Order of the General Court of 9th of December Last, so far as it relates to Martha' s Vineyard, annulled

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Thursday, January 25, 1776.

Present in Council: Honourables William Sever, Walter Spooner, Caleb Cushing, John Winthrop, Thomas Cushing, John Whetcomb, Jedediah Foster, James Prescott, Eldad Taylor, Charles Chauney, Benjamin Lincoln, Michael Farley, Joseph Palmer, Samuel Holten, Jabez Fisher, Moses Gill, John Taylor, Benjamin White, Esquires.

In the House of Representatives: Resolved, That the Receiver-General have liberty to pay the fifty thousand Pounds which this Court have offered to lend his Excellency General Washington, either in Continental Bills or other money.

In Council: Read, and concurred.

In the House of Representatives: Resolved, That there be paid out of the publick Treasury of this Colony, to Doctor Samuel Langdon, President of Harvard College, the sum of one hundred Pounds, in full for the balance of his services for one year, ending 14th of October, 1775.

In Council: Read, and concurred.

In the House of Representatives: Resolved, That there be paid out of the publick Treasury of this Colony, to Major Joseph Hawley, the sum of three hundred and twelve Pounds sixteen Shillings, to be delivered to Colonel Elisha Porter, Esquire, to be by him paid to such of his soldiers as shall provide themselves with a blanket.

In Council: Read, and concurred.

In Council: Resolved, That all Fire-Arms and Cartridge-boxes belonging to this Colony, or to any town within the same, and which are or shall be in the hands of any officer or soldier belonging to this Government, shall, when such officer or soldier is discharged the service, be lodged either with the Commissary-General of this Colony, or with the Quartermaster-General, his Deputies, or the Ordnance Storekeeper of the Continental Army, who shall give his receipt for the same, taking care particularly to mention whether they belong to the Colony, or any particular town in the Colony, and if to any town, to what town and in what County; which receipt the Receiver-General is hereby directed to annex to the roll of the company to which such officer or soldier belongs, and pay all such stoppages as shall have been made for the same, without any special warrant from the Council therefor; and the Treasurer is also hereby directed, upon his receiving any receipt of the Quartermaster-General, his Deputies, or the Ordnance Storekeeper of the Continental Army, for any arm, or arms, cartridge-box or boxes, which have been delivered him by any officer or soldier belonging to this Government, to charge the Continent with the arms and cartridge-boxes so delivered.

In the House of Representatives: Read, and concurred.

In Council: Whereas, upon inquiry, it doth not appear that many of the Inhabitants of the Island of Martha' s Vineyard, ever had a disposition to supply the enemy with Provisions, and it doth not appear by the Resolve of the 9th of December last, that they were suspected of corruptly doing the same; and such measures having been taken as (in all probability) will prevent the enemy from being supplied

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Therefore, Resolved, That the order of this Court, of the 9th of December last, so far as it respects Martha' s Vineyard only, be, and hereby is, annulled, and that this Resolve be printed in the Cambridge and Watertown Papers.

In the House of Representatives: Read, and concurred.