Ordered, That Colonel Morris Graham, Mr. Paul Schenck, and Mr. Tompkins, be the Committee, and to report with all possible speed.

Mr. Hallett requested leave of absence for a few days, and that he be dismissed from the Committee of Secrecy.

Agreed, unanimously, That Mr. Hallett have leave of absence, and that he be henceforth discharged from the said Committee, and absolved from the qualifications and oath by him taken as a member thereof.

A Letter from Thomas Brown, a Quaker, complaining of his being drafted out of the Militia, was read.

Referred to General Scott.

Thursday afternoon, June 20, 1776.

The Congress met pursuant to adjournment.

Present: John Haring, Esq., President pro tempore.

FOR NEW-YORK.—General Scott, Mr. Randall, Mr. Van Zandt, Mr. Jay.

FOR ALBANY.—Mr. Gansevoort, Colonel Rensselaer.

FOR ULSTER.—Major Parks, Colonel Hasbrouck.

FOR DUTCHESS.—Mr. De Lavergne.

FOR KING’S.—Mr. Polhemus.

FOR ORANGE.—Mr. Haring, Mr. Pye, Mr. Allison.

FOR RICHMOND.—Mr. Journey, Mr. Cortelyou.

FOR CUMBERLAND.—Colonel Marsh.

FOR SUFFOLK.—Mr. Hobart.

FOR WESTCHESTER.—Colonel L. Graham, Mr. Haviland, Mr. Morris.

FOR TRYON.—Mr. Moore, Mr. Harper.

FOR CHARLOTTE.—Mr. Webster.

Whereas the Secret Committee, appointed the 17th inst., have represented to this Congress that they have discovered certain dangerous persons who ought to be arrested:

Resolved, That the said Committee, or any two of them, do cause such persons to be apprehended and secured in such manner as they may think most prudent, and that they have authority either to employ the Militia or obtain detachments of Continental troops from the Commander-in-Chief for that purpose, and that they be so far absolved from their oaths of secrecy as may be necessary thereto.

A Letter from Colonel Edward Fleming, (enclosing the Resolution of the Provincial Congress of this Colony, dated the 29th day of August, 1775, appointing him Deputy Adjutant-General in the Continental Army, with the rank of Colonel,) wherein he assigns the reasons for his resignation of the said office, was read and filed.

A Letter from the New-York Delegates at Continental Congress, dated June 17, 1776, acknowledging the receipt of the Letter from this Congress, in answer to their former Letter on the subject of Independence, was read and filed.

A Letter from Captain Cornelius Steenrod, dated this day, was read and filed, recommending Isaac Ryckman a Second Lieutenant.

Mr. Hobart, from the Committee appointed to consider and report ways and means to prevent the extravagant price of Salt, introduced the Report of the said Committee; which he read in his place. After some time spent therein,

Ordered, That the same be recommitted.

Mr. Hobart being the only Member of the said Committee present, the others being absent with leave, and Mr. Hobart’s attendance being absolutely necessary on the Secret Committee,

Ordered, That Mr. Parks, Mr. Moore, and Mr. De Lavergne, be a Committee to reconsider the said Report, and report their proceedings thereon with all possible speed.

Mr. Jay, from the Committee appointed to prepare a Resolution for removing doubts which have arisen respecting the true construction of a certain Association ordered by the late Committee of Safety of this Colony to be presented for subscription to the inhabitants thereof, reported the following Resolutions; which, being read, were unanimously approved of, and are in the words following, to wit:

In Provincial Congress, New-York, June 20, 1776.

Whereas the Continental Congress, on the 14th day of March last, did recommend to the several Assemblies, Conventions, and Councils or Committees of Safety of the United Colonies, immediately to cause all persons to be disarmed within their respective Colonies who were notoriously disaffected to the cause of America, or had not associated and refused to associate to defend by arms these United Colonies against the hostile attempts of the British fleets and armies: And whereas the late Committee of Safety of this Colony did thereupon, on the 27th of March aforesaid, recommend it to the Committees of the several Cities, Counties, Manors, Townships, Precincts, and Districts, in this Colony, forthwith to cause to be disarmed all persons within their respective districts who are known to be disaffected to the cause of America, and also all such persons as should refuse to sign the following Association, viz:

“We, the subscribers, inhabitants of . . . . . . . ., in the County of . . . . . . . ., and Colony of New-York, do voluntarily and solemnly engage, under all the ties held sacred among mankind, at the risk of our lives and fortunes, to defend by arms the United American Colonies against the hostile attempts of the British fleets and armies, until the present unhappy controversy between the two countries shall be settled.”

And whereas it hath been objected to the said form of an Association, that, by obliging the subscribers or Associa-tors in such general and express terms to defend the United Colonies by arms against the hostile attempts of the British fleets and armies, it deprived them of the rights reserved by the Militia Regulations, and imposed on them the necessity of marching to the most distant of the Colonies whenever called upon; which construction of the said Association, however new and casuistical, is inconsistent and fallacious, it being manifest that the Militia Regulations could, by no rule of construction, be supposed to be repealed and abrogated by any subtile implications drawn from the said Association; but as some of the friends to the American cause have been influenced by this objection to refuse signing the said Association, and, in consequence thereof, been disarmed, it hath become expedient that the said Association should be so explained as to render it free from specious as well as solid objections; and therefore,

Resolved, unanimously, That nothing in the said Association contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to deprive those who have subscribed it of any rights reserved to them in and by the said Militia Regulations.

And to the end that all the freemen of this Colony may associate for the preservation of American liberty in a form entirely unexceptionable,

Resolved, unanimously, That the following form of an Association be, and it is hereby, recommended to them, viz:

“We, the subscribers, inhabitants of. . . . . ., in the County of. . . . . ., and Colony of New-York, do most solemnly declare that the claims of the British Parliament to bind at their discretion the people of the United Colonies in America in all cases whatsoever, are, in our opinion, absurd, unjust, and tyrannical, and that the hostile attempts of their fleets and armies to enforce submission to those wicked and ridiculous claims ought to be resisted by arms. And therefore we do engage and associate, under all the ties which we respectively hold sacred, to defend by arms these United Colonies against the said hostile attempts, agreeable to such laws or regulations as our Representatives in the Congresses or future General Assemblies of this Colony have or shall for that purpose make and establish.”

And that all persons who have been disarmed for refusing to associate with their countrymen for the defence of the United Colonies, in the form prescribed by the late Committee of Safety as aforesaid may have no pretence to complain of injustice, and that they may have a fair opportunity of convincing the publick that their refusal to sign the said Association did not arise from a disinclination to defend the rights of America, but merely from objections to sign to the form of the said Association, and thereby be restored to the privilege of bearing arms in support of a cause so important and so glorious:

Resolved, unanimously, That all persons (other than those