Doctor Baker, be appointed to consider the Petition from Gorham, and to sit forthwith.

Ordered, That Captain Whitemore, Mr. Freeman, and Doctor Baylies, assist as scribes the Committees, in taking fair copies of the Depositions in order for the Press, and to sit forthwith.

Ordered, That Jonas Dix, Esq., William Stickney, Esq., and Deacon Stone, be appointed to take true copies of the Depositions, and have them signed by the Deponents, and authenticated by the Justices and Notary Publick.

Ordered, That Mr. Hubbart have leave to go home a few days.

Adjourned to nine o’clock to-morrow morning.

Friday, April 28, 1775.

Met conformably to adjournment.

Ordered, That Mr. President, Col. Gerrish, Mr. Gerry; Doctor Holten, and Mr. Gill, be appointed to confer with the gentlemen from New-Hampshire, and are desired to lay the Letters just received from New-York, dated April nineteenth, before them.

Ordered, (at the desire of the Secretary pro tempore,) that he be excused from that service, after another is appointed in that place.

Accordingly Mr. Samuel Freeman was appointed to that office, pro tempore.

Resolved, That the Committee appointed to confer with the Committee who this day arrived here from the Colony of New-Hampshire, have leave to report to this Congress a draught of a Letter, which they have prepared as an answer to one received from the Convention of the said Colony of New-Hampshire, dated twenty-sixth instant.

The said draught was accordingly reported, read, and unanimously accepted, and ordered to be authenticated by the President, and delivered to Colonel Nathaniel Folsom, Colonel Josiah Bartlett, and Major Samuel Hobart, Esq., the Committee from the said Convention of New-Hampshire, and is as follows, viz:

“GENTLEMEN: It is with pleasure we have received your letter, above mentioned, and by a Committee of this Congress, have had a conference with your respectable Committee.

“We find the fullest conviction in the minds of the inhabitants of our sister Colonies, as well as of this, that by their immediate and most vigorous exertions, there is the greatest prospect of establishing their liberties, and saving their Country, and that, without such exertions, all must be lost.

“It is the opinion of this Congress, as already communicated, that a powerful Army on our side must at once cut out such a work for a tyrannical Administration, as, under the great opposition which they meet with in England, they cannot accomplish, and that their system of despotism must soon be shaken to the foundation. But should they still pursue their sanguinary measures, that the Colonies will then be able to make a successful stand.

“We have the utmost confidence in your patriotick Colony, whose inhabitants have signalized themselves, in joining their brethren in this, and hope to see New-Hampshire, and every other Government which has been exposed to the corruption of a British Ministry, soon placed upon such a footing as will be best calculated to promote the true interest of the same, and to prevent, in future, such unhappy disputes as have taken place with the mother Country.

“We have just received an agreeable account of the conduct of our brethren in New-York, and have delivered a copy of the letter to your Committee.

“We sincerely thank you for your measures, taken in Convention at Exeter, and are fully persuaded that the Congress of your Colony, which is to meet on the seventeenth of May, will take such effectual steps as the present exigencies of publick affairs require, and the Continent of America must necessarily approve.”

Ordered, That the Secretary authenticate a copy of a Letter this day received from Governour Hopkins, of Rhode-Island, and deliver the same to the above mentioned Committee from New-Hampshire.

Ordered, That Mr. Dickerson, Doctor Holten, and Colonel Gerrish, be a Committee to wait upon the Committee

from New-Hampshire to the Committee of Safety of this Colony, now sitting at Cambridge, to consult with them respecting the New-Hampshire Forces, now at Cambridge.

Ordered, That the President, Mr. Gerry, and Mr. Gardner, be a Committee to take into consideration a Letter this day received from the Honourable Stephen Hopkins, Esq., dated Providence, April 27, 1775.

Ordered, That Mr. Crane, Mr. Grout, and Mr. Fisher, be a Committee to take into consideration the expediency of establishing Post-Riders between the Massachusetts Forces and the Town of Worcester.

Ordered, That Mr. Crane, Mr. Grout, and Mr. Fisher, be a Committee to take into consideration the propriety of recommending to the several Towns and Districts in this Colony, that they take no notice of the Precepts lately issued by General Gage, for calling a General Assembly.

Ordered, That Major Fuller, of Newton, Mr. Goodman, Doctor Taylor, Doctor Baylies, and Major Brooks, be a Committee to prepare a form of a Commission for the several Officers of the Army now forming in this Province.

Adjourned to three o’clock this afternoon.

Afternoon.

Ordered, That Mr. Fisher, Doctor Taylor, and Benjamin Aiken, Esq., be a Committee to prepare a draught of Rules and Regulations, to be in future observed by the several Members of this Congress.

The Committee appointed in the forenoon, to take into consideration a Letter received from the Honourable Stephen Hopkins, Esq., reported.

The Report was accepted, and ordered to lie on the table, for the present.

Ordered, That the Committee appointed to introduce the Honourable Delegates from the Convention at Exeter, in New-Hampshire, to the Committee of Safety, apply to said Committee for an authentick account of what transactions have certainly taken place with respect to the liberation of our friends in Boston, and report as soon as may be.

Ordered, That Colonel Dexter, Major Brooks, Doctor Taylor, Captain Batchelder, and Captain Greenleaf, be a Committee to bring in a Resolve, empowering the Committee of Supplies to procure such Provisions, Military Stores, and other Stores, as they shall judge necessary for the Army now forming in this Colony, during its establishment.

It was Moved, That the sense of this Congress be taken, whether it would be expedient to reduce the Pay of the Field-Officers of the Army. After much debate, the question was put, and it passed in the affirmative, by a large majority; whereupon it was determined, that the Pay of the Chief Colonel be reduced from fifteen Pounds to twelve Pounds, and that the Lieutenant-Colonels and Majors be reduced in the same proportion.

Ordered, That Major Fuller, of Newton, Colonel Dexter, and Captain Little, be a Committee to bring in a Resolve for that purpose,

Adjourned to eight o’clock to-morrow morning.

Saturday, April 29, 1775.

The Committee appointed to wait on the New-Hampshire Committee to the Committee of Safety at Cambridge, and to make inquiry respecting the liberation of the inhabitants of Boston, reported, that they had attended that business, and had brought from the Committee of Safety a number of papers, which contain the proceedings of the Town of Boston with General Gage, in respect to moving the inhabitants and their effects.

And that the Committee of Safety, having taken the substance of them into consideration, desired they might be returned to them, and that the Congress would not pass any resolve respecting them until they had come to some resolve concerning them; therefore,

Ordered, That the subject-matter of said Papers be referred to the consideration of the said Committee of Safety; they to make report to this Congress as soon as may be.

On a motion made, Ordered, That the day appointed for the first meeting of the County Committees, which was the first Wednesday in May next, be postponed to the fourth Wednesday in May next.

The Committee appointed to prepare a draught of Rules and Regulations to be observed by this Congress, reported;