USA > New Jersey > Cape May County > The history of Cape May County, New Jersey : from the aboriginal times to the present day > Part 13
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such a Report to you, I should myself have suspended Hat- ton from acting in his Office till further Orders from proper- Authority. But as you were made fully acquainted with. his conduct, and it was a Matter over which you had a. particular Superintendency, I was unwilling to interfere ;. more especially as I had a Right to expect that you would. have thought yourself in Duty bound, after receiving such? Information, to remove him immediately from his Office in the Customs.
"There is one matter more, Gentlemen, which I think nec -- essary to mention to you on this Occasion. It appears by Mr Hatton's Book of Letters (which has been seen by sev- eral Gentlemen in Salem) that he wrote you a Letter on the- 23d of Jany 1769, containing some injurious Reflections on! me & the Magistrates, accusing us of having treated him with Inhumanity, & intimating that we were Enemies to. our King & Country. At the same Time he sent enclosed a Letter which he said he had received from an English Gen- tleman who arrived here the June preceding, and 'would give you an Insight of his disagreeable and precarious sit- uation.' A Copy of this pretended Letter I have seen. It is signed with the name of John Murch, and is dated Novr 28,. 1768. There never was, perhaps, considering the Time. when it was wrote, a Letter penn'd with a more wicked De- sign: But as it seem'd to carry its own Antidote with it, be- ing fill'd with an extravagantly ridiculous and improbable Account of the Disposition & Intentions of the People of this Province, I never took any notice of it, except writing to the Inspector General (when I heard he was at Pliiladel- phia on his Way to Salem) acquainting him that I sus- pected it to be a Forgery of Hatton's, or at least that Murch was some low Fellow who had wrote it at his Instigation, and should therefore be much obliged to him if he would de- mand a Sight of the Original, and enquire Murch's Charac -- ter and where he was to be found, that he might, should' there be Occasion, be examined concerning it. Nor should I, Gentlemen, ever have thought it worth my while to have. said anything to you on the Subject (having entertained too good an Opinion of your Understanding to suppose such' an absurd Letter could possibly have any Regard paid it
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zby you) had I not observed in your last Letter, that you ‘thought it necessary to transmit to the Lord's Commis- sioners of His Majesty's Treasury, Copies of the several Letters laid before you' by Hatton, relative to his last Com- plaint, tho' no proper Enquiry had then been made into the Truth of his Representations, at least none which had come to your knowledge. This, I own, has alarm'd me. You may have likewise thought it necessary to transmit to their Lordships the two above mentioned false and scandalous Letters respecting me and the Inhabitants of this Colony, without so much as enquiring or thinking it your Duty to make any previous Enquiry into the Truth of the Allega- tions. And their Lordships, not being acquainted with the real Circumstances of the Case, and perhaps relying upon that you would not trouble them with any idle Informations, or such as you had not good reason to believe might be de- pended upon, may have conceived Prejudices greatly to my Disfavour. Had I received any such Letter concerning you, Gentlemen, and thought them worthy of the least at- tention, I am sure I should have deem'd myself bound in Honour to have informed you of it immediately, that you might have an Opportunity of clearing yourselves from any Imputations they contained, and of explaining your Con- duct to His Majesty's Ministers: And I would willingly be- lieve that you have not, as you never gave me any Notice thereof, transmitted those Letters to England respecting me; but if I am mistaken in this Point, and the Letters are actually transmitted, then I must desire that you will as soon as possible, send me Copies of them properly authenticated under the Great Seal of the Colony where you reside, that I may have it in my power to obtain that Justice from Mr. Hatton which I am entitled to. A Request so reasonable I hope you will not refuse, especially when I tell you that Hatton had the Assurance, when I lately tax'd him in pri- vate with having written & sent those Letters, to deny that he ever wrote a Syllable to you against me, or ever sent you any Letter from Murch, having, as he said, always en- tertained the highest opinion of me and my Conduct in this Government. But as I thought that he might after- wards deny he had ever made such a Declaration to me (no
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one besides being present at the Time) I took an opportunity" of asking him about those Letters before the Council, when: he again positively asserted, 'that he was very clear he never sent a Copy of a Letter from Murch to the Commissioners." However, his Son (tho' he has as bad a Character as his; Father) being soon after examined on Oath upon the same- Subject, and not knowing what his Father had said, con- fess'd that Hatton did transmit to you a Copy of a Letter- from Murch, and that it was relative to me and the People of this Province. A Copy of the Notes taken by the Sec- retary of their Examinations on this Point, and concerning the Place of the Collector's Residence (which is said to be without the District allotted him by his Commission) I send enclosed for your Perusal.
"That this Representation, Gentlemen, of Mr Hatton's. Conduct does not proceed from any particular Enmity to. the man,* or Inclination to do him a Disservice, you must do me the justice to allow when you consider, That it was not made 'till you call'd upon me for it (I having left him,. after giving him a Copy of the Governor's and Council's Opinion for you, to tell his own Story in his own Way) and that I have not only shewn hin no Resentment on Account of his Letters (tho' I have long known of them) but have- never yet demanded of him my Share of the Seizure of the Sloop Speedwell (which he gave you such Pompous Ac- counts of it 1768,) notwithstanding I am well informi'd he- has converted the whole of it to his own Use, not having even accounted for the Share due to His Majesty.
"I am with great Regard, Gentlemen,
"Yours, &c "WVM. FRANKLIN."
* Warrants were issued by the Supreme Executive Coun- cil of Pennsylvania in August, 1776, for the arrest of the Hattons, senior and junior, for "treasonable practices," in aiding in the escape from jail of Colonel Kirkland. The el- der Hatton was arrested in New Jersey, taken to Philadel -. phia, and released on bail.
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JOHN HATTON, THE TORY.
Copy of a letter from the Inspector-General to the Com- missioners of the Customs:
"Gentlemen,
"By my Report of Delaware Bay & River, your Honours will see the Situation of the District of Salem; as to the Col- lector's Disputes with the People; they are in my Opinion of a private Nature, and arose from trifling matters. I can't find that Mr Hatton has ever disobliged any Person there as an officer and therefore has not given any Cause for Re- sentment against him on that Account, on the Contrary he indulged them in a very great Degree, even in giving them blank Certificates and blank Permits to be filled up by them- selves.
"I send a number of those Permits and Certificates in- closed which Your Honors will see are filled up with as many different Hands, as they are for Persons. What Pretences Mr Hatton can form that he received ill Treatment from the People on Account of his Zeal for the Service, Your Honours will best judge. I am further to observe that every Vessell which entered with him from the West Indies was only in Ballast except 5, from April 1765 to May 1766, which was detected by the Man of War and Cutters, and what is still more remarkable he never entered any, but what belonged to noted Smugglers .- John Relfe is the Person who had the Permit from him for the 5 H'hds of foreign Sugar after they were seized by the Collector of this Port. "Since September 1767, three Vessels entered with Mr. Hatton from Guadaloupe and one from Dom'nico, all in Ballast, and he has not received a Shilling Dutics during that Time .- Every Smuggler speaks well of him as a Col- lector, but in his private conduct as a peevish, fretful, and not a very good natured Person .- Though I do not think myself concerned with the private Character of any Officer, yet [ found myself under the necessity of mentioning this of Mr. Halton as he complained of receiving ill Usage from the People on Account of exerting himself in his Duty, that your Honours may the better see how far that was the case, and tho' it is probable that he might have been ill used yet
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there is little Doubt of its being owning to unwise Deport- ment in his private Station.
He has lived for twelve Month past at Raccoon Creek, and is now removed from thence to Cape May 90 miles be- low Salem, out of the way of all business, so that it is nec- essary he should fix his Residence in a proper Part of the District.
"By this Plain State of Facts I hope your Honours will see all Circumstances concerning Mr Hatton & his Dis- trict in their Proper Light .- His situation having a Family to support with a narrow Income might account for some of the irregular Appearances in his Conduct as an Officer. That with his Time of Life in a distant Country renders him an Object of Compassion, and therefore I beg Leave to recommend him to your Admonishment as I presume it will come with more Propriety & Weight from Your Hon- ours than me and wish it may have the Effect of his living upon a better understanding with the People, & being more Circumspect in the Duties of his Office.
"I am with great Respect, Your Honours
"Humble Servant
"J. WILLIAMS.
"Philadelphia 17 June 1769.
"To the Honble The Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs at Boston."
Governor Franklin to Earl of Hillsborough, concerning complaint of John Hatton, &c .:
"Burlington, May 19th 1771. "The Right Honble the Earl of Hillsborough.
My Lord Inclosed I send your Lordship a Copy of the Minutes of the Privy Council of this Colony, from the Stil of January to the 26th of March, a great Part of which is taken up with an Enquiry into a Complaint made by John Hatton, Esqr Collector of His Majesty's Customs for the Port of Salem, against some Justices of the Peace living at Cape May. This Mr. Hatton is the same Person mentioned in my Letter to your Lordship of the 25th of Augst 1768, N. II, and in the Minutes of the Privy Council sent with
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my Letter N. 6 .- The Council, after a strict and impartial Examination of the Parties, were unanimously of Opinion that there was not the least Foundation for his Complaint against the Justices. I need not trouble your Lordship with any Recital of Particulars here, as they are so fully set forth in the Minutes, and in the Copies of Sundry Papers sent herewith .- I was in hopes that the Commissioners at Bos- ton would before now have removed this man from his Of- fice, as they have had the strongest Proofs of his Unfaith- fulness in Execution of it, ever since June 1769, as your Lordship will see by the enclosed Copy of the Report of the Inspector General. What reasons they may have for con- tinuing him in Office I know not, as they have not yet thought proper to return any Answer to my Letter of the roth of April last, a Copy of which is among the enclosed Papers. ,
"I have the Honour to be, with the greatest Respect, My Lord, Your Lordship's most obedient & most humble Ser- vant
WM. FRANKLIN."
"Some Notes and Observations made by the Depu Secre- tary of New Jersey, on the Complaint of John Hatton Esqr Collector of Salem, against three of the Magistrates of Cape May, after the Examination of the Parties before the Gov- ernor & Council, explaining more particularly several mat- ters either omitted or but slightly ment'd in the Minutes of Council on that Subject."
"There is very little of Mr Hatton's Complaint, that, if true can affect the Magistrates of Cape May :- the Transac- tions which he and his Son received the Injury, being en- tirely without their Jurisdiction. It may be reduced to the following Heads.
"I. Their sending Their Warrant for him on the Oath of Hughes.
"2. Their sending their Warrant for his Negro on the same Foundation, and committing him after Examination.
"3. Refusing to admit the Negro to Bail.
"4. Demanding Surety of the Peace of Mr Hatton, on the
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Affidavit of Mills,-on which they took his own Recogni -- zance.
"5. Demanding the like Surety from the Negro, & com- mitting him to Prison for want of Security.
"In all which Transactions it does not appear that he was : under any Kind of Restraint more than for a few Hours, . and that from absolute necessity, and not at a Time when ... the Duty of his Office required his Attendance. But even". if it had interfered with the Revenue, the Cause of this Re- - straint was of a higher Nature ;- for whenever the Kings Peace comes in Question all Civil Matters must give Way." to the Enquiry. In the 4th Paragraph of his Complaint,. . Mr Hatton calls the Charge against his Negro a Pretense, and says 'the Oath of Hughes was only invented to distress . him and his Family.' If the Oath was invented by the Mag- istrates for the Purpose, it was undoubtedly highly Crimi- nal in them. But can it be supposed that they could induce: Hughes to perjure himself to furnish such a Design? What motive could they have for wishing to distress him? They - were not interested in the Goods seized, nor could he effect their Interest by any Seizures-They were not in Trade, nor had they any Property that could be affected by the Revenue Laws. On the other Hand they had lived on Terms of good Neighbourhood with the Collector; The Magistrate who administered the Oath to Hughes had, as he acknowledges shewn him particular Acts of Civility, But on Hughes's of- fering to make such an Oath, the Magistrates would have been Criminal in Omitting the Enquiry.
"The 5 Par. charges the Magistrates with 'sending five: Men to his House and taking him out by Force thro' heavy Rain, tho' he was exceedingly ill and dangerously wounded." " The Magistrates, to make it as easy as possible to Mr Hat -- ton, convened at the House of his nearest Neighbour, at a" considerable Distance from their own Houses, and did not order Force to be used until they found other measures ineffectual; and it was proved to them by the Man at Whose House they were, that he had been riding about with himm. . most of the Day in the same kind of Weather and the Con- stable (by whom they had received a Message from Mx ..
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Hatton rather disrespectfull) reported to them that he was not so ill as to be in any Danger from coming out.
"The Arrogance and Rudeness with which he charges the Magistrates, was no more than the Language they thought it necessary to use to restrain him from insulting them in the Duty of their Office when he appeared before them, charged on Oath as a Criminal. The £500 Security he offered for his Negro was no other than his own Recog- nizance in that Sum, which they did not think a sufficient Security; nor did they think the Negro Bailable had the Security been ever so good. The Secretary's Letter con- tained no more than his Advice to admit the Negro to Bail if they should think it Legal so to do from the Circum- stances of his Case, of which they were then the sole judges.
"The Justice's had seen the Governor's Proclamation before, and did not think it necessary to read it in the pres- ence of Mr. Hatton, especially as it did not relate to what was then required of them.
"Par. 6. Hughes, in the mean Time, had procured a Writ of Habeas Corpus, and was admitted to Bail by the Hon Charles Read Esqr one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, and Collector of His Majesty's Customs for the Port of Burlington, by which he was entitled to his Liberty. But the Justices of Cape May did not think they had Power to admit him to Bail, tho' he was committed for a Crime of a less Nature than the Negro stood charged with.
"Par. 7. By the Complaint in this Paragraph, one would imagine Mills was one of the Persons pointed out in the Proclamation as being concerned in the Rescue of the Pilot Boat. But the fact is otherwise. Mills is not mentioned in the Proclamation in the Light of a Criminal; nor was he at all concerned in the Affray. Mr Hatton did influence the Printer to insert, under the Proclamation, an Advertisement, signed by himself, offering a reward for apprehending Mills: but he seems not to have been very desirous of hav- ing him taken up, as he declined making any Affidavit be- for the Justices which they thought would be a proper Ground for issuing a Precept against him.
"Par. 8 & 9. These Warrants against Mr Hatton & his Negro, were grounded on Mills's Affidavit, and his demand-
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ing Surety of the Peace against them. From his going vol- untarily before the Justices to make this Affidavit, it should seem that he did not fly from Justice, and that he had at least as much Reason to be affraid from the Threats of Mr Hatton, as the latter could have from his menaces. Mr Hatton insinuates that he wore Pistols in his Pocket, and he charges Mills with carrying a Club, they had quarrelled, and probably mutual Threats had passed. On Binding both Parties to their good Behaviour, the Judges Obliged Mills to find a Bondsman, but from Mr. Hatton they took no other Security than his own Recognizance, which, if it can be called Partiality at all, was in his Favour; tho' by the Words of his Complaint, a Stranger to the Fact would im- agine they obliged him to procure a Bondsman.
"Par. 12 & 15. The Threats of Destruction to any who should give Mr Hatton any Assistance, appear nowhere but in the Complaint; the Magistrates deny any knowledge of it. And, indeed, all his Fears and Injury to his Person and Property appear to be chimerical and without Foundation. His Informations have chiefly come by his own Servants whom he sent out as Spies for that Purpose; and some of the People, knowing their Design, have dropped Expres- sions on purpose to furnish them with a Tale, that they might have an Opportunity to laugh at the Effects of his suspicious Disposition. Par. 13 & 14, are fully answered in the Minutes of Council.
"The Complaint of the 26th Jan. begins with an impu- dent Falsehood. No such Promise was ever made to him; on the Contrary the Governor repeatedly told him that he could not, consistent with the Royal Insctructions, deprive a Justice of his Office, but with the Advice of the Council, which could not be expected 'till after a Hearing. His com- plaint against the Magistrates, after his Answering a few Questions in Explanation of some Parts of it, afforded but a slender Foundation for calling upon them to answer it, much less to suspend them without a Hearing.
"He charges one of the Justices with pursuing the Con- stable, to know what Witnesses he had summoned, and tampering with such as he could influence-The Fact ap- pears thus,
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JOHN HATTON, THE TORY.
"Justice Whilden happened to meet the Constable at the House of one of the Witnesses sent for Mr Hatton, but did not know the Constable's Errand there, nor speak to the Witness on the Subject: nor did he ever. as he declared on Oath, signify the least Desire that any Person should de- cline testifying the whole Truth in Behalf of Mr Hatton. The Collector had sent his Negro to dog the Justice, who seeing him go into this House where the Constable was, and continue there for some Time, returned and told his Master of it-and his Imagination supplied the Rest.
"Mr Hatton says he was more likely to be insulted than to obtain Justice, when he had his Witnesses before the Jus- tices to be sworn, and refers to a Certificate of the two Jus- tices as a Proof of it .- This Certificate amounts to no more than this, That two Persons brought before the Justices re- fused to swear (which they had a Right to do) and that Mr Hatton's Son having written something for one of them to swear to, the man put the Paper in his Pocket and refused to return it.
"It must be observed that Mr Hatton procured the Depo- sitions of twelve other Persons respecting the same Transac- tions; and it is remarkable that these Depositions are all drawn up in the Hand Writing of Mr Hatton & his Son, and in such Parts of them as relate to the Conduct of the Justices, particular Words and Expressions are selected, which, standing by themselves, may sometimes appear to have a meaning totally different from the real sense of them when connected with what was said before and after them.
"Mr Hatton concludes his Address in Language that would excite Compassion in the Breast of a Savage-if the Facts asserted in it were true.
" 'I have left my Wife at the Point of Death thro' Fright, my only Child wounded and a cripple. And my Servants trembling thro' Fear; and I obliged to quit my Family and Office and to travel thro' snowy Desarts, all by reason of the Power and Actions of James Whilden, Thomas Leam- ing & John Leonard Esquires.'
"From all that has appeared concerning this matter, so far as I have been able to discover, he might with as much Truth, have inserted the Names of the Commissioners of
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the Customs, or the Directors of the East India Company, as the Justices of Cape May. For except that he was twice sent for by the Magistrates on Criminal Accusations, which took up but a very few Hours of his Time, he seenis to have been as much at Liberty, and as free from Obstructions froni the Magistrates and all other Persons within their Jur- isdiction as any man in the Country.
"In his Remonstrance of the 20th of February he charges ' the greatest Part of the People of the County' with being 'Smugglers, boasting the Sweets of an illicit Trade, and de- pending on the Magistrates for Support in their Villany.'
"Mr. Hatton has resided among them for some years past and been particularly intimate with them, in all which Time he has made no Complaint of an illicit Trade being carried on amongst theni, nor has he now pointed out any Instance of Smuggling, or sliewed any Circumstances to in- duce a Belief that there has been any of that Business car- ried on by the People of Cape-May. The Bulk of the Peo- ple and all the magistrates of whom he has complained, are Farmers, unacquainted with Trade and accustomed to a re- tired and peaceful Life. That there may have been Smug- gling carried on from on board the Ship he mentions, is very probable: and it is beyond a Doubt that Mr. Hatton and his Son were much beat and wounded on board the Pilot Boat by Seamen belonging to the Ship-but it is not even alleged that tlie Magistrates of Cape May were privy to it, or gave any Contenance to the Perpetrators of it. Hughes, the only Person, except the Sailors, who was in the Affray, was taken up by the Magistrates and committed to Prison as soon as he came on Shore; and, notwithstand- ing the Violence of Mr. Hatton's Accusation, the Magis- trate before whom he was examined, alleges that Hatton and liis Son acknowledged, on their first coming on Shore, that they had intreated Hughes, during the Affray, to mod- erate the Fury of the Sailors & to save their Lives, and that Hughes had interposed in their Behalf. The Truth I believe is, that Mr. Hatton being disappointed of the Prize he had taken, was determined to turn his Wounds to some Account another Way. He seems to have had it in View, from the Beginning of his Quarrel, to provoke the Magis-
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strates into Acts of Indiscretion, that might wear the appear- : ance of Persecution; and stories to ground all their Trans- actions against him, on a Settled Dislike to his Office, as "one that the People wish to be entirely rid of. He wants to induce a Belief in his Superiors that he is persecuted for "a strict Adherence to his Duty, which he doubts not will procure him Preferment.
"It is not the Office but the Officer that is unpopular in the Province. He ascribes to himself the Attributes of Majesty, and considers himself as out of the Reach of the Laws -- that his Person and his Servants are sacred, and not to be called to account for even the most attrocious crimes; -that his very Potatoes are to be treated with so much Re- spect, that a Servant employed in gathering them, must not be arrested tho' charged on Oath with a Design against the Life of a Subject! It is by no means strange that a Mind under the Influence of such Ideas should, on the other Hand consider the People of the Country as in a State of Rebellion, disregarding all Laws but such as they can ex- ercise to the Oppression of his Majesty's Officers, and carrying on an illicit Trade in open Deflance of them, and that he should ascribe to the magistrates against whom he complains, an unbounded Influence over the Bulk of the People, and a more Arbitrary Exercise of Power than the Bashaws of Turkey could arrive at.
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