Littleton: Widow Elizabeth Bescom; Widow Johnson; Widow Mary York.

And the Selectmen of the Towns of Groton, Andover, Leominster, Lunenburgh, and Littleton, are directed to apply to the Selectmen of Newburyport, for their proportion of said Poor; and by receiving a certificate that they are of the Poor of Boston, and their names, age, and the time when they came out of Boston; and they are to transport them to their several Towns, according to their destination; and to be paid, out of the publick Treasury, for their cost in procuring and transporting said Poor of Boston to their respective Towns. And the Secretary is hereby directed to furnish each of the Towns of Groton, Andover, Leominster, Lunenburgh, and Littleton, with an attested copy of this Resolve, as soon as may be.

In Council, November 3, 1775: Read and concurred.

Benjamin Lincoln, Esq., brought down from the honourable Board the Resolve for completing the Muster-Rolls.

Colonel Prescott brought down from the Council Board the Resolve relative to the disposition of the Poor of Boston.

A Message from the major part of the honourable Council, by the Secretary:

“Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

“The Council view with the deepest concern the unhappy dissension between them and the honourable House of Representatives, relative to the right of appointing the military officers in this Colony, and the growing ill consequences which necessarily result from such disunion.

“The Council have no desire unduly to extend and exercise the powers vested in them, and are far from having a disposition to altercate with the honourable House; they wish a coalition of sentiment with them in every point. No motive short of what appears to them to be their indispensable duty would be sufficient to induce them to claim an exclusive right of appointing such officers. Could they give it up consistent with the obligations they feel themselves under to adhere strictly to the Charter, as recommended by the honourable the American Congress, they would do it with pleasure.

“In order, therefore, to put an end to this dispute, and have it ascertained with whom is the right of appointing such officers, the Council propose and offer it for the consideration of the honourable House, that they immediately make a joint application to the honourable the American Congress, by whose advice and countenance this Colony have set up and now exercise the powers of Government, and to whose counsels it is necessary we should conform, for their determination thereon.

“Council Chamber, November 3, 1775.”

Read, and Ordered, That Mr. Speaker, Major Hawley, Mr. Gerry, Colonel Grout, and Colonel Orne, with such as the honourable Board shall join, be a Committee to consider and report a method of appointing Officers in the Militia, that shall be agreeable to a Resolve of the Continental Congress, and best calculated to promote the interests of the Colony.

In Council, November 4, 1775: Read, and unanimously non-concurred.

Afternoon.

The Committee upon the application of General Washington, for Wood and Hay, reported. Read, and not accepted.

Upon a motion, Resolved, That Mr. Devens, Captain Thatcher, Captain Ellis, Mr. Cheever, Colonel Thayer, Colonel Barret, and Major Brooks, be a Committee, who are directed immediately to afford their utmost aid and assistance to the Quartermaster-General, that the Continental Army may be provided with a full supply of the articles of Hay and Wood, till the further order of this Court; and for the purpose of more effectually procuring the latter, that they enter the Woodlands of such of our enemies as have fled into Boston, and, after having appraised the Wood thereon standing, or so much of it as they shall think necessary to take, that they apply to General Washington for axemen, or otherwise cause the same to be cut and transported to the Camp. And the said Committee are also empowered, if necessary, to purchase Wood, cut or standing, of any person or persons; and that the said Committee receive, out of the publick Treasury of this Colony, such sums as they shall think necessary, not exceeding two thousand Pounds, in order to enable them to proceed in accomplishing said business, for which sums they shall be accountable to this Court, and at the expiration of one month lay a fair account of the expenditure of such sums as they shall receive out of the Treasury, before this Court; and the said Committee are further directed to acquaint the General with the order this Court have taken, as above.

In Council, November 4, 1775: Read and concurred.

Saturday, November 4, 1775.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That Mr. Gerry, Colonel Porter, and Major Davis, be a Committee to consider of a method for supplying the Truckmaster of Penobscot with Powder.

Ordered, That Mr. Bancroft be of the Committee of Safety, in the room of Mr. Wood.

The Report on a Letter from General Washington, concerning Gloucester, brought down November the 1st.

Read and accepted, as taken into a new draught, as follows, viz:

Resolved, That his Excellency the General be desired to direct Major Mason to proceed to the Towns of Concord, Worcester, Lancaster, and Leicester, there to view the Cannon now in those Towns, and such and so many of them, being the property of this Colony, as he shall judge fit for use, and necessary for the defence of said harbour, the Town of Gloucester have leave to remove to that place; and that it be earnestly recommended to the Selectmen or Committee of the Towns aforesaid, in whose care any Cannon, not the property of this Colony, may be, and viewed as aforesaid, that they deliver them to the Town of Gloucester, on this important occasion, if needed. And that Major Mason, or the Selectmen of the Town of Gloucester, have liberty, on the credit of this Colony, to procure, from any Town or person who may have it to spare, two barrels of Powder, to be replaced as soon as the state of this Colony will admit of it, and if not replaced, such Town or person to receive pay therefor out of the Colony Treasury, at a rate not exceeding five Shillings per pound; and said Gloucester to be accountable therefor to this Court. That Mr. Batchelder wait on General Washington for the purpose above mentioned; and that the Selectmen of Gloucester be served with a copy of this Resolve.

Ordered, That ten o’clock, Monday morning, be assigned for the consideration of a Report concerning the payment of the Militia and Minute-Men who marched on and about the 19th of April.

Mr. Gerry, from the Committee for proposing a method for supplying the Truckmaster at Penobscot with Powder, reported. Read and accepted, with additions, viz:

Whereas this Court are informed that the Hon. General Sullivan, upon information of the arrival of Captain William Johnson, of the Schooner Britannia, has sent an express to the said Johnson, with directions to send to him, at Portsmouth, part or the whole of the Powder which should be imported in said Vessel for the defence of said place, under its present apprehensions and distresses, from a supposition that the said Vessel was fitted out by this Colony, at the expense of the Continent: And whereas this Government hath not fitted out said Vessel at the expense of the Continent, and have not charged any disbursements for such purpose; and having draughted from the Towns of this Colony considerable quantities of Powder, for the Continental Army, are not in a situation to spare Ammunition, under its present circumstances, to their sister Colony, or its capital as aforesaid; and also are in want of said article for the immediate defence of our sea-port Tow ns, as well as to answer the demands of the Penobscot Truckmaster’s supplying the Indians of said place; therefore,

Resolved, That Doctor Russell, of North- Yarmouth, be, and hereby is empowered forthwith to repair to the Hon. General Sullivan aforesaid, for such part of the said Powder as he shall have received, and convey four half-barrels thereof to Jedediah Preble, Esq., Truckmaster of Penobscot, and take the residue thereof, and one hundred of the Arms brought in the same Vessel, under his own charge,