And that until the buildings to be erected on the banks of the Delaware and Potomac shall be prepared for the reception of Congress, their residence shall be alternately at equal periods of not more than one year, and not less than six months in Trenton and Annapolis; and the President is hereby authorised and directed to adjourn Congress on the 12th day of November next, to meet at Annapolis on the 26th of the same month, for the despatch of public business.' And on the question to agree to this amendment, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [John] Montgomery,

So it was resolved in the affirmative.

A division was then called for, and on the question, that buildings be likewise erected for the use of Congress at or near the lower falls of Potomac or Georgetown; provided a suitable district on the banks of the river can be procured for a federal town, and the right of soil, and an exclusive jurisdiction or such other as Congress may direct, shall be vested in the United States:

1 This motion, undated, in the writing of a clerk, except the dates, which are in Ellery's hand, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 36, IV, folio 209.

The yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Richard] Beres

So it was resolved in the affirmative.

And on the question to agree to the second part, viz. “and that until the buildings to be erected," &c. to the end, the yeas and nays being required by Mr. [Richard] Beresford,

So it was resolved in the affirmative.

The preamble being then taken into consideration, and the same being amended, the whole was agreed to as follows:

Whereas there is reason to expect that the providing buildings for the alternate residence of Congress in two places will be productive of the most salutary effects, by securing the mutual confidence and affections of the states; Resolved, That buildings be likewise erected for the use of Congress, at or near the lower falls of Potomac or Georgetown; provided a suitable district on the banks of the river can be procured for a federal town, and the right of soil, and an exclusive jurisdiction, or such other as Congress may direct, shall be vested in the United States: and that until the buildings to be erected on the banks of the Delaware and Potomac shall be prepared for the reception of Congress, their residence shall be alternately at equal periods, of not more than one year, and not less than six months in Trenton and Annapolis; and the President is hereby authorised and directed to adjourn Congress on the 12th day of November next, to meet at Annapolis on the twenty-sixth day of the same month, for the despatch of public business.

The Committee [Mr. James Wilson, Mr. John Rutledge, Mr. Nathaniel Gorham, Mr. Abraham Clark and Mr. Alexander Hamilton] to whom was referred the letters and Communications from the Ministers of the United States for negotiating peace and the letter of the 19th Instant from the Secretary for foreign affairs, together with three motions thereon, report to Congress the following Resolutions,

Resolved, That Congress entertain a high sense of the services of their Commissioners in the negotiation of the provisional articles agreed to by them and the Commissioner of his Britannic Majesty, and of the zeal and firmness which they have shewn with so much success for the dignity, the rights and the Interests of the United States.

Resolved, That the said Commissioners be instructed to make to the Court of France an immediate a communication of the separate article entered into with the British Commissioner, to endeavor to have that article excluded from the Treaty with Great Britain; but

if this cannot be accomplished without inconvenience, then to agree that, to whatever power West Florida shall remain or be ceded at the conclusion of the War, its Northern Boundary shall be as it is described in the said separate article.

Resolved, That the Secretary for foreign affairs be directed to inform the said Commissioners, that it is the wish of Congress, that the articles agreed to with the Commissioner of his Britannic Majesty ought to have been had been communicated to the Court of France before they were signed.1

SIR,

WAR OFFICE, Oct 21, 1783.

If Congress will recur to their Act of the 24. Ult° I am of opinion they will think any proceeding on the within Motion quite unneccessary."

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1783

In pursuance to the orders of the 18 and 19 of August, the Superintendant of finance transmitted to Congress,

1. An estimate of the foreign and domestic debt of the United States.

2. A computation of interest arrearages on the national debt to the 1 January, 1783, and interest for one year, on a supposition of the same becoming due in 1784.

3. Accounts of the emissions of bills of exchange, drawn by direction of Congress for the payment of interest; and an account of the annual interest that was payable in Europe on loan office certificates.

1 This report, in the writing of James Wilson, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 25, II, folio 281. The indorsement states that it was read on this day. See ante, March 19.

2 This report is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 149, III, folio 253. The motion, in the writing of Hugh Williamson, undated, is on folio 252, and is as follows:

"Whereas it is

That all the troops in the service of the U. S. except the garrisons of West Point and Fort Pitt be discharged."

On this day a letter of October 18 from John Paul Jones, which was referred to Mr. [Samuel] Huntington, Mr. [Arthur] Lee and Mr. [James] Duane, was read. It is in No. 137, III, folio 207. Committee Book, No. 186, says the committee reported October 29, and No. 191 that the report was acted upon November 1.

V

4. A statement of Mr. Grand's last account current, on the principles of the former arrangement of his account, dated 19 August, 1782.1

On the report of a committee, consisting of Mr. [James] Duane, Mr. [William] Ellery and Mr. S[amuel] Huntington, to whom was referred a motion for transmitting copies of the preliminary articles of peace to the respective states;

Resolved, That an exemplification of the provisional articles for restoring peace between the United States of America and Great Britain, and of the act of ratification thereof by the United States, be transmitted to each of the respective states.2

And your committee submit the annexed draft of a circular letter to accompany the same.

CIRCULAR.

SIR.

In Congress Princeton 1783.

Firmly persuaded that the honor and interest prosperity of the United States must depend on a faithful performance of every national engagement and eminently so, of treaties with Foreign powers, Congress would consider with deep regret any act which might render it impracticable to give a just efficacy to the provisional articles for the restoration of peace, which are expressly stipulated to be inserted in the Definitive treaty. They have therefore directed exemplifications of those provisional articles, and their own ratification thereof to be transmitted to the respective states. This communication is rendered the more necessary as by late advices from the ministers of the United States at the Court of Versailles it appears to be their opinion that it is the most fair and true construction of the 6th Article that it relates to the date of the cessation of hostilities, which date (they observe) is the time when peace in fact took place in consequence of prior informal the' binding contracts to terminate

1 The estimates enumerated here are to be found in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 144, folios 133, 140, 147, 151–167. They were enclosed in a letter of October 18, from Joseph Nourse, which is on folio 136, and were transmitted to Congress by Morris, in a letter dated October 21. Morris's letter is on folio 145. The estimates were entered in No. 12, Book of Estimates, and not in the Journal.

2 This resolution was also entered in the manuscript Secret Journal, Foreign Affairs.