Auction Closing: June 8, 2024 at 11:59 PM Pacific Time
Lot Number: 5
Estimate Range: $3,500 - $4,000
1762 Francis Bernard Signed French and Indian War Military Commission to Raise Troops but: “.... being careful not to enlist .... any Negroes, except one only to a Company, as a Servant to the Captain” and Beautifully Display Framed
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SIR FRANCIS BERNARD (1712-1779). Colonial America appointed Royal Governor of New Jersey in 1758, and Governor of Massachusetts-Bay in 1760 and who could not control the riotous town of Boston.
March 9th, 1762-Dated Colonial, French and Indian War Period, Partially-Printed Military Commission Signed, “Fra(ncis) Bernard”, as Colonial Royal Governor of Massachusetts-Bay Province, Very Fine. This document is 1 page, measuring 12.5” x 7.5”, matted and framed to fully 14.75” x 19.5”. It is dated March 9th, 1762 and Signed, “Fra(ncis) Bernard” near the top left, directly under its clear Embossed Red Wax and Paper Seal on laid period paper. An earlier collector mounted this document on a heavier paper and has pencilled in a few letters to enhance or complete those letters (not inspected removed from its frame).
This fascinating document authorizes Ensign Leonard Butterfield of Dunstable, Massachusetts, to enlist soldiers to serve in two Militia Regiments being formed in Massachusetts. The men were to be paid seven pounds for service through October and be supplied the usual equipment. However, this Document warns, in part:
“.... You are to be particularly carefull not to enlist .... any Negroes, except one only to a Company, as a Servant to the Captain .... And you are not to enlist .... any other suspicious person ....”.
This is an important piece of early American Colonial history and a glimpse into Black History race relations at the time. Beautifully, professionally Display Framed and shown through special UV Plexiglas, ready to hang on display. Provenance Ex: EAHA Auction August 23, 2008 where is sold (unframed) for $3,540. Sir Francis Bernard was born to Anglican minister Francis Bernard and Margery Winlowe in Berkshire, England. After serving in a variety of legal positions in Britain, Bernard was appointed Governor of New Jersey in 1758, and Governor of Massachusetts in 1760.
Although critical of British colonial policies, Bernard felt it important to uphold unpopular legislation such as the Stamp Act of 1765. In 1768, he asked the Massachusetts General Court to rescind a Circular Letter, which encouraged other colonial assemblies to oppose the Townshend Acts. When the legislature refused, he dissolved the Assembly and suggested to his superiors that troops be sent to Boston to enforce imperial legislation.
In April 1769, several of Bernard's letters to Lord Hillsborough, in which Bernard criticized Boston and the General Court for refusing to obey the Quartering Act of 1766, were published in a pamphlet and distributed in Boston. His support virtually extinguished in Massachusetts, Bernard was recalled to London, and left Boston on 1 August 1769. Upon returning to Britain, he served nominally as customs commissioner for Ireland until his retirement from public service in 1774.