of the Committee for proposing a method wherein the Committee who are preparing Accounts for the Continental Congress may be furnished with necessary Vouchers.

Thursday, October 26, 1775.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That Mr. Story, Maj. Bliss, and Mr. Morgan, be a Committee to inquire and report to the House the state of the Muster-Rolls, the best method to obtain them completed, and for securing the Colony against any loss on account of Fire-Arms supplied to the Soldiers.

Jabez Fisher, Esq., brought down from the honourable Board the following Order, passed in Council, viz:

“In Council, October 26, 1775.

“Ordered, That James Otis, Benjamin Greenleaf, Walter Spooner, Jedediah Foster, and Joseph Palmer, Esquires, be a Committee to confer with such Committee as may be appointed by the honourable House, in regard to the manner in which an Attorney-General may and ought to be appointed—the Board being entirely disposed to pursue such a measure as will be consistent with the Charter and Constitution of the Government, and most conducive to the welfare and safety of the people.”

Read, and thereupon Ordered, That Mr. Speaker, Major Hawley, Colonel Bowers, Mr. Gerry, and Colonel Orne, be a Committee from the House, for the purpose proposed by the honourable Board.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That Colonel Thompson, Colonel Woodbridge, Mr. Hopkins, and Colonel Norton, be added to the Committee for considering the expediency of ordering that any part of the Powder and Arms lately arrived in the Province of Maine should remain in those parts.

The Committee for considering the proper method for bringing Dr. Church to the bar of the House reported as follows:

Whereas it appears, by sundry papers transmitted to this House, agreeable to their desire, and by order of his Excellency George Washington, Esq., that Benjamin Church, Jun., Esq., lately a Surgeon-General in the American Army, has been convicted by the judgment of a Council of War, at which his Excellency presided, of having carried on a criminal correspondence with the enemy, and is accordingly ordered to be closely confined until special directions relative to this matter shall be received from the honourable the Continental Congress:

And whereas the said Benjamin Church is also a Member of this House, and the charge brought against him is of so criminal a nature, that it is the duty of the House to make strict inquiry into the fact, and, upon proof of the same, to manifest their utter abhorrence thereof: Therefore,

Resolved, That Mr. William Howe, the Messenger of this House, be, and he hereby is directed, on Friday, the 27th of October Instant, to apply to his Excellency George Washington, Esq., for a sufficient guard safely to conduct the said Benjamin Church to and from the bar of this House; and, being furnished therewith, to take the body of the said Church, and bring him to the bar of the House accordingly, at ten o’clock in the forenoon of the same day.

Ordered, That an authenticated copy of the foregoing Resolve be immediately laid before his Excellency General Washington.

Afternoon.

On the Petition of Jerathmeel Bowers, Esq., in behalf of one John Shardon, * the Committee reported. Read and accepted.

Resolved, That Henry Bowers be allowed to receive of the Prison-Keeper in Taunton one person who hath been taken from the Navy under the command of Admiral Graves; he giving his Bond to the Sheriff of the County of Bristol, to the use of this Colony, in the penal sum of one hundred Pounds; condition, that in case he shall not exchange the Prisoner whom he shall receive for the said John, he will return the said Prisoner to the Prison in Taunton aforesaid, within fourteen days from the time he shall receive the Prisoner. And the Keeper of said Prison is hereby directed to conform himself to this order, provided the said Henry Bowers shall give security as above directed.

In Council, October 27, 1775: Read and concurred.

A Petition from Josiah Nottage, Jun., in behalf of himself and others, Mariners, who were on board the Schooner Industry, on a voyage from New-Providence, bound to Boston, lately carried into Marblehead, setting forth that they are deprived of the common mode of obtaining their just demands, and praying relief. Read, and committed to Colonel Otis, Captain Adams, and Mr. Durfee.

A Petition of Caleb Clark, Agent from the Town of Belchertown, setting forth, that their Representative was not duly chosen; and that said Town had voted he should not attend the General Court, but with the leave of the Committee of Correspondence. Read, and Ordered, That said Petition be dismissed.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That Major Hawley go to the honourable Board, and inquire whether they have passed on an order sent up by the House, proposing a Conference on the subject of appointing Officers in the Militia. Who reported, that he had delivered the message.

Jedediah Foster, Esq., came down from the Board, and informed that the order of the House proposing a Conference was then under consideration before the Board.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That the choice of an Attorney-General be further referred till three o’clock, to-morrow afternoon, and that Colonel Bowers go up to the Board and acquaint them of the same.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That Mr. Story, Colonel Thayer, and Mr. Goodwin, be a Committee to examine the Muster-Rolls as they shall be brought in.

Samuel Holten, Esq., came down from the honourable Board, and said that the Board had concurred the order of the House proposing a Committee of Conference on the method of appointing Military Officers.

A Petition of William Davis, praying a Permit for the Sloop Reliance, now at Dartmouth, to sail in ballast, with Cash, for some of the French West-India Islands, under the restriction, for Powder. Read and committed.

Friday, October 27, 1775.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That there be fixed in the alley a bar, at which Dr. Church will be brought.

Ordered, That Colonel Porter, Mr. Cooper, and Colonel Grout, be a Committee to direct proper refreshment! for the Guards that shall attend Dr. Church.

Samuel Holten, Esq., brought down a Bill to encourage the fitting out Armed Vessels, passed in Council, viz:

“In Council, October 27, 1775: Read a second time, and passed to be engrossed, with the amendments.”

Read and concurred, with the amendments proposed.

The Committee on the Petition of the Selectmen of Salem* reported as follows; which was read and accepted.

Whereas the particular situation of the Town of Salem, with regard to its being exposed to desolation by the enemy, the smallness of the quantity of their Ammunition,

* Petition of Jerathmeel Bowers most humbly sheweth: That one John Shardon, of Swanzey, is now a prisoner on board of Captain Wallace’s ship; has been there near two months; has a wife and four children in want of his care. The said Wallace has offered him a dollar per day, if he will undertake to be a pilot; but the poor man has had. virtue enough, hitherto, to refuse the offer. Wallace has consented to accept another man in his stead; and as there is danger of his finally complying, through necessity, and, as he is acquainted with the coast, might bo the cause, of bringing the men of war into the rivers and harbours on the south shore, your petitioner most humbly prays that he may be redeemed, by sending a man from Taunton jail; and your petitioner will undertake to procure the said Shardon, or return the prisoner to Taunton, as your Honours shall direct. And, as in duty bound, shall ever pray.

* Petition of the Selectmen of Salem, beg leave to show: That if. now appearing to be the determination of the enemy to ravage and destroy the sea-ports of the Province, the Town of Salem thought it their duty to represent their defenceless state; and, at a meeting held this day, directed us to inform your Honours that five half barrels and a small quantity in cartridges constitute our whole Town stock of powder, and request relief in regard to ammunition, and what else your Honour judge our condition requires. This request we now present, and earnestly request that it may be granted. The cannon we have mounted (besides field pieces) are one eighteen-pounder, one twelve, three seven, and one nine-pounder, for which, if we are so happy as to obtain powder, a proportionable quantity of shot will be wanting.

*