Note 13 — Chapter VII · THE JOURNAL OF WILLIAM RUSSELL (1776-1783)
Reading edition
The commitment proceedings in the case of William Russell were conducted by two justices, and their findings read in part as follows:
“For as much as appears unto James Young and Ralph Mitchell, two of the Justices of our Lord the King, assigned to keep the Peace within the said county (of Devon) on the examination of William Russell, Mariner late of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in North America, a Prisoner brought before us, charged with being found in Arms and Rebellion on the High Seas on board the Jason ship American Privateer, sailed out of Boston in North America, and commissioned by the North American Congress, which was taken by the Surprise, English Frigate;
“That the said William Russell was taken at Sea in the High Treason Act committed on the High Seas, out of the Realm on the 29th day of September last, being then and there found in Arms levying War, in Rebellion and aiding the King’s Enemies, and was landed in Dartmouth in the County of Devon, and the said William Russell now brought before in the Parish of Stock Demereall aforesaid, charged with and to be committed for the said offense to the Old Mill Prison in the Borough of Plymouth.”