some time spent therein, the President resumed the chair, and Mr. Ward reported, that the Committee had taken into consideration the matter to them referred, and had come to certain Resolutions, which he was ready to report.

The Report of the Committee being read, the Congress took the same into consideration; and thereupon came to the following Resolution:

Resolved, That the Colonies of Virginia, Maryland, and North-Carolina, be permitted to export produce from their respective Colonies, to any part of the world, except Great Britain, Ireland, the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Alderney, and Man, and the British West-India Islands, and in return to import so much Salt from any part of the world, not prohibited by the Association, as the Conventions or Councils of Safety of the two former Colonies, and the Provincial Council of the other shall judge necessary, for the use of the inhabitants thereof, now suffering great distress by the scarcity of that necessary article, proper caution being taken to prevent any abuse of this indulgence, by exceeding in the quantities exported or imported, and that no Provisions, Staves, or Naval Stores be exported, if other commodities may answer the purpose.

Resolved, That as the importation of any universally necessary commodity, and the exportation of our produce to purchase the same, must give a proportionably greater opportunity to our enemies of making depredations on the property of the inhabitants of these Colonies, and of occasionally distressing them by intercepting such commodities, it is earnestly recommended to the several Assemblies or Conventions immediately to promote, by sufficient publick encouragements, the making Salt in their respective Colonies.

Ordered, That the foregoing Resolution be immediately published.

The Committee on Indian Trade brought in their Report.

The Committee on Lord Stirling’s Letters also brought in their Report.

A Letter from the Committee of Correspondence in Virginia, dated the 16th December, was laid before Congress, and read.

Ordered, To lie on the table.

The Order of the Day being renewed, and the several other matters to this day referred being further postponed,

Adjourned to ten o’clock, to-morrow.

Saturday, December 30, 1775.

Two Letters from General Washington, of the 19th and 2lst December, enclosing a copy of a Letter to General Howe, and accompanied with a number of intercepted Letters, being received and read,

Resolved, That the Letters from the General, and the intercepted Letters, be referred to a Committee of five.

The members chosen: Mr. Lynch, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Wythe, Mr. Deane, and Mr. S. Adams.

A Letter from General Schuyler, of the 21st December, being received, was read.

Another Letter from General Washington, dated 14th December, being delivered by two strangers, [Penet and De Pleiarne,] was laid before Congress and read.

Resolved, That Major Preston have leave to go to Amboy, to visit his uncle who lives there, and to remain in that place one week, and then return to Philadelphia, and wait the orders of Congress.

The Committee appointed to inquire into the grounds of the information respecting a quantity of Arms and Ammunition being to be procured report, that they have examined into the same, and have received intelligence that a quantity of Arms and Ammunition, and other articles, are concealed in Tryon County, in which, also, there are several Tories, armed and enlisted in the enemy’s service; whereupon,

Resolved, That the said Committee be directed to communicate the said intelligence to General Schuyler, and, in the name of the Congress, desire him to take the most speedy and effectual measures for securing the said Arms and Military Stores, and for disarming the said Tories, and apprehending their chiefs.

Resolved, That an Order be drawn on the Treasurers, in favour of the said Committee, for the sum of forty Dollars, for expediting the business to them committed.

Ordered, That the Delegates of Pennsylvania do immediately count the Silver and Gold in the Treasury, and forward the same with all convenient speed, under a guard of five men, to General Schuyler; and that the persons to be sent by the above Committee accompany said guard.

Resolved, That the Treasurers be empowered to employ a Broker to collect Gold and Silver, in exchange for Continental Bills of Credit.

Resolved, That the contents of the intercepted Letters this day read, and the steps which Congress may take in consequence of the intelligence thereby given, be kept secret until further orders, excepting only that the Delegates of Virginia and South-Carolina have leave to send to their Conventions extracts of such parts of the said Letters as they may think necessary for the welfare of their Colonies.

The Committee on Captain Sellick’s Petition brought in their Report, which was read.

The Committee on the Petition of several Merchants in Philadelphia also brought in their Report, which was read.

Adjourned to ten o’clock, on Monday next.

MONDAY, December 18, 1775.

The Delegates for the Colony of Connecticut have received the following information, which they pray may be inquired into, viz:

That certain persons having formed an association for the purpose of seizing on, and removing by force of arms, the people settled on the River Susquehannah, under the government and protection of the Colony of Connecticut, have, in pursuance of such design, raised a large sum of money, and with the same employed agents to enlist men.

That they have also collected a great number of blankets, shoes, firelocks, with a quantity of powder and ball, and other military stores, in this city, and conveyed the same to their agents in this country, who have therewith clothed and armed the men they have raised for said hostile purpose.

That to induce men to engage they have, by the agents been promised the plunder of the inhabitants they should in this manner seize on and remove, over and above the exorbitant wages given them.

That by artful and wicked means the late resolution of Congress, respecting said inhabitants, which the honourable President sent forward for the purpose of preventing hostilities, has been represented as a forgery and a libel, propagated among the people who were solicited to join in these hostilities, fictitiously signed John Hancock, President; the purport of which was that this Congress had ordered the removal of said inhabitants.

That the agents of said association had proceeded to seize on large quantities of goods and stores belonging to some of the said inhabitants of Connecticut and others, which were going up the River Susquehannah, to supply the said settlers in part; but that much the greater part of said goods were designed for the Indians of said Six Nations, at the head of said river.

That the detention of said goods, the total interruption of all supplies to the Indians, and the hostile preparations making, have given the Indians the most alarming apprehensions.

That the different parties engaged in this hostile invasion began their march on Monday last, to their place of rendezvous, giving out as they went that they should be fifteen hundred strong when collected.

That all passes leading to and from said settlement are seized on and guarded by said parties.

That the distressed settlers have put themselves into the best posture of defence in their power, having no other alternative but to submit to plunder and ruin, with their families, or defend them to the last extremity.

To support the truth of the above information, credible