Sir As I was apprehensive that the Cou[n]sel concerned for [Bu]ll & Sands would require a copy of the Admiralty orders [?] be annext to & made part of the Return or would otherwise [co]ntend that no respect ought to be paid to them, it was necessa[ry] for me to be provided agt the worst; I therefore mentioned [in] my last letter the annexing a copy of the orders to the return [th]at the Chief Justice has, on my motion & without any ob[je]ction being made thereto by the other side, contented himself [wi]th hearing the original orders read to him at the time [of] the return; so that, they have been reced & considered one of the causes of detention, without being put on [re]cord & thereby subject to official inspection & being copied [and] dispersed abroad ー These were points I despaired of [ob]taining.
[Yo]u will observe from the proceedings, of which Mr Smith [has] taken an Office-Copy, that the Chief Justice, on consideration of the return & orders mentioned therein, has thought [pro]per to discharge both Bull & Sands. As this judicial dec[ision] must prevail in every similar case, I submit it to [yo]ur consideration whet[her] their Lordships can expect you to [pu]t others in the like predicament to the expence & trouble [of] like application. For my own part, I am confident that [the] calm we here enjoy would instantly have become a storm, [?] you had not complied with these writs & that you have as much contributed to the peace of your Country by your ready submission to its civil authority as you have to [its] prosperity & [honour] by the spirited firmness of your [?]ry conduct: The Publick [illegible] must be fully satisfied that you will not affect the liberties & properties of your fellow subjects beyond what the necessity of your service & duty to his Majesty requires. I am, Sir [&c.]
Jany: 19th: 1776
[Endorsed by Gayton] Letter from the Attorney General with respect to the two North Americans, who were Summand, before the Chief Justice, by Writs of Habeas Corpus, and his Opinion, with regard to my complying, with those Writs.
