made and finally condemned agreeable to a law of this Colony, made and passed in the present session of the General Court, intituled, "An act for the fixing out Armed Vessels, and for the trial and condemnation of Vessels that have been employed in aiding and assisting our enemies," and in such proportions as is allowed the officers and seamen of the Armed Vessels fitted out on account of the United Colonies, by his Excellency General Washington, (A.)

Afternoon.

Benjamin Lincoln, Esq., brought down a Letter from Mr. Nathaniel Shaw, Jun., dated New-London, February 5, 1776, relative to the arrival of Captain Packwood, with Powder.

Read, and committed to the Committee appointed by a Resolve of this Court, which passed the House the 10th of January last, to settle the Accounts remaining unsettled on the books of the late Committee of Supplies, and to take care of several cargoes, &c.. And the Committee are directed to take order with respect to the sum left in St. Eustalia and Martinico, by Captain Packwood, to purchase Powder.

And David Cheever, Esq., is hereby appointed on said Committee, in the room of Colonel Porter.

On a motion, Ordered, That Colonel Orne, Major Brooks, and Brigadier Godfry, be a Committee to consider at large the matter of paying Officers and Soldiers for their losses in battle on the 19th of April and 17th of June last, and report.

Resolved, That Doctor John Greenleaf be joined to the Committee appointed to receive, examine, and pay for all good and merchantable Saltpetre, at the rate heretofore established by this Court, that shall be manufactured in this Colony; and that there be paid to the said Committee out of the Treasury of this Colony, the sum of fourteen hundred Pounds, to enable them to pay for the same, they to be accountable to this Court for the money they, or either of them shall receive; and Mr. Jedediah Phips is directed to attend at Waterman on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, for that purpose, until the first day of June next, and to advertise this order for their attendance, in the Watertown and Cambridge Newspapers three weeks successively.

A Petition of a number of Inhabitants of the Eastern part of the County of Lincoln, praying that some Companies may be raised for the defence of the sea-coast there. Read, and committed to Mr. Hathaway, Colonel Thompson, and Colonel Bowers.

The Committee appointed to consider the conduct of Mr. Elias Haskitt Derby, in importing Coffee and other goods from the Island of Dominica, contrary to the Resolves of Congress, reported, viz:

The Committee to whom was referred the consideration of Mr. Elias Haskitt Derby's conduct in importing Coffee and other goods from the Island of Dominica, contrary to the Resolves of Congress, have attended that service, and examined the several depositions in the case, as well as the orders given by Mr. Derby to Captain Lander, and heard several witnesses on the affair; upon the whole are of opinion, that the said Lander has acted quite contrary to the orders of his owner, and in direct violation of the Resolves of the Continental Congress; and as to Mr. Derby's conduct in this matter, the Committee are unanimously of opinion, that he has not himself, in the importation of those goods from Dominica, acted in any way contrary to the Resolves of the Continental Congress, and that he ought not to be charged with the misconduct and misbehaviour of the said Lander. Per order:

WILLIAM STORY, chairman.

The Committee are further of opinion, that the following Resolve pass this Court:

Resolved, That the Coffee and such other articles as were imported contrary to the Association, in the Schooner William, Peter Lander, master, from Dominica, in the hands of the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Ipswich, and of the Town of Beverly, or in the hands of whoever else, be stored at the charge and risk of the owner, and kept in safe custody till the further order of this Court. Read, and accepted.

Michael Farley, Esq., brought down a Bill for encouraging the fixing out of Armed Vessels, &c., and of repealing a former Act for that purpose.

John Taylor, Esq., brought down two Petitions, viz: A Petition of Ann Coshommon, Indian woman, of Chilmark, in Dukes-County, and Benjamin Obadiah, Indian man, of Dartmouth, in the County of Bristol, praying for liberty to make sale of a certain tract of Land in Dartmouth, for reasons therein set forth, with the following Resolve of Council thereon, viz:

In Council, February 6, 1776: Resolved, That the prayer of the Petition be granted, and that Walter Spooner, Esq., be, and he hereby is empowered to make sale of the tract of Land mentioned in said Petition, of which John Quanimon died seized, for the most the same will fetch, and make and execute a good deed, or deeds, in law, of the same to the purchaser, or purchasers, he observing the rules and directions in the law provided for the sale of real estates by executors and administrators, and the money arising by said sale to be put to interest, on good security, for the benefit of the legal heirs of the said John Quanimon, and the interest of the money to be paid annually to the said heirs, on their making application to the said Walter Spooner, Esq., he to be accountable to the General Court of this Colony when thereto required.

Read, and concurred.

John Taylor, Esq., brought down a Petition of Thomas Symonds and Mary Thomas, native Indians, of Middle-borough, in the County of Plymouth, praying liberty to make sale of a piece of Land in Dartmouth, with the following Resolve of Council thereon, viz:

In Council, February 6, 1776: Resolved, That the prayer of the Petition be granted, and that Walter Spooner, Esq., be, and he hereby is empowered to make sale of the tract of Land mentioned in said Petition, for the most the same will fetch, and to make and execute a good deed or deeds of the same to the purchaser, or purchasers, he observing the rules and directions of the law for the sale of the real estates by executors and administrators, and the money arising by such sale to be laid out by the said Walter Spooner, Esq., in purchasing so much land for the benefit of said Indians, of where it will best accommodate them, as it will pay for, after deducting the necessary charges of such sales and purchase, and that the said Walter Spooner, Esq., be accountable to the General Court of this Colony for his doings touching the premises.

Read, and concurred.

On the Petition and Account of a number of Soldiers in Captain Samuel Gridley's Regiment of Artillery, for losses sustained in the battle of Bunker's Hill, on the 17th of June last,

Resolved, That there be allowed, and paid out of the publick Treasury, to Captain Samuel Gridley, for the use of the several persons undemamed, the several sums set against each person's name, in full discharge of their account, viz:

EphraimFlagg,	£3	4	0
Solomon Kimball,	2	8	0
John Kimball,	2	8	0
Jonathan Silver,	0	14	0
Enoch Davis,	1	13	2
Caleb Foot,	2	2	0
William Patten,	0	18	0
Manuel Grace,	0	18	0
Paul Giles,	2	2	0
Ezra Reynolds,	1	14	0
Zachariah Holden,	0	11	0
James Sabres,	0	9	0
Zachariah Willis,	1	0	0
Christopher Blanding,	1	6	0

The House then adjourned to ten o'clock, to-morrow morning.

Thursday, February, 8, 1775.

A Bill 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. Read a first time, and ordered to be read again at twelve o'clock, this day.

Thomas dishing, Esq., brought down the Resolve of this House of the 30th January last, containing the ap-