"That for the more speedy raising the Battalions ordered, on the 8th of January, to be raised in the Colonies of New-Hampshire, Connecticut, New-York, and Pennsylvania, for the defence of Canada, it be recommended to the General Assemblies, Conventions, or Councils, or Committees of Safety of those Colonies, respectively, to exert their utmost endeavours in raising the said Battalions, upon the same pay and subsistence as the Army at Cambridge, and to furnish them with Provisions, Ammunition, and other necessaries, for expediting their march to Canada; and for further encouraging the men more cheerfully to enter into the service of their country, to give a Bounty of six and two-thirds dollars to every able-bodied, effective man, properly clothed for the service, and having a good Firelock, with a Bayonet and other Accoutrements; and four dollars to every Soldier not having the like Arms and Accoutrements; the Arms to be supplied by the Colony, and the cost to be deducted out of the Soldier's pay; and, also, to provide a Blanket and Haversack for every inlisted Soldier; and, moreover, to advance one month's pay to every Officer and Soldier before their march, that they may be able to purchase necessary clothing.

"That the first two Companies which shall be complete of every Battalion, do march to that country as soon as they shall be ready, and be followed in the same numbers, with like expedition, by the rest of the corps; and that it be recommended to the General Assemblies, Conventions, and Councils, or Committees of Safety, of the Colonies in which Battalions are directed to be raised, that they respectively attend to this business."

A printed copy of sundry Resolves of Congress, bearing date on the 17th instant, relating to the raising of Troops, was read and filed, and is in the words following, to wit:

"In Congress, January 17, 1776.

"Resolved, That the Colonels of the several Battalions ordered to be raised, do immediately order their Officers on Recruiting Service, to such parts where they are best known, and have the greatest probability of success.

"That the Recruiting Officers ought to be careful to inlist none but healthy, sound, and able-bodied men, not under sixteen years of age.

"That the Colonels of the several Battalions aforesaid, appoint some place, or places, of rendezvous, to which the Recruits may be sent, and where the Battalions may be quartered.

"That the greatest attention ought to be paid to the behaviour of the Troops in Quarters, that they may give no reasonable cause of complaint.

"That the Quarters of the Troops be duly discharged once every week.

"That an allowance of ten Shillings per man be made to the Recruiting-Officers in lieu of their expenses in recruiting, exclusive of the Subsistence-Money allowed them; and that, in case any man be inlisted contrary to the foregoing Regulations, the Pay they may have received, and the Subsistence-Money that may be paid for them, shall be stopped from the pay of such Recruiting-Officers.

"That no bought, indented Servants be employed on board the Fleet, or in the Army of the United Colonies, without the consent of their Masters.

"Extracts from the Minutes:

"CHARLES THOMPSON, Secretary.

Ordered, That the Letters and Resolutions of the honourable the Continental Congress, be taken into further consideration this afternoon.

A Letter from Major-General Lee, in answer to the one addressed to him by the Committee on the 21st instant, was received and filed, and is in the words following, to wit:

"Stamford, January 23, 1776.

"SIR: Yesterday, on the road, I had the honour of receiving yours, and ought to make a thousand apologies for not having answered it immediately, but the circumstance of being on the road, together with the necessity of finishing some despatches to General Washington, and to the Continental Congress, rendered it almost impossible.

"I should certainly, sir, have apprized you of my march, bad I not concluded that you would have learned it time enough from the Congress. The letter I have from the General, directed to the Chairman of the Committee of Safety, I was ordered to deliver with my own hand. With respect, sir, to the alarms of the inhabitants, on the suspicion that my business was to commence active hostilities against the men-of-war in your harbour, I can assure you that they may be perfectly easy—such never was the intention of the General, and, I hope, you will believe that I never entertained a thought of transgressing the letter of my instructions. The motive of the General, for detaching me, was solely to prevent the enemy from taking post in your city, or lodging themselves on Long-Island, which, we have the greatest reason to think, sir, is their design. Some subordinate purposes were likewise to be executed, which are much more proper to communicate by word of mouth, than by writing; but I give you my word, that no active service is proposed, as you seem to apprehend.

"If the ships-of-war are quiet, I shall be quiet, but I declare solemnly, that if they make a pretext of my presence to fire on the town, the first house set in flames by their guns; shall be the funeral pile of some of their best friends. But, I believe, sir, the inhabitants may rest in security on this subject. I am convinced, and every man who considers a moment must be convinced, that the destruction of the sea-port towns would, if possible, be a severer stroke to the Ministry, and their instruments, than to the inhabitants themselves. The sea-port towns are the only holds they have in America; they are considered as the pledges of servitude; the menacing destruction to them may, indeed, be of admirable use, but the real destruction of them must extinguish all hopes of success.

"In compliance, sir, with your request, I shall only carry with me into town a force just strong enough to secure it against any designs of the enemy, until it shall please the Continental Congress to take measures for its permanent security. The main body I shall leave on the western frontiers of Connecticut, according to your directions. I hope, sir, and persuade myself, that the Committee and inhabitants can have no objection to this plan. If Mr. Tryon and the Captains of the ships-of-war are to prescribe what numbers are, and what numbers are not to enter the town, they are absolute dictators to all intents and purposes. The condition is too humiliating for freemen to put up with.

"You take pains to assure me, sir, that your Congress and Committee are not less zealous in the cause of American liberty, than any representative body on the Continent. I give you my word, sir, that this assurance was unnecessary. I am not one of those who have entertained a bad opinion of the virtue of New-York, or made it my business to asperse them; on the contrary, I have condemned loudly the illiberal, impolitick, and unjust reflections I have heard frequently thrown out. I should not have taken the liberty of troubling you with the opinion, good or bad, which an unimportant individual like myself may entertain of so respectable a body as your Committee or Congress, had not this particular paragraph of your letter thrown the temptation in my way.

"I am, sir, your most obedient and devoted servant,

"CHARLES LEE,

"To Peter.V B. Livingston, Esq., Chairman of the Committee of Safety."

3 ho. P. M., Die Mercurii, January 94, 1776.

The Committee met pursuant to adjournment.

Present: Mr. Joseph Hallett, Chairman, Mr. Scott, Colonel McDougall, Colonel Brasher, Mr. Tredwell, Mr. Sands, Mr. Brewster, Mr. Clarke.

A draft of a Letter to Colonel Joseph Drake, requesting him to endeavour to find out the persons concerned in spiking up the Cannon beyond King's Bridge, was read and approved of, and is in the words following, to wit:

In Committee of Safety, New-York, January 24, 1776.

SIR: William Lownsberry purchased a parcel of files, and had them carried up to your County in a boat; the boatman delivered them to his son. We have good reason to believe they were used to spike up the cannon in your County. Lownsberry declares that they are not in his house, but refuses to tell where they are. And Hains, who met our party of horsemen, told Lownsberry, in their presence, that he met him going towards the cannon, beyond the Bridge, in company with three other persons, last Wednesday night. This Lownsberry denies. We request