directed their Committee to tax said costs, both back and future; and in case of refusal of payment, to commit the person refusing to Jail, or otherwise confine him as they shall think proper; all which your Petitioners think to be repugnant to the first principles of English liberty, and an unreasonable and illegal exercise of the powers with which towns in this Colony are invested. Your Petitioners cannot but be humbly of opinion, that so long as they make the resolves of the General Congress, and of this honourable Court, the rule of their conduct, and are disposed to support and obey the good and wholesome laws of this Province, they are entitled to protection, and are to be viewed and treated as friends to the general cause of America, and are to be relieved against all arbitrary and illegal attempts of any person or any body of men whatsoever. Your Petitioners, therefore, most humbly pray that this honourable Court would take the premises into their wise consideration, and that they would make such orders and resolves as shall give your Petitioners relief from the affront of the said town order and vote, if your Honours in your wisdom shall judge proper.

On reading and considering the foregoing Petition:

Resolved, That the inhabitants of the Town of Pittsfield have day on the second Wednesday of the first session of the next General Court, or Assembly for this Colony, to show cause in the said Court, if any they have, why the prayer of the said Petition should not be granted; and that, in the mean time, all the proceedings against the said Petitioners, or either of them, on the vote and order of the said Town of Pitts field, mentioned in the said Petition, so far as the said vote relates to such costs and charges as are therein mentioned, shall be stayed. And for the notifying the in-habitants of the said town of the contents of the said Petition, and this order thereon, that the Petitioner cause the Town Clerk of said Pittsfield to be served with a copy of the said Petition and this Order, attested by the Secretary, as soon as may be.

Read, with the Answer and Papers accompanying it, and Ordered, That the same be committed to Colonel Sartel, Mr. Davis, Captain Washburn, with Thomas Cushing and Benjamin White, Esquires.

In the House of Representatives: Ordered, That Mr. Speaker, Captain Cutter, and Colonel Thatcher, be a Committee, with such as the honourable Board shall join, to consider his Excellency General Washington&146;s Instructions to General Ward, and report.

In Council: Read, and concurred, and James Otis and Caleb Cushing, Esquires, are joined.

Adjourned to ten o’clock, Monday morning.

Monday, April 8, 1776.

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

Ordered, That the Receiver-General of this Colony be directed to pay out the stoppages made by the Officers for Arms and Cartridge-Boxes, supplied by any private persons, in the same manner as for those supplied by the Towns or Officers.

On the Petition of Thomas Jones, Commissary of the Forces stationed at Naushan, praying for directions respecting the building Barracks for said Forces,

Resolved, That the said Commissary be, and he is hereby directed, with the assistance of the Soldiers on said station, to build as many Log-Houses with the timber on said Island as will be sufficient for the reception of seventy or eighty men, and the said Commissary is further directed to procure nails and boards sufficient to build Cabins and cover the roofs of said Houses.

Resolved, That there be paid out of the publick Treasury of this Colony, to Thomas White, the sum of four Pounds sixteen Shillings, in full for two months wages as a Sergeant in the Continental Army, he not being made up in any Muster-Roil for said service.

Petition of Jonathan Lowder, setting forth: That he has been employed as a Gunner at Fort Pownall, under the command of Thomas Goldthwait, Esq., and has done his duty in said office to the acceptance of his commander and other officers, humbly prays your Honours that they would grant him a warrant for his pay due to him on said Goldthwait’s Pay-Roll, for the Garrison of Fort Pownall.

Resolved, That Jonathan Lowder have leave to draw his Pay that is made up to him on Captain Goldthwait’s Pay-Roll, for his services as a Gunner at Fort Pownall; and the Treasurer of this Colony is ordered to pay the same.

Whereas it is represented that sundry persons have procured, and are now using means to procure, from without this Colony, quantities of Saltpetre, or the materials therefor, partly wrought, with a view to receive from the Treasurer of this Colony the price and premium promised for such as should be manufactured within this Colony: Wherefore, for the prevention of any such fraudulent practices and impositions taking place, it is

Resolved, That all such persons as are or may be appointed by the General Court to receive and pay for Saltpetre manufactured within this Colony, be directed, and they hereby are directed, not to receive and pay for any quantity that may be brought to them respectively for the use of the Colony, until the person or persons bringing the same shall take an oath—which the persons appointed to receive the same as aforesaid are hereby authorized to administer—agreeable to the form following, viz: “You, A B, solemnly swear that the whole quantity of Saltpetre now presented by you was manufactured within this Colony; and that neither the whole nor any part of the materials from which it was extracted were brought from any place without the limits of the Colony. So help you God.”

Whereas an order passed this Court, that Caleb Green have liberty to receive six persons out of the Taunton Jail, taken from the Navy, under the command of Captain Wallace, at Newport, in order to redeem the same number of men lately taken by him on their passage from Philadelphia to Dartmouth; and as there were but five in said Jail, for which five he hath received five men taken on their passage aforesaid, one yet remains on board Wallace:

It is therefore Resolved, That Charles Arnold be allowed to receive of the Prison-keeper in Concord, one man, (a sailor, if may be,) giving his bond to the Sheriff of the County of Middlesex, or the Keeper of said Jail, for the use of this Colony, in the penal sum of fifty Pounds, conditioned, that in case he shall not exchange the Prisoner whom he shall receive from Concord Jail for one Joseph Russell, now on board the said Wallace, he shall return the Prisoner to the said Prison-keeper in Concord, within fourteen days from the time he shall receive him, the said Prisoner; and the Keeper of said Prison is hereby directed to conform himself according to this order, provided the said Arnold shall give security as above directed.

Resolved, That there be paid out of the publick Treasury of this Colony, to Roger Deuch, and others, the sum of fifty-two Pounds eighteen Shillings and seven Pence, in full of their Account for taking care of the Sick in Colonel Woodbridge’s Regiment.

Petition of John Kenney, setting forth: That one Captain Atkins, of Truro, in the County of Barnstable, was employed by the Committee of said town, to escort the Prisoners taken in the Friendship, Captain Holmes, master, and had a sum of money delivered him by said Committee to bear the charges thereof; and that the said Captain Atkins employed your Petitioner to cart their baggage to Plymouth, and encouraged your Petitioner he should be paid for the same out of the money put into his hands by said Committee; notwithstanding, the said Atkins now refuses to pay a farthing; and your Petitioner is informed that there is an order of Court for the said baggage to be delivered up to the Prisoners; your Petitioner therefore humbly prays that your Honours would allow him a reasonable reward for his services, or order Mr. Bartlett, in whose hands the goods were left, not to deliver them to the owners till they pay the charge of transportation.

Resolved, That the Committee of Truro be directed to pay John Kenney so much of his Account petitioned for as shall be thought just by said Committee, out of the Money found on board the Friendship, and lodge their Account with the Judge of Admiralty of Plymouth, for allowance.

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