The Council met. PHILAD'A, Saturday April 3, 1779. PRESENT: His Excell'y JOSEPH REED, Esq'r, President. Hon'ble GEORGE BRYAN, Esq'r, Vice President. A Letter from the board of War to Col. B. Flowers, Commissary of Military Stores, ordering the delivery of Two Pieces of Iron Cannon, & Two Howitz, & as many Riffles from the Magazine at Carlisle, as shall be necessary to Arm five Companies of Rangers, to be delivered as they now are, & to be repaired by the State, & to be returned if called for by the United States, they paying for the repairs. Ordered, That two 24 Pounders Iron Cannon, & two of the largest Mortars, be delivered to Col. Proctor of the Artillery. The Council having received information that Samuel R. Fisher was not confined, according to his Mittimus, Ordered, That the Secretary do write to the Sheriff & expressly order that the Mittimus be put in due execution immediately. An order was drawn on the Treasurer, in favor of Robert Allison, for the Sum of Five hundred Pounds, for which he is to account. The Council met. PHILAD'A, Monday April 5, 1779., PRESENT: His Excell'y JOSEPH REED, Esq'r, President. Hon. GEORGE BRYAN, Esq'r, Vice President. Ordered, That Capt. Joseph Stiles, Commissary of Military Stores, do furnish to Messrs. Blair, Mc'Clenaghan & Matthew Irwin, or their order, such ammunition and Military Stores as they shall have occasion for in the fitting out the Armed Ship General Green. The Joint Committee of General Assembly and of this Council, now made the following report, Vizt: "Whereas, the Hon'ble the Continental Congress have, for various good reasons, called out of circulation the whole of the emis sions of May 20th, 1777, & April 11th, 1778, under certain regulations, as mentioned in their resolve of January 2d, 1779: "And Whereas, the manner of Exchange as therein mentioned, would be grievous & burthensome to many of the good people of this State, by reason of their very great distance from the place of exchange, the smallness of the quantity many of those persons are possessed, of & the enormity of Travelling charges; many of the persons so situated had better lose their little all than spend it in negotiating an exchange. This House, ever desirous to relieve the distresses of their constituents as much as in them lies, do Resolve, That Thomas Hislap be, & is hereby appointed a Commissioner of Exchange for the County of Chester; John Hubley for the County of Lancaster; Michael Hahn for the County of York; John Agnew for the County of Cumberland; John Heester for the County of Berks; John Arndt for the County of Northampton; David Espie for the County of Bedford; Robert Martin for the County of Northumberland; & Edward Cooke for the County of Westmoreland, under the regulations herein after mentioned, Viz: "That each of the said Commissioners of exchange before named, shall give public notice in their respective Counties, of their appointments to that duty; & shall upon application made, receive such Sums of Money, of the dates before-mentioned, as may be offered for exchange by every inhabitant of this State, before the first day of June next, & pass his receipt for the same; & shall make fair entries, in a book prepared for that purpose, of the names & surnames of each person depositing money, as also of the Sum of Money so deposited, keeping each man's money bound in a bundle by itself, & indorced with the Owner's name, & the number of Dollars contained. "That each of the Commissioners aforesaid shall, before the first day of June next, deposit all the Monies by him received for the purpose of exchange, into the Continental Loan-Office of this State, taking the Continental Loan-Officer's receipt for the same, agreeable to the resolution of Congress. "That the said Commissioners of exchange shall receive from the Commissioner of Loans, new bills, to the Amount of the Sum deposited for exchange, & shall, as soon as convenient, repay the persons & cancel his receipts, reserving to himself, out of each Man's money, at the rate of Two and a-half Dollars for every hundred Dollars, for his trouble & expences in negociating said exchange." 66 Ordered, That the Clerk of this House be directed to publish these resolutions in all the German & English Newspapers, once every week, for one month. "WHEREAS, it was resolved the last sitting of this Assembly, that the wages of the members of this House for said sitting, shall be Two Pounds five Shillings per diem, & one Shilling & Six Pence per mile, for their travelling expences; The Speaker, Three Pounds per diem, with the mileage allowed the members, & the Clerk of the House Four pounds Ten Shillings per diem, for which a Law should be passed this session, to provide for the same & the future wages of said members: "And Whereas, the necessary & unavoidable business of this House has prevented said bill from being enacted into a Law; therefore, "Resolved, That each member of this House shall be allowed for this sitting eight Dollars per diem; The Speaker Four Pounds per diem, the Clerk of this House five pounds per diem, his assistant Clerk Three Pounds Ten Shillings per diem, & each & every of said members are to have & receive Two Shillings & Six Pence per mile for every. mile they shall travel to & from this House, which, with the wages of last sitting, be provided for by a Law next meeting of this House : "And Whereas, the wages now allowed to our delegates in Congress & the members of the Supreme Executive Council, are not adequate to their necessary expences; therefore, "Resolved, That each Delegate in Congress for this State, shall have and receive for every day he has or shall attend in Congress, from the last election of Delegates for this State, Five pounds per diem, & every member of the Supreme Executive Council, shall have and receive for every day he has attended or shall attend on the duties of his Office, since the first day of February last, Three pounds diem. "On motion, "Resolved, That Jared Ingersoll, Esq'r, the gentleman employed as an assistant by the Attorney General, agreeable to a resolve of this House in the case of the Proprietary claims, be allowed One Hundred Pounds for his said services. "The Joint Committee of Council & Assembly beg leave to report to their respective Houses, That in pursuance of the resolutions of the 25th of March last, That have conferred with the Hon'ble Mess. Paca, Laurens, Adams, R. H. Lee, & Root, a Committee of Congress on the subject matter of the representa tion made on the said day; That the same hath been fully freely discussed; That the Conferees of Congress gave this Committee very ample assurances of the disposition of Congress to preserve the most perfect harmony, & remove all ground of apprehension or uneasiness from the minds of the good people of this State; That such mutual overtures of friendship & explanation have been made in the course of the said conference, as afford a prospect of lasting harmony & confidence, & in order to cement and confirm these happy & beneficial sentiments, & to disappoint the Enemies of the common cause, who take encouragement from all appearances of disunion, it will be proper to give some open proof of the happy issue of this conference; for this purpose, the joint Committee beg VOL. XI.-47. leave to propose to their respective bodies the following Resolves, as tending to promote the desirable & important end aforesaid, Viz: Resolved, That the unanimity & harmony between the representatives of the United States in Congress assembled, & each State individually, have been, under God, the happy means of our past success, & the only sure foundation whereon to rest our future hopes of terminating the contest with Great Britain with honor & advantage. “Resolved, That the Legislature & Executive authorities of this State, entertain the most proper sentiments of veneration & esteem for the Hon'ble the Continental Congress, & repose a perfect confidence in the wisdom & integrity of that Hon'ble body, which it is their intention to manifest on all occasions. “JOSEPH REED, President. "In behalf of the Council. "JOHN HARRIS, "In behalf of the Assembly." The Council met. PHILAD’A, Tuesday April 6, 1779. PRESENT: His Excell'y JOSEPH REED, Esq'r, President. Hon'ble GEORGE BRYAN, Esq'r, Vice President. Joseph Hart, John Hambright, Esq'rs. An order was drawn on the Treasurer in favor of John Shields, Esq'r, for the Sum of Two Thousand Dollars, to be delivered by him to Capt. Jos. Irwin of the Rangers, to be applied in raising his Company, the same to be charged to account of the said Capt. Irwin. A Representation from John Hubly, Esq'r, respecting the Money expended by him in building a Store House at Lancaster, was read; & thereupon, An order was drawn on the Treasurer in favor of John Hubley, Esq'r, or his order, for the sum of Eight hundred Pounds, to be applied in paying for materials & to Workmen, for the building of a Store House at Lancaster, for which Sum he is to account. A Resolve of the Hon'ble House of General Assembly of the 5th instant, was read; Ordered, That the same be inserted on the Minutes, & they are as follows, Viz't: "In General Assembly. "MONDAY April 5, 1779, P. M. "Resolved, That the attention & care of the Supreme Executive Council of this State in detecting public abuses, are highly acceptable to this House, & that they will support them in the due discharge of so necessary a duty. "Resolved, That the Executive powers of Government have been administered to the entire satisfaction of this House, & the general content of the good people of this State; & that this House cheerfully give this testimony of their approbation to his Excellency the President, & the other members of the Council, as an earnest of their resolution to support them in a continuance of the faithful & honorable discharge of their duty, & a mark of their perfect confidence & regard." An order from Côl. Flowers, for the delivery of so many Rifles from the Magazine at Carlisle as shall be necessary to arm five Companies of Rangers, &ca., being now presented to the Council; Ordered, That the same be delivered to Mr. John Carson, of Carlisle, & that they be repaired under his care; & if it should so happen, That Mr. Carson should not accept of this appointment, in such case Stephen Duncan, Esq'r, is requested to undertake & complete the said business. Another Resolve of the Hon'ble House of General Assembly of the 5th instant, was read, & is as follows, Viz.: "In General Assembly. "MONDAY, April 5, 1779, P. M. "Resolved, That the Supreme Executive Council be & they are hereby empowered to borrow, on any emergency, any Sum of Money not exceeding One Hundred Thousand Pounds, from any person & persons willing to lend the same, & this House will at their next sitting, provide for the re-payment of such Sum or Sum's borrowed as above." An order was drawn on the Treasurer in favor of William Scott, Esq'r, Pay-master of Militia, of the County of Bucks, or his order, for the sum of One Thousand & Eight Hundred Pounds, for which sum he is to account. Ordered, That Mr. Joseph Rush & Mr. James Craigg, be appointed to value the ship General Green, agreeable to the proposals. made to the State by the Owners of her, & report thereon to this. Council. A Recommendation (by Col. Proctor & other officers of the Regiment of Artillery) of Capt. Amos Wilkinson, as a proper person to receive & deliver out the Articles enumerated by a Resolve of General Assembly of fifth of December last, was read; & thereupon, |