peak of the mainsail upon passing the fort. Those who have been provoked by this demand complain that you should, of your own authority, without the recommendation of the Congress, exact instances of respect from your fellow-citizens. You must at once be sensible that so trivial a token, or the omission of it, can never mark out our friends from our foes, or answer any other valuable purpose; at the same time it is evident that great disgusts have arisen from the peremptory demand, and probably bloodshed may ensue. The Colonies have sufficiently suffered through punctilio, and we beg you will desist from exacting marks of submission or respect, of any kind, until a plan, which is now in agitation, shall be completed, which may tend to obviate the future intentions of our foes to pierce into the interior of the Colony, through the natural communication which the river affords; to prevent this is the intention of the fortification which you superintend, and therefore all signals from vessels going backwards and forwards should, in our opinion, be simply confined to that object, and be by no means used as instances of complaisance to the Congress or its officers, when the peace and safety of the community so loudly forbid it.

We are, Gentlemen, your most obedient humble servants. By order:

Ordered, That a copy thereof be engrossed, and signed by the President, and transmitted.

The Petition of John Hunter, for assistance in cash, and his Plan for carrying on a Linen Manufactory, with the scheme for appointing Managers, delivered in therewith, were read and filed.

Ordered, That the said Petition, and Plans attending the same, lay on the table for the perusal of the Members.

The Petition of Richard Lightfoot, a Pin-Maker, proposing a plan for carrying on the business of Pin making, and requesting money, and the aid of Congress, to set that business on foot and carry it on.

Ordered, That the said Petition, and the papers attending the same, lie on the table for the perusal of the Members.

The Congress then adjourned until nine o’clock, tomorrow morning.

Die Mercurii, 9 ho. A. M., October 18, 1775.

The Congress met pursuant to adjournment. Present:

Nathaniel Woodhull, Esq., President, &c.

A Letter from the Honourable John Hancock, Esq., President of the Continental Congress, was read and filed, and is in the words following, to wit:

“Philadelphia, October 16, 1775.

“GENTLEMEN: By some late advices from General Schuyler, we understand that he is in great distress for want of powder; and as so much depends on the success of that expedition, indeed, as the safety of all America depends upon it, the Congress have unanimously agreed that the ton of powder forwarded to you last week, from Philadelphia, be, with all possible expedition, despatched to General Schuyler. In the mean time the Congress will fall upon all the measures in their power, to furnish you with all that they possibly can.

“You will please immediately to put this recommendation in execution.

“I am, Gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant,

“JOHN HANCOCK, President.

“Provincial Convention of New-York.”

Ordered, That the ton of Powder, mentioned in President Hancock’s Letter of the 16th instant, and now in the Powder-House at New-York, be forwarded to General Schuyler immediately; and that John Van Cortlandt and Joseph Hallett, Esquires, or either of them, be empowered to receive the said Powder from Gabriel W. Ludlow, Esq., and forward the same to Colonel Van Schaick, at Albany, and in his absence to the Commissary there, to be forwarded to General Schuyler immediately; and that these gentlemen forward the said Gunpowder in such manner as they think best.

And Ordered, That Gabriel W. Ludlow, Esq., deliver the said ton of Gunpowder to John Van Cortlandt and Joseph Hallett, Esquires, or either of them, or their or either of their order.

Thereupon, a draught of a Letter to Col. Van Schaick, at Albany, and in his absence to Walter Livingston, Esq., was read and approved of, and is in the words following, to wit:

In Provincial Congress at New-York, October 18, 1775.

SIR: We send by this conveyance a ton of gunpowder, which, by order of the honourable the Continental Congress, is to be forwarded to General Schuyler with all possible despatch, which we pray you to see performed.

We are, respectfully, Sir, your very humble servants. By order:

To Col. Goose Van Schaick, at Albany, and in his absence to Walter Livingston, Esq., or his Deputy.

Ordered, That a copy thereof be engrossed, and signed by the President, and transmitted with the said Gunpowder.

A draught of a Letter to the Honourable John Hancock, Esq., President of the Continental Congress, was read and approved of, and is in the words following, to wit:

In Provincial Congress, New-York, October 18, 1775.

SIR: We are this moment honoured with your favour of the 16th instant, advising us of the unanimous resolution of Congress to forward to General Schuyler the ton of Powder you lately sent us, which was immediately ordered to be carried into execution, although we cannot, beside that, command two hundred pounds of powder, if it would save the Colony from destruction. We have frequently spared all the powder in our Colony to supply the urgent calls of the Continental Army at Cambridge and Ticonderoga, and thereby exposed ourselves to insult and ruin. We therefore entreat you to represent to Congress the absolute necessity of their replacing, without delay, the powder we have furnished to the Continental Army, for otherwise we shall not be able, in case of an invasion, to make that defence which might be expected from us by our neighbours, or even to prevent insults. Should the Congress be unable to order us the powder out of the Continental magazine, we submit it to their consideration, whether the City of Philadelphia cannot, with greater safety to the confederated Colonies, spare the quantity we have sent to the Army, than we can want it.

We are, respectfully, Sir, your most obedient servants. By order:

To the Honourable John Hancock, Esq., President of the Continental Congress.

Ordered, That a copy thereof be engrossed, and signed by the President, and transmitted.

Mr. Abraham Yates, from the Members of Albany, brought in a draught of a Letter to Walter Livingston, Esq., the Deputy Commissary-General at Albany, relating to the accounts of Ferrymen, for ferrying Soldiers in that County, which was read and approved of and is in the words following, to wit:

In Provincial Congress at New-York, October 18, 1775.

SIR: Upon application of the Members from Albany, representing the unsettled state of the ferrymen’s charges for carrying over the troops on their way to the seat of action, we think proper to inform you that we conceive those charges should be a Continental charge, and would recommend it to you to settle the same, that no obstruction may arise to the troops passing and repassing to and from that quarter.

We are, most respectfully, Sir, your very humble servants. By order:

To Walter Livingston, Esq., Deputy Commissary-General at Albany.

Ordered, That a copy thereof be engrossed, and signed by the President, and transmitted.

Mr. Jacobus Van Zandt informed the Congress, that in obedience to their parole instructions, given to him in Congress yesterday, he had agreed with Francis James for the purchase of the Pilot-Boat named the Bishop of Llandaff; that the said Francis James, on behalf of himself and the other owners of the said Pilot-Boat, had disposed of her to him for the sum of four hundred and ninety-six Pounds, the value at which she has been appraised by two of the Wardens of this Port.

Ordered, That Peter Van Brugh Livingston, Esq., as