till he became king in 1685. As Lord High Admiral, he
issued commissions to the colonial governors appointing them as his
vice-admirals. That which he issued, January 26, 1667, to Lord
Willoughby, governor of Barbados, is printed in the _Publications_ of
the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, II. 187-198. That to Dongan,
issued by James in 1682, when, though excluded from office in England,
he was still Lord High Admiral of the crown's dominions, was no doubt
similar. At this early period the governor himself sometimes acted as
judge; see document 46, note 1. Strictly speaking, what was here
appointed was not a court of admiralty but a commission for the trial
of piracy and other felonies. By the statute 28 Henry VIII. c. 15
(1536), it was provided that cases of piracy should be tried within
the realm, not by the High Court of Admiralty, but before commissions
specially appointed for the purpose, and with the aid of a jury. But
this statute did not extend to the plantations, and until the passage
of the act of 11 and 12 William III. c. 7 (1700), commissioners for
the trial of piracy in the colonies were usually appointed by
governors in their capacity as vice-admirals, and proceeded under the
civil (Roman) law, not the statute. Another commission, for the trial
of piracy (to Governor Bellomont and others, Nov. 23, 1701) is printed
in E.C. Benedict, _The American Admiralty_, third ed., pp. 73-79,
fourth ed., pp. 70-76; another (1716) is doc. no. 106, below; another
(to Governor Woodes Rogers, Bahamas, Dec. 5, 1718), is in Johnson's
_History of the Pyrates_, II. (1726) 337-340; a fourth (1728) is in
_N.J. Archives_, first series, V. 196. See also doc. no. 201, note 1,
and Chalmers, _Opinions_ (ed. 1858), pp. 511-515.]

To

Lucas Santen Esqr.,[3] Cornelius Stenwyck,
William Beakman,[4] Nicholas Bayard,
Jno. Lawrence, Willm. Pinhorne,
James Graham, Jacob Leisler.

[Footnote 3: Collector of the port.]

[Footnote 4: Acting mayor. Lawrence, Graham, Steenwyk, and Bayard were
aldermen, Pinhorne became an alderman two months later. Leisler was
the celebrated revolutionary. The accused men were found guilty. Eight
of them were sentenced to receive twenty lashes and to be imprisoned
for a year and a day. Clough was sent to London to give an account of
his stewardship to the Royal African Company. _Calendar of Council
Minutes, N.Y._, p. 34.]

CASE OF WILLIAM COWARD.

_52. William Coward'