On the question to agree to this report, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Clark, Howell, ay ay Blount, ay Hamilton, ay ay no So the question was lost. A motion was then made by Mr. Osgood, seconded by Mr. Gilman, as follows: Whereas it appears, that there are two brigades of troops of the Massachusetts line now commanded by colonels; therefore, Resolved, That col. John Greaton, and col. William Shepard, the two senior colonels in the Massachusetts line of officers be, and hereby are, promoted to the rank of brigadiers-general in the army of the United States. And on the question to agree to the motion, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Osgood, The committee, consisting of Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Nash, and Mr. Peters, to whom was re-committed the draught of the supplemental ordinance for regulating the post-office, reported the draught of an ordinance for amending the ordinance for regulating the post-office of the United States, which was read a first time: Ordered, That Friday next be assigned for the second reading. THURSDAY, December 5, 1782. According to the order of the day, Congress proceeded to the election of two judges for the court of appeals in cases of capture; and the ballots being taken, Mr. John Lowell, and Mr. George Read were elected, the former having been nominated by Mr. Osgood, and the latter by Mr. Fitzsimmons. Congress resumed the consideration of the report of the committee on the report of a committee on gov. Clinton's letter of the 16th of September, &c. as entered on the journal of the 14th of November last; and the same being postponed, A motion was made by Mr. M'Kean, seconded by Mr. Hamilton, in the words following: Whereas it appears to Congress, by authentic documents, that the people inhabiting the district of country on the west side of Connecticut river, commonly called the New-Hampshire Grants, and claiming to be an independent state, in contempt of the authority of Congress, and in direct violation of their resolutions of the 24th of September, 1779, and of the 2d of June, 1780, did, in the month of September last, proceed to exercise jurisdiction over the persons and properties of sundry inhabitants of the said district, professing themselves to be subjects of, and to owe allegiance to the state of New-York, by means whereof divers of them have been condemned to banishment, not to return on pain of death and confiscation of estate; and others have been fined in large sums and otherwise deprived of property; therefore, Resolved, That the said acts and proceedings of the said people, being highly derogatory to the authority of the United States, and dangerous to the confederacy, require the immediate and decided interposition of Congress, for the protection and relief of such as have suffered by them, and for preserving peace in the said district, until a decision shall be had of the controversy, relative to the jurisdiction of the same: That the people inhabiting the said district claiming to be independent, be, and they are hereby, required, without delay, to make full and ample restitu tion to Timothy Church, Timothy Phelps, Henry Evans, William Shattuck, and such others as have been condemned to banishment and confiscation of estate, or have otherwise been deprived of property since the 1st day of September last, for the damages they have sustained by the acts and proceedings aforesaid; and that they be not molested in their persons or properties, or their re turn to their habitations in the said district : That the United States will take effectual measures to enforce a compliance with the aforesaid resolutions, in case the same shall be disobeyed by the people of the said district : That no persons holding commissions under the state of New York, or under the people of the said district claiming to be independent, exercise any au thority over the persons and properties of any inhabitants in the said district, contrary to the forementioned resolutions of the 24th of September, 1779, and the 2d of June, 1780: That a copy of the aforegoing resolutions be transmitted to Thomas Chittenden, esq. of Bennington, in the district aforesaid, to be communicated to the people thereof. A motion was made by Mr. Howell, seconded by Mr. Clark, to strike out the following clause: "that the United States will take effectual measures to enforce a compliance with the aforesaid resolutions, in case the same shall be disobeyed by the people of the said district." A motion was made by Mr. Madison, seconded by Mr. M'Kean, that the question for striking out the clause be postponed until a question is taken on a motion for amending a previous part of the motion, by striking out the words "and dangerous to the confederacy, require the immediate and decided interposition of Congress," and in lieu thereof inserting "interposed in pursuance of the act passed on the by the state of New-Hampshire, by the state of New-York, two of the states claiming the same, and for the purpose of preserving the peace and interests of the confederacy, require immediate and effectual measures: and the act passed on the day of And on the question for postponing, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Howell, VOL. IV. 15 Pennsylvania, Mr. Fitzsimmons, So the question was lost. On the question, shall the clause moved to be struck out stand ? the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Howell, Ramsay, ayay ay The motion for amending the former part of the original motion, as before recited, was then made by Mr. Madison, seconded by Mr. M'Kean: And on the question to agree to the amendment, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. Howell, On the question to agree to the original motion, the yeas and nays being re quired by Mr. Howell, N-Hampshire, Mr. Gilman, White, Massachusetts, Mr. Osgood, Rhode-Island, Mr. Arnold, Howell, New-York, Mr. Floyd, So it was resolved in the affirmative. FRIDAY, December 6, 1782. On motion of Mr. Williamson, seconded by Mr. Carroll: Whereas there is reason to suspect, that as well the national character of the United States and the honor of Congress, as the finances of the said states may be injured, and the public service greatly retarded, by some publications that have been made concerning the foreign affairs of said states: Resolved, That a committee be appointed to enquire into this subject, and report what steps they conceive are necessary to be taken thereon. According to the order of the day, the ordinance for amending the ordinance for regulating the post-office of the United States was read a second time; and the question being put, shall this ordinance be read a third time? was lost. Ordered, That a letter of the 5th of November, from the adjutant-general to the secretary at war, be referred to a committee, and that the committee be instructed to consider the general subject of franks, in order to extend or restrain the privilege as they may find necessary. A motion was made by Mr. Hamilton, seconded by Mr. Rutledge, That the superintendent of finance be, and he is hereby directed to represent Sir: Congress are equally affected and alarmed by the information they have received, that the legislature of your state, at their last meeting, have refused their concurrence in the establishment of a duty on imports. They consider this measure as so indispensable to the prosecution of the war, that a sense of duty and regard to the common safety, compel them to renew their efforts to engage a compliance with it; and in this view they have determined to send a deputation of three of their members to your state, as expressed in the enclosed resolution. The gentlemen they have appointed will be able to lay before you a full and just representation of the public affairs, from which, they flatter themselves, will result a convic tion of the propriety of their solicitude upon the present occasion. Convinced by past expe rience of the zeal and patriotism of the state of Rhode-Island, they cannot doubt that it will yield to those urgent considerations which flow from a knowledge of our true situation. They will only briefly observe, that the increasing discontents of the army, the loud clamours of the public creditors, and the extreme disproportion between the current supplies and the demands of the public service, are so many invincible arguments for the fund recommended by Congress. They feel themselves unable to devise any other that will be more efficacious, less exceptionable or more generally agreeable, and if this is rejected, they anticipate calamities of a most menacing nature, with this consolation, however, that they have faithfully discharged their trust, and that the mischiefs which may follow, cannot be attributed to them. A principal object of the proposed fund is, to procure loans abroad. If no security can be held out to lenders, the success of these must necessarily be very limited. The last accounts on the subject were not flattering, and when intelligence shall arrive in Europe, that the state of Rhode-Island has disagreed to the only fund which has yet been devised, there is every reason to apprehend it will have a fatal influence on their future progress. Deprived of this resource, our affairs must, in all probability, rapidly hasten to a dangerous crisis, and these states be involved in greater embarrassments than they have yet experienced, and from which it may be much more difficult to emerge. Congress will only add a request to your excellency, that if the legislature should not be sitting, it may be called together as speedily as possible, to enable the gentlemen whom they have deputed to perform the purpose of their mission. On a report of the secretary at war, Resolved, That it be recommended to the state of Rhode-Island, to settle major William Peck's depreciation in the manner they have adjusted the depreciation of the officers of their line. THURSDAY, December 12, 1782. Mr. Nathaniel Gorham, a delegate for the state of Massachusetts, attended, and produced the credentials of his appointment, which were read, and by which it appears, that on the 24th of October last, he was elected to serve for one year, to commence the first Monday of November, 1782. Mr. John Collins, a delegate for the state of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, attended, and produced the credentials of his appointment, by which it appears, that on the first Wednesday in May last, he was chosen to represent that state in the Congress of the United States for one year, and until another shall appear to take his place. A letter, of the 30th of November, from the speaker of the lower house of assembly of the state of Rhode-Island, being read, A motion was made by Mr. Howell, seconded by Mr. Arnold, in the words following: "Whereas a letter to his excellency the president of Congress, from the lower house of assembly of the state of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, hath been this day read in Congress, in the words and figures following, to wit: East-Greenwich, November 30, 1782. Sir: In obedience to the direction of the lower house of assembly of this state, I have the honor to enclose to your excellency their unanimous resolutions on the recommendation of Congress, respecting an impost on imported goods, &c. and to state some of the principal reasons which produced that resolution. The recommendation was rejected. 1st. Because it would be unequal in its operation, bearing hardest on the most commercial states, and so would press peculiarly hard upon this state, which draws its chief support from commerce: 2dly. Because it proposes to introduce into this and the other states, officers unknown and unaccountable to them, and so is against the constitution of this state: and |