NJ Colonial Documents — Journal of the Governor & Council, 1773 — the OFFICIAL Council record of Benjamin Cooper's [p.2] royal pardon (with Bernard Budd + Samuel Haynes) for the counterfeiting / Treasury-robbery case + the Treasury-robbery deposition orders (Joseph Richardson, Rev. John Hanna, Sheriff Thomas Kinney).

Transcription and notes

Source: Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New Jersey (NJ Archives, 1st Series) — Journal of the Governor and Council, 1773 (Gov. William Franklin presiding). FamilySearch Full-Text, IGN 007809475, image 501 (printed pp. 368–369). On disk: Research/familysearch/Benjamin Cooper in Hunterdon County NJ/New Jersey. History Records, Reference Materials/….

The official Provincial-Council record of Benjamin Cooper's pardon — corroborating (at higher grade than) the newspaper report [J.134] and the NJ-Archives-Vol-XXIX account [M.32].

Data from the document [verbatim] (OCR-transcribed)

• Treasury-robbery investigation (same session): "His Excellency … lay before the Board some Information … from Thomas Kinney Esq., Sheriff of the County of Morris, respecting the Robbery of the Treasury. Whereupon the Council advised … the Depositions of the Reverend John Hanna of Kingwood … be taken, and also that Thomas Stout near the Dutch Meeting House in Reading Town … relate what he knows respecting Joseph Richardson's being possessed of a large quantity of Jersey Paper Money, and exchanging the same … for Gold or other Money …"
• The Assembly declines to examine the convicts: "a Message from the House of Assembly … 'That with respect to the convicts in Morris County Gaol the House are of Opinion that it is not proper to send for or examine them.'" (Cf. [M.32] — the Assembly's later critique of the magistrates' coercion of a confession.)
• ** THE PARDON: *"Whereupon the Council advised his Excellency to issue His Majesty's Royal Pardon to the said Convicts, viz Benjamin Cooper, Bern[ard] Budd, and Samuel Haynes*."

Significance

• The official Council journal confirms Benjamin Cooper's royal pardon for the counterfeiting / Treasury-robbery case, alongside Dr. Bernard ("Barn") Budd and Samuel (Joseph) Haynes — the same pardon reported in the newspaper [J.134] (13 Dec 1773) and narrated in [M.32]. This is the primary governmental record of it.
• Ties the case to the Samuel-Ford / Joseph-Richardson Treasury-robbery-and-counterfeiting ring and the era's "great scarcity of money" (the counterfeiters exploited NJ paper currency).
• Same 1773 Journal of Governor & Council volume/series as the 1768 commission [M.51] that names Benjamin a Morris JP — so within five years the Council journal shows him first as a magistrate (1768) then as a pardoned convict (1773). The financial backdrop = the Hibernia/Stirling debt collapse (see [p.2] + [K.33]/[K.36]/[K.37]/[K.38]).

Cross-references

• p.2 Capt. Benjamin Cooper (counterfeiting-trial section) · newspaper pardon J.134 · NJ Archives Vol XXIX M.32 · the 1768 JP commission M.51.