The Council met.

PHILADELPHIA, Saturday, August 28th, 1790.

PRESENT:

His Excellency THOMAS MIFFLIN, Esquire, President.

The Honorable GEORGE ROSS, Esquire, Vice President.

Abraham Smith,

Nathaniel Breading,

James Read,

Frederick Watts,

A letter from the Honorable Thomas Jefferson, Esquire, Secretary of State, of the twenty-third of August, 1790, inclosing the following acts of Congress, vizt:

An Act making further provision for the payment of the debts of the United States.

An Act to enable the officers and soldiers of the Virginia line, on Continental establishment, to obtain titles to certain lands lying north-west of the river Ohio, between the Little Miami and Sciota.

An Act authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to finish the light house on Portland Head, in the district of Maine.

An Act declaring the assent of Congress to certain acts of the States of Maryland, Georgia, and Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations.

An Act for the relief of the persons therein mentioned or described.

An Act for the relief of disabled seamen and soldiers lately in the service of the United States, and of certain other persons.

An Act to alter the times for holding the Circuit Courts of the United States in the district of South Carolina and Georgia, and providing that the district Court of Pennsylvania shall in future be held at the city of Philadelphia only.

An Act making certain appropriations therein mentioned.

An Act making provisions for the reduction of the public debt. And a resolution directing that a return of certain surveys of lands in the western territory be made to and perfected by the Secretary of the Treasury, was received and read, and a letter was written by the President to Mr. Jefferson, acknowledging the receipt of the said letter and inclosures.

John Bartholomew, Esquire, was appointed and commissionated a Justice of the Peace and of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the county of Chester, upon a return made according to law, from the district of the townships of Charles Town, Trediffrin, East and West Whiteland, in the said county.

The reports of the Comptroller and Register Generals upon the following accounts, were read and approved:

Of Moses Cook, for a horse which was lost on the Sandusky expedition against the Indians, in the year 1782, amounting to fifteen pounds.

Of James Brownlee, for flour furnished to the Militia of Washington county, in the months of May, June and July, 1787, under the command of Colonel Marshall, amounting to nine pounds three shillings and three perce.

A letter from Mr. Findley, member of this Board, respecting the road from Frankstown to Conemaugh, which he was requested to view, was read, and it was agreed to transmit the same to the General Assembly.

The Council met.

PHILADELPHIA, Monday, August 30th, 1790.

PRESENT:

His Excellency THOMAS MIFFLIN, Esquire, President. The Honorable GEORGE ROSS, Esquire, Vice President.

Christopher Kucher,
Abraham Smith,
Frederick Watt,
William Wilson,
James Martin,
Benjamin Elliott,

Amos Gregg,
Henry Taylor,
Nathaniel Breading,

Lord Butler, and
Frederick Watts,

Esquires.

The Comptroller General and Register General's report of the twenty-seventh instant, upon the account of Jacob Schreiber, for taking care of the Barracks, public Store, and Powder Magazine in the borough of Lancaster, from the twenty-third of April, 1784, to the first day of June, 1788, being four years and one month, according to resolution of Assembly dated April first, 1784, amounting to twenty-four pounds ten shillings, was read and approved, and an order was drawn upon the Treasurer for the said sum.

The Treasurer and Register General's reports of the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth instant, upon the account of Andrew Henderson, Esquire, Prothonotary of the county of Huntingdon, for fees received for tavern licences, amounting to twenty-six pounds eight shillings, was also read and approved.

Agreeably to the Comptroller and Register General's reports, the following orders were drawn upon the Treasurer, vjzt:

In favor of Mary Blair, guardian of the children of John Smith, deceased, late of the Militia of Cumberland county, for the sum of sixty-nine pounds five shillings, according to an act of General As

sembly passed the twenty-seventh of March last, being the amount. of a warrant of Council dated the twenty-ninth of May, 1788, which was drawn in her favor for the support of the said children, until the twenty-third of April, 1788, according to an order of Orphans' Court of Cumberland county, in pursuance of an act of Assembly passed March the twentieth, 1780, payable out of the monies arising from militia fines in the said county, but that fund not being productive, the said warrant is now delivered up, to be cancelled.

In favor of the said Mary Blair, for the sum of fifteen pounds fifteen shillings, and according to the said act of Assembly, being the amount of a warrant of Council dated the twenty-ninth of May, 1788, which was drawn in her favor for her support during the time she remained the widow of the said John Smith, according to a decree of the Orphans' Court of Cumberland county, in pursuance of an act of Assembly passed the twentieth of March, 1780, payable out of the monies arising from militia fines in said county, but that fund not being productive, the said warrant is now delivered up, to be cancelled.

The Council met.

PHILADELPHIA, Tuesday, August 31st, 1790.

PRESENT:

His Excellency THOMAS MIFFLIN, Esquire, President. The Honorable GEORGE ROSS, Esquire, Vice President.

General Watts was appointed a member of the Board of Property, for the month of September.

The report of the Committee to whom was referred the bill of costs on the enquiry into a contested election of Justices of the Peace held April the fourteenth, 1788, in the district of Oley and Colebrookdale townships, in the county of Berks, being read the second time, was adopted, as follows, vizt:-That they have carefully examined the said bill of costs on the enquiry into a contested election, amounting to nine pounds five shillings and four pence, and find the same to be just; and thereupon, they offer the following resolution, vizt:

Resolved, That Council approve of the said bill of costs taxed at nine pounds five shillings and four pence, and that six pounds one shilling and eight pence one farthing thereof, be paid by the Overseer of the Poor of Oley township, twenty shillings and one farthing thereof, by the Overseer of the Poor of Earl township, and two pounds three and seven pence one farthing thereof, by the Overseer of the Poor of Colebrookdale township, to John Otto, Jacob Weaver and Paul Groscup, Esquires, or any of them, to be distribu ted to and among the persons in the said bill named, to whom the same is due, agreeably to an Act of Assembly passed the fourth day of March, 1786.

On motion,

Ordered, That the Secretary be directed to lay out fourteen pounds in the purchase of gunpowder for the regiment of Artillery, to be used on the arrival of His Excellency General Washington in this city.

Colonel Miles informed Council that a Committee of the House of Assembly was appointed to confer with Council on that part of the message which relates to the Powder Magazine; whereupon, Mr. Findley, Mr. Gregg and Mr. Wilson, were appointed a Committee to confer with the said Committee of Assembly, respecting the said Magazine.

A draft of a Message to the General Assembly was laid before Council, and being read, was adopted, as follows, vizt:

A message from the President and the Supreme Executive Council to the General Assembly.

GENTLEMEN:-Under the authority of a resolution of Assembly of the thirty-first of March last, we appointed Timothy Matlack, John Adlum and Samuel McClay, to examine and survey the Quittapahilla, the Swatara and parts of the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers, and assigned Frederick Antis, Reading Howell and William Dean, the business of exploring the country near the head waters of Delaware, of the East Branch of Susquehanna, and of the rivers. Lehigh and Schuylkill. The commissioners set out on the duties of their respective departments in May; but we have not received any communications from them.

In compliance with the resolution of your Honorable House of of the sixth of April, we have purchased a convenient lot of ground for five hundred and sixty-five pounds specie, and considerable progress is made in erecting upon it a magazine for gunpowder.

It will be necessary to provide by law for payment, the price of the lot and the expence of the building, which as nearly as we can at present ascertain, will be one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five pounds, and we are of opinion that it will likewise be proper to give a legislative sanction to the storage of powder belonging to private citizens, as soon as that magazine will be ready to recieve it.

We have not been able to carry into effect the intention of the Legislature expressed by the act of the sixth of April, as no one has been willing to undertake to put the banks of Mud Island into good repair, for the sum appropriated by the law: We conceive that twelve hundred pound will be requisite for that purpose.

The adjustment of the claims of individuals States against the United States, being an object of considerable moment, several States had appointed agents to attend to the settlement of their respective accounts before the commissioners appointed by Congress, and therefore, in conformity to the sentiments of our delegates, as well as the obvious utility of the measure, we have during your recess, employed Charles Pettit, Esquire, for that purpose, as an agent on behalf of the State of Pennsylvania. The letter from our Delegates and a letter from Mr. Pettit, respecting the business of his agency. we inclose, together with a letter from the Comptroller General upon the State of the public accounts.

Council being called upon to discharge the ballance due to Robert Galbraith, Esquire, on his contract for opening the road from Frankstown Branch to Connemough, we lay before your Honor able House the information we have with respect to the execution of that contract from William Findley, Esquire, member of Coun. cil, who at our request has examined the said Board, and thinks it has been laid out conformably to Mr. Galbraith's undertak. ing

We transmit a letter from the Attorney General, on account of the opinion therein expressed, "that it would be sound policy to establish a rule of reciprocity with the nations of Europe, by an act of the Legislature, declaring the subjects of those States, in which our citizens are permitted to enjoy real property, devised or descending to them capable of a similar privilege in Pennsylvania...

The act of the eleventh of February, 1789, which enables alains to purchase and hold lands in this Commonwealth, will soon expire by its own limitation, and we conceive that a general and permanent rule on this important subject, ought not to be adopted. How far that which is suggested by the Attorney General, may be proper, we submit to the widom of the Legislature.

The Trustees of the Hospital on State Island having represented to us that the wharf on the Delaware, for the landing of sick pas sengers, who may be sent to the hospital, is in so ruinous a condition, that unless speedily repaired it must be entirely destroyed. We enclose their memorial and recommend it to the attention of the Legislature.

We sincerely lament the occasion of laying before you the depositions of several persons, from which it appears that in June last, two friendly Indians were barbarously murdered on Pine creek, Northumberland county. In order to manifest our abhorrence of the crime, and to obtain, if possible, the persons of the offenders, a VOL. XVI.-29.