| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |
A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --MONDAY, JANUARY 29, 1781
Mr. J[oseph] Jones, a delegate of Virginia, attended and took his seat in Congress.
A letter, of 23, from General Washington, was read;
A letter, of 26, from Lieutenant Colonel Diriks;
One, of 18, from P. Schuyler;3 and
[Note 3: 3 Washington's letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 152, IX, folio 515; Diriks's is in No. 78, VII, folio 339; Schuyler's is in No. 153, III, folio 555.]
A memorial of Christopher Ludwick, were read:4
[Note 4: 4 Ludwick's memorial is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 41, V, folio 230.]
Ordered, That they be referred to the Board of War.
A letter, of 26, from J. Gibson, was read:
Ordered, That it be referred to a committee of three.
Page 95 | Page image
The members, Mr. [Thomas] Burke, Mr. [James] Lovell, Mr. [William] Floyd.
A letter from R. Peters, and a letter from Baron d'Arendt were read.1
[Note 1: 1 Peters's letter, dated January 27, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 78, XVIII, folio 357; d'Arendt's, dated January 29, is in No. 78, VII, folio 343.,]
A petition of Thomas Nelmes was read:2
[Note 2: 2 This petition is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 42, V, folio 429.]
Ordered, That it be referred to the Board of Treasury to be filed with other papers of a similar nature.
A memorial of W. Bingham was read; Whereupon,
Ordered, That the committee on his former memorial be discharged and that the papers and business committed to them be referred together with this memorial to the Committee of Commerce.
The delegates for New York laid before Congress a letter from the president of the senate and speaker of the house of assembly of that State, which was read:3
[Note 3: 3 This letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 67, II, folio 340.]
Ordered, That it be referred to a committee of five.
The members, Mr. [John] Sullivan, Mr. [Abraham] Clark, Mr. [John] Mathews, Mr. [Thomas] Burke, Mr. [Jesse] Root.
Two letters, of 15, from the governor of Virginia were read:4
[Note 4: 4 One of the letters is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 71, II, folio 5; the other on folio 9.]
Ordered, That they be referred to a committee of three and that the committee confer with the Board of War.
The members, Mr. [Thomas] Burke, Mr. [Joseph] Montgomery, Mr. [Theodorick] Bland.
A letter, of 18 January, from the governor of Virginia, was read:
Ordered, That so much thereof as relates to a supply of ammunition and military stores be referred to the Board of War.
Page 96 | Page image
A letter, of December 25, and
One, of January 17th, from the governor of Virginia, was read;
A letter, of December 25, and one, of November 26, from Major General Gates, were read;1
[Note 1: 1 The Virginia letter of December 25 is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 71, I, folio 547; that of January 17 in No. 71, II, folio 13; that of January 18, on folio 21. Gates's letter of November 26 in No. 154, II, folio 323, his letter of December 25 being on folio 341.]
A number of letters, from the honble J. Adams were received under the following dates: Aug. 14, Aug. 22, Aug. 23, Aug. 24, Sept. 4, 5, 16, 19, 24, 25, 28, Oct. 5, 5, 6, 14, 24.2
[Note 2: 2 The Adams letters, except that of August 24, are printed in theDiplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, (Wharton), IV, 29, 36, 41, 45, 57, 60, 66, 67, 72, 81, 82, 83, 97 and 103.]
On motion of the Medical Committee;
Ordered, That a warrant issue upon Thomas Smith, commissioner of the continental loan office for the State of Pensylvania, in favour of Thomas Bond, purveyor of the hospital, for twenty thousand dollars of the old emissions, to be applied towards establishing a hospital in Virginia and to enable proper officers to repair thither as soon as possible.
The committee to whom was re-committed the report on the letter of A. Skinner, commissary general of prisoners, delivered in a report; Whereupon,
Resolved, That the clause in the act of Congress of the 5th which directs "that the Board of Admiralty issue orders not to exchange any British sea officers or seamen until the enemy shall have returned to some of their garrisons in America such seamen as they have taken upon the American coast and sent to Great Britain or other parts beyond sea" be and is herebysuspended until further order of Congress repealed.3
[Note 3: 3 This resolution was also entered in the manuscript Secret (Domestic) Journal.]
[Resolved, That in retaliating for cruelties exercised by the enemy upon American citizens officers or privates; where there shall not be a sufficient number of the enemy in our power, of the same line,
Page 97 | Page image
rank or character; no discrimination be made, between prisoners taken from the enemy in the land or sea service, but that those of either line and other subjects of the enemy be retaliated upon as occasion may require.]1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of Abraham Clark, except the paragraph in brackets, which is in Alexander McDougall's writing, is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, V, folio 341.]
Ordered, That the remainder of the report be postponed.
Adjourned to 10 o'Clock to Morrow.
PREVIOUS SECTION .. NEXT SECTION .. NAVIGATOR
| PREVIOUS | NEXT | NEW SEARCH |