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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1778
Congress met, and adjourned to three o'clock.
Three o'Clock, p. m.
A letter, of 16, from Count Pulaski, was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee of Intelligence.
A letter, of 16, from Major General the Marquis de la Fayette, was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to a committee of three:
The members chosen, Mr. G[ouverneur] Morris, Mr. J[oseph] Reed, and Mr. [James] Henry.
A letter, of 16, [14] from General Conway, was read:1
[Note 1: 1 The letter of Pulaski is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 164, folio 19; that of Lafayette is in No. 156, folio 85; that of Conway, in No. 159, folio 493. It was enclosed in Lafayette's.]
Ordered, To lie on the table.
A letter, of 9th, from Brigadier Stark, was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of War.
Ordered, That a warrant issue on Thomas Smith, Esq. commissioner of the continental loan office in Pensylvania, in favour of the Board of War, for thirty thousand dollars,
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for the purpose of erecting barracks in the county of Albemarle, in the State of Virginia, for the accommodation of the troops under the convention of Saratoga.
Ordered, That a letter be written by the President to Major General Lord Stirling, informing him that the bearer, Mrs. Yard, is permitted to return to this city, with her trunks and baggage, without any examination, and that she be permitted accordingly.
Ordered, That the president write to Governor Henry, requesting him to forward, with all possible expedition, the one thousand men formerly required by Congress to be sent to South Carolina; and that Governor Caswell, of North Carolina, be also requested to forward the 3000 men required of that State, for the defence of South Carolina and Georgia, together with an addition of two thousand men, to be raised and forwarded to Charleston, with all possible expedition, at the charge of the Continent.
The committee to whom was referred the letter from Count d'Estaing, brought in a report; Whereupon,
Resolved, That his Excellency Count d'Estaing hath behaved as a brave and wise officer, and that his Excellency, and the officers and men under his command, have rendered every benefit to these states, which the circumstances and nature of the service would admit of, and are fully entitled to the regards of the friends of America.
Resolved, That the President transmit the foregoing resolution to his Excellency the Count d'Estaing, and inform his Excellency that Congress entertain the highest sense of his zeal and attachment manifested in repeated instances, and particularly in his spirited offer to lead the troops under his command from Boston, and to co-operate against Rhode Island.
The Commissioners of Claims at the Treasury Office having liquidated, and reported to the Auditor General the Account undermentioned, he begs leave to Report the same to Congress for allowance:
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There is due to Captain William Peery, for Pay and contingent Expences of his Independent Company stationed in the Delaware State, from the 1st January to the 30th September, 1778, inclusive, a Balance of one Thousand one Hundred Dollars and 36/90, as appears by a particular state of his Accounts, herewith laid before Congress.
Captain Peery stands charged in the Treasury Books with three Thousand seven Hundred Dollars, yet unaccounted for, but he promises to do it, by Pay Rolls &c., of his Company from August 31st to December, 1777.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, dated October 17, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, II, folio 629. It is endorsed: "Negatived, the 20th October, the Warrant destroyed."]
The Court of Appeals beg leave to report to Congress:
That the ship,Anna Maria was captured by the privateer,Revenge, Joseph White, Commander, and libeled in the Admiralty Court, in the State of Massachusetts Bay; That Daniel Bucklin, Commander of the private schooner of War, called theMontgomery put in a Claim to the said shipAnna Maria on behalf of himself and all others concerned in the armed schooner,Montgomery, setting forth that at the Time of the Capture, the aforesaid privateers,Montgomery andRevenge, were in consort and jointly concerned in making the same; yet it was so determined in the said Court that final Sentence of Condemnation passed therein against the said prize ship, for the sole use of the Owners and others concerned in the said privateer,Revenge: From which Sentence the said Daniel Bucklin, appealed according to the Laws and usage of the State of Massachusetts Bay, to the Superior Court of Judicature, within the same State, by whose determination, the Sentence of the Court below was confirmed; From which Decree of Affirmance, the said Daniel Bucklin prayed an Appeal in open Court to Congress which was refused by the Justices of the said Court.
The Court of Appeals beg leave further to report that by the laws of the State of Massachusetts Bays from all Judgments or Sentences given in the Court of Admiralty on the Capture of any vessel by an armed vessel of the United States, an appeal is allowed to the Continental Congress. But where the Capture is made by any other armed Vessel than those in the Service of the United States, an appeal is allowed only to the Superior Court within the State. In this case the privateerRevenge which took the prize shipAnna Maria was fitted out by certain Individuals in the State of Massachusetts Bay, and therefore the Judges holding themselves bound by the Laws of the said State, refused an Appeal.
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This Law your Court of Appeals, conceive has a very dangerous tendency to interrupt the peace, Safety and Union of the United States and is in direct violation of the resolve of Congress which grants an appeal in all Cases. It is necessary that a speedy Decision should be given upon the validity of this Law, so far as it contravenes the resolve of Congress, and that it may go with the more weight to the States the Court have referred the Matter to Congress.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of John Henry, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 59, II, folio 367. It is endorsed: "Appeals delivered 17 October [1778?] by Mr. Griffin, said to have been left in his hands by Mr. Harvie." It may never have been submitted to Congress. See under August 4, 1777.]
Adjourned to 9 o'Clock on Monday.
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