Ordered, That it be committed.

Accordingly ordered that Mr. Pickering, Colonel Cushing, and Colonel Farley, be a Committee to take the same into consideration.

Ordered, That Colonel Palmer, Colonel Cushing, and Mr. Cushing, of Scituate, be a Committee to set in the recess of this Congress, to prepare all such Rules and Regulations for the Officers and Men of the Constitutional Army, which may be raised in this Province, as shall be necessary for the good order thereof.

The Committee appointed by the late Provincial Congress to estimate the loss and damage which hath accrued to the Province by the operation of the Boston Port Bill, and the Act for altering the Civil Government of this Province, reported; the Report ordered to be filed.

The Committee appointed to bring in a Resolve relative to the payment of the late Delegates to the Continental Congress, reported; the Report was accepted, and is as followeth, viz:

Whereas, the accounts of expenses incurred by the Honourable, Thomas Cushing, Mr. Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat Paine, Esquires, in the execution of the trust reposed in them as Representatives of this Province, at the Grand Continental Congress held at Philadelphia, in the months of September and October last, has been exhibited to and approved of by this Congress, and there appears to be due to the said Delegates the sum of nine Pounds, seventeen Shillings, and ten Pence, lawful money, in order to discharge their said expenses; and this Congress have voted that the sum of fifty-six Pounds be paid to each of the aforesaid Delegates, in order to compensate them for their time spent in said service: Therefore,

Resolved, That Henry Gardner, Esquire, Receiver General of this Province, be directed, and he is hereby accordingly directed to pay to the Honourable Thomas Cashing, Esquire, the above sum of nine Pounds, seventeen Shillings, and ten Pence, for expenses, and the sum of fifty-six Pounds for his time spent in the service aforesaid; and to Mr. Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat Paine, Esquires, each the sum of fifty-six Pounds, as a recompense for their time spent in said service.

The same Committee reported the following Resolve, which was accepted, viz:

Whereas the Honourable John Hancock, Honourable Thomas Cushing, Mr. Samuel Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat Paine, Esquires, were, by a former Provincial Congress, chosen and appointed a Committee of Delegates to meet the Delegates from the other American Colonies, at Philadelphia, on the 10th day of May next, or sooner, if necessary. And whereas it is ordered by this Congress that the sum of one hundred Pounds be allowed and paid each of them to enable them to perform said journey:

Therefore, Resolved, That Henry Gardner. Esquire, Receiver General of this Province be, and hereby is ordered and directed to pay unto Robert Treat Paine, Esquire, the sum of forty-six Pounds, lawful money, in consideration of the same sum being by him accidentally lost out of his pocket while on his journey to Philadelphia, in the service of this Government.

Afternoon.

Ordered, That Mr. Sullivan, Colonel Patterson, and Colonel Thomas, be a Committee to revise the commission of the Committee of Safety, and the commission of the Committee of Supplies, and point out what amendments, if any, are necessary.

Upon a motion made, the question was put whether the vote relative to committing the Petition of Thomas Legate, Esquire, be reconsidered, and the Petitioner have leave to withdraw his Petition, and passed in the affirmative.

Ordered, That the Secretary be directed to publish the names of the Mandamus Counsellors (in all the Newspapers in this Province) now in Boston, agreeably to the order of the late Provincial Congress.

The Committee appointed to take into consideration how the Ordnance should be disposed of, are directed to make report to the Committee of Safety.

A Petition from the Delegates of the several Towns and Districts in the Counties of Hampshire and Berkshire, was read, and is as followeth, viz:

To the Honourable House of Delegates for the Province of the MASSACHUSETTS BAY, in NEW ENGLAND, in-Provincial Congress assembled, at CAMBRIDGE, in the County of MIDDLESEX, on WEDNESDAY, the 1st day of FEBRUARY, 1775:

The subscribers, Delegates from the several Towns and Districts in the Counties of Hampshire and Berkshire, in the Province aforesaid, in behalf of their constituents, the inhabitants of the said Counties, most humbly shew: That the inhabitants of the said two Counties are very generally determined strictly to keep, perform, and abide by the Association and recommendations of the late Honourable Continental Congress; and also, to the uttermost of their power, to conform and execute the recommendations and directions of the late Congress of this Province, more especially such of them as refer to the payments to Henry Gardner, Esquire, of the publick moneys heretofore granted by the General Court, yet outstanding, and for the organizing and equipping, accoutring, and disciplining the Militia in general, and the Minute-men in particular, and also respecting the procuring full supplies of the Town stocks of Ammunition, according to law; but, upon a careful view and examination of the Arms of the inhabitants of the said Counties, already had by the Military Officers lately chosen there by the people, it appears that, although able-bodied, effective, and well-disposed men generally equip, and furnished with good fire-arm, have already freely offered themselves to fill up and complete their full proportion of Minute-men, as recommended by the Provincial Congress, in the County of Berkshire, and in the greatest part of the Towns in Hampshire, and all the other Towns in said County of Hampshire are proceeding to fill them up. Nevertheless, there are not to be found in the said County good effective fire-arms, fully sufficient to equip all the men there able to bear arms, and to act in defence of their country; and as the enemies of these Colonies frequently throw out that Administration have conceived a bloody plan of mustering great numbers of French Canadians, and remote tribes of Savages, and to bring them against this Province, in order to effect their system of despotism and tyranny over the inhabitants of these Colonies; and as the inhabitants of the said Counties apprehend it highly probable that the first attacks that will be made on the people of this Province by the said Canadians and Indians, if any such should happen, will fall upon them:

The inhabitants of Berkshire and Hampshire are therefore humbly of the opinion, that it is absolutely necessary that every man in both the said Counties, able to bear arms, should be furnished with a good effective fire-lock; and, as there are several such men in both the said Counties utterly unable to furnish themselves with such arms, and as many such able-bodied men there are settled upon lands which are not incorporated into Towns or Districts; and therefore such arms cannot be procured for them, in such manner as prescribed for the procuring of arms for the poor inhabitants which belong to any Town or District, by the Laws of this Province, your Petitioners, therefore, humbly supplicate that this Congress would take some order which shall be effectual, for the procuring such a number of fire-arms, at the expense of the Province, and bestow them upon such poor inhabitants, that there may not be so much as one able-bodied man in either of the said two Counties who shall not be equipped with a good effective fire-arm. All which is most humbly submitted, and your Petitioners, as they ought, shall every pray.

Signed by SETH POMEROY, and nineteen others.

Ordered, That the same be committed to the Commit tee on the State of the Province, and that the Committee make the Petition publick if they think proper.

Adjourned till to-morrow morning, nine o'clock.

Saturday, February 11, 1775, A. M.

The Committee appointed to revise the commission of the Committee of Safety and the Committee of Supplies, &c., reported by way of Resolve, which was considered and accepted, and is as followeth, viz:

Whereas several Resolves have been passed by this and the former Provincial Congress, authorizing and directing