The Honourable Matthew Tilghman, Esq., was chosen Chairman, and Gabriel Duvall appointed Clerk.

The Convention adjourns till to-morrow morning, nine o’clock.

Thursday, July 27, 1775.

Met according to adjournment.

Thomas Bond and Samuel Ashmead appeared for Harford County.

Colonel Henry Hooper, Captain Thomas Ennals, and Robert Harrison, for Dorchester County.

William Paca and Rezin Hammond, for Anne Arundel County.

Thomas Ringgold, for Kent County.

James Hollyday and John Brown, for Queen Anne’s County.

Walter Bowie, Dr. Richard Brooke, and David Crauford, for Prince George’s County.

Thomas Harrison, for Baltimore County.

Thomas Stone and John Dent, for Charles County.

Dr. Thomas Sprigg Wootton and Thomas Cramphin, Jun., for Frederick County.

Francis Baker, for Talbot County.

Resolved, That the Rules observed at the last Convention, be observed by the present Convention.

On motion, Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to consider of the ways and means to put this Province into the best state of defence, and report their opinion to this Convention, and that the same consist of nine gentlemen.

Resolved, That the Honourable Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, Samuel Chase, Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll, Barrister, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and James Hollyday, Esquires, be a Committee for the above purpose.

The Convention adjourns till morrow morning, ten o’clock.

Friday, July 28, 1775.

Met according to adjournment.

Benedict Edward Hall, John Beall Howard, Francis Holland, and Benjamin Rumsey, appeared for Harford County.

Dr. William Molleston and Benson Stainton, for Caroline County.

Nathaniel Ramsay and William Rumsey, for Cecil County.

Josias Beall, for Prince George’s County.

Alexander Somerville, for Culvert County.

Brice Thomas Beale Worthington, for Anne Arundel County.

The Petition of Patrick Graham, of Charles County, Tailor, praying a “remission of the sentence of the Committee of Charles County, and that he might be restored to the privileges of a citizen,” being read and considered: It is thereupon,

Resolved, That the said Patrick Graham be allowed to exercise his former trade of a Tailor, and that he also be permitted to buy provisions and other necessaries for the use of his family; and that the said Patrick Graham be allowed and permitted to collect and receive all just debts due to him, and that all persons be permitted to employ the said Patrick Graham as a Tailor, and to sell him provisions and other necessaries for his family; but that the said Patrick Graham be not allowed to carry on any traffick or merchandise, until it be otherwise resolved by this or some Future Convention. (No. 1.)

Convention adjourns till to-morrow morning, ten o’clock.

Saturday, July 29, 1775.

Met according to adjournment.

Darby Lux appeared for Baltimore County.

Stephen West, for Prince George’s County.

Matthias Hammond, for Anne Arundel County.

John Allen Thomas, for St. Mary’s County.

On motion, Resolved, That a Committee be appointed to inquire into the practicability of establishing a Manufactory of Arms in this Province, and the expense and best mode to carry the same into execution; and that Charles Beatty, Stephen West, Jeremiah Townley Chase, James Murray, William Buchanan, John Hanson, and William Deakins, be a Committee for that purpose.

The Petitions of John Bailley and Alexander Ogg, were read the first time, and ordered to lie on the table. (No. 2 and 3.)

The Convention adjourns till Monday morning, ten o’clock.

Monday, July 31, 1775.

Met according to adjournment.

Richard Tilghman Earle appeared for Queen Anne’s County.

Ignatius Wheeler, Junior, and William Webb, for Harford County.

Joseph Nicholson, Junior, for Kent County.

James Maccomas, for Harford County.

This Convention being informed that a Brig of Christopher Lowndes’, of Prince George’s County, lately cleared out from this Province for Barbadoes, was seized and carried into Boston by some officer or officers of His Majesty’s Ships-of-War stationed there, and considering it as a matter of the last importance, that the truth of this fact be inquired into and known, do recommend it to the General Committees of Observation for Prince George’s County immediately to call before them all witnesses who may have any knowledge of the said transaction, and also to summon the said Christopher Lowndes to appear before the said Committee, bringing with Turn all papers relative to the said vessel, and in particular a letter said to have been wrote to him by Henry Lloyd, of Boston, concerning the same vessel, and pass judgment whether any collusion has been committed or not; and if the said Committee shall adjudge that there has been any collusion, that in such case the person or persons guilty thereof be sent with the judgment and evidence to this Convention, or in their recess to the Council of Safety, hereafter to be appointed. (No. 3.) Signed by order of the Convention:

MAT. TILGHMAN, Chairman.

On motion, Resolved, That the value of £5,900, common money, be borrowed on the credit of this Convention, to be laid out in the purchase of forty-eight tons of Lead, one hundred Pounds value in Gun Flints, two tons of Cannon Powder, and the residue of the said sum in Musketry Powder, for the use of this Province, to be repaid out of the first Notes of Credit to be issued by this Convention.

Resolved, That Robert Tounsend Hooe, Thomas Ring-gold, and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, be a Committee to lay out the said Money.

Resolved, That the lenders of the said Money, when the same shall be lent in Bills of Exchange, be paid by the Treasurer, to be appointed, out of the Notes of Credit to be issued, at such exchange, not less than at the rate of one hundred and fifty Pounds, in Dollars, at seven Shillings and six Pence each, for one hundred Pounds sterling, as shall be agreed on between the lenders respectively and the said Treasurer.

And if they cannot agree on the exchange, that then the Treasurer shall, with the said Notes of Credit, purchase good London Bills of Exchange, payable at same sight as expressed in the receipts given to the respective lenders, and pay the same to the lenders; and that the publick Treasurer endorse and be answerable, on behalf of the Province, for the payment of such Bills of Exchange.

Resolved, That the Bills of Exchange borrowed for the purposes aforesaid, be drawn or endorsed payable to the said Robert Townsend Hooe, Thomas Ringgold, and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, or some one of them, and that their or any of their receipts for the Money or Bills so lent, shall be a sufficient voucher for the Treasurer’s payment of the Money advanced.

Resolved, That the said Robert Townsend Hooe, Thomas Ringgold, and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, be indemnified for their endorsements of the said Bills of Exchange, as well as any loss they may sustain by negotiating the said business with which they are entrusted, or any expense they may be at therein.

A Letter from the Virginia Convention, with a Resolve of said Convention therein enclosed, was read, and ordered to lie on the table. (No. 4.)

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