their
Lordships in Mind; and whatever Directions and Papers are given into
your Hands, please to forward them with the utmost Dispatch to,

Sir,

Your most obedient
humble Servant

WM. SMITH Junior.

Captain Morris,

[_Endorsed:_] By the _Leicester_ Packet: To Staats L. Morris, Esquire,
London.[4]

[Footnote 4: Staats Long Morris, son of the judge and brother of the
"signer" Lewis Morris, was at this time a captain in the British army,
later married the Dowager Duchess of Gordon, and died a British
general.]

_200. Letter of Stephen Hopkins. January 15, 1757._[1]

[Footnote 1: Public Record Office, Admiralty, 1:3819. The writer,
Stephen Hopkins (1707-1785), celebrated as a governor of Rhode Island
(1755-1757, 1758-1762, 1763-1765, 1767-1768) and a signer of the
Declaration of Independence, was at this time governor. The letter is
a duplicate bearing an original signature. It was addressed to Richard
Partridge, agent in London for the colony from 1715 to 1759. He dying
March 5, 1759, receipt of this letter is acknowledged by his executor,
Joseph Sherwood, May 11; letter in Miss Kimball's _Correspondence of
the Colonial Governors of Rhode Island_, II. 289. Sherwood, appointed
agent as Partridge's successor, pursued the general assembly's
request, but apparently without success, the Lords of the Admiralty
thinking it unnecessary to appoint a register and marshal in Rhode
Island, when there were already such officers in Massachusetts;
_ibid._, II. 289, 293, 298, 304, 306.]

RHODE ISLAND January 15, 1759.

_Sir_,

You may remember that near a Year ago I wrote you by Order of the
General Assembly to endeavor to procure a Judge of the Court of Vice
Admiralty to be appointed within and for this Colony.[2] And as you
very soon finished that Affair successfully, a Judge being appointed
and commissioned, so he hath been accordingly sworn into his Office.
Notwithstanding this being so far done, yet there appears to be a
Deficiency of the Officers of that Court, as no Register or Marshal
have been appointed. It is true there hath commonly been a Deputy
Register in this Colony appointed by a Principal living in Boston at a
great Distance from the Colony, and within another Jurisdiction, which
seems incompatible, and it is solely at his Option, whether he will
appoint a Deputy to attend in this Colony or not, the Inconvenience of
which is obvious at the first View: And it doth not appear that any
Commission hath