of the Council of Safety, 1775-76. 333

tion their pay amounts to 86.. 4.. 6 which sum the Committee
request may be immediately put into their hands that the men
may be paid off.
I am desired to acquaint your Honours that the quantity of
powder now in the Magazine in this Town is only about 600
w^t — that tho' that powder belongs properly to the whole prov-
ince, yet they hope they may have the liberty, on any occasion
where they conceive the good of the Province to be concerned,
of making use of any part of it, which they may think neces-
sary, and they request your Honours permission so to do :
I am Gen^t Your most hble Serv^t John Hanson Jun^r

Tuesday 16 April 1776.
Council met. Present as yesterday.

Ordered That M^r Isaac M^cHard supply Cap^t Samuel Smith
with Bread for the use of his Company.
Ordered That the Treasurer of the Western Shore pay to
Cap^t Thomas Ewing two hundred Pounds on Account of his
Company.
Ordered That the said Treasurer pay to Mess^rs John Shaw
and Archibald Chisholm twenty two Pounds six Shillings and
eight Pence for stocking Musquets &c. as p^r Account.
Ordered That the said Treasurer pay to M^r Richard Ridgely
eight Pounds Currency to pay an Express to Phil^adelphia.
Ordered That the s^d Treasurer pay to M^r Robert Collett
thirty Shillings for painting Gun Carriages.
In Consequence of intercepted Letters received from the
Committee of Safety of Virginia, (Copies of which are inserted
in the Letter Book, and follow N^o 120) the Council appointed
a Deputation of Two of their Body Mess^rs Carroll and Hall,
and requested W. Paca Esq^r to wait on the Governor with
them, and desire a Sight of his Letter of the 27^th of August to
Lord Dartmouth, And in Case the same could not be pro-
cured, to ask his Parole that he would not leave the Province
till the Meeting of the Convention. — The Gentlemen report
that they waited on his Excellency accordingly and desired a
Sight of the Letter; to which he answered that he had sent
away the Copy of that Letter with all his Papers of Conse-
quence, last Fall, and could not remember the Particulars, but
observed we might be convinced there was nothing of a nature
unfriendly to the Peace of this Province, because the Troops
going to the Southward were not ordered here: he asserted
also upon his Honour that he had not endeavoured to enflame
the Ministry by traducing the Characters of Individuals, some
he had spoke well of, others he had recommended as Sufferers.

C. S. J.