August 16th

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Wednesday, August 16, 1775.

At a meeting of the Committee of Safety: Present —

Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Roberdeau, Anthony Wayne, Thomas Wharton, Jun˙, Owen Biddle, George Gray, Robert White, Robert Morris, Benjamin Bartholomew, Andrew Allen, Samuel Morris, Jun˙, George Ross:

Major French was furnished with a copy of the instrument of writing signed by him the 12th inst˙, with the copy of his request, and this Board' s Resolve in consequence thereof, of this day.

As it is thought necessary that this Board should have a security for the two Soldiers that are with Major French, he was desired to sign the following engagement, viz:

August 16, 1775,

The Committee of Safety for the Province of Pennsylvania having permitted Wm˙ Goldthorp, a Private in the Twenty-Second Regiment, and Alexander Allen, a Private in the Forty-Fifth Regiment, to accompany me to General Washington' s camp, I pledge my honour that I will use my best endeavours to surrender them to the said General; that I will take all the care in my power to prevent their misbehaving themselves, or giving any intelligence injurious to the American cause. Signed,

CHRIS˙ FRENCH, Major British Army.

Major French was furnished with a copy of the above.

Mr˙ Robert Towers made a Return of the Powder received and stored, as follows, viz: From Oswell Eve, five hundred and seventy-five pounds, stored in New Jail; from the Committee of the City and Liberties, fifty pounds, stored in New Jail; from do˙, eight hundred pounds, stored in Powder House; from do˙, eleven hundred pounds, stored in Germantown — twenty-five hundred and twenty-five pounds of Powder.

A Letter of Instructions was wrote and signed by Doctor Franklin, for Captain Richard Willing and Captain John Wharton, who go with the Officers, taken prisoners, by stage on Tuesday morning next.