having fully heard the same, approved thereof, and confirmed the same and every part thereof.

The Congress then adjourned until five o’clock, in the afternoon.

Die Veneris, 5 ho. P. M.

The Congress met pursuant to adjournment. Present:

Abraham Yates, Esq., President.

Thomas Pearsall, by order of the Congress, attending at the door, was called in and examined, and notes of his examination were taken and filed, and are as follows:

“Thomas Pearsall examined touching raising the price of goods: says that about six weeks or two months ago, Samuel Weat, of Norwich, purchased of Robinson & Price, of this City, for account of Messrs. Christopher Leffenwell & Co., about fifty blankets, at the rate of sixteen Shillings per blanket; that they were striped blankets, of a middling good quality and size; that, from his knowledge of the sterling price of such blankets, he supposes they must have cost seventy-five or eighty Shillings per piece, of fifteen in a piece; that Robinson & Price charged the said blankets to said Pearsall’s account, and that he charged the same to Leffenwell & Co., at the same rate.”

Mr. Peter T. Curtenius attending at the door, was called in and examined, and notes of his examination were taken and filed, and are as follows:

“Peter T. Curtenius says that he purchased of Robinson & Price, last week, forty-five blankets, for Captain Ledyard’s Company, at the rate of nineteen Shillings and six Pence per blanket; that, from the size and quality, he supposes they cost at three Pounds ten Shillings sterling per piece; that within a fortnight he (Curtenius) supplied blankets of a better quality to the poor-house, at twelve Shillings per blanket. That Robinson & Price told him they imported said blankets from Philadelphia, and paid sixteen Shillings for them there; that he (Curtenius) bought of said Robinson & Price, for the use of said Company, duffils, at the rate of eight Shillings per yard, such as he bought in the course of a month out of a retail shop at the rate of six Shillings and six Shillings and six Pence, and in the month of July last, of Mr. Hamilton Young, by wholesale, at the rate of five Shillings and six Pence. That Robinson & Price told him the duffils had cost them six Shillings and six Pence per yard.”

Colonel Gilbert Budd and Gilbert Horton, from Westchester County, attending according to order, were called in and examined, and the examination of Gilbert Budd was taken in writing and filed, and is as follows, to wit:

“Gilbert Budd, of Mamaroneck, says that the Tories are getting the upper hand of, and threaten them daily, and have injured their private property by throwing down stone fences and cropping his horses’ tails and manes. That Philip Pinckney told him, last Sunday, that he was in company, on the 25th October last, with a man who told him that there would be bad times in Mamaroneck before long, and said that some of the people of the place would be taken off; that he (Pinckney) asked the man that told him, how they were to be taken off; he answered, that they expected a tender in the harbour in a few days, and that she would send barges on shore, in order to carry the people off; that he (Pinckney) further asked the man, where they were to be carried to; he answered, to Gage. Mr. Budd told Pinckney that Gage was not there; he answered, to Gage’s Army; that Pinckney said he asked the man, who the men were, that were to be taken off; that the man intimated to him, that Mr. Gilbert Budd and Mr. Samuel Townsend were the men that were to be taken off, and that there was another that they would have at all events; that Pinckney told Budd, that he asked the man who the other man was, that was to be taken off; that the man answered him, that Judge Thomas was the man, who they would have if it cost them the lives of fifty men; that Pinckney told the said Mr. Budd, that there was a number of his (Budd’s) neighbours, who stood ready to assist the tender in order to take them; that Mr. Budd asked Pinckney if he knew who those neighbours were; he answered, that one of them was William Lounsberry, and one Isaac Gedney, Jun., and all Sutton’s men—alluding to some hired servants of Sutton’s; that Pinckney said he came as a friend, and advised Mr. Budd to keep out of the way, for that he did not think it safe for him to sleep in his house one night. Mr. Budd further says, that he heard that Godfrey Haines said that he was going to get a parcel of oars made for the man-of-war; that Haines came to Mamaroneck, and that the next day Isaac Gedney set about making oars; that they were making (as Budd understood) by Haines’s order, for Captain Vandeput. Mr. Budd says the Tories are equipped and constantly in arms, walking about at night, six, eight, and ten at a time. Mr. Budd further says, that it is reported that these Tories say they are determined to defend themselves, and that if any body came to their houses to take away their arms, they would fire upon them.”

A charge was then given from the Chair, to keep the whole of this matter a secret.

Thereupon, a draught of a Letter to the Committee of Westchester was read, and is in the words following, to wit:

In Provincial Congress, New-York, November 3, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: We received a letter of the 1st instant, from a Sub-Committee of your County, relative to the conduct of the people of Rye; and the Congress have directed me to recommend to your Committee, to make an immediate and strict inquiry into the matters to which the letter refers, and to take the examinations, on oath, of the witnesses; and if you find satisfactory reasons to suppose the persons threatened to be in danger, that you take the proper means to protect them. Perhaps the binding over to the peace such persons as may be strongly suspected of a design to injure the persons or estates of those gentlemen, may be a useful expedient. If any thing afterwards shall be thought necessary to be done for their further protection, the Committee will attend to it. If you should find the County unable to give the necessary protection, you will transmit the examinations to us, that the Congress may take such order therein as may be proper. The Committee may rest assured that this Congress will support the friends of liberty to the utmost of their power.

We are, Sir, your humble servants.

To Gilbert Drake, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Westchester County.

Mr. Melancton Smith moved, and was seconded, that that part of the Letter to the Committee of Westchester which refers them to the Civil Magistrate be struck out.

By consent of the Congress, the question was put by rising, and carried in the negative—Dr. Graham, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Sears, and Mr. Melancton Smith, dissenting.

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

Colonel McDougall informed the Congress, that on receipt of the Letters, Examinations, and Resolve or recommendation of the Continental Congress, relating to Grant, of Dutchess County, as the Congress was not sitting, and not a probability of their being able to have a House for some days, several Members who assembled were of opinion that the business therein mentioned would not admit of delay, had desired Mr. Gilbert Livingston and himself to take proper measures to have the said Grant secured, and the said recommendations carried into execution. That thereupon they had wrote a Letter, of which they delivered in a draught, in the words following, to wit:

“New-York, October 29, 1775.

“SIR: You may remember, before you went out of Town, that the transport which went from hence some time ago, to Boston, was cast away at Brigantine Inlet, in Jersey, in returning to this place, and that captain and crew, as well as Captain Campbell, late of your County, with several marines, were taken prisoners and carried to Philadelphia, where they were examined before the Committee of Safety of Pennsylvania; which examination was handed up to the Continental Congress, from which the enclosed extract (No. 1) is made. The Congress, in consequence of it, wrote ours upon the subject, an extract of which you have herewith, (marked No. 2.) Our Congress being adjourned till Tuesday next, and it being uncertain whether a Congress will then be made, a number of the Members convened, and opened the above letter, and, from the necessity of the case, advised us to write you to secure the Mr. Grant mentioned in the examination, and all suspicious persons about Captain Campbell’s house, and examine