thirty-first day of March last, for exploring the head waters of the rivers Susquehanna, Delaware, Lehigh, and Schuylkill, and the western waters within this State, and to be charged to the fund provided by act of the General Assembly of the twenty-eighth day of September, 1789, for claims and improvements, the said sum being advanced to the said Timothy Matlack, in part of his one of the Commissioners for exploring the said western waters, for which sum he is to account.

pay as

A letter from the Honorable Thomas Jefferson, Esquire, Secretary of State, dated the seventeenth instant, inclosing two copies of each of the following acts and resolutions of Congress, vizt:

An Act for giving effect to the several acts therein mentioned in respect to the State of Rhode Island aud Providence Plantations;

An Act for the relief of Thomas Jenkins and company;

A Resolution respecting the arrears of pay due to the troops of the lines of the States of Virginia and North Carolina; and

A Resolution for the publication of treaties made or which shall be made under the authority of the United States; was received and read, and a letter written by the President to Mr. Jefferson acknowledging the receipt of the said letter and inclosures.

The Treasurer and Register General's reports upon the accounts of Frederick Conrad, Esquire, Treasurer of the county of Montgomery, containing a statement of taxes collected in the said county in the year 1789, amounting to four thousand two hundred and eighty pounds twelve shillings and eight pence, and of the outstanding taxes for said year amounting to one thousand nine hundred and forty pounds eight shillings and ten pence, was read and approved.

Agreeably to the Comptroller and Register General's reports, and an act of Assembly passed the first of October, 1781, an order was drawn upon the Treasurer in favor of Mary Wert for the sum

of fifteen pound, being one quarter's pension due to her on the first day of February last.

Two letters from Daniel Brodhead. Esquire, Surveyor General, of the twenty-first instant, informing Council that he had appointed Joseph L. Finley to be Deputy Surveyor of the district late Joshua Elder's, in the county of Westmoreland, bounded southerly by the district of John Moore and Benjamin Lodge, westerly by the Allegany river, northerly by the line of the late purchase, and easterly by the line of Huntingdon county; and James Hamilton to be Deputy Surveyor of district number four, in the new purchase, on the north side of the West Branch of Susquehanna, bounded southerly by the said West Branch, easterly by the district of George Woods, junior, number three, northerly by the State line, and westerly by James Johnston's district, number five; and submitting the said appointments for the approbation of Council, agreeably to act of Assembly passed the eighth of April, 1785, was received and read; and thereupon

Resolved, That Council approve of the said appointments.

On motion of Mr. Findley, seconded by Mr. Smith, it was Resolved, That Thursday next be assigned for the choice of a Commissioner to attend on the part of this State the settlement of the accounts of Pennsylvania with the United States.

Upon the second reading of the report of a committee to whom was referred the petition of William Owen for the right of preemption to a certain island, lying in the Allegany river, about six miles below the mouth of Kiscomenetas river, containing eightyfour acres and six perches, and the usual allowance of six acres p'r cent, &ca., it was

Resolved, That the right of pre-emption to the said island be granted to the said William Owen, provided that he pays for the same within six months from the date hereof, at the rate of twentyfive shillings per acre in funded certificates of this State.

Upon further consideration of the letter received from Mr. Nicholson, received on the eighteenth instant, relative to the office of excise in the counties of Franklin and Bedford, it was unanimously

Resolved, That Doctor Robert Johnston be appointed and commissionated Collector of Excise in the county of Franklin, and that Benjamin Martin be appointed and commissionated Collector of Excise in the county of Bedford.

The Treasurer and Register General's reports upon the accounts of Adam Hubley, Esquire, Auctioneer of the district of Southwark, for the State duty upon goods sold at public auction, from the thirteenth of March to the twenty-second of June, 1790, amounting to thirty-four pounds nineteen shillings and nine pence, was read and approved.

An order was drawn upon the Treasurer in favor of the Honorable William Findley, Esquire, for thirty-eight pounds five shillings, in full of his account for his attendance in Council from the sixteenth of March till the second of April, and from the twentieth of May till the twenty-third of June, 1790, inclusively.

A petition from Stephen Prosser, of the city of Philadelphia, praying that Council would be pleased to appoint him a Notary and Tabellion Public, being read the second time, and the petitioner being recommended to Council by a number of respectable citizens as a suitable person for that office,

Resolved, That the said Stephen Prosser be appointed and commissionated a Notary and Tabellion Public, in and for this Commonwealth.

William Findley,

Frederick Watts, and

Lord Butler,

A petition from William Hudson, who hath been indicted in the Mayor's Court for larceny in stealing a stick of firewood, the pro

perty of Christopher Luckhart, stating his case, and praying that Council would be pleased to direct that no farther proceedings may be had against him, was read, and the same referred to the Attorney General.

An order was drawn upon the Treasurer in favor of the Honorable Samuel Edie, Esquire, for seventy-two pounds, in full of his account for attendance in Council from the first to the sixth of January, and from the third of April to the twenty-fourth of June, 1790, inclusively, and mileage for coming to Philadelphia and returning home.

Colonel Andrew Mann and James Martin, of the county of Bedford, were offered and accepted as sureties for Benjamin Martin, who was appointed on the twenty-second of this month Collector of Excise in the said county.

Agreeably to the order of the day, Council proceeded to the appointment of an agent to attend at New York in behalf of this Com. monwealth, to state its claims against the United States; and the ballots being taken for the several gentlemen in nomination, it appeared that Charles Pettit, Esquire, was duly elected.

A memorial from the Mayor, Alderman, and citizens of Philadelphia, praying that "any further proceedings in the erection of a new Gunpowder Magazine, may be suspended until the next session of the General Assembly, to the end that the House may consider the subject, if it shall seem meet to them," was read, and an order taken that Tuesday next be appointed for the consideration of the said memorial.

On motion,

Resolved, That Benjamin Wallace, of the county of Dauphine, be appointed and commissioned a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the said county.

A petition from Castner Jones, of the State of Delaware, who hath been convicted of an assault and battery upon Alexander Carlisle and James West, Constables of this city, while in the execution of their office, and sentenced by the Mayor's Court to pay a fine of three pounds ten shillings to the use of the Commonwealth, praying remission of the said fine, was read; and the Mayor of the city having stated to Council that the said offence did not appear to the Court to have been an aggravated one, it was

Resolved, That the fine aforesaid be remitted.

Upon further consideration of the petition from Isaac Austin, an order was drawn upon the Treasurer in his favor for the sum of seven hundred and sixteen pounds three shillings and three pence, being the sum which was paid by him into the public Treasury for the confiscated estate of William Austin, on the north side of Mulberry street, at the easternmost extremity thereof, in the city of Philadelphia, in pursuance of an act of General Assembly passed the sixth of August, 1784, and which sum, by another act of Assembly passed the eighteenth of February, 1785, is directed to be repaid to the said Isaac Austin.

Upon application of the Board of Commissioners of the county of Philadelphia, an order was also drawn upon the Treasurer in their favor for the sum of five hundred pounds, payable out of the fund appropriated for claims and improvements, to be applied according to the directions of the act to reform the Penal Laws of this State, in building cells and walls in the jail yard of the city and county of Philadelphia.

Petitions from John Smith and Edward Taylor, of the county of Cumberland, the former convicted of larceny upon two indictments, and the latter of horse stealing, praying that Council would be pleased to grant a remission of the punishment to which they have. been sentenced for the said offences, being read the second time, with a recommendation from a number of respectable inhabitants of the borough of Carlisle in their behalf, it was thereupon,

Resolved, That the said John Smith and Edward Taylor be and they are hereby pardoned.

Upon the second reading of a petition from Henry Hews, of the district of Southwark, for remission of a fine of forty pounds, which is due from him to the Commonwealth, upon his being convicted of an assault and battery upon Lawrence Remiss, at a last Court of General Quarter Sessions of the county of Philadelphia, and the petitioner being well recommended to Council, it was

Resolved, To remit the said fine of forty pounds.

Agreeably to the Comptroller and Register General's reports, and an act of Assembly passed the first of October, 1781, an order was drawn upon the Treasurer in favor of Elizabeth Baxter, for the sum of forty-two pounds three shillings and nine pence, being one quarter's pension due to her on the thirteenth of this month.

The Register and Comptroller General's reports upon the following accounts, were read and approved, vizt:

Of Christian Lawrence, for sundry smith work done for the Invalid corps, in the year 1786 and 1787, amounting to twenty shillings, for which sum an order was drawn upon the Treasurer in his favor.