Watertown Febry. 17th1 1776 Dear Sir,

I have had the pleasure of receiving two letters from you since your return from Crown Point for which I acknowledge my great Obligations. Your seasonable and judicious Admonitions that We Should exert ourselves greatly to investigate the Art of Making Saltpetre have not been without their effect. I hope that We Shall have this Spring a good supply of that article but we have now more concern for Sulphur. We have not as yet been able to collect but about 5 Tons, have not yet had any Success in refining it from the Oar or stone notwithstanding we imagine that We have found plenty of the Mineral at Brookfield and in some other places. The Genl. Court have doubled the price offered when you was with us for all that shall be refined in this colony before the first of July next. We have one Powder Mill in a good way at Andover and good preparation for 163another at Stoughton. All the Arms in the Country are repairing and some new ones made and more making.

Our Executive courts advance slowly. I have not heard that any civil Actions have been tried in any county and I believe Judgment will not be rendered in any court of Common pleas until a new fee table is made which hangs yet, by reason other Matters are thought by Many to be More important.2

Our Superior court is not yet filled. I am very sorry that you did not think proper to accept the appointment. It appears to me not to be a season to stand upon punctilios. But perhaps I am not informed of your reasons therefore shall not Censure you. I am Sir with most humble and sincere respect Your Obedient Servant

Joseph Hawley

RC ; addressed: “To The Honble. Robert Treat Paine Esqr. at Philadelphia”; endorsed.

1.

The original date of Feb. 18 was overwritten by Hawley as Feb. 17. RTP endorsed it with Feb. 18 as the date.

2.

Because of the exegencies of war, the legislature on Feb. 20 temporarily suspended all civil actions in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas until the following April (Journals of the House of Representatives, 51, pt.2:312). The new fee bill Hawley mentioned was not passed until May 2. Its text is printed in Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 5:486–495.

Friday, February 23, 1776

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed to contract for the making of muskets and bayonets for the use of the United Colonies, and to consider of further ways and means of promoting and encouraging the manufacture of fire arms in all parts of the United Colonies.

The members chosen, Mr. Paine, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Huntington, Mr. Lee,1 and Mr. L Morris. . . .

Resolved, That it be recommended to the several assemblies, conventions, councils, or committees of safety, and committees of correspondence and inspection in the United Colonies, to exert themselves, in devising further ways and means of promoting and encouraging the 164manufacture of salt petre, and of introducing that manufacture into private families.

That it be recommended to the several assemblies and conventions in the United Colonies, that they immediately establish public works in each and every county, in their respective colonies, at the expence of such colonies, for the manufacture of salt petre, and appoint committees of their own members immediately to set up such manufactures:

That it be recommended to the assemblies, conventions, or councils, or committees of safety, of every colony, forthwith to erect powder mills in their respective colonies, and appoint committees to build such mills, and procure persons well skilled in the manufacture of powder, at the expence of such colonies:

That a committee of this Congress, to consist of one member from each colony, be appointed to consider of further ways and means of promoting and encouraging the manufactures of salt petre, sulphur and powder in these colonies, and to correspond with the several assemblies and conventions, and councils or committees of safety in the several colonies, that this Congress may be, from time to time, truly informed of the progress made in these manufactures in all the colonies.

The members chosen, Mr. Bartlett,3 Mr. Paine, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Huntington, Mr. L Morris, Mr. Sergeant,4 Mr. Humphreys, Mr. Read,5 Mr. Paca, Mr. Braxton,6 Mr. Hewes, Mr. E Rutledge, and Mr. Bullock.7

Ordered, That the above resolutions respecting salt petre, &c. be published.

Printed in Journals of the Continental Congress, 4:169, 170–171.

1.

Probably Richard Henry Lee.

2.

Printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Mar. 6, 1776, with a notice from the committee:

IN pursuance of the above Resolve, the said Committee here notify all persons who are disposed to contract for the making Muskets and Bayonets, that they make known their proposal as soon as possible to them at Philadelphia, or to the Assemblies, Conventions, or Committees of Safety in the Colonies where they live, in order to be transmitted to the said Committee. R. T. PAINE, per Order.

3.

Josiah Bartlett (1729–1795) trained as a physician but left his practice in 1765 to enter politics. He served in the New Hampshire provincial congress, 1774–1776, and was elected to the Executive Council in 1776. Beginning in September 1775 Bartlett represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress as a strong voice for independence. He was among the signers of the Declaration. After the war Bartlett served on the state’s superior court (1782–1790) and as chief executive, later governor (1790–1794) ( ANB ).

4.

Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant (1746–1793) graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1762 and was admitted to the bar in 1767. He was an active member of the New Jersey Provincial Con­165gress, 1774–1776, and represented that state in the Continental Congress (Feb. 14–June 22, 1776, and Nov. 30, 1776–Sept. 6, 1777). He resigned to become attorney general of Pennsylvania ( DAB ).

5.

George Read (1733–1798) was attorney general for lower Delaware from 1763 until 1774 when he went to the Continental Congress, where he served until 1777. A moderate Whig, he voted against independence but did sign the Declaration which he afterwards supported. He returned to state politics, was influential in Delaware becoming the first to ratify the U.S. Constitution, and served as federal senator from 1789 to 1793. For the last five years of his life Read was chief justice of Delaware ( DAB ).

6.

Carter Braxton (1736–1797), a Virginia landowner and public official, took his seat in Congress on Feb. 23, 1776. He served only until August but supported independence and signed the Declaration. Braxton returned to Virginia, where he resumed his political life as a member of the new House of Delegates despite facing heavy wartime financial losses ( ANB ).

7.

Archibald Bulloch (1730–1777) was a lawyer from Georgia, where he served as speaker of the assembly in the early 1770s and later as president of the provincial congress. Bulloch served in the Second Continental Congress, the first in which Georgia was represented. On Feb 11, 1776, Bulloch was elected as president and commander in chief of Georgia, under the “Rules and Regulations,” a preliminary constitution that went into effect on May 1 ( ANB ).