Sirー

Last week we received a letter from Capt. William Rogers, commander of the sloop Montgomery in the service of your State, requesting us to undertake the agency and act in behalf of the State and himself, in libeling one brig which was returning from a whaling voyage, with about three hundred barrels of oil, and had been taken by the English, carried into New-York, and acquitted by them, and afterwards taken by Captain Rogers in company with the privateers Schuyler and Mifflin, and sent in here. The Commodore and Continental agent, in behalf of the other two privateers (which are fitted out by the Continent) gave the brig up, as there were no papers appeared by which they could condemn her, and they produced a certificate, a copy of which you have enclosed, of their permission to sail at the time they did. As matters were thus circumstanced, we imagined it would be in vain to libel her when the others who were two-thirds concerned saw no prospect of condemning her, and after consulting with the prize master, we declined prosecuting. The other is a Bermudian sloop which was taken with entrenching tools on board; the tools are taken out and were sent to General Washington, and they put a quantity of flour on board from some other of their prizes. She is libelled and will be tried the first of October next, and as there is no claimer she will of course be condemned. We shall now wait your orders in what manner to proceed, as she was taken in company with the abovementioned privateers, and shall be glad to hear from you as soon as possible. We are in.the meantime with due respect, sir [&c.]

P.S. Enclosed with the certificate you have the affair of the brig stated by the lawyer.

[Enclosure]
[The case of the Brigantine Temple.]

It appears by her papers that she was owned by Wm. Rotch of Nantucket, and cleared out there on a whaling voyage, the 26th May, 1775, in common form, but did not sail till the last of October following.

After her clearing and before her sailing, to wit: in the month of August, the following resolve was passed in the House of Representatives of the Massachusetts Bay, and concurred with by the Council:

That from and after the fifteenth day of this instant, August, no ship or vessel shall sail out of any port of this Colony on any whaling voyage whatever, without leave first had from the great and general court of this Colony, or from some committee or committees, or persons they shall appoint to grant such leave.

The brig sailed from Nantucket under the command of Joshua Morris some time the last of October, for the coast of Brazil, on a whaling voyage. And upon her passage home, having about three hundred barrels of oil on board, she was taken by a British man of war and carried into Sandy Hook, and after being detained a few days was dismissed with a pass from Admiral Howe to proceed to Nantucket. Soon after she left the Hook, to wit, on the 20th of August, 1776, she was taken by the Continental sloops of war called the Mifflin and the Schuyler, and by the sloop Montgomery fitted out by the State of New-York, and carried into a harbour on the south side of Long island, where she lay till the British troops got possession of Long island, when the captors sent her into this port to be libelled.

At the time of capture she had on board no certificate that she had obtained leave to go on a whaling voyage. Since her arrival here her owner from Nantucket has sent the following certificate, to wit:

Treasurey office, Sept. 28th, 1775.

I hereby certify that Wm. Rotch hath given bond according to the direction of the General Assembly of this Colony, in order to send on a whaling voyage the brig Temple, Joshua Morris, master.

Henry Gardner, Treas.

Quere. Whether it is advisable to libel the brig or not?