2006-06
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/31/2006
A beautifully written 4pp. roughly 10”x 14” manuscript entitled: Lists of Offices in the West Indies, formerly in the gift of the Secretary of State, but now in the Board Trade. This document is most likely written as a result of an apparent shift of the overall Control of these offices from one cabinet position to the other, in this case from the Secretary of State to the Board of Trade. The manuscript has divided the various offices by the colony in which they were in operation, and while islands such as the West Indies and Barbados are Represented, so are nine of the thirteen American colonies, to wit: Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia , as well as the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The Chief offices of a given colony are listed along with the individuals currently occupying each office, the official seals of each office mentioned where applicable, and the term for which any appointee may serve in a particular office. For example, the Chief offices of North Carolina , along with the personage currently occupying that office are Governor(Arthur Dobbs, esq.), Secretary & Clerk of the Crown( Henry McCullock) , Chief Justice ( Enoch Hall), Attorney General (Thomas Child), Chief Baron ( Edward Mosely), Provost Marshall & Commissary (Daniel Germain), and Naval officer( Benjamin Wheatley). The Governor and Naval Officer are authorized to Use the Great Seal, while the remaining officials use the “Seal of Province”. All of the office holders serve at “Pleasure” meaning that the monarch could hire or fire tem at will. Perhaps as a sign of their economic importance the island colonies tend to have many more offices, and as a consequence likely have more government interferance in their lives. While North Carolina has seven official offices, Jamaica and the Leeward islands each have thirteen officeholders. A very interesting document, in it lists the principal players in much of the New World at the beginning of the French and Indian War. Clean fold splits, else very good to near fine.
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