404 Proceedings and Correspondence

April 18
Liber No. 78
P. 134

and proper Officer is to be put on Board and there to remain until
the Goods are landed and the Vessel departs. The Goods as soon as
they are landed must be examined and delivered to your Officer
in the Presence of one of our Officers, none of the Persons on Board
are to go on Shore or correspond or have any Intercourse with the
Inhabitants, no letters or Papers are to be delivered to any of the
Officers or Soldiers of the late Convention without previously deliv-
ering them to the Lieutenant of Montgomery County, who will
transmit them to us. No letters or Papers are to be received by any
of the Persons on Board. The Flag from any Person on Shore we
shall direct John Murdock Esq^r Lieutenant of Montgomery County
to furnish such a Guard under a proper Officer as he may deem

sufficient to escort the Goods from George Town to Fredericlc Town.

Ibid

[Council to Col Samuel Smith.]

Yours of the 14^th, 16^th, and 17^th are received; enclosed you have
such Commissions as can be granted with any Propriety. The Gover-
nor and Council can suspend a Militia Officer for a Month and the
Governor may remove or suspend any Militia Officer in Pursuance
of the Judgement of a Court Martial; these are the only Powers that
relate to the Suspension or Removal of Militia Officers vested in the
Executive by the Form of Government which evinces the Impropriety
of suspending Caleb Shields and commissioning another in his Place
prior to the Sentence of a Court Martial adjudging him unfit to hold
his Commission and removing him. From your Representation we
submit to you the Propriety of having him tried under the 5^th Article
of the 13 Section of the Act passed March Session 1778 Chapter 14.
You mention your having seized and secured Cromwells Papers, we
request you to send them immediately for Examination. It gives us
Pleasure to hear you have such a good Battalion of Men and would
most chearfully order the Guard of Regulars you request to the
Fort, but it is not in our Power they are so much wanted to the South-
ward. We highly approve of the Spirit of the Gentlemen in the
Forest and would supply the Articles required could we do it with any
Propriety, the Law is express that the Troops shall furnish them-

p. 135

selves, were we at Liberty we have not the Means as there are none
of the Articles in our Magazines nor have any Money to purchase
them. We cannot take the Schooner Rover upon any other Terms
than already communicated to you In yours of the 19^th you request
Commissions may issue to Jacob Brown as first Lieutenant, John
Hamilton Second Lieutenant, and William Johnson Ensign, and in
yours of the 16^th you recommend John George Hamilton as first
Lieutenant, Jacob Brown as second Lieutenant and Samuel Burtis
as Ensign to Cap^t Brittingham Dickensons Company, you will let us
know who you'll have commissioned and the Commissions shall be
accordingly sent except the Commission to supersead Caleb Shields.