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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, SEPTEMBER 28, 1785.
Congress assembled. Present, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Georgia; and from the State of Delaware, Mr. [John] Vining; from Maryland, Mr. [William] Hindman; from North Carolina, Mr. [William] Cumming, and from South Carolina, Mr. [John] Kean.
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On motion of Mr. [Rufus] King, seconded by Mr. [Elbridge] Gerry,
Ordered, That the board of treasury take Order without delay, to transmit to the Supreme executives of the several States, the requisition for supplies, past on the 27th instant.
On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. [Samuel] Holten, Mr. [John] Haring and Mr. [David] Howell, to whom was referred a memorial of Return Jonathan Meigs, and Job Greene, son and heir of Christopher Greene, deceased, late also a colonel in the said service,
Resolved, That the board of treasury take order for paying to Return Jonathan Meigs, late a colonel in the service of the United States, and to the legal representative of Christopher Greene, deceased, late a colonel in said service, the sum of two hundred dollars, the same having been expended for the use and comfort of the unfortunate prisoners in Quebec, in the year 1776.
On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. [John] Lawrance, Mr. [William] Ellery and Mr. [Abiel] Foster, to whom was referred a petition of Thomas Walcut,
Resolved, That the Commissioner for settling the accounts of persons who served in the hospital department during the late war, be authorised to allow the said Thomas Walcut, at the rate of ten dollars per month, as a compensation for the time he served as ward master in the hospital at Boston.1
[Note 1: 1 See ante, June 1.]
A letter, of this day, from O. Pollock, was read; Whereupon,
On motion of Mr. [David] Howell, seconded by Mr. [Charles] Pettit,
Resolved, That the board of treasury take order for paying to Oliver Pollock, the sum of five thousand dollars, for which he is to account.
A letter, of the 8 of August, from John Sitgreaves, esqr. was read, accepting the office of a judge of the federal court,
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for determining the controversy between the states of Massachusetts and New York.1
[Note 1: 1 This letter is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 78, XXI, folio 409.]
On motion of Mr. [Rufus] King, seconded by Mr. [David] Howell,
Ordered, That the board of treasury cause the whole of the Accounts between the United States and Oliver Pollock to be reexamined and adjusted, any resolution of Congress adjusting the same notwithstanding, and report the same to Congress: Provided that this order shall in no degree affect the validity of the resolutions of Congress relative to the claims of the said Oliver Pollock.
The Committee [consisting of Mr. William Samuel Johnson, Mr. Melancton Smith and Mr. Gunning Bedford] to whom was referred the petition of Zebulon Lord Butler and others, report that it be
Resolved, That the repeal of the resolution of the 23d day of January, 1784, and the permission to withdrawn said petition was founded upon the Insufficiency of the Allegations, and defective description of the Lands in Content mentioned in the petition of Zebulon Butler and others, and was not intended to foreclose the Setlers, Proprietors, and Claimants of the Lands at and near Wyoming under the Title of Connecticut from the Appointment of a Federal Court to try the private right of Soil to the Lands aforesaid to the Lands included the purchase made of the Indian Nations by the Susquchanna and Delaware Companies by the Application of the late Colony and State of Connecticut whenever a Petition shall be preferred to Congress designating the Claimants and the Lands by them claimed and the Opposing Claim, with a due degree of Certainty.2
[Note 2: 2 This report, in an unknown hand with corrections by William Samuel Johnson, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, I, folio 475. The indorsement states that it was read this day; "debated; amended. Question taken and lost."]
The Comee. [Mr. David Howell, Mr. Pierse Long and Mr. John Kean] to whom was referred a Letter from the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the 20 September, 1785, with its enclosures, beg leave to report,
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That it appears to your Comee. that while Captn. J.P. Jones was hovering on the Coast of England in the year 1779, John Jackson, a British pilot, came on board him supposing him to be British; that Captain Jones found it convenient to detain him as a pilot, and in the action with the Serapis, which ensued, this man lost an arm.
It further appears to your Comee. from a Letter of Captn. Jones, that the Second Lieutn. of the Bon Homme Richard was, with twenty others at the time of the battle with the Serapis on board Jackson's pilot boat, and that when Captn. Jones found it impossible to prevent the Bon Homme Richard from sinking, Jackson's pilot boat was of singular service in saving the men, particularly the wounded: Some of whom Captn. Jones is persuaded would have been drowned, had not he been furnished with this means of saving them.
It also appears to your Comee. that Captn. Jones gave this unfortunate man 100 Ducats in hand and promised him the half pay of a pilot for the remainder of his life.
Whereupon your Comee. submit to Congress the following resolution.
Resolved, That six dollars per month, a pilot's half-pay, be allowed and paid out of the Treasury of the U. States in half-yearly payments to John Jackson of the Town of Kingston upon Hull in England, who lost an arm on board the Bon Homme Richard, commanded by Captn. J.P. Jones in the action with the Serapis, on the 22nd day of Sept., 1779; that sd. half-pay commence from the 15th day of Nov., 1779, and continue during the term of the natural life of sd. Jackson, and that the Board of Treasury take order for making the aforesd. half-yearly payments, on a certificate from two or more magistrates expressing the places where the sd. John Jackson may be then living, and that he is really the same person in whose favour this grant is made.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of David Howell, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 19, III, folio 271. The indorsement states that it was read on this day. Committee Book No. 191 states that the matter was transferred.]
The Committee [consisting of Mr. Rufus King, Mr. James McHenry and Mr. William Samuel Johnson] to whom was referred the memorial of the Trustees of the College in Providence in the State of R. Island praying for a compensation for Damage done to and an Allowance for the Use of the College buildings while in the possession of the late allied army, submit the following Resolutions.
Resolved, That the Commissioners authorised to settle the accounts between individual States and the U. S. be and hereby are empowered
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and directed in pursuance of the principles of the Resolutions of the 3rd June, 1784, to ascertain the reasonable sums to be allowed for the use of any building or buildings of any College or University in any of the States, possessed by the army of the U. S. or that of their allies during the late war, and to give a certificate to the Trustees or corporation of such College or University of the amount of such Rent so ascertained.
Resolved, That it be and hereby is recommended to the Legislatures of the several States within which such Colleges or Universities are, to pay to such Trustees or corporation the sum ascertained and certified as aforesaid, & to charge the same to the U. States.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of Rufus King, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 20, I, folio 247. The indorsement states that it was read on this day; debated, amended and "Question taken and lost October 4, 1785." See ante, June 6. Committee Book No. 191 states that the "meml. & papers deld. to Dr. Manning."
September 28: The following committees were appointed: Mr. [Elbridge] Gerry, Mr. [David] Howell and Mr. [Pierse] Long, on letters of September 14, 24 and 28 from Thomas Paine. This is the committee of September 27. Paine's September 28 letter is in No. 55, folio 85, and an undated one, on the same subject (his claim), is on folio 89. A report was rendered October 3.
Mr. [Rufus] King, Mr. [Charles] Pettit and Mr. [Jotre] Kean, on the memorial of Captains John Barry and Thomas Read which was read this day. See ante, September 24.
Mr. [Abiel] Foster, Mr. [Rufus] King, Mr. [David] Howell, Mr. [William Samuel] Johnson, Mr. [Melancton] Smith, Mr. [Lambert] Cadwallader, Mr. [Joseph] Gardner, Mr. [John] Vining, Mr. [William] Hindman, Mr. [William] Grayson, Mr. [William] Cumming, Mr. [John] Kean and Mr. [John] Habersham, "To report an Ordinance for expediting the settlemt. of the public Accots. The report of the board of treasy. on settling the accots. of individual States. Report of do on Dunscomb and Aertsen's report. The comee. to meet in the Congress chamber on friday morning at 9 o'clock."
Also, the committee of August 8 on the petition of Daniel Elliot and Alexander Fowler was this day discharged and the matter referred to the Board of Treasury to report. See post, October 7.
Also the letter of the Board of Treasury, September 26, "relative to printing the register of final settlements and Certificates issued by Comr. for settling army accots." was referred back to the Board "To take order for printing as many copies of the register mentioned in their letter of 26 as they shall judge necessary." The Board reported October 7. The order for this printing and the letter of September 26 were entered in Resolve Book No. 128. The letter is in No. 140, II, folio 103. The Register was printed by Francis Childs (New York: 1786) 4 vols., and recorded the certificates issued from number 1 to 93,843 inclusive, under the title of "Register of the Certificates, Issued by John Pierce, Esquire, Paymaster-General, and Commissioner of the Army Accounts, for the United States." A set is in the Library of Congress.
Committee Book No. 190.
Also on this day, according to indorsement and Despatch Book No. 185, a letter of September 9, from Governor William Moultrie, of South Carolina, relative to Acts of the State and attendance of delegates in Congress, was read. It is in No. 72, folio 579.
Also, a letter from the Secretary to the Governor of South Carolina, dated September 14, forwarding laws of the state. It is in No. 72, folio 587.
Also was read a letter, dated September 28, from Oliver Pollock, praying an advance of money on account. It is in No. 50, folio 50.]
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