[PARTIALLY PRINTED DOCUMENT, SIGNED, BY FRANCIS BERNARD AS COLONIAL GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, ACCOMPLISHED IN MANUSCRIPT, APPOINTING A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY].. This item is unavailable.[PARTIALLY PRINTED DOCUMENT, SIGNED, BY FRANCIS BERNARD AS COLONIAL GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS, ACCOMPLISHED IN MANUSCRIPT, APPOINTING A JUSTICE OF THE PEACE IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY].

A colonial Massachusetts document, signed by governor Francis Bernard, appointing Samuel Henley a justice of the peace. During the Revolution, Henley (1718-1795) served as an officer of Massachusetts troops in the Continental army from 1777 to 1783, retiring with the rank of captain. After the war he was an excise collector under the Massachusetts government. Governor Bernard firmly toed the line of British policies in the 1760s, including the Sugar, Stamp, and Townshend Acts, making him an intensely unpopular figure in the colony. He was recalled to England in 1770 and, despite being cleared of any wrongdoing by the Privy Council, he elected to resign his post and remain in Europe. Bifolium. Light staining and wear. Very good.