Durfee, be a Committee to consider a Letter from Mr. James Winthrop. The Letter is as follows, viz:

“Cambridge, July 5, 1775.

“SIR: When the Congress did me the honour to appoint me Postmaster for this Town, I was in hopes it would have enabled me to tarry here. But as the office will not furnish me the single article of vietuals, as the establishment is at present, I shall be constrained to quit the place of business, and seek for a subsistence somewhere else. All the money I have received since the oath was administered to me on the 25th of May, amounts to only seven Pounds, seven Shillings, and ten Pence. Fifteen per cent. of it is my pay, for six weeks; that is, at six and a quarter Pence per day, nearly. Judge, then, Sir, whether this be sufficient to furnish one, who has no other support, with a subsistence, or, indeed, whether the office is worth keeping up on this plan; for it is vain that we expect it to grow better, during times of confusion and a suspension of trade. But I will not take up your attention any longer than to observe, that it is with reluctance I quit Cambridge, and that I shall be glad of any opportunity to promote the common cause, as far as shall come within my small sphere of action. Unless the Congress think fit to after the establishment, I must beg the favour of them to consider this letter as a resignation, and grant an order for paying the money which I have received to the Treasurer, after a deduction of my fifteen per cent., and that the bond may be forthwith delivered up. The letters which remain I shall be ready to deliver to any new Postmaster whom the Congress shall appoint. And remain, with great respect, Sir, your most obedient servant,

JAMES WINTHBOP.

“The Honourable James Warren, Esquire, President of the Massachusetts Congress, Watertown.”

A Letter from Benj. Greenleaf, Esq., of Newburyport, was read, accompanying sundry Letters brought by Captain Folger from London, a Jacket enclosed to Major Sill, of the Sixty-Third Regiment, also three Maps enclosed to said. Major Sill, viz: one of New-England, one of Virginia and Maryland, and one of New- York. Whereupon,

Ordered, That the Jacket be committed to the care of the Secretary, till further orders of Congress, and that the Maps be put into the hands of the Committee of Supplies, and they are directed to get them framed, for the use of the Colony.

The Committee appointed to prepare a Letter to General Washington, enclosing a Resolution of Congress relative to the sick and wounded, reported. The Report was accepted, and is as follows, viz:

In Provincial Congress, July 5, 1775.

This Congress ordered the enclosed Resolution to be prepared, and sent to Generals Ward and Thomas; but by the agreeable event of your Excellency’s appointment to the chief command of the American Army, and arrival at camp, the propriety of that step ceases. We mean not to dictate to your Excellency, but presume that to secure the health of the Army, and to afford relief for the sick, will naturally engage your attention. Every thing in the power of this Congress, to enable you to discharge with ease, the duties of your exalted and important station will be by us attended to with the greatest alacrity. If the enclosed Resolution has that tendency, we attain the end intended by transmitting to you the same; and are, with respect,

Your Excellency’s most humble servants.

To General Washington,

The Committee having attended that service, reported, that Mr. Lothrop was chosen.

Resolved, That the Resolve, directing the Committee of Supplies to get the three Maps framed, be reconsidered, and that the Secretary be directed to take care of them as they are, for the use of the Colony.

The Report of the Committee appointed to consider how the Soldiers should be provided with Coats, was again read, and accepted, and is as follows, viz:

Resolved, That thirteen thousand Coats be provided, as soon as may be, and one thereof given to each noncommissioned Officer and Soldier in the Massachusetts Forces, agreeable to the Resolve of the Congress, on the 23d day of April last: and in order to facilitate their being procured,

Resolved, That the said thirteen thousand Coats be proportioned immediately on all the Towns and Districts in this Colony, except the Towns of Boston and Charlestown, in proportion as they paid to the last Provincial tax; which Towns and Districts are desired to cause them to be made of good plain cloth, (preference to be given to the manufactures of this Country,) and to be delivered to the Committee of Supplies, without buttons, on or before the first day of October next, and sooner if possible. That for every yard of such cloth of seven-eighths of a yard wide, they shall be allowed and paid the sum of five Shillings and four Pence, and in that proportion for cloth of a greater or less width; and the sum of four Shillings for making each and every coat; and the Selectmen of each Town and District respectively, are directed to lay their accounts before the Committee of Supplies, who are ordered to draw on the Receiver-General for the payment thereof.

Resolved, That each Coat be faced with the same kind of cloth of which it is made; that the Coats be made in the common plain way, without lappels, short, and with small folds, and that the Selectmen cause a certificate to be sewed to the inside of each Coat, purporting from what Town it came, and by whom the Coat was made, and if the cloth was manufactured in this Country, by whom it was manufactured.

Resolved, That the Committee of Supplies be, and they are hereby directed, immediately, to proportion the Coats on the several Towns and Districts as aforesaid, inform them of their proportion, and assure them that the Coats they supply shall be delivered to the men of their Town respectively, so far as circumstances will admit, and inclose to them a sample of the goodness of the cloth of which the Coats are to be made, with a copy of this and the foregoing Resolves, and to desire those Towns and Districts who cannot supply the whole of their proportion of the Coats as aforesaid, and also those who can supply more than their proportion, to give them information what number they can supply, on, or before the tenth day of August next.

Resolved, That the Committee of Supplies be, and they are hereby directed to provide all the Coats proportioned on such Towns and Districts as give information to them as aforesaid that they cannot supply them, and they are to cause all the Coats to be buttoned with pewter buttons, and that the Coats for each Regiment, respectively, have buttons of the same number stamped on the face of them.

The Committee reported the following Schedule of the apportionment of Coats, which was accepted:*