XVIII. 12.
[2] Specimen (1762) in Anthony Stokes, A View of the Constitution of the British Colonies (London, 1783), pp. 315–317.
[3] Such a commission (1748) is printed in R.G. Marsden, Law and Custom of the Sea (Navy Records Society), II. 279, and another (1756) in Stokes, p. 278.
[4] For a report of these commissioners approving the sentence of the court below, see Stokes, pp. 325–326.
| page | |||
| Providence Island | |||
| 1. | Commission from the Providence Island Company to Governor Nathaniel Butler as Vice-Admiral. Apr. 23, 1638 | 1 | |
| 2. | Governor Nathaniel Butler, "Diary of My Present Employment". Feb.-Mar., 1639 | 3 | |
| La Garce | |||
| 3. | Articles of Copartnership in New Netherland Privateering. Dec. 4 (N.S.), 1646 | 9 | |
| 4. | Articles of Copartnership between Augustin Herrman and Wyllem Blawfelt. Dec. 4 (N.S.), 1646 | 11 | |
| 5. | Affidavit: the Capture of the Tabasco. July 25 (N.S.), 1649 | 13 | |
| 6. | Affidavit of Antonio Leon and Fyck Herry. Sept. 27 (N.S.), 1649 | 14 | |
| The Holy Ghost | |||
| 7. | Declaration of the Massachusetts Council. July 20, 1653 |
| |
