in the respective Counties, to administer Oaths or Oath of Office to the several persons chosen into office in the aforesaid Counties; also, to take Bonds of the respective Recorders of Deeds and Conveyances and County Treasurers, in a respectable sum, to Philips White, Esq., Speaker of the House of Representatives, or the Speaker for the time being, faithfully and impartially to execute their office. Also, to remove the Records of Deeds and of the Probate Offices, and those of the Secretary, and deliver them to the persons now appointed to keep those offices; also, upon the death or incapacity of any of the aforesaid officers, where Records are kept, that they, in their respective Counties, be empowered to take such Records and safely keep them till the then next sitting of General Assembly.

Voted, That Captain Prentice and Captain Hercules Mooney be a Committee of this House, to join a Committee of the honourable Council, to prepare a form of an Oath, or Oaths, to be taken by the several Officers of the respective Counties in this Colony.

Voted, That Colonel Walker and Captain Long be a Committee of this House, to join a Committee of the honourable Council, to consult about the most convenient method of obtaining Flour from abroad.

Voted, That Colonel Gilman and Colonel Evans be a Committee to procure seventy Axes, for the use of the Regiment destined for Canada, on the best terms they can get them.

Upon reading the Vote of the honourable Council, that the Pay due to the several Members of the General Assembly be drawn out of the Treasury at the end of the Session, according to the Votes of the House; and the question, Whether the same shall be replaced in the Treasury by the constituents of each Member, as well as the future wages, be put off until the second Wednesday of the sitting of the General Assembly after this adjournment?

Voted, Not to concur.

Voted, That Noah Emery, Esq., be allowed and paid out of the Treasury six Shillings per day for each day’s attendance in the late Congress and in the House of Representatives, for his service as Clerk of said Houses, over and above his wages as a Member of the same.

Voted, That the Justices of the Peace through this Colony, and of the several Counties within the same, be directed to try no Actions in Civil Cases until further orders of the General Assembly. That, after the first day of April next, the several Courts of General Sessions of the Peace sit in the respective Counties, at the terms heretofore appointed by law, and not before. That the Justices of the Peace make use of the same Forms in the issuing their process in Criminal Cases, as has been legal formerly. That the several Courts of Sessions at their meeting take up and determine all matters that lay unfinished by the last Court of General Sessions held in such County.

That the Superior Court of Judicature, &c., and the several Inferior Courts of Common Pleas, in their respective Counties, be not opened till further orders of the General Assembly.

That the Justices of the Peace be guided by the laws of this Colony, in determining criminal matters, till otherwise determined by the General Assembly. That the laws of this Colony, printed in the late edition thereof, originally made and passed by the legislative authority of this Colony, may at present (until a more careful revision and amendment of them) be a guide to all Executive officers of this Colony, and be considered as law, except an Act requiring persons to take an oath of allegiance, (in the first page;) all clauses respecting the Governour and Council sitting or acting as a Court of Appeals; the clause allowing an appeal to the King in case, &c.; the Act for fixing triennial Assemblies; and an Act laying an excise on Spirituous Liquors.

Resolved, That there be emitted twenty thousand and eight Pounds sixteen Shillings, lawful money, upon the credit of this Colony, for the use and service thereof, in Bills of the following denominations, viz: 3,176 bills of six Dollars; 3,176 bills of five Dollars; 3,176 bills of four Dollars; 3,176 bills of three Dollars; 3,176 bills of two Dollars; 3,176 bills of one Dollar. And that the same shall be redeemed by a tax on the Polls and Estates of the inhabitants of this Colony, in the following manner, viz: £5,000 by the 26th day of January, in the year of our Lord 1783; £5,000 more by the 26th of January, 1784; £5,000 more by the 26th of January, 1785; £5,008 16s. more by the 26th of January, 1786. And that the form of said Bills be as follows, viz:

“Colony of NEW-HAMPSHIRE.

“The possessor of this bill shall be paid by the Treasurer of this Colony . . . . dollars, by the . . . . . . .; which bill shall be received for the aforesaid sum in all payments at the Treasury, and all other payments by order of the Council and Assembly.

That Josiah Moulton, Jun., Joseph Gilman, and Philips White, Esquires, or any two of them, be a Committee to sign said Bills.

That Meshech Weare, Esq. and Doctor Levi Dearborn be a Committee to procure Paper and superintend the Press, while the Money is printing, and deliver the same to the Treasurer, and take his receipt therefor.

All which Bills, after their redemption, shall be burnt to ashes in the presence of the Council and Assembly.

Adjourned to nine o’clock, to-morrow morning.

Saturday, January 27, 1776.

The House met according to adjournment.

Voted, That the honourable Council and House of Representatives shall be adjourned from this day to the first Wednesday in March next, to meet at the Town-House in Exeter, at three of the clock, afternoon.

Voted, That Mr. Secretary Thompson shall receive three Shillings per day, for sixteen days’ attendance on the late Congress as Secretary, over and above his wages as a Member of said Congress, (out of the grant made yesterday to Noah Emery, as Clerk of said Congress,) and that he receive six Shillings per day for his services as Secretary to the Colony, over and above his wages as a Counsellor.

Voted, That Captain Ezekiel Worthen be chief commander of the forces at and near Piscataqua Harbour, and that he, with the soldiers there, erect such Battery, on and near Great-Island, as shall be necessary to prevent the enemy from landing there; and that he receive a Major’s commission, and have a Major’s pay.

Voted, That the Roll of Captain William Prescott, amounting to one hundred and seventy-one Pounds fourteen Shillings five Pence half-penny, be allowed and paid out of the Treasury, and that the President of the Council give order on the Treasurer for payment thereof.

Voted, That the Oath to be taken by the several Justices of the Peace in this Colony shall be the same as that in the last edition of the Law Book; and that all other officers be sworn diligently, faithfully, and impartially, to execute the offices to which they are appointed.

Adjourned one hour, then met.

Voted, That William Whipple, Esq., our Delegate to the Continental Congress, have and receive, out of the Treasury one hundred Pounds, to be by him accounted for, and that the President of the Council give order on the Treasurer for payment thereof.

Voted, That the Receiver-General and Samuel Brooks receive all the Blankets offered to them, from this day until the first day of the next session of this Assembly, and pay for them out of the Treasury.

Voted, That the Committee of Safety be directed to write to the Continental Congress, and lay the plan of Government, taken up by this Colony, before them, and let them know that a number of the Members of this House dissented to and protested against the same, (supposing it breathed too much of the spirit of independence,) and to know the judgment of the Congress thereon.

Voted, That Captain Turner be, and hereby is, discharged from the service of this Colony as Captain of a Company of Artillery, and also of his said Company, and that Major Ezekiel Worthen take the command of said Company.