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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, OCTOBER 13, 1779
A letter, of 31 May last, from A. Lee, was read; Whereupon,
On motion of Mr. [James] Lovell, seconded by Mr. [Gouverneur] Morris,
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Resolved, That Mr. A. Lee be informed of Mr. Jay's appointment, and that, agreeably to his request, he is at liberty to return to America.
A memorial of Alexander Bensted, pay master to the 10th Pensylvania regiment, was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of Treasury.
A petition from Gideon Olmstead, in behalf of himself and others, captors of the sloop Active, was read:1
[Note 1: 1 Bensted's memorial is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 41. I, folio 194; Olmstead's petition is in No. 42, VI, folio 31.]
Ordered, That it be referred to the committee appointed to confer with a committee of the general assembly of Pensylvania, relative to the carrying into execution the decree of the court of appeals concerning the sloop Active.
A letter, of 11, from Major Elisha Walton, directed to Mr. [William Churchill] Houston, was laid before Congress, and read:
Ordered, That it be referred to the Marine Committee.
A letter, of 26 April, from A. Lee, was read, accompanied with a memorial, dated Paris, April 23, 1779, on the conduct of Doctor Franklin and Jonathan Williams, touching the accounts of the latter; and another paper dated Paris, May 1, 1779, relative to Doctor Franklin's demand of some public papers.
The Committee on the Treasury brought in a report; Whereupon,
Ordered, That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of Mr. J[ohn] Fell, one of the delegates for the State of New Jersey, on his application, for two thousand dollars; for which the said State is to be accountable.2
[Note 2: 2 This report, dated October 12, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 717.]
That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of Mr. F[rancis] Lewis, one of the delegates for the State of New York, on his application, for eight thousand dollars; for which the said State is to be accountable.
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That a warrant issue on the treasurer, in favour of Mr. W[oodbury] Langdon, one of the delegates for the State of New Hampshire, on his application, for six thousand dollars; and for which the said State is to be accountable.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, dated October 12, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 136, III, folio 721]
On motion of Mr. [John] Mathews, seconded by Mr. [Nathaniel] Peabody,
Resolved, That Mr. Jacob Hiltzheimer be authorized and directed to provide for the horses belonging to members of Congress; that for this purpose the commissary general of forage be directed to supply him with such articles of forage, and of such qualities as he shall direct; together with the accounts of the cost thereof; that each member be, from time to time, furnished with an account of the expence of keeping his horses, by the said Jacob Hiltzheimer, and that the same be paid to the pay master of the Board of War and Ordnance, in the mode prescribed by a resolution of Congress on the 17th of August, 1778.2
[Note 2: 2 This paragraph is in the writing of George Bond.]
A letter, of the 12th, from the Board of War, was read.3
[Note 3: 3 This letter is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 147, II, folio 515.]
Mr. [John] Jay having desired to be informed, 1st., in what manner he is to be supplied with money for his expences on his arrival in Europe; 2d., whether he will be allowed any money for secret services; 3d., whether he is to advance money to distressed Americans, who may apply to him:
Ordered, That the same be referred to a committee of three.
The members--Mr. [Henry] Laurens, Mr. [Daniel of St. Thomas] Jenifer, Mr. [Woodbury] Langdon.
A letter of July 10, 1779, from J. G. Derricks, at Amsterdam, and sundry letters between governour Trumbull and the said Mr. Derricks, being laid before Congress, were referred to the said committee
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Ordered, That Mr. [John] Witherspoon and Mr. [James] Lovell, members of the committee for foreign affairs, be added to the foregoing committee.
Ordered, That the said committee prepare the instruction to the minister plenipotentiary appointed to negotiate with the court of Spain, to endeavour to obtain for the United States the liberty of taking salt from Sal Tortuga, and cutting logwood and mahogany in the bay of Honduras; and that the former committee be discharged of that business.1
[Note 1: 1 In apparent forgetfulness of the action taken on October 4, a motion was this day made by Mr. Marchant, seconded by Mr. Witherspoon, for the appointment of a committee on this subject. The motion was adopted, and Laurens, Jenifer and Langdon named for the committee. The entries were struck out, and the action noted in the text adopted.]
A motion was made by Mr. [John] Witherspoon, seconded by Mr. [Gouverneur] Morris,
That the minister of these states to his Catholick Majesty be privately instructed to recede from the claim of a free navigation of the river Mississippi, mentioned in his instructions, below the thirty-first degree of north latitude, on condition of a grant of a free port therein also mentioned, if the obtaining such navigation shall be found an insuperable bar to the proposed treaties of amity and commerce between these states and his Catholick Majesty: Provided always, that the power herein contained be confined to the said minister, and not, in case of his death, or absence, to be exercised by any other person.2
[Note 2: 2 This motion, in the writing of John Witherspoon, is in the Library of Congress [M. S. R.].]
A division was called for. And on the question to agree to the first clause, as far as to the proviso, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [James] Mercer--
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So it passed in the negative.1
[Note 1: 1 These proceedings were entered only in the manuscript Secret Journal, Foreign Affairs.]
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
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