gers, we have advised with Doctor Benjamin Franklin, and shall, with his assistance, set the engraver to work in a few days.

As the Convention have ordered both plates and paper here, we submit to you, whether it would not be expedient to have the printing, also, done by Hall & Sellers. Of this we are certain, that the business would be done with much greater expedition. But in this shall be governed by your directions.

With respect to cannon, so far as we can form any opinion, from the short time to make the inquiry, none can be had here, or from any of the Eastern Governments; they are very scarce through the whole Continent.

A Committee of Congress, of which Mr. Rogers is a member, have been appointed, to make inquiry into the quantity of cannon on hand, and what will be wanted, and where, and on what terms they can be had. No report is yet made, but a letter from Mr. Chase to Mr. Paca, mentioning that Hughes, in Frederick, had contracted with the Convention to supply our Province at thirty-two pounds ten shillings, being communicated to Congress, the members of the Committee were immediately very desirous to see Mr. Hughes, to know whether he would make the like contract for supplying the demands of Congress. This will convince you that a supply cannot be had from hence, and that you must rely on your own resources, by casting them in the Province.

Mr. Paca purchased from Mr. Morris twelve guns, of six-pound balls, for six hundred pounds, by order of Mr. Johnson; they would have been sent down, had not the ice stopped the navigation.

WILLIAM PACA,

R. ALEXANDER.

To the Honourable the Council of Safety of Maryland.

P. S. Agreeable to your request, a passport was granted Maynard, who proceeded immediately to New-York.

Mr. Purviance enclosed us affidavits of two skippers, who had been taken by Lord Dunmore, mentioning that a pilot-boat, with a clergyman from Maryland, had arrived at Norfolk, who gave information of the outfit of the store and provision vessels. If you have heard of this business, be pleased to advise us; we are desirous of knowing the truth, a difficult task at present.

LORD STIRLING TO PRESIDENT OP CONGRESS.

[Referred to Mr. Chase, Mr. Rutledge, Mr. Wythe.]

Elizabethtown, February 2, 1776.

SIR: The cargo of the ship Slue-Mountain-Valley, is now chiefly unladen and brought up to this town, except the coal, which it will be best to take out as it is disposed of.

I have, as yet, received no orders from Congress relating to this ship, nor no answer to the three letters to you relating to her, since her capture, and of which it was impossible for me to keep copies.

Captain Dempster is very desirous of returning to England. Two of his Mates, and the foremast-men, would be glad of working their passage home, or through the West-Indies. It will, perhaps, be best to send them to Philadelphia for that purpose, in preference to any of the port; to the eastward.

I am told that the Congress has established some rule: with regard to prizes, and, also, some Admiralty jurisdiction; but, as I have not seen them, I cannot tell whether this ship is comprehended within them, and shall be glad to be instructed with regard to that point.

I now enclose a copy of the orders I gave to Captain Rogers when I put the ship into his charge. This Captain Rogers was well recommended to me by the New-York Committee of Safety. He is, I believe, as fit a mat as any to command a ship of force; or, if it should be thought proper to keep three or four small sloops, to run in and out of Sandy-Hook, and the inlets of Egg-Harbour Barnegat, &c., I believe he would be a very proper per son to command them.

Some attempts have been made, in this Province, to break through the prohibition ordered by Congress to the shipping of lumber and provision. I have taken every step in my power to prevent it, and have laid the whole proceedings before the Convention of this Province, which is now sitting at Brunswick.

Enclosed is a copy of my letter to them on that subject, as, also, copy of my letter to them on the subject of arms, and I hope they will come into the measure I have recommended to them.

I now, also, enclose copies of the orders I sent to Colonel Maxwell, with regard to preparing his regiment for marching to Albany, and his answer thereto. These would have been transmitted sooner to you, but my absence a few days from this place, on the little naval excursion, and my illness in consequence of it, for a day or two more, has thrown me behind hand in my correspondence, which I find swells to such a size that it will be impossible for me to get through it with any regularity, without the help of one or two good clerks.

I just hear that seven hundred men, from New-England, arrived in New-York this afternoon, and that General Lee is at King's Bridge with a like number.

I have the honour to be, with great respect and regard, your most humble servant,

STIRLING.

To the Honourable John Hancock, Esq.

In Committee of Safety, New-York, January 25, 1776.

MY LORD: Since the last communication between your Lordship and us, concerning the arms we undertook to supply you with for the troops under your command, we have orders from Congress to raise four new battalions, besides one which before that time we were under orders to raise.

We are, also, informed that there are still thirty stands of publick arms in the town of Newark, which are not appropriated to the use of your troops. There may be others in the same situation in other parts of your Colony, and we conceive it a hardship to be obliged to forward a department of service out of our Colony, by supplying those arms which we intended for you, and which, with many more, will be wanted for equipping our own battalions. We can assure you, my Lord, with the greatest truth, that we are totally at a loss how to supply our new levies with arms, without taking them from our Militia, which nothing but the most urgent necessity will justify, as by that means the defence of this important post will be weakened.

We, therefore, earnestly request you to release us from our former engagement to you, and are, my Lord, most respectfully, your Lordship's obedient, humble servant.

By order of the Committee:

JOSEPH HALLETT, Chairman.

To the Right Honourable the Earl of Stirling.

Elizabethtown, January 28, 1776.

SIR: I received your letter of the 25th, respecting the one hundred stand of arms which you were to have supplied me with. I shall lay the letter before the Continental Congress, and the Convention which meet this week at Brunswick, in hopes that some other means may be taken for providing an equal number.

A certain ship is lately arrived here with stores, some of which, perhaps, may be of use to the publick service under your direction. I, therefore, subjoin a list of her cargo, in order that you may know whether any part of it will be useful for that purpose. The ship is about one hundred feet long on the main deck, and will commodiously carry twenty six and ten three-pounders. W. R. is well worthy of your confidence.

I have the honour to be, your most humble servant,

STIRLING.

To the Chairman of the Committee of Safety, at New-York.

Elizabethtown, February 2, 1776.

SIR: Some time ago I obtained a promise from the Congress of New-York to supply my regiment with one hundred stand of arms, to be paid for out of the moneys advanced by the Continental Congress for purchasing arms for the New-Jersey troops. Four more new regiments being ordered to be raised in the Province of New-York, has put the Committee of Safety of that Province under the necessity of desiring to be released from their promise, as