the Act of Parliament prohibiting all Trade and Commerce with the American Colonies; also,

A Letter of the 10th instant, from Colonel John Haslet, enclosing an account of the engagement between the detachment of the Delaware Battalion at Lewis, and a Tender of the Roebuck; also, informing that another Company is wanted at Lewistown, and that he has ordered one to march thither, were laid before Congress, and read.

Resolved, That the conduct of Colonel Haslet, in ordering another Company to Lewistown, be approved.

The Committee on Qualifications having recommended James Hunter as a fit person to fill the oldest vacancy of Second Lieutenant, and Joel Westcoat as a suitable person to fill the second oldest vacancy of Second Lieutenant in the Third Pennsylvania Battalion,

Resolved, That Commissions be granted to them accordingly.

The Congress took into consideration the Report of the Committee on the means of supplying the Troops in Canada.

year of the reign of his present Majesty, to discontinue the landing and discharging, tading or shipping, of Goods, Wares, and Merchandise, at the Town and within the Harbour of BOSTON, in the Province of MASSACHUSETTS-BAY; and also two Acts, made in the last session of Parliament, for restraining the trade and commerce of the Colonies in the said Acts respectively mentioned; and to enable any person or persons, appointed and authorized by his Majesty, to grant pardons, to issue Proclamations in the cases and for the purpose therein-mentioned.

Whereas many persons in the Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower Counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, have set themselves in open rebellion and defiance to the just and legal authority of the King and Parliament of Great Britain, to which they ever have been, and of light ought to be, subject; and have assembled together an armed force, engaged his Majesty’s troops, and attacked his forts, have usurped the powers of Government, and prohibited all trade and commerce with this kingdom, and the other parts of his Majesty’s dominions; for the more speedily and effectually suppressing such wicked and daring designs, and for preventing any aid, supply, or assistance, being sent thither during the continuance of the said rebellious and treasonable commotions, be it therefore declared and enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That all manner of trade and commerce is and shall be prohibited with the Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower Counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia; and that all ships and vessels of or belonging to the inhabitants of the said Colonies, together with their cargoes, apparel, and furniture, and all other ships and vessels whatsoever, together with their cargoes, apparel, and furniture, which shall he found trading in any port or place of the said Colonies, or going to trade, or coming from trading, in any such port or place, shall become forfeited to his Majesty, as if the same were the ships and effects of open enemies, and shall be so adjudged, deemed, and taken, in all Courts of Admiralty, and in all other Courts whatsoever.

II. Provided always, and it is hereby further enacted and declared by the authority aforesaid, That nothing in this act shall extend, or be construed to extend, to such ships and vessels as shall be actually retained or employed in his Majesty’s service, or to such ships and vessels as shall be laden with provisions for the use of his Majesty’s fleets, armies, or garrisons, or for the use of the inhabitants of any town or place garrisoned or possessed by any of his Majesty’s troops, provided the masters of such ships and vessels respectively shall produce a license in writing, under the hand and seal of the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain for the time being, or of three or more Commissioners for the time being for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain, or of the commanders of his Majesty’s Fleets or Armies, or of the Governour, Lieutenant-Governour, or Commander-in-Chief of any of his Majesty’s Colonies or Provinces not herein-before mentioned, specifying the voyage in which such ship or vessel shall be employed, and expressing the time for which such license shall subsist and be in force, and also expressing the quantity and species of the said stores and provisions on board; and if any goods, wares, or merchandises, other than stores and provisions for his Majesty’s use, or provisions for the use of the inhabitants of any town or place garrisoned and possessed by his Majesty’s troops, shall be found on board such ships or vessels, (the necessary stores for the ship’s use, and the baggage of the passengers, only excepted,) in any or either of those cases, the said goods, wares, and merchandises shall be forfeited, and shall and may be seized and prosecuted in the manner herein-after directed.

III. And, for the encouragement of the officers and seamen of his Majesty’s ships of war, Be it further enacted, That the flag officers, captains, commanders, and other commissioned officers in his Majesty’s pay, and also the seamen, marines, and soldiers on board, shall have the sole interest and property of, and in all and every such ship, vessel, goods, and merchandise, which they shall seize and take, (being first adjudged lawful prize in any of his Majesty’s Courts of Admiralty,) to be divided in such proportions, and after such manner, as his Majesty shall think fit to order and direct by proclamation or proclamations hereafter to be issued for those purposes.

IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said flag officers, captains, and commanders, respectively, to cause to be taken, or put on board any of his Majesty’s ships or vessels of war, or on board any other ships or vessels, all and every the masters, crews, and other persons who shall be found on board such ship and ships as shall be seized and taken as prize as aforesaid; and, also, to enter the names of such of the said mariners and crews, upon the book or books of his Majesty’s said ships or vessels, as they, the said flag officers, captains, and commanders, shall respectively think fit; from the time and times of which said entries respectively, the said mariners and crews shall be considered, and they are hereby declared to belong to, and to be as much in the service of his Majesty, to all intents and purposes, as if the said mariners and crews had entered themselves voluntarily to serve on board his Majesty’s said ships and vessels respectively; and also that it shall and may be lawful to and for the said flag officers, captains, and commanders respectively, to detain, or cause to be detained and kept, the masters and other persons, and also such others of the mariners and crews of the said prize ships as shall not be entered upon the books of his Majesty’s ships or vessels of war as aforesaid, in and on board any ship or ships, vessel or vessels whatsoever, until the arrival of such last-mentioned ships or vessels in some port in Great Britain or Ireland, or in any port of America not in rebellion; and upon the arrival of those ships or vessels in any such port, the commanders thereof are hereby respectively authorized and required immediately to set the said last-mentioned mariners and crews, and also the said masters and other persons, at liberty on shore there.

V. And, for the more speedy proceeding to condemnation or other determination of any prize, ship, or vessel, goods, or merchandises, to be taken as aforesaid, and for lessening the expenses that have been usual in the like cases, Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Judge or Judges of such Court of Admiralty, or other person or persons thereto authorized, shall, within the space of five days after request to him or them for that purpose made, finish the usual preparatory examinations of the persons commonly examined in such cases, in order to prove the capture to be lawful prize, or to inquire whether the same be lawful prize or not; and that the proper monition usual in such cases shall be issued by the person or persons proper to issue the same, and shall be executed in the usual manner by the person or persons proper to execute the same, within the space of three days after request in that behalf made; and in case no claim of such capture, ship, vessel, or goods shall be duly entered or made in the usual form, and attested upon oath, giving twenty days notice after the execution of such monition; or if there be such claim, and the claimant or claimants shall not within five days give sufficient security (to be approved of by such Court of Admiralty) to pay double costs to the captor or captors of such ship, vessel, or goods, in case the same so claimed shall be adjudged lawful prize, that then the Judge or Judges of such Court of Admiralty shall (upon producing to him or them the said examinations or copies thereof, and upon producing to him or them, upon oath, all papers and writings which shall have been found taken in or with such capture, or upon oath made that no such papers or writings were found) immediately, and without further delay, proceed to sentence, either to discharge and acquit such capture, or to adjudge and condemn the same as lawful prize, according as the case shall appear to him or them upon perusal of such preparatory examinations, and also of the other last-mentioned papers and writings found taken in or with such capture, if any such papers or writings shall be found; and in case such claim shall be duly entered or made, and security given thereupon according to the tenour and true meaning of this act, and there shall appear no occasion to examine any witnesses other than what shall be then near to such Court of Admiralty, that then such Judge or Judges shall forthwith cause such witnesses to be examined within the space of ten days after such claim made and security given, and proceed to such sentence, as aforesaid, touching such capture; but in case, upon making or entering such claim, and the allegation and oath thereupon, or the producing such papers or writings as shall have been found or taken in or with such capture, or, upon the said preparatory examinations, it shall appear doubtful to the Judge or Judges of such Court of Admiralty whether such capture be lawful prize or not, and it shall appear necessary, according to the circumstances of the case, for the clearing and determining such doubt, to have an examination, upon pleadings given in by the parties and admitted by the Judge, of witnesses that are remote from such Court of Admiralty, and such examination shall be desired, and that it be still insisted on, on behalf of the captors, that the said capture is lawful prize, and the contrary be still persisted in on the claimants behalf, that then the said Judge or Judges shall forthwith cause such capture to be appraised by persons to be named by the parties and appointed by the Court, and sworn truly to appraise the same according to the best of their skill and knowledge; for which purpose the said Judge or Judges shall cause the goods found on board to be unladen, and, an inventory thereof being first taken by the Marshal of the Admiralty, or his deputy, shall cause all such parts of the goods and merchandise as are perishable commodities to be sold by publick sale, for the clear amount of which only the captors shall be answerable to the claimants, and the remainder of them to be put into proper warehouses, with separate locks, of the Collector and Comptroller of the Customs, and, where there is no Comptroller, of the Naval Officer and the agents or persons employed by the captors and claimants, at the charge of the party or parties desiring the same; and shall, after such appraisement made, and within the space of fourteen days after the making of such claim, proceed to take good and sufficient security from the claimants to pay the captors the full value thereof, according to such appraisement, in case the same shall be adjudged lawful prize; and shall also proceed to take good and sufficient security from the captors to pay such costs as the Court shall think proper, in case such ship shall not be condemned as lawful prize, and, after such securities duly given, the said Judge or Judges shall make an interlocutory order for releasing or delivering the same to such claimant or claimants, or his or their agents, and the same shall be actually released or delivered accordingly.

VI. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any claimant or claimants shall refuse to give such security, the Judge or Judges shall cause the captor or captors in like manner to give good and sufficient security to pay the said claimant or claimants the full value thereof according to the appraisement, in case any such capture or captures shall be adjudged not to be lawful prize; and the said Judge or Judges shall thereupon proceed to make an interlocutory order for the releasing and delivering the same to the said captor or captors, or their agents.

VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all books, papers, and writings, found in any ship or vessel taken as prize, shall, without delay, upon the oath of the captor, be brought into the