| Description | Addressed to Governor William Shirley and the honourable gentlemen of His Majesty's Council constituting a Court of Chancery, certified by P Brown, 6 Aug 1772, his case of the dismissal of two bills filed against Gould and Massey, on the ground that they were not signed, the Governor exacted a "pistole for his fiat" as it is called, but would never have any motion about it after, no loan or ordinance to support such exactions, "Hoping to save expenses I lost a pistole more in submitting to the imposition, the dismission may appear to be want of security for costs, but the judges to me talked on the heads here handled, as things are no secret it is probable at a private consultation they altered their intended proceedings and assigned a new cause of dismission, they are capable of anything" |