excepting the Secretary of that Department, shall terminate and

cease.

day of

next

And, That after the said dollars per annum shall be allowed to the Agent of Marine for managing the business of that Department, and for payment of the Clerks and contingent expences of the Office; he shall appoint and remove at pleasure all persons employed under him, and be responsible for their conduct in Office.

Resolved, That from and after the first day of December next three thousand dollars per annum shall be allowed to the Secretary at War for managing the business of that Department, and for payment of the necessary Assistants or Clerks, and contingent expences of the office; he shall appoint and remove at pleasure all persons employed under him, and be responsible for their conduct in Office; he shall also keep one assistant or clerk constantly in the office, to attend to the business thereof [he shall also keep a public office in the place where Congress shall sit which shall be constantly attended by an assistant or clerk for the despatch of the business thereof]. He shall visit at least once a year, all the magazines and deposits of public stores and report the state of them with proper arrangements to Congress, and shall settle the accounts of the Department, and attend on Congress when required.

Resolved, That dollars per annum shall hereafter be allowed to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs for managing the business of that Department and for payment of the Clerks and Contingent expences of the Office; he shall appoint and remove at pleasure, all persons employed under him, and be responsible for their conduct in office; provided that the Clerks in each of the said Departments shall be reported to and removed at the pleasure of Congress.1

1 This report, in the writing of Elbridge Gerry, except the part in brackets, which is in that of James Duane, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 36, II, folio 185. It is indorsed: "first part of report of committee on letter 11 July from Legislature of Massachusetts, 17 Sept, 1783, referred to Mr. [James] Duane, Mr. S[amuel] Huntington, Mr. [Hugh] Williamson, Mr. [Elbridge] Gerry, Mr. [Abraham] Clark." According to the record in Committee Book No. 186, a motion of Mr. Stephen Higginson, September 17, was at the same time referred to this committee, who were directed also to consider what reductions might be made in the civil list, and to report specially on each department. A report in part was delivered September 27; and on December 18 the committee was renewed, and Mr. [James] Tilton, Mr. [Thomas] Jefferson and Mr. [James] McHenry were appointed, in place of Duane, Huntington and Clark. This committee reported March 5, 1784. See post, September 25, 1783.

and the first part being amended so as to read,

That after the first Monday in November next, the establishment and salaries of all officers in the marine department, excepting the agent of marine, shall terminate and cease; and that from and after the said first day of November next, dollars per annum, shall be allowed to the agent of marine, for managing the business of that department, and for payment of the clerks and contingent expences of the office. He shall appoint and remove at pleasure all persons employed under him, and be responsible for their conduct in office.1

A motion was made by Mr. [Theodorick] Bland, seconded by Mr. [David] Howell, to strike out the words, "excepting the agent of marine:" And on the question, shall those words stand? the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Elbridge] Gerry,

So the question was lost, and the words were struck out.

1 This paragraph, in the writing of Charles Thomson, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 36, II, folio 189. The amount for the agent of marine is filled in as eight hundred dollars. The vote is indorsed on it.

Madison,
Bland,

ay ay

no

North Carolina,

Mr. Hawkins,

ay

Williamson,

ay

} ay

South Carolina,

Mr. Read,

ay

}

ay

On motion, the blank in the second part was filled with the words eight hundred.

SIR

OFFICE OF FINANCE, 18th Sep'. 1783.

Immediately on the Receipt of the Acts of Congress of the eighteenth and nineteenth of last Month, they were transmitted to the Comptroller of the Treasury, with Directions to furnish the Information required. A Copy of his Answer, of the fifth Instant, is enclosed, to which I beg Leave to add (by Way of Explanation) that Mr. Nourse the Register is absent with Leave for about three Weeks in the whole, in Order that he might Visit his Friends in Virginia.

During his Absence, an Answer to the resolution of the fifth Instant must for the same Reasons be in some Measure delayed, but every Information not dependent on the Treasury Offices, shall be given. The Enclosed Copy of my last Letter from Mr. Grand, of the twentieth Day of July last, will give every knowledge on the Subject of Bills paid by him, which I possess, and will at the same Time shew the Reasons why to this Moment no Accounts of our foreign pecuniary Transactions can be accurately rendered. It will probably surprize you, Sir, as I confess it did me, to find that the Bills drawn before my Administration (and which he calls my Drafts on their Excellencies, Dr. Franklin, Messrs. Adams, Laurens, and Jay) had not been so advised of, as that even the Amount could be known. The List mentioned as transmitted by me, was the best which I could obtain, being extracted from the Treasury Books.

With Respect to Cloathing, No Money has been expended for the Purchase of it in Europe, by my Order; but since my Coming into Office a Part of that which was Ordered by Colo. Laurens was procured, and also some Cloathing by Mr. Barclay, and also some Expences have doubtless accrued by the Lading, Unlading, Relading of it &c. Congress will easily see that I cannot presume or attempt to render Accounts of these Expences, until your Commissioner in Europe shall have adjusted them and transmitted to me the Copies. No Man in Congress can be more earnestly desirous than I am, to obtain a final Liquidation of these foreign Accounts, and I must take Leave to say, that if the Appointment of a Commissioner was not earlier made, it was not because I had been inattentive to that Object or had neglected to bring the Matter before Congress.

It is very painful to me, Sir, that I am obliged also to inform Congress of my utter Inability to render Account of the Goods which have arrived. The Reasons of this Inability have often been explained, both to Committees and to Members of Congress. I must therefore now again repeat, that such of the Expenditure in this as well as in other Departments which has been made by me or my Order or Authority, has been regularly stated in the Accounts rendered, and shall be transmitted again at the Return of the Register. The Cloathing which has arrived from Europe cannot be as yet accounted for, because that no Invoices have ever been received which would enable the Officers to form such Account, and this may easily be conceived when it is considered that many of them originally furnished and shipped by Order of the french Court were after the sailing of the Ships brought back again and remained long on Board, were then relanded, transported to different Places and reshipped. To shew the Confusions which have happened in this Business, I do myself the Honor to enclose the Copy of the only Information hitherto received as to the last Parcel of these goods which has arrived. An Account will be rendered of the whole, as soon as the Completion of the Sales, and the obtaining of proper Documents from abroad will permit.

But, Sir, as it is always my Desire to give the fullest Information which I can to Congress, I shall now endeavour to Answer what I have been informed was the Ground of the present Resolution Viz. the Reasons why the Detachment of Troops from the Massaa. Line now in this State have not received Cloathing for a considerable Period of Time. If I have been misinformed, I must pray the Excuse of Congress for the Unnecessary Trouble of reading what I shall say. No Cloathing fit for Soldiers (or at least very little if any) except Linnen, arrived here before the Preliminaries of Peace. The Linnen was immediately issued. The greater Part of the Cloathing having arrived after the Peace, and it being then evident that the greater Part if not the whole of the Troops would be disbanded, no Measures were taken for making up and issuing cloaths for the army. No Application was made for the purpose by the Secretary at War, and I must take Leave here to observe, that all Details with Respect to the Cloathing are more within his Department than mine. But the Reasons why Nothing was done are evident, for Congress know that their Funds neither are nor have

76112°-22—VOL 25- 4

been in a Condition to sustain any avoidable Expence. Wherefore it was most proper to settle the Account with the Disbanded Soldiers, and allow them the Value of the Cloathing due and to apply the Monies arising from a Sale of the materials to absorb a Part of the heavy Anticipations which were made. I must add here, that Congress have constantly been apprized of this Disposition and knew that the Sales of public Goods were among the Resources to take up my Notes &c. I must also add, that the Issue of Cloathing under such Circumstances was what I could not have answered either to Congress or to the Public, even if Application for it had been made from the proper office. But further I am to inform Congress, that so soon as I was informed of the pressing Wants of the Detachment in Question, I desired the Commanding Officer by whom they were communicated, to have the proper Official Application made to me thro the War Office, and as soon as that was received I enabled the Cloathier to comply with the Demand on him. Sooner I could not do it, and if any Evil was sustained in the mean Time, it will be doubtless attributed by the Candor of Congress to those particular Circumstances of Duty which have called the Attention of the Secretary at War to other Objects.

Having thus gone as far into these Details as my Situation will admit, your Excellency must pardon my Mention of another Subject connected with it. The Comptroller has lately lamented to me that the frequent Applications from Congress, from their Committees and from individual Members, for Extracts from the public Books not only employ a great Portion of Time in the Offices, but prevent bringing up the Books in the proper Manner, because that while they are subject to a Clerk making Extracts the Entries cannot be made, Owing to which (as he says) they are now some Months behind. As there is no man, either in Congress or out of it, who can suppose that I have the least Desire to withhold Information, I feel myself perfectly at Ease in laying this Matter before Congress, and indeed it is but common Justice to those Officers whom they have appointed at the Treasury, and who may hereafter incur Displeasure for not performing the Business committed to them. At the same Time I must observe that altho' there does undoubtedly arise an evil from such frequent Applications, I conceive that any Remedy by a resolution of Congress would be extremely dangerous because any Thing that can bear the Appearance of foreclosing Enquiry must have pernicious Effects and it is for that Reason that I never have mentioned nor ever will