Resolved, That there be paid out of the publick Treasury of this Colony, to Captain Stephen Rice, for the use of the Selectmen of Hardwick, in full of their Account for Bread, &c., supplied the Army.

Resolved, That there be paid out of the publick Treasury of this Colony, to Moses Gill, Esquire, for the use of the Selectmen of Princetown, the sum of eighteen Pounds fifteen Shillings and seven Pence, in full of their Account for sundries supplied the Army.

The Petition of Dr. Samuel Cooper, praying the loan of some Tories’ Household Furniture; read again, and recommitted to Mr. Sullivan and Colonel Sawyer, with Moses Gill, Esquire.

The Committee appointed to consider whether the encouragement already given for erecting Powder-Mills is sufficient, reported: That as the bounty already offered has proved insufficient for the purposes designed, a Committee be forthwith appointed to erect a Powder-Mill in the Town of Sutton, at the expense of this Colony, with all possible expedition, and on the best plan for manufacturing Gunpowder.

AZOR ORNE, per order.

Read, and accepted, and Mr. Edward Putnam, and Mr. Abijah Burbank, of Sutton, are appointed a Committee for the purpose above expressed.

Resolved, That the Commissary-General be, and he hereby is, directed to deliver to the Honourable Richard Derby, Jun., Esquire, and Mr. Josiah Batchelder, Jun., or either of their orders, thirty-two bolts of Duck, to be applied for the use of two armed vessels which they are to build and equip for the service of this Colony.

The Committee of both Houses, appointed to take under consideration the Petition of the Rev. Doctor Cooper, beg leave to report the following Resolve:

Resolved, That the Committee appointed to take an inventory of the Estates belonging to the persons who have fled from Boston with the British Fleet and Army, be, and they hereby are, ordered and directed to deliver the said Dr. Cooper so much Household Furniture, of the Estates aforesaid, as he may find necessary to furnish his House with, he giving his receipt to said Committee therefor, and being accountable to this or some future General Court of this Colony for the same.

Read, and accepted, and the said Committee are directed to deliver to Dr. Cooper so much Household Furniture, as aforesaid, as he may find necessary to furnish his House with, he giving his receipt therefor to said Committee, and being accountable for the same to the General Court.

Ordered, That Mr. Guild, Mr. Bent, Mr. Perry, Captain Hodges, and Colonel Smith, be of the Committee to procure Teams for the Deputy Quartermaster-General and Colonel Knox.

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

Saturday, April 6, 1776.

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

In the House of Representatives: The House made choice of Jonathan Brown, as First Major of the Seventh Regiment of Militia in the County of Middlesex, in the room of William Hildreth, who declines serving.

In Council: Read, and concurred.

Whereas the Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Jail Delivery, for the County of Middlesex, according to law should be holden at Concord, in the said County, on the second Tuesday of April current: And whereas several of the Justices and officers of the said Court are members of this Court, which is likely to continue sitting beyond the said time, and it is probable that matters of great importance may require the attendance of all the members of the Court at that time:

Therefore Resolved, That the said Court be, and hereby is, adjourned to the fourth Tuesday of October next, being the time at which the Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Jail Delivery for the said County, is by law appointed to be holden at Cambridge, in the County aforesaid, and that all pleas, processes, writs, actions, suits issued or to be issued, complaints, precepts, recognisances, and all other matters and things returnable, and having, and that should have had day in the said Court if the same were holden the said second Tuesday of April current, shall be returnable and have day in the said Court on the said fourth Tuesday of October next, and shall abide and continue unto that time, and shall then be proceeded on, heard, and determined, to all intents and purposes as effectually as if said Court were held on the said second Tuesday of April current.

A Bill for amending an Act passed in November last, entitled “An Act for encouraging the fixing out of Armed Vessels, &c.,” having passed the House of Representatives to be engrossed:

In Council: Read a second time, and passed a concurrence to be engrossed.

Ordered, That the Committee for fortifying the Harbour of Boston be directed immediately to take a view of Noddle’s Island, and report to this Court what time it will probably take a Regiment, consisting of seven hundred and twenty-eight men, to perform the business of fortifying said Harbour.

Petition of Israel Stoddard and Woodbridge Little, of Pittsfield, setting forth: That in the months of May and June last past, your Petitioners, at different times, were apprehended and conveyed before the Committees of this and several neighbouring towns, on a general suspicion that your Petitioners were not duly attached to the rights and liberties of their country, and with a professed design to obtain from them some assurances that they would adhere to the resolutions of the honourable Continental Congress, or any future General Assembly of this Colony. That your Petitioners, before said Committees, acknowledged that they had dissented from many of their fellow-countrymen with respect to some measures which had been adopted and pursued; but still declared that, in all their conduct, they were willing to conform to the resolutions aforesaid, and to contribute their proportion towards the general support and defence of our constitutional rights and privileges; of all which your Petitioners gave assurances to the declared satisfaction of said Committees. That said Committees, with respect to one of your Petitioners, resolved that he should pay all the costs that said several Committees should judge proper, standing committed until he should comply; though, at the time of the trial of your other Petitioner, said Committees omitted to make such particular resolve, but soon after discovered their determination to be the same respecting each of your Petitioners. That your Petitioners made various objections against such determination, as unprecedented, unwarranted, and arbitrary; but finally agreed that if said Committees would show that, by virtue of any resolve of the General or Provincial Congress, they were authorized and empowered thus to tax us in costs, that we, your Petitioners, would readily respond the same, and that we did not think ourselves holden to do it. Whereupon your Petitioners have been unmolested till of late respecting the payment of the said costs, though it has been a matter of constant complaint and uneasiness in this town. That your Petitioners have ever since carefully obeyed and strictly adhered to the resolutions of the Continental Congress, Provincial Congress, and General Assembly of this Colony, and are still disposed to do the same, though we have the unhappiness to live in that part of the Colony where some of the resolves and orders of the General Court are at least called in question, if not really contemned and disobeyed; and thus to do, we think ourselves holden not only by our afore-mentioned engagement, but by virtue of every consideration which can influence a good member of society to desire to avoid the mischiefs of a state of anarchy and confusion on the one hand, and to obtain the blessings of order and good government on the other. That the Committee of this town, not finding themselves otherwise empowered to tax and recover said costs, have procured it to be inserted, amongst other things, as an article in the warrant of our annual town-meeting for the present year, “to see if the town will direct their said Committee what method to take to recover pay for handling persons that appeared to be inimical to their country for time back and future.” Whereupon the town, by their vote, (in which all persons who had a pretence of demands for costs were allowed to act,) have