terest, still pursuing, if in his power, the former orders from this Congress, and subject to the future orders of the commander in chief. Adjourned till to-morrow at eight o'clock. FRIDAY, July 21, 1775. Met according to adjournment. The committee appointed to prepare an address to the inhabitants of Jamaica, having brought in a draught, the same was read. Ordered, To lie on the table. The committee appointed to prepare an address to the people of Ireland, brought in a draught: Ordered, To lie on the table. Resolved, That Mr. R. Bache, Mr. Stephen Paschall, and Mr. M. Hillegas, be appointed to superintend the press, and to have the oversight and care of printing the bills of credit ordered to be struck by this Congress. Resolved, That Mr. Willie Jones, of North-Carolina, be the fifth commissioner of Indian affairs in the southern department. Agreeable to order, the Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole, to take into consideration the state of America, and after some time spent therein, the president resumed the chair, and Mr. Ward reported, that they had come to certain resolutions, which he read, and then desired leave to sit again. The committee appointed to devise ways and means to protect the trade of these colonies, brought in their report, which was read. Ordered, That the same be taken into consideration to-morrow morning. The Congress then entered upon the consideration of the report from the committee of the whole, and after some debate, Resolved, That such a body of troops be kept up in the Massachusetts-Bay, as general Washington shall think necessary, provided they do not exceed twenty-two thousand men. Adjourned till to-morrow at eight o'clock. SATURDAY, July 22, 1775. Met according to adjournment. Agreeable to the order of yesterday, the Congress took into consideration the report of the committee appointed to devise ways and means to protect the trade of these colonies, and after some debate, the farther consideration of it was postponed to a future day. On motion, Resolved, That Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. J. Adams, and Mr. Lee, be a committee to take into consideration, and report on the resolution of the house of commons, Feb. 20, 1775, commonly called lord North's motion. Adjourned till Monday at eight o'clock. Monday being spent in a committee of the whole. TUESDAY, July 25, 1775. Met according to adjournment. The committee for that purpose appointed, brought in their report for establishing an hospital, which was read. The committee appointed to consider the ways and means of establishing a post, brought in their report, which was read, and ordered to be considered to-morrow. The committee appointed to consider and report their opinion of the resolution of the house of commons, brought in their report, which was read, and ordered to lie on the table for the perusal of the members. VOL. I. 16 The Congress then resumed the consideration of the address to the assembly of Jamaica, and the same being debated by paragraphs, was agreed to as follows: MR. SPEAKER, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE ASSEMBLY OF JAMAICA, We would-think ourselves deficient in our duty, if we suffered this Congress to pass over, without expressing our esteem for the assembly of Jamaica. Whoever attends to the conduct of those who have been entrusted with the administration of British affairs, during these last twelve years, will discover in it, a deliberate plan to destroy, in every part of the empire, the free constitution, for which Britain has been so long and so justly famed. With a dexterity, artful and wicked, they have varied the modes of attack, according to the different characters and circumstances of those whom they meant to reduce. In the East-Indies, where the effeminacy of the inhabitants promised an easy conquest, they thought it unnecessary to veil their tyrannic principles under the thinnest disguise. Without deigning even to pretend a justification of their conduct, they sacrificed the lives of millions to the gratification of their insatiable avarice and lust of power. In Britain, where the maxims of freedom were still known, but where luxury and dissipation had diminished the wonted reverence for them, the attack has been carried on in a more secret and indirect manner: Corruption has been employed to undermine them. The Americans are not enervated by effeminacy, like the inhabitants of India; nor debauched by luxury, like those of Great-Britain: It was, therefore, judged improper to assail them by bribery, or by undisguised force. Plausible systems were formed; specious pretences were made: All the arts of sophistry were tried to shew that the British ministry had by law a right to enslave us. The first and best maxims of the constitution, venerable to Britons and to Americans, were perverted and profaned. The power of parliament, derived from the people, to bind the people, was extended over those from whom it was never derived. It is asserted, that a standing army may be constitutionally kept among us, without our consent. Those principles, dishonorable to those who adopted them, and destructive to those to whom they were applied, were nevertheless carried into execution by the foes of liberty and of mankind. Acts of parliament, ruinous to America, and unserviceable to Britain, were made to bind us; armies, maintained by the parliament, were sent over to secure their operation. The power, however, and the cunning of our adversaries, were alike unsuccessful. We refused to their parliaments an obedience, which our judgments disapproved of: We refused to their armies a submission, which spirits unaccustomed to slavery, could not brook. But while we spurned a disgraceful subjection, we were far from running into rash or seditious measures of opposition. Filled with sentiments of loyalty to our sovereign, and of affection and respect for our fellow-subjects in Britain, we petitioned, we supplicated, we expostulated: Our prayers were rejected;— our remonstrances were disregarded—our grievances were accumulated. All this did not provoke us to violence. An appeal to the justice and humanity of those who had injured us, and who were bound to redress our injuries, was ineffectual: we next resolved to make an appeal to their interest, though by doing so, we knew we must sacrifice our own, and (which gave us equal uneasiness) that of our friends, who had never offended us, and who were connected with us by a sympathy of feelings, under oppressions similar to our own. We resolved to give up our commerce that we might preserve our liberty. We flattered ourselves, that when, by withdrawing our commercial intercourse with Britain, which we had an undoubted right either to withdraw or continue, her trade should be diminished, her revenues impaired, and her manufactures unemployed, our ministerial foes would be induced by interest, or compelled by necessity, to depart from the plan of ty ranny which they had so long pursued, and to substitute in its place, a system more compatible with the freedom of America, and justice of Britain. That this scheme of non-importation and non-exportation might be productive of the desired effects, we were obliged to include the islands in it. From this necessity, and from this necessity alone, has our conduct towards them proceeded. By converting your sugar plantations into fields of grain, you can supply yourselves, with the necessaries of life: While the present unhappy struggle shall continue, we cannot do more. But why should we make any apology to the patriotic assembly of Jamaica, who know so well the value of liberty; who are so sensible of the extreme danger to which ours is exposed; and who foresee how certainly the destruction of ours must be followed by the destruction of their own? We receive uncommon pleasure from observing the principles of our righte ous opposition distinguished by your approbation: We feel the warmest gratitude for your pathetic mediation in our behalf with the crown. It was indeed unavailing but are you to blame? Mournful experience tells us that petitions. are often rejected, while the sentiments and conduct of the petitioners entitle what they offer to a happier fate. That our petitions have been treated with disdain, is now become the smallest part of our complaint: Ministerial insolence is lost in ministerial barbarity. It has, by an exertion peculiarly ingenious, procured those very measures, which it laid us under the hard necessity of pursuing, to be stigmatized in parliament as rebellious: It has employed additional fleets and armies for the infamous purpose of compelling us to abandon them: It has plunged us in all the horrors and calamities of civil war: It has caused the treasure and blood of Britons (formerly shed and expended for far other ends) to be spilt and wasted in the execrable design of spreading slavery over British America: It will not, however, accomplish its aim: In the worst of contingencies, a choice will still be left, which it never can prevent us from making. The peculiar situation of your island forbids your assistance. But we have your good wishes. From the good wishes of the friends of liberty and mankind, we shall always derive consolation. Ordered, That a fair copy be made out, to be signed by the president, and transmitted by the first opportunity. The Congress then, resuming the report of the committee of the whole, came to the following resolutions: Resolved, That a body of forces not exceeding five thousand, be kept up in the New-York department, for the purpose of defending that part of America, and for securing the lakes, and protecting the frontiers from incursions or invasions. That a farther sum, amounting to the value of one million of Spanish milled dollars, be struck in bills of thirty dollars each. As the signing so great a number of bills as has been directed to be issued by this Congress, will require more time than the members can possibly devote to that business, consistent with the attention due to the public service, Resolved, That the following gentlemen be appointed and fully authorized to sign the same, viz. Luke Morris, Samuel Meredith, Judah Foulke, Samuel Morris, Frederick Kuhl, Robert Strettle Jones, Thomas Coombe, Ellis Lewis, John Mease, Thomas Lawrence, Daniel Clymer, John Maxwell Nesbit, Thomas Barclay, John Bayard, William Craig, Thomas Bartow, John Shee, Isaac Hazlehurst, Robert Roberts, Anthony Morris, Mordecai Lewis, George Mifflin, Robert Tuckniss, Andrew Bunner, William Jackson, Joseph Sims, James Milligan, and James Reed. That each of the continental bills be numbered and signed by two of the above gentlemen. That each gentleman who signs the continental bills, be allowed and paid out of the continental treasury, one dollar and one-third of a dollar for each and every thousand bills signed, and numbered by him. That the gentlemen appointed to number and sign the bills, do give their receipts for the same, expressing the number and denomination of them; and after numbering and signing them, shall deliver the same to the continental treasurers, taking their receipts for the bills so delivered. On motion, Resolved, That Mr. Samuel Adams, Mr. Lee, and Mr. J. Rutledge, with the secretary, be a committee to revise the journal of this Congress, and prepare it for the press. Adjourned till to-morrow at eight o'clock. WEDNESDAY, July 26, 1775. Met according to adjournment. Agreeable to order, the Congress resumed the consideration of the report of the committee for establishing a post; and the same being debated, was agreed to as follows: That a post-master general be appointed for the United Colonies, who shall hold his office at Philadelphia, and shall be allowed a salary of one thousand dollars per annum for himself, and three hundred and forty dollars per annum for a secretary and comptroller, with power to appoint such, and so many deputies as to him may seem proper and necessary. That a line of posts be appointed under the direction of the post-master general, from Falmouth in New-England to Savannah in Georgia, with as many cross posts as he shall think fit. That the allowance to the deputies in lieu of salary and all contingent expenses, shall be twenty per centum on the sums they collect and pay into the general post-office annually, when the whole is under or not exceeding one thousand dollars, and ten per centum for all sums above one thousand dollars a year. That the several deputies account quarterly with the general post-office, and the post-master general annually with the continental treasurers, when he shall pay into the receipt of the said treasurers, the profits of the post-office; and if the necessary expense of this establishment should exceed the produce of it, the deficiency shall be made good by the United Colonies, and paid to the post-master general by the continental treasurers. On motion made, Resolved, That it be recommended to the post-master general to establish a weekly post to South-Carolina. That it be left to the post-master general to appoint a secretary and comptroller. The Congress then proceeded to the election of a post-master general for one year, and until another is appointed by a future Congress, when Benjamin Franklin, esq. was unanimously chosen. Adjourned till to morrow at eight o'clock. THURSDAY, July 27, 1775. Met according to adjournment. The Congress took into consideration the report of the committee on establishing an hospital for the army, and the same being debated, was agreed to as follows: That for the establishment of an hospital for an army, consisting of twenty thousand men, the following officers and other attendants be appointed, with the following allowance or pay, viz. One director-general and chief physician, his pay per day, four dollars. Four surgeons, each ditto, one and one third of a dollar. One apothecary, ditto, one and one third of a dollar. Twenty surgeons' mates, each ditto, two thirds of a dollar. Two store-keepers, each four dollars per month. One nurse to every ten sick, one fifteenth of a dollar per day, or two dollars per month. Labourers occasionally.. The duty of the above officers: The director to furnish medicines, bedding and all other necessaries, to pay for the same, superintend the whole, and make his report to, and receive orders from the commander in chief. Surgeons, apothe-2 To visit and attend the sick, and the mates to obey the cary and mates, orders of the physicians, surgeons and apothecary. Matron. To superintend the nurses, bedding, &c. Nurses. To attend the sick, and obey the matron's orders. Clerk. To keep accounts for the director and store keepers. Store-keeper. To receive and deliver the bedding and other necessaries by order of the director. The Congress then proceeded to the election of officers for the hospital, when Benjamin Church was unanimously elected to be director of, and physician in, the hospital. Resolved, That the appointment of the four surgeons and the apothecary be left to doctor B. Church. That the mates be appointed by the surgeons. That the number of mates do not exceed twenty. That the number be not kept in constant pay, unless the sick and wounded should be so numerous as to require the attendance of twenty, and to be diminished as circumstances will admit; for which purpose, the pay is fixed by the day, that they may only receive pay for actual service. That one clerk, two store-keepers, and one nurse to evey ten sick, be appointed by the director. On motion made, Resolved, That the pay-master give bond, with two sureties, in the sum of fifty thousand dollars, for the faithful performance of his office. That the bond be made payable to the same persons, to whom the bonds of the continental treasurers are payable. James Warren, esq. was then unanimously elected pay-master general. Resolved, That the paymaster in the New-York department give bond to the same persons as above directed, with two sureties, in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, for the faithful performance of his office. Adjourned till to-morrow at eight o'clock. FRIDAY July 28, 1775. Met according to adjournment. Ordered, That Mr. McKean, and Mr. Wilson, prepare the form of bonds for the continental treasurers to execute. The Congress then proceeded to the election of a pay-master for the forces in the New-York department, when Jonathan Trumbull, jun. esq. was unanimously elected to that office. The address to the people of Ireland being again read by paragraphs, was agreed to as follows: To the people of Ireland. From the delegates appointed by the United Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina, in general Congress at Philadelphia, the 10th of May, 1775. FRIENDS AND FELLOW-SUBJECTS! As the important contest, into which we have been driven, is now become interesting to every European state, and particularly affects the members of the British empire, we think it our duty to address you on the subject. We are |