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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 --WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1778.
A memorial from the Minister of France, was read, respecting the purchase offlour and rice:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Marine Committee.
A letter, of 26 November, from Captain Stoddard, was read:
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Ordered, That it be referred to the Marine Committee.
A letter, of this day, from Colonel Armand, was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of War.
A letter, of this day, from the Hon. H. Laurens, late President, was read, returning his most grateful thanks for the resolution of yesterday in his favour:
Ordered, That the resolution for returning thanks to the Hon. H. Laurens Esq. late President, together with his letter of this day, be published.
A memorial from Alexander M'Nutt and others, was read:1
[Note 1: 1 This memorial, dated December 14, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, VI, folio 77.]
Ordered, That it be referred to a committee of three:
The members chosen, Mr. [James] Lovell, Mr. [William] Whipple, and Mr. [John] Witherspoon.
Ordered, That Mr. [Cornelius] Harnett have leave of absence.
That Mr. [John] Williams have leave of absence.
That Mr. [Roger] Sherman have leave of absence.
Congress took into consideration the report of the committee appointed to report a proper allowance for the honorable gentlemen who have been or may be elected presidents of Congress, to defray the expences incidental to the office: Whereupon,
Resolved, That the representatives of the Hon. Mr. [Peyton] Randolph, deceased, that the Hon. Mr. [Henry] Middleton, the Hon. Mr. [John] Hancock, and the Hon. Mr. [Henry] Laurens, formerly presidents of Congress, be requested to lay before the Board of Treasury accounts of their expenditures in support of their households while they respectively exercised the office of President, in order to their being adjusted and paid out of the public treasury.
Resolved, That a convenient furnished dwelling house be hired, and a table, carriage and servants provided, at
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the public expence, for the President of Congress for the time being:
That the Committee on the Treasury appoint and agree with a steward, who shall have the superintendence of the household of the President, and of the necessary expenditures, and be accountable for such monies as shall, from time to time, be advanced for the purpose aforesaid.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of James Duane, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 23, folio 353.]
The Committee on the Treasury brought in a report; Whereupon,
Ordered, That a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of the Hon. Mr. Cornelius Harnett, Esq. one of the delegates of the State of North Carolina, for two thousand dollars, advanced upon his application; for which the said State is to be accountable:
That a warrant issue on the treasurer in favour of the Hon. Mr. John Williams, Esq. one of the delegates of the State of North Carolina, for one thousand seven hundred dollars, advanced on his application; for which the said State is to be accountable.2
[Note 2: 2 This report is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, II, folio 769.]
A letter, of this day, from sundry merchants and traders of the city of Philadelphia, was read;3 Whereupon,
[Note 3: 3 This letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 78, XV, folio 423.]
Ordered, That to morrow be assigned for taking into consideration the report of the committee respecting goods taken for the public service, immediately after the evacuation of that city.
Congress took into consideration the report of the committee of the whole; Whereupon,
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∥Resolved,∥ That it is necessary to take the following bills out of circulation, viz. the whole emissions of May 20, 1777, and April 11, 1778:
On the question to agree to this resolution,
The yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Thomas] Burke,
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So it was resolved in the affirmative.
Resolved, That the remainder of the report be postponed.
Six o'Clock, p.m.
Congress took into consideration the memorial of the Sieur Gérard, ∥ the minister plenipotentiary of France;∥ Whereupon,
Resolved, That the President be desired to inform the Hon. Sieur Gérard, that Congress approve his proposal of
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substituting six thousand barrels of rice in the room of the same quantity of flour, for supplying the fleet of his most Christian Majesty:
That they are well satisfied with his employing such person as he shall think proper, and in whom he can confide to make the purchase; and that Congress will always be ready to give him every assistance in their power to facilitate the purchase and exportation of supplies for his most Christian Majesty's fleet:
That the President be desired to write to the president of South Carolina, and inform him of the necessity of sending the said supply of rice to the fleet of his most Christian Majesty, in the West Indies, and request him to give every assistance in his power to the agent whom the Hon. Sieur Gérard, minister of France, shall appoint to purchase and export the same for the purpose above mentioned.
Ordered, That the Marine Committee be discharged from proceeding on the aforesaid memorial.
A report from the Board of War was read; Whereupon,
Resolved, That Colonel Hartley's regiment and the four independent companies raised in the State of Pensylvania, commanded by Captains Doyle, Wilkie, Steel and Catherwood, and also the remains of Colonel Patton's regiment, except Captain M'Lane's company, be incorporated into one regiment, and added to the Pensylvania line, as an eleventh regiment, and that Captain M'Lane's company be annexed to the Delaware regiment.
Congress took into consideration the proceedings of the general court martial on the trial of Major General St. Clair; Whereupon, a motion was made,
That the sentence of the general court martial, acquitting Major General St. Clair, with the highest honor, of the charges exhibited against him, be, and is hereby confirmed:
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To which an amendment was moved in the words following:
The sentence of the general court martial acquitting Major General St. Clair, with the highest honor, of the charges exhibited against him, having been transmitted to Congress and considered; resolved, that he be accordingly discharged from his present arrest:1
[Note 1: 1 This amendment, in the writing of James Lovell, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 36, I, folio 14. It is endorsed as postponed on the 5th December.]
∥The question being put on the amendment,∥
Upon which the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Edward] Langworthy,
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So it passed in the negative.
The main question being put, resolved in the affirmative.
Ordered, That this resolution be transmitted to the Commander in Chief.
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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