[Appendix A(11) 1792 Report of Commissioners of Inquiry]

N° 11.

The EXAMINATION of Mr HUGH COSNAHAN, taken at Douglas in the Isle of Man, September 27th, 1791 .

[Cross-Examined by the Duke of Atholl.]

The Examinant saith, that he believes that the Month of January, 1765, was the first Time that the Rumour reached the Isle of Man of the Treaty for the Sale of the Island

That the Inhabitants first became acquainted with this Treaty by public Rumour, and the House of Keys applied to the Governor to be called together upon this Rumour : That this first Requisition was not complied with ; he does not recollect whether there was a second Requisition, but he believes there was, and that a Meeting of the House of Keys was held in Consequence thereof, ançi he was appointed one of the Commissioners in March,1765, to attend Parliament upon that Business of the Island. When he was in London. he expressed his Surpnise to the Duke of Atholl and Mr. Hamrnersley that the Inhabitants were not appnised of what had passed between Government and His Grace respecting the Sale of the Island ; he cannot recollect whether he received any Answer from His Grace upon that Head, but Mr. Hammersley said Mr. Quayle had Directions from the Duke of Atholl to apprise the Inhabitants of what was going on respecting the Sale of the Iuland : That Mr. Hammersley then said to Mr. Quayle, You had Directions to communicate to the People of the Island what was going on respecting the Sale of the Island ;. Mr. Quayle acknowledged that he had had Directions, and that he had communicated, that Information to the People :. He then. aiked Mr. Quayle to whom he had given that Information, and Mr. Quayle said to the Governor. He recollects that, after Mr. Quayle went away, Mr. Hammoersley seemed to express as much Surprise as this Examinanit that the Irhabitants were not acquainted with what had passed, and gave Mr. Moore Copies of what had passed between. Government and His. Grace respecting the Sale of the Island. He recollects that in his Conversation at this Time with. the Duke of Atholl, he expressed his Regret,. both as a Delegate and a Merchant, that the Duke of Atholl had parted with the Island, and a Surprise that Government could so minutely come to a Knowledge of the Amount of the Revenues of the Island for Ten Years past. He mentioned to His Grace, that if he had gone to Dunkeld, and let the Storm blow over, that the Island might be in the same Condition it had been :. His Grace replied, that, as Matters then stood in the House of Commons, he should lose all his Revenues without any Compensation.

[Cross-examined by the Keys.]

He did hear that some of the inhabitants, in the Spring of 1765, in consequence of their not , having heard of the Sale of the Island, refused to pay the Duties to the Duke of Atholl and he was one of them, not from any Intention of evading the Payment of what was due to him, from a Notion that the Duke had no Right, but from a considerable Loss he had Ibstained by his Absence from the island, and the Quantity of Goods he had in Hand that he did not know what to do with ; and he was not dissuaded by any Person from paying such Duties ; and he considered his not being. called, upon for the Payment of those Duties as a Favour from His Grace’s Family.

Had th Exportation of India Goods and Spirits to Great Britain and Ireland been stopped, and no Increase of Trade given on the Part of Great Britain, he would not, as one of the Keys, or a Merchant, have consented to any Augmentation of the Duties payable in 1765.

[Re-examined by the Duke of Atholl.]

In the Year 1765, if he had found the Island had not been sold, he as a Merchant, would have been one, and would have recommended it to others, to have augmented His Grace’s Duties, if he had required it, and would have gone every Length that the Trade would bear to have preserved the island in its then Trade ; and he, as a Key and a Merchant, would have cordially joined the Body of the Keys and the other Inhabitants of the Island in every reasonable Request of the Duke, and that the Trade would bear, to regulate a Trade that might have been suitable for the People of this Island,

[ Cross-examined by the Keys.]

and not to injure the British Government.

HUGH COSNAHAN.

Jn^o Spranger.
W^m Osgoode.
Will^m Roe.
David Reid.