Castle, or Barrack, or elsewhere, where the Corps under his command consists of detachments from different Regiments, or of independent Companies, may assemble Courts-Martial for the trial of offenders in the same manner as if they were Regimental, whose sentence is not to be executed till it shall be confirmed by the said Commanding Officer.

ART. XXXIX. No person whatsoever shall use menacing words, signs, or gestures, in the presence of a Court-Martial then sitting, or shall cause any disorder or riot, so as to disturb their proceedings, on the penalty of being punished at the discretion of the said Court-Martial.

ART. XL. To the end that offenders may be brought to justice, whenever any Officer or Soldier shall commit a crime deserving punishment, he shall, by his Commanding Officer, if an Officer, be put in arrest; if a Non-Commission Officer or Soldier, be imprisoned till he shall be either tried by a Court-Martial, or shall be lawfully discharged by proper authority.

ART. XLI. No Officer or Soldier who shall be put in arrest or imprisonment, shall continue in his confinement more than eight days, or till such time as a Court-Martial can be conveniently assembled.

ART. XLII. No Officer commanding a guard, or Provost-Marshal, shall refuse to receive or keep any prisoner committed to his charge by an Officer belonging to the Rhode-Island Forces: which Officer shall, at the same time, deliver an account in writing, signed by himself, of the crime with which the said prisoner is charged.

ART. XLIII. No Officer commanding a guard, or Provost-Marshal, shall presume to release any prisoner committed to his charge, without proper authority for so doing; nor shall he suffer any prisoner to escape on the penalty of being punished for it by the sentence of a General Court-Martial.

ART. XLIV. Every Officer or Provost-Marshal, to whose charge prisoners shall be committed, is hereby required, within twenty-four hours after such commitment, or as soon as he shall be relieved from his guard, to give in writing to the Colonel of the Regiment to whom the prisoner belongs (where the prisoner is confined upon the guard belonging to the said Regiment, and that his offence only relates to the neglect of duty in his own Corps) or to the Commander-in-Chief, their names, their crimes, and the names of the Officers who committed them, on the penalty of being punished for his disobedience or neglect at the discretion of a General Court-Martial

ART. XLV. And if any Officer under arrest shall leave his confinement before he is set at liberty by the Officer who confined him, or by a superiour power, he shall be cashiered for it.

ART. XLVI. Whatsoever Commissioned Officer shall be convicted before a General Court-Martial of behaving in a scandalous, infamous manner, such as is unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, shall be discharged from the service.

ART. XLVII. All Officers, Conductors, Gunners, Matrosses, Drivers, or any other person whatsoever, receiving pay or hire in the service of the Rhode-Island Artillery, shall be governed by the aforesaid Rules and Articles, and shall be subject to be tried by Courts-Martial in like manner with the Officers and Soldiers of the Rhode-Island Troops.

ART. XLVIII. For differences arising amongst themselves, or in matters relating solely to their own Corps, the Courts-Martial may be composed of their own Officers; but where a number, sufficient of such Officers cannot be assembled, or in matters wherein other Corps are interested, the Officers of Artillery shall sit in Courts-Martial with the Officers of the other Corps.

ART. XLIX. All crimes not capital, and all disorders and neglects which Officers and Soldiers may be guilty of, to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, though not mentioned, in the Articles of War, are to be taken cognizance of by a General or Regimental Court-Martial, according to the nature and degree of the offence, and be punished at their discretion.

ART. L. No Courts-Martial shall order any offender to be whipped, or receive more than thirty-nine stripes for any one offence.

ART. LI. The Field-Officers of each and every Regiment are to appoint some suitable person belonging to such Regiment to receive all such fines as may arise within the same, for any breach of any of the foregoing Articles, and shall direct the same to be carefully and properly applied to the relief of such sick, wounded, or necessitous Soldiers as belong to such Regiment; and such person shall account with such Officer for all fines received and the application thereof.

ART. LII. All Members sitting in Courts-Martial shall be sworn by the President of said Courts, which President shall himself be sworn by the Officer in said Court next in rank; the Oath to be administered previous to their proceeding to the trial of any offender, in form following, to wit:

“You, A. B., swear that you will well and truly try, and impartially determine, the cause of the prisoner now to be tried, according to the Rules for regulating the Rhode-Island Army; so help you God.”

ART. LIII. All persons called to give evidence in any case before a Court-Martial, who shall refuse to give evidence, shall be punished for such refusal at the discretion of such Court-Martial; the Oath to be administered in the form following, to wit:

“You swear the evidence you shall give in the case now in hearing, shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; so help you God.”

It is Voted and Resolved, That the Committee of Safety be, and they are hereby directed to chatter two suitable Vessels for the use of the Colony, and fit out the same in the best manner to protect the trade of this Colony: That the said vessels be at the risk of the Colony, and be appraised before they are chartered by Messieurs Joseph Antony, Rufus Hopkins, and Cromel Child, or any two of them, who are also to agree for the hire of the said vessels: That the largest of the said vessels be manned with eighty men, exclusive of officers, and be equipped with ten guns, (four-pounders,) fourteen Swivel Guns, a sufficient number of Small-Arms, and all necessary warlike stores; That the small vessel be manned with a number not exceeding thirty men: That the whole be included in the number of fifteen hundred men, ordered to be raised in this Colony, and be kept in pay until the first day of December next, unless discharged before by order of the General Assembly: That they receive the same bounty and pay as the Land Forces, excepting that the First and Second Lieutenants, and Master, receive the same pay as the First Lieutenant of the Land Forces, and the under or petty Officers the same as Sergeants of the Army: And that the Lieutenant-General, Brigadier-General, and Committee of Safety, or the major part of them, have the power of directing and ordering said vessels; and in case it shall appear to them that the officers and men of the said vessels can be more serviceable on shore than at sea, to order them on shore to defend the seaports in this Colony.

And it is further Voted and Resolved, That the following Officers be and are hereby appointed to command the said vessels, to wit: Of the largest vessel, Abraham Whipple, commander, with the rank and power of Commodore of both vessels.

John Grimes, First-Lieutenant.

Benjamin Seabury, Second Lieutenant.

William Bradford, of Providence, Master.

Ebenezer Flagg, Quartermaster, at the wages of four Pounds, lawful money, per month.

Of the smallest Vessel.

Christopher Whipple, Commander,

William Rhodes, Lieutenant.

Whereas, William Potter, Esquire, presented unto this Assembly the following Memorial, to wit:

To the Honourable the General Assembly of the Colony of RHODE-ISLAND, at the session to be holden in EAST-GREENWICH, on the second MONDAT in JUNE, A. D. 1775:

I, William Potter, of South-Kingstown, in the County of King’s County, in the Colony aforesaid, humbly shew: That at a Session of the General Assembly held at Providence, on the twenty-second day of April last, an Act was passed for the raising, with all expedition and despatch, fifteen hundred Men, as an Army of Observation, to repel any insult or violence that might be offered to the inhabitants; and also, if necessary for the safety and preservation

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