By His Excellency George James Bruere Esq^r:
Governor, Commander in Chief and Vice
Admiral of these Islands­—
To all to whom this Present Writing or Instrument
of Protest shall come or may Concern Greeting­—

Know ye that this fourteenth day of October in the Year of Our Lord one Thousand seven hundred and seventy Seven before me personally appeared John Collins Esq^r: Commander of His Majesty's Sloop of War the Nautilus, who Solemnly made Oath on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, that on the fourth Instant October, at Night two Prisoners, whose Names are Henry Hutchings, of this Island, late Lieu^t: of the Ex­periment Brig^t. a Pirate from South Carolina, and William Dishrom Gunner of the Buck­ skin Schooner a Pirate from Virginia, escaped from on board His Majesty's aforesaid Sloop the Nautilus, He this Deponant in Conformity to his Duty made immediate Ap­plication to his Excellency the Governor aforesaid, who Sent his request by an Offi­cer of the Nautilus, whose name is William Cosway to the Honble Jon^a. Burch Esq^r: Chief Justice of these Islands, for a Warrant which might Authorize a General Search for the said Prisoners in any, & all such places as might afford them Protection or En­tertainment, causing the Chief Justice afores^d: to be Acquainted at the same time, that the aforesaid Prisoners were taken in Arms against His Majesty, and had consequently incurred the Penalty of High Treason, And this Deponant further saith that he was prompted to make the above named Application, from the Recollection of the Blame which had been cast on Lieu^t: Merrick of His Majesty's Ship the Galatea, who altho', he was in pursuit on the twenty Second day of February last past, of a Vessel on Illicit Trade from North Carolina and was fired at in His Majesty's Boat by the People on board the said Vessel, & afterwards on his landing, set upon and beaten & insulted by a Mob, was Nevertheless universally blamed by the Inhabitants of these Islands for forcing Open the Door of a Store house, the Next Morning, which was supposed to contain a part of the Cargo of the aforesaid Vessel, because he thesaid Merrick had presumed to do so without the Sanction of the Civil Majestrate Authority.¹ And this Deponant further saith that in order to avoid the most distant imputation of Shew­ing any Slight or disrespect either to the Laws or the Civil Power, he this deponant caused above Application to be made as before recited to His Excellency the Gover­nor as well as to the Chief Justice aforementioned, but to this Deponants inexpress­ible Astonishment, he was informed by the Officer who made the Personal Applica­tion to the said Chief Justice, that altho' he the said Officer had declared to thes^d. Chief Justice, that he, as well as several Others, were ready to ascertain on Oath, the Fact of taking the aforesaid Prisoners in Arms against their Sovereign, And notwithstanding the Censure which had been Cast on Lieu^t: Merrick for omitting to make a Similar Application (which omission was not only exclaimed against by the Inhabitants of these Islands amongst themselves, but was absolutely made a Charge and Complaint Against thesaid Merrick to the Lord Viscount Howe) And notwithstanding the above request & Interposition of the Governor, he thesaid Chief Justice then absolutely re­fused, and still does refuse to Grant this Deponant the Warrant required of him as be­fore recited, by which refusal this Deponant is prevented from recovering two Pris­oners who have engaged in Actual Rebellion & his Majesty's Service of Course very materially impeded and detrimented, Therefore thesaid John Collins in order to ex­ampt himself, his Officers & Crew from all and every species of Accusation by any Per­son whatever at any time hereafter, doth hereby Publicly and Solemnly Protest against the Conduct of the said Jonathan Burch, which this Deponant conceives to be no less injurious to Our Sovereign than incompatible with the Duty of an upright Majestrate and a good Subject, And Persevering in thesaid Protest, thesaid Appearer hath here­unto at his Hand the day and year first within written—

This Done and Protested before me the Governor and Vice Admiral aforesaid, In Testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and Caused the Great Seal of these Islands to be affixed the day and year aforesaid— George James Bruere

By His Excellency's
Command­—
Jn^o. Randle