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That it be left to the Postmaster General to appoint a Secretary and Comptroller. The Congress then proceeded to the election of a Postmaster General for one year, and until another is appointed by a future Congress: when Benjamin Franklin, Esq., was unanimously chosen. Adjourned till to morrow, at eight o’clock. Thursday, July 27, 1775. Met according to adjournment. The Congress took into consideration the Report of the Committee on establishing a Hospital for the Army; and the same being debated, was agreed to, as follows: That for the establishment of a Hospital for an Army, consisting of twenty thousand men, the following Officers and other attendants be appointed, with the following allowance or pay, viz: One Director-General and Chief Physician, his pay per day, four Dollars. Four Surgeons, per diem, each, one and one-third of a Dollar. One Apothecary, one and one-third of a Dollar. Twenty Surgeon’s Mates, each two-thirds of a Dollar. One Clerk, two-thirds of a Dollar. Two Storekeepers, each four Dollars per month. One Nurse to every ten sick, one-fifteenth of a Dollar per day, or two Dollars per month. Labourers occasionally. The Duty of the above Officers, viz: The Director to furnish Medicines, Bedding, and all other necessaries, to pay for the same, superintend the whole, and make his report to, and receive orders from, the Commander-in-Chief. Surgeons, Apothecaries, and Mates: To visit and attend the sick, and the Mates to obey the orders of the Physicians, Surgeons, and Apothecary. Matrons To superintend the Nurses, Bedding, &c. Nurses: To attend the sick, and obey the Matron’s orders. Clerk: To keep Accounts for the Director and Storekeepers. Storekeepers: To receive and deliver the Bedding and other necessaries, by order of the Director. On motion, Resolved, That the sum of Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars be paid by the Continental Treasurers to Reese Meredith, George Clymer, Samuel Meredith, and Samuel Mifflin, Merchants of the City of Philadelphia; and that the like sum Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars be paid by the said Treasurers to Philip Livingston, John Alsop, and Francis Lewis, Merchants of New-York, to be by them applied to the purpose of importing Gunpowder for the Continental Armies; and that they be allowed out of the same five per cent. for their trouble and expenses therein; that they keep all their proceedings, as much as possible, a secret from every other person but the Congress and the General of the Continental Forces for the time being; that they keep up a correspondence with the said General, and make such dispositions of the Powder they may import, as he shall order.* The Congress then proceeded to the choice of Officers for the Hospital; when Benjamin Church was unanimously elected as Director of, and Chief Physician in the Hospital. Resolved, That the appointment of the four Surgeons and the Apothecary be left to Doctor Church. That the Mates be appointed by the Surgeons. That the number of mates do not exceed twenty; and, That the number be not kept constant pay, unless the sick and wounded should be so numerous as to require the attendance of twenty, and to be diminished as circumstances will admit; for which purpose the pay is fixed by the day, that they may only receive pay for actual service. That one Clerk, two Storekeepers, and one Nurse to every ten sick, be appointed by the Director. On motion made, Resolved, That the Paymaster give bond, with two sureties, in the sum of Fifty Thousand Dollars, for the faithful performance of his office. That the Bond be made payable to the same persons as the Bonds of the Continental Treasurers are payable to. James Warren was unanimously elected Paymaster-General. Resolved, That the Paymaster in the New-York Department give Bond to the same persons as above directed, with two sureties, in the sum of Twenty-Five Thousand Dollars, for the faithful performance of his office. Adjourned till to-morrow, at eight o’clock. Friday, July 28, 1775. Met according to adjournment. The Congress being informed that a quantity of Gunpowder belonging to the Continent is arrived in some part of New-Jersey, Ordered, That the Delegates of New-Jersey do take care that the said Powder be safely conveyed to Dobbs’s Ferry, on the North River. On motion made, Ordered, That the Colony of Virginia be supplied with one ton of Gunpowder from the next quantity arriving here; and that from the same supply Pennsylvania be repaid the Powder heretofore borrowed by the Congress, if the same shall not be wanted by General Washington. Ordered, That Mr. McKean and Mr. Wilson do prepare the Bonds for the Continental Treasurers to execute. Jonathan Trumbull, Jun., Esq., was unanimously elected Paymaster of the Forces for the New-York Department. The Congress then took into consideration the Address to the People of Ireland; which being read and debated, was agreed to, as follows: To the People of IRELAND: From the Delegates appointed by the United Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Lower Counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina, in General Congress at Philadelphia, the 10th of May, 1775. FRIENDS AND FELLOW-SUBJECTS: As the important contest into which we have been driven, is now become interesting to every European State, and particularly affects the members of the British Empire, we think it our duty to address you on the subject. We are desirous, as is natural to injured innocence, of possessing the good opinion of the virtuous and humane. We are peculiarly desirous of furnishing you with a true state of our motives and objects, the better to enable you to judge of our conduct with accuracy, and determine the merits of the controversy with impartiality and precision. However incredible it may appear, that, at this enlightened period, the leaders of a nation, which in every age has sacrificed hecatombs of her bravest patriots on the altar of liberty, should presume gravely to assert, and, by force of arms, attempt to establish an arbitrary sway over the lives, liberties, and property of their fellow-subjects in America, it is, nevertheless, a most deplorable and indisputable truth. These Colonies have, from the time of their first settlement, for near two centuries, peaceably enjoyed those very rights of which the Ministry have, for ten years past, endeavoured by fraud and by violence to deprive them. At the conclusion of the last war, the genius of England and the spirit of wisdom, as if offended at the ungrateful treatment of their sons, withdrew from the British councils, and left that nation a prey to a race, of Ministers, with whom ancient English honesty and benevolence disdained to dwell. From that period, jealousy, discontent, oppression, and discord, have raged among all His Majesty’s subjects, and filled every part of his Dominions with distress and complaint. Not content with our purchasing of Britain, at her own price, clothing and a thousand other articles used by near three millions of people on this vast Continent; not satisfied with the amazing profits arising from the monopoly of our trade, without giving us either time to breathe, after a long though glorious war, or the least credit for the blood. * This most secret, not to be published.—MS. Jour. *
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