so salutary a resolution had not been formed and received as the rule of action by the honourable House, previous to your adopting those resolves of the 4th current, in which you have attempted to clothe your substitute with that power, and delegate to him that authority which, by the present Constitution of this Colony, is incontestably lodged in another branch of the General Court, and that you should be led to ask the concurrence of the Board therewith, as another line of conduct more consistent with our present Constitution might have prevented all debate on this subject between the honourable Board and the Council, and that anxiety in the minds of the Council, lest a delay, thus effected, to support our distressed brethren in the Town of Falmouth, and in the neighbourhood thereof, should prove their ruin.

“The Council renew their request that the honourable House would commiserate the distresses of our friends in the County of Cumberland, and grant such further relief to them as their necessities require. You may depend on a due concurrence of the Council in such measures, and that they will, not from a conviction that their exclusive claim of appointing Militia officers is erroneous, but from the apparent necessity that immediate provision should be made for the defence and protection of the Town of Falmouth, and County of Cumberland, in this instance (and that it be not considered as a precedent in future) join with the honourable House in appointing by ballot an officer to take the command of the forces raised for the defence of the sea-coast, and, when necessary, call together and command the Militia when assembled in said County.”

The Committee appointed to prepare a Resolve, empowering any persons to make captures of Vessels in certain cases, reported. Read and accepted, as follows:

Whereas, by a law of this Colony, made in the present session of the General Court, entitled “An Act for encouraging the fixing out of Armed Vessels to defend the Sea-Coast of America, and for erecting a Court to try and condemn all Vessels that shall be found infesting the same,” it is provided that all Vessels which shall be brought into this Colony, and proved to be the property of, or any ways employed by, the enemies of the United American Colonies, or for supplying the said enemies, shall, with their appurtenances and cargoes, be deemed forfeited, and disposed of as by said act is ordered and directed; and no provision being therein made for captors not legally commissioned therefor, who in certain cases ought to meet with all necessary encouragement,

Resolved, That when and so often as it shall appear to the Judge of any Court by said act provided, that any Vessel or Vessels, which shall be by such Court condemned, have been taken by any inhabitants of the United American Colonies within thirty leagues of the American shore, in that case it shall be lawful, and such Judge is hereby authorized and directed to award to the captors the amount of what such Vessel or Vessels, with their cargoes and appurtenances, shall produce, after deducting the charges of trial and condemnation, and also the Sheriff’s fees for sale at publick auction, in the same manner as would have been done had such captors been commissioned with letters of marque and reprisal by any of the Colonies aforesaid.

In Council, November 11, 1775: Read and concurred.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That Mr. Speaker, Major Hawley, Colonel Porter, Mr. Gerry, and Mr. Cushing, be a Committee to take into consideration the two Messages brought this day from the honourable Council.

The Committee for considering of a meet establishment for those General Officers who have been in the service of this Colony reported. Read, and not accepted.

Saturday, November 11, 1775.

Samuel Holten, Esq., brought down a Memorial from James Lyon, Chairman of the Committee of Safety of Machias, setting forth their exertions in the common cause, their expectations of an attack from the enemy, and praying the Court to grant them some Powder for their defence. Read, and committed to Mr. Story, Colonel Smith, and Mr. Hubbard.

The Committee appointed to consider what is proper to be done relative to the Poor of Boston, expected from thence, and to prevent the spreading of the Small-Pox, reported. Read and accepted.

Whereas the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, who, with their effects, have been hitherto detained by General Gage and his successor, contrary to agreement and the most solemn engagement, are now expected out of said Town: therefore,

Resolved, That Mr. Thomas Crafts, Captain Edward Proctor, and Mr. Isaac Pierce, be, and hereby are appointed a Committee of this Court, with full power to procure, upon the credit of this Colony, sufficient teams to carry those persons who are not able to remove themselves and their effects to such Towns as they apprehend to be most suitable and convenient to receive them, in the County of Hampshire or elsewhere, which have not as yet received the proportion of those sufferers assigned them by a Resolve of Congress passed the 1st of May last, allowing for the hire of these teams at the rate of twelve Pence a ton per mile; and that said Committee also provide necessary support for said Poor, to the places of destination. And if it should be found difficult to remove those Poor to the respective Towns to which they shall be assigned, the Committee are in such case to recommend to the Selectmen of the Towns they may be sent to, that they assist in removing said Poor to the place of their destination, unless it should be convenient for them to remain in such Town.

And whereas this Court is informed that the Small-Pox is now in Boston,

It is further Resolved, That the Committee aforesaid be, and hereby are strictly enjoined to make use of every precaution, by smoking, cleansing, airing, and detaining persons or effects, as they may judge necessary to prevent a communication of that distemper to the Army and Inhabitants of this Colony, at so important a crisis as the present; and that the sum of one hundred Pounds be paid, out of the Colony Treasury, by Henry Gardner, Esq., Receiver-General, to said Committee, to enable them to defray the necessary expenses aforesaid, thy to be accountable to this Court.

In Council, November 11, 1775: Read and concurred.

The Committee on the Message from the honourable Board reported. Read and accepted.

Resolved, That Colonel Grout, Deacon Rawson, and Mr. Story, be a Committee to wait on the honourable Council, with the following Message:

May it please your Honours:

The House propose to the honourable Board, at twelve o’clock, this day, by joint ballot with them, to come to the choice of some suitable person to such service and command in the County of Cumberland, as is expressed in a message from the honourable Council to this House of the 7th instant; which person, when chosen, shall be accordingly commissioned by the honourable Council.

The Committee on Colonel Arnold’s Accounts have examined Captain Noble’s Pay-Roll, and find that the said Arnold has charged this Colony with said Noble’s Pay-Roll, and has received the whole thereof. It further appears, that the balance due to said Noble, which the said Arnold has received, amounts to thirty-six Pounds, five Shillings, and five Pence. And as it appears that the said Noble and his men are in great want of their money, and the said Arnold is now in the Continental service, and cannot at present be come at, to pay the sum he received for the use of the said Noble and his Company: therefore,

Resolved, That there be allowed and paid, by the Treasurer of this Colony, to the said Captain Noble, the sum of thirty-six Pounds, five Shillings, and five Pence, being the full balance of his Muster-Roll; he giving security to pay the several men made up in his Muster-Roll the several sums due to them.

And it is further Resolved, That this Court prefer to General Washington a charge of the sum aforesaid against the said Arnold, that a stoppage of so much as is before ordered to be paid to said Noble may be made, for the benefit of the Continent.

Moses Gill, Esq., brought down, with amendments, the Resolve of the House on a Letter from the Committee of Congress, for collecting an account of depredations made by the Ministerial Troops.