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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 --THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1778
A letter, of 11th, from Monsr. de Francey, was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Committee of Commerce.
Ordered, That Mr. [William] Whipple and Mr. [William] Ellery be added to the said committee, and that the committee be empowered to employ a suitable person as clerk.
Ordered, That Monday next be assigned for considering the commercial affairs of Congress, and the propriety of putting them into commission; and that the Committee of Commerce on that day, lay on the table a plan of conducting commercial affairs.
The Committee for Foreign Affairs laid before Congress a letter of 16, and one of 26 September, from Mr. W. Bingham, at Martinique, which were read, and returned to the Committee.
The Marine Committee laid before Congress a letter of 31 October, from W. Smith, at Baltimore, which was read, informing that Mr. Dugan's vessel, on board of which Mr. Smith had shipped flour, agreeably to the order of the Marine Committee, has been seized; Whereupon,
Ordered, That the President write to Governor Johnson, and inform him, that the Marine Committee are empowered and directed to send provisions by sea to the eastern states, for the use of the navy: that the public service requires that every aid should be given to the Marine Committee to facilitate the execution of this business; and that the government of Maryland be requested to permit the vessels taken up and loaded by order of the Marine Committee to proceed on their voyage with all despatch.
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The Committee on the Treasury brought in a report; Whereupon,
Ordered, That a warrant issue on the treasury for seventy-five thousand dollars, in favour of Jonathan Potts, deputy director general, and another warrant in his favour on Derick Ten Broek, Esq. commissioner of the continental loan office in the State of New York, for seventy-five thousand dollars; both which sums, amounting to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, are for the use of the hospitals in the northern department: and for which the said deputy director general is to be accountable.
The Committee on the Treasury report: That having considered the petitions of Mons. L'Eclise and Mons. La Jeunesse, referred to them by Congress, are of opinion, that to determine the merits of the first, it will be necessary that the Board of War should furnish the Committee with their proceedings referred to in the petition; and the principles on which they were grounded. And in the case of Mons. La Jeunesse, if it should be found that he has not been properly rewarded for his services, it may be expedient to appoint him an officer in Count Pulaski's legion, or some other corps commanded by foreign officers.1
[Note 1: 1 This report is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 78, VIII, folio 289. It is also found in No. 136, II, folio 639.]
Ordered, That the petitions of Mons. L'Eclise and Mons. la Jeunesse, which were referred to the Board of Treasury, be referred to the Board of War, and that they take such measures thereon as they shall judge expedient.
In consequence of an adjustment by the commissioners of claims, the auditor general reports,
That there is due to David Mosely, for his pay, boarding, &c. as a copper plate printer, from the 25 June to the 14 November, 1778, a balance of one hundred and twenty-one dollars:
That there is due to the Rev. Mr. Lotbinier, his pay and subsistence as chaplain to Colonel James Livingston's
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regiment, from the 11 October to the 10th November, 1778, inclusive, sixty dollars:1
[Note 1: 1 This report is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, II, folio 695.]
That there is due to John Rudisell, for hire of his waggon and ferriages from York county to Amboy, and returning home in August, 1776, eighty-six and 81/90 dollars:
That there is due to George Shallus, for victualling Pensylvania militia in 1776, fifty-eight dollars:
Ordered, That the said accounts be paid.
Ordered, That the report of the commissioners on the claims of Henry Krever and Godfrey Frey, be referred to the committee appointed to superintend the departments of the commissary and quarter master general, and that they be directed to confer with the quarter master general and barrack master upon the subject, and report resolutions to determine all such cases for the consideration of Congress.
The committee to whom was referred a letter from J. Beatty, commissary of prisoners, dated September 15, 1778, together with two letters from Joshua Loring, Esq. of 1 September and 28 October, and sundry letters from John Connolly, report the following state of facts:
"That Dr. John Connolly, now stiling himself lieutenant colonel in the British service, was, in the latter end of November, 1775, apprehended in Frederick county, in Maryland, in company with a certain Allan Cameron and John Smith, by the committee of inspection of that county:
"That at the time he was taken he was not in arms; or at the head of any party of men in arms; but was clandestinely making his way to Detroit, in order to join, give intelligence to, and otherwise aid the garrison at that place, as appears by his own intercepted letter of
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the 16 December, 1775, addressed to the commanding officer of that fortress, and by General Washington's letter to Congress of the 25 December, 1775:
That at the Time, when the said Lieutenant John Connolly was taken (and for a considerable time after,) he did not produce or plead any commission under the King of Great Britain; although the present Commission, under which he claims to be considered as a prisoner of war is dated November 5th, 1775.
"That a number of officers in the British service, who were made prisoners long after the said John Connolly was apprehended, have been exchanged in course, and no demand has been made till within these few months past by any British general for the release or exchange of the officer last mentioned:
"With respect to the treatment of the said John Connolly, the committee report:
"That at the time when he was first apprehended, he was confined, under guard, by the committee of inspection in the town of Frederick, in an apartment separate from his associates, without any circumstance to aggravate his captivity, except the being debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper: that notwithstanding this restraint, he contrived to write several letters of intelligence to the British officers commanding at the posts of Detroit and Kuskuskis, which letters were found on the person of Dr. Smith, one of his associates, who, having escaped from the town of Frederick, was again apprehended:
"That, by the resolution of 8 December, 1775, he was ordered to be 'confined in prison at Philadelphia;' that being brought to that city, he was confined in the new gaol, where he continued till about the month of November, 1776, when he was permitted, on account of a declining state of health, to reside on his parole at the house of his brother-in-law on the river Susquehanna, where he
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continued for about two months, when, on information being given to the council of safety of the State of Pensylvania, of certain suspicious circumstances relative to him, he was remanded to his former place of confinement, in which he continued till about the spring, 1777, when he was again permitted, on his parole, and the security of his brother-in-law, to return to his former place of residence on the river Susquehanna.
"That during these periods of his confinement in the new gaol, he had for the greatest part of the time a separate apartment to himself, the privilege of walking in the yard, a person allowed to attend him in his apartment, and his own servant permitted to fetch him such necessaries as he chose to order; and that during the short period when he had not a separate apartment, there were never more than two persons in the same room, seldom more than one, and those some of his associates, or in consequence of his particular request:
"That during these periods of time he made two attempts to escape, in which he was detected; that on authentic information being given to Congress, at York town, that the said Lieutenant Colonel John Connolly was acting in a manner not consistent with the spirit of his parole, and the frontiers being threatened with a barbarous war, in which there was reason to apprehend he was designed as an instrument, he was ordered into confinement in the gaol at York town, on the 13 day of October, [1777]:
"That on the 17th day of May, [1778,] the said John Connolly, with several others, confined in the said gaol, made a representation to Congress, setting forth, in the strongest colouring, the hardships and cruelties which they declared they were then suffering:
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"That on the result of a strict enquiry, and after the gaol had been visited by Colonel Pickering, one of the members of the Board of War, it appeared that the suggestions contained in the said representation were scandalous and groundless; and the report of the Board of War was on the 23 day of May, ordered to be published:
"That since the evacuation of Philadelphia, the said John Connolly was remanded to the new gaol in that city, where, excepting the space of about fourteen days, when two persons were necessarily obliged to sleep in the same room, he has had a separate and commodious apartment of his own choice, the privilege of his own servant to attend him constantly, and to bring him whatever he may require, and the unrestrained use of a spacious yard to take the air in, during the day; that, in his letter of 12 October, 1778, the said J. Connolly declares, 'that the common rights of humanity are denied to him,' and paints his situation in such terms, as would tend to induce a belief that the most wanton cruelties and restraints are imposed upon him:
"That, in consequence of a request of J. Connolly to be heard in person by a committee of Congress, this committee have complied with his request, when he declared, in the presence of your committee, 'that excepting the restraint of his person under the limits above mentioned, which, however indulgent they might appear, he conceived unfavourable to his state of health, he experienced every other relief which could be extended to a person in confinement:'
"That Joshua Loring, Esq. British commissary of prisoners, in his letter to Mr. Beatty of the 1st September, 1778, threatens to retaliate on an American prisoner of war of equal rank with Lieutenant Colonel Connolly, for the sufferings which it is pretended that officer endures:" Whereupon,
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Resolved, That Lieutenant Colonel John Connolly cannot of right claim to be considered and treated as a prisoner of war, but that he was, at the time he was apprehended, and still is, amenable to law martial as a spy and emissary from the British army:
That the repeated representations made by Lieutenant Colonel John Connolly, of the grievances he undergoes, are not founded on facts:
That General Washington be directed to transmit the foregoing resolutions and state of facts to the commander in chief of his Britannic majesty's forces in New York, and to inform the said officer, that if, under the pretext of retaliating for the pretended sufferings of a person who, by the law of nations, has no right to be considered as a prisoner of war, any American officer, entitled to be considered and treated as a prisoner of war, shall undergo any extraordinary restraints or sufferings, Congress are determined to retaliate on the person of an officer of the first rank in their possession, for every species of hardship or restraint on such account inflicted.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of William Duer, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, I, folio 585.]
Ordered, That Mr. [John] Mathews have leave of absence.
Congress resumed the consideration of the report on finance, and some time being spent thereon,
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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