received of said Jackson, Tracy & Tracy, for the use of the two abovesaid Armed Vessels, before the Committee of Correspondence for Newburyport received the order of Court.

The Secretary, by order of the major part of the Council, went down to the honourable House, with the following Message, viz:

“Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:

“The Council are informed that there are a number of Cannon on Castle-Island, which have been no further injured by our enemies than having been spiked up; and as they may be immediately wanted for the defence of this Colony, the Council recommend to the honourable House that they take the earliest opportunity to employ some suitable persons to unspike the touchholes; and that garrison-carriages, and other necessary implements, be provided for them, that they may be fit for use.

“In the name and by order of the Council:

“JAMES OTIS.”

Whereas this Court has received information that John Parke, the Deputy Quartermaster-General of the Army of the United Colonies, and Richard Duff, his Clerk, are arrested at the suit of William Thompson, Merchant, in an action of trespass, whereon the said Thompson complains that the said John and Richard broke and entered his dwelling-house, and made an assault on his person, and broke his household furniture in said house very much; and it being suggested to this Court that the said John and Richard entered said house by order of their superior officers, to quarter soldiers there, and it appearing to said Court that, in the present state of our publick affairs, the producing suits against persons employed in said Army for their entering the houses and enclosures of the inhabitants of this Colony, in support of said Army, would have a tendency more dangerous than the suspending such suits for the present:

It is therefore Resolved, That there shall be no Suit produced or prosecuted, nor any Writ or Precept served on any Officer or private Soldier now in, or that have been in, the Army aforesaid, the last or present campaign, for any entry by them made on Houses or Lands in this Colony, while they were in the service of the said Colonies; and all Sheriffs, and other officers, are commanded to take notice and govern themselves accordingly, and that they do not execute or return any Writ against such person now in their hands, or that shall hereafter be delivered them, until this Court shall further consider of this matter, and reconsider this Resolve.

Whereas his Excellency General Washington has directed the Surgeon-General of the Continental Army to procure what Medicines may be obtained in the Town of Boston, for the use of said Army; and as it appears there are Drugs of various kinds left in the Shops and Stores of Sylvester Gardner and William Perkins, late inhabitants of Boston:

Therefore Resolved, That whatever Drugs and Medicines are found in the Stores or Shops of the above-mentioned Sylvester Gardner and William Perkins, (fled from Boston,) be delivered to Doctor Morgan, Surgeon-General of the Continental Army; and any person or persons who have the care of the said Drugs or Medicines are hereby directed to deliver the same accordingly.

Resolved, That the Commissary-General of this Colony be, and he hereby is, empowered and directed to inform himself with respect to the number of Cannon now lying at Boston and Castle-Island, which are the property of this Colony; and that he cause to be cleared out and repaired all those which he judges can be made fit for use.

Ordered, That Captain Witherton and Mr. Whitney be on the Committee appointed to procure Teams to transport the Baggage and Stores of the Army to Rhode-Island.

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

Tuesday, April 2, 1776.

Present in Council: Honourable James Otis, Caleb Cushing, Joseph Gerrish, John Whetcomb, Eldad Taylor, Benjamin Lincoln, Charles Chauncy, Samuel Holten, Michael Farley, Jahez Fisher, John Taylor, Benjamin White, Joseph Palmer, Esquires.

On the Petition of William dishing, Esq., praying for a grant as Justice of the Superior Court:

Resolved, That there be granted to the Petitioner the sum of two hundred Pounds, in consideration of his faithful services in time past, which shall be in full until this time, that Court not having met any time within a year past.

Whereas one John Rich, who was master of the Sloop Success, and sent to this Court by the Committee of Safety of Majorbigwaduce, for supplying the enemy in Boston some time past with Provisions or necessaries for their subsistence; the facts appearing by the depositions and papers attending said Rich to be true,

Therefore Resolved, That the said Rich be committed to some Jail in this Colony which the Council shall direct, until the further order of this Court, upon failure of his giving bond with sureties agreeable to a former Resolve of this Court.

Ordered, That the said Rich be sent to the Jail at Ipswich.

Resolved, That there be paid out of the publick Treasury, to George Kilbourn, the sum of seven Pounds three Shillings and six Pence, in full of his account for nursing and boarding two Soldiers wounded in the battle of Bunker’s Hill.

Petition of the Committee of Correspondence for the County of Worcester, in Convention, setting forth: That your Memorialists, solicitous for the peace and good order of the County, see with concern that the Courts of General Sessions of the Peace and Common Pleas, are ordered to be opened before the new fee-table is established, which the good people of this County are grieved at, esteeming the late fee-table too high and exorbitant; that the wages of the officers in the Army bear too great a proportion with those of the privates, which your Memorialists humbly conceive to be the reason why the Army is so long in completing, by which means the Colony is put to extraordinary cost in raising levies; that having but one Register in the County for recording deeds, &c., renders securities precarious, by being more exposed to casualties than if there were a Register’s Office kept in each town, which would save great expense of money and time to the inhabitants of the County.

Read, and committed to the Committee on the state of the Province.

The Committee of both Houses, appointed to inquire of Monsieur Le Baron de Woedtks, Chevalier del order de St. Jean de Jerusalem et de Malta, relative to the design the Captain, in whose vessel he came, had of going into Boston, &c., report: That from the account the Baron gave of the matter, there was reason to suppose the French-man designed to go into Boston with his cargo; but upon his being heard in his own justification, and the evidence given by Captain Folger, who left the West-Indies but a few days before him, the Committee were of opinion that, on the whole, it was best to give him up his papers, and admit him to sell his cargo. The Committee are further of opinion, that the Honourable James Otis, Esq., before whom the Baron was examined, and by whom he was forwarded to the Council, had great reason to suppose the master had formed a design of going into Boston; that his Honour’s conduct herein merits applause, and that the account of the expenses be laid before the Committee of Accounts for examination and allowance.

Read, and accepted.

Petition of Caleb Green, for and in behalf of John Akin, Joseph Russell, Henry Wait, John Barrow, William Taylor, and Walter Wood, setting forth: That the said John Akin, as Master of the Sloop Greyhound, and the said Russell, Wait, Barrow, Taylor, and Wood, as Mate and Mariners, sailed some time in March last, in the Colony service, for Philadelphia; that on the 27th or 28th day of March, being on their return from Philadelphia, they were taken by one of the tenders belonging to the King of Great Britain; that one Wallace, the Captain of the tender, is ready to exchange the said Captain and Mariners for as many prisoners being delivered to him; and he threatens, unless a speedy exchange is made, to send the said Master and Mariners to Great Britain; wherefore your Petitioner, for and in behalf of the said Master and Mariners, humbly prays that the honourable Court would order an exchange of prisoners, that thereby the said Master and Mariners may not be put to any further hardship and damage.