Sr., Philada. Septr. 25th. 1776.

Mr. Gerry delivered me a letter yo. sent by Major Cox1; I have been a long time anxious to know the state of Gun Powder manufacture in our Government and have wrote repeatedly withot. being able to get any satisfactory information. We have had great success in making saltpetre, but without great Care it will be all spoilt in making into Gunpowder. There have been some great instances here of miserable trash trun’d out for Gunpowder, which occasioned the Congress to appoint a committee to enquire into the defect and procure a remedy. . . .

. . . I am exceeding glad to find you turning yr. attention to this very important Manufacture. I hope you will not only make improvements in 295yr. own Works but communicate Knowledge to the other Powder makers and do what lays in yr Power to promote the manufacture of good Powder for it must be a most cruel Vexation in the day of decision for Liberty or Slavery to have the Scale turn against us meerly thro’ the defect of our own Powder. This matter has lain as a Burthen on my mind and has caused me to apply great attention to this manufacture. . . .

Congress have passed some resolves to prevent the bad manufacture of Powder and also the importation of bad Powder, (for much Powder which has been imported from abroad has proved exceed bad) and have recommended inspectors to be appointed to prove all Powder. This matter should be carefully attended to. Majr. Cox will describe to you the machine by which we made most of our Experiments. You will excuse the freedom I take in addressing you thus freely when you consider the real importance of the subject. I wish the Inhabitants of the United States were more intent upon providing and manufacturing the Means of defence, than making Governments witht. providing for the means of their Support. Wishing you Success in yr. noble Efforts to promote that best Good of yr Country, its defence from powerful enemies, I part your most hble. Servt.,

R T Paine

Original not located; reprinted from Edmund C. Burnett, ed., Letters of Members of the Continental Congress (Washington, 1921–1936), 2:101 , which misinterprets the endorsement as: “Mr. Paine to S. P. Eve [?] on Gun powder.” Ellipses appear as in the transcription.

1.

Lemuel Cox (1736–1806) assisted in the building of the Andover powder mill and claimed to have “invented a machine for granulating the powder whereby one man could granulate five hundredweight in one day at the same time saving the labor of fifty men.” Cox later became known as a bridge builder for his work on the bridge from Boston to Charlestown in 1786 and the bridge in Waterford, Ireland, in 1795 (Walter Kendall Watkins, Lemuel Cox: Bridge Builder and Inventor, 1736–1806 [Malden, Mass., 1907], 6).