supplied with plenty of them. Marshal Saxe’s direction is, that the staff be fourteen feet in length, and the spear eighteen inches, thin and light; the staff to be made of pine, hollowed for the sake of lightness, and yet to retain a degree of stiffness; the whole not to weigh more than seven or eight pounds. When an army is to encamp, they may, he observes, be used as tent poles, and save the trouble of carrying them. The Committee of Safely will supply samples to those Battalions who are disposed to use them. Each pikeman to have a cutting sword, and, where it can be procured, a pistol.

Ordered, That a copy of the above be delivered to the Colonels of the different Battalions in this City and Districts; which was accordingly done.

Monday, August 28, 1775.

At a Meeting of the Committee of Safety: Present only six Members— Robert Morris, George Gray, Daniel Roberdeau, Owen Biddle, Thomas Wharton, and Robert White.

Mr. Robert Towers reports that he has received from Mr. Robert Morris, four thousand six hundred and fifty pounds of Gunpowder, which is put in the Powder House. Mr. Towers reports that he delivered two thousand and twelve pounds of Gunpowder to Robert Erwin; and Mr. Owen Biddle, that the said Powder went yesterday for Newark, for account of the Provincial Congress of New-York, agreeable to a Resolve of the 26th inst.

Tuesday, August 29, 1775.

At a meeting of the Committee of Safety: Present—

Robert Morris, President pro tem., Daniel Roberdeau, Robert White, Owen Biddle, George Ross, George Gray, Thomas Wharton, Jun., Anthony Wayne, John Cadwallader:

This Board thought proper to reconsider the Articles for the government of the Officers and Men to be employed on board the Provincial Armed Boats, and after some amendments, were ordered to be transcribed for the press; which was accordingly done, and are as follows:

In Committee of Safety for Pennsylvania.

Whereas the arbitrary and tyrannical proceedings of the British Ministry, in attempting to reduce the good people of America into a state of abject slavery and vassalage, has met with a righteous and spirited opposition from the Twelve United Colonies, by their Delegates in Congress; who, by their Resolves of the 18th of July, recommended to the Assemblies or Conventions, or, in their recess, to the Committees of Safety, to devise and provide such means for defending the lives, liberties, and properties, of their respective inhabitants, as may to them seem best; in compliance with this recommendation, and in consequence of the powers vested in this Committee by Resolves of the Assembly of this Province, they have caused sundry Boats to be built and armed for the defence of the same and the protection of its commerce; which boats being now ready for service, it remains that they be immediately manned and equipped: Therefore, to encourage good and brave men to engage freely in this glorious service, the following Rules and Regulations are offered by the said Committee:

1. All Officers and Privates, in or belonging to the Provincial Armed Boats, being guilty of profane oaths, cursing, drunkenness, or other scandalous actions, shall incur such punishment as the nature and degree of the offence shall deserve, at the discretion of a Court-Martial.

2. Any Officer or Private who shall strike the Commander-in-Chief, or other his superiour Officer, or draw or offer to draw or lift up any weapon or use any violence against him, or shall behave himself with contempt or disrespect to him, them, or either of them, being in the execution of their office, shall be punished according to the nature of his offence, at the discretion of a Court-Martial.

3. If any person in or belonging to the Provincial Armed Boats shall raise, or endeavour to raise, a mutiny, on any pretence whatever, or shall disobey any lawful commands of his superiour Officer, he shall, on conviction thereof, suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by a Court-Martial.

4. Any Officer or Private who shall, without leave of his commanding Officer, absent himself from the Boat or other Vessel to which he belongs, or from any detachment of the same, or shall advise or persuade any other Officer or Private so to do, shall be punished at the discretion of a Court-Martial.

5. Every person in the Fleet who shall mutiny in the time of action, or who, through cowardice, disaffection, or negligence, shall at such time withdraw or keep back, or not come into the fight or engagement, or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy any Ship, Boat, or other Vessel, which it shall be his duty to engage, or shall endeavour to persuade or deter others from doing their duty at such time, shall suffer death.

6. Every person who shall desert to the enemy, or shall entice others so to do, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as the circumstances of the offence shall deserve, and a Court-Martial think fit.

7. Any Officer or Private who shall be convicted of holding any correspondence with, or giving intelligence to the enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by a Court-Martial.

8. Every Officer or Private who shall be convicted of having designedly or carelessly wasted or embezzled the Ammunition, Arms, Stores, or Provisions, belonging to any of the Boats, shall suffer such punishment as a Court-Martial shall think proper for the offence.

9. Whatever Officer shall be found drunk on guard or under arms, shall be cashiered; and any Private so offending shall be punished, at the discretion of a Court-Martial.

10. No person in or belonging to the Provincial Armed Boats shall sleep upon his watch or forsake his post, on pain of such punishment as a Court-Martial shall think fit to impose.

11. Any Officer or Private who shall, by discharging Fire-Arms, beating of Drums, or by any other means, occasion false alarms, shall suffer such punishment as shall be inflicted by a Court-Martial.

12. All Officers, of what condition soever, shall have power to part and quell all quarrels, affrays, and disorders, though the persons concerned should belong to another Boat, and order Officers to be arrested, and Non-Commissioned Officers or Privates to be confined, till their proper superiour Officers shall be acquainted therewith; and whoever shall refuse to obey such Officer, though of an inferiour rank, or shall draw his sword, or lift any weapon against him, shall be punished at the discretion of a Court-Martial.

13. If any inferiour Officer or Private shall think himself wronged by the Commander of the Boat to which he belongs, he may apply to the Commander-in-Chief, who is to redress his grievance.

14. All Officers shall take rank from the date of their commissions.

15. All Ships and other Vessels, and their Cargoes, Ammunition, Artillery, Clothing, or other articles, taken from the enemy, shall be disposed of or distributed as the Provincial Assembly shall hereafter think proper.

16. If any Officer or Private shall commit any crime deserving punishment, he shall, by his commanding Officer, be put under arrest, if an Officer, or if a Non-Commissioned Officer or Private, be put in confinement, till he shall be tried by a Court-Martial, or discharged by proper authority.

17. If any Officer under arrest shall leave his confinement before he is set at liberty by the Officer who confined him, or by proper authority, he shall be cashiered.

18. Any Officer who shall presume to discharge any prisoner committed to his charge, without proper authority for so doing, or shall suffer any prisoner to escape, shall be punished at the discretion of a Court-Martial.

19. If any Commissioned Officer shall be convicted before a Court-Martial of behaving in a scandalous, infamous, cruel, oppressive, or fraudulent manner, unbecoming the character of an officer, he shall be dismissed from service.

20. All crimes not capital, and all disorders and neglect which Officers and Privates may be guilty of, to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, though not mentioned in these Articles, shall be taken notice of by a Court-Martial, and punished according to the nature of the offence.

21. No person to be sentenced by a Court-Martial to