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FROM FRIDAY, 17TH, TO TUESDAY, 21ST.

See Journals.

A letter from Mr. Adams, of the eighth day of October, 1782, containing prophetic observations relative to the expedition of Lord Howe for the relief of Gibraltar and its consequences, &c. &c., excited, &c. &c.

Another letter from the same, relative to the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, and the Convention with the States General concerning vessels recaptured, copies of which accompanied the letters. These papers were committed to Mr. MADISON, Mr. HAMILTON, and Mr. ELLSWORTH.5

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22ND.

Congress adjourned to give the Committee on the Treaty and Convention time to prepare a report thereon.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 23RD.

The report of the Committee last mentioned-consisting of a state of the variations, in the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the States General, from the plan proposed by Congress, of a form of ratification of the said Treaty and of the Convention, and of a proclamation comprehending both-was accepted

and passed; the variations excepted, which were not meant to be entered on the Journals. Both the Committee and Congress were exceedingly chagrined at the extreme incorrectness of the American copies of these national acts, and it was privately talked of as necessary to admonish Mr. Adams thereof, and direct him to procure, with the concurrence of the other party, a more correct and perspicuous copy. The report of the Committee, as agreed to, having left a blank in the act of ratification for the insertion of the Treaty and Convention, and these being contained both in the Dutch and American languages the former column signed by the Dutch Plenipotentiaries only, and the latter by Mr. Adams only the Secretary asked the direction of Congress whether both columns, or the American only, ought to be inserted. On this point several observations were made, and different opinions expressed. In general, the members seemed to disapprove of the mode used, and would have preferred the use of a neutral language. As to the request of the Secretary, Mr. WILSON was of opinion that the American columns only should be inserted. Several others concurred in this opinion; supposing that as Mr. Adams had only signed those columns, our ratifications ought to be limited to them. Those who were of a different opinion considered the two parts as inseparable, and as forming one whole, and consequently that both ought to be inserted. The case being a new one to Congress, it was proposed and admitted that the insertion might be suspended till the next day, by which time some authorities might be consulted on the subject.

A committee, consisting of Mr. MADISON, Mr. MIFFLIN, and Mr. WILLIAMSON, reported, in consequence of a motion of Mr. BLAND, a list of books proper for the use of Congress, and proposed that the Secretary should be instructed to procure the same. In favor of the report it was urged as indispensable, that Congress should have at all times at command such authors on the law of nations, treaties, negotiations, &c., as would render their proceedings in such cases conformable to propriety; and it was observed, that the want of this information was manifest in several important acts of Congress. It was further observed, that no time ought to be lost in collecting every book and tract which related to American antiquities and the affairs of the United States, since many of the most valuable of these were every day becoming extinct; and they were necessary, not only as materials for a History of the United States, but might be rendered still more so by future pretensions against their rights from Spain, or other powers which had shared in the discoveries and possessions of the New World. Against the report were urged, first, the inconvenience of advancing even a few hundred pounds at this crisis; secondly, the difference of expense between procuring the books during the war and after a peace. These objections prevailed by a considerable majority. A motion was then made by Mr. WILSON, seconded by Mr. MADISON, to confine the purchase, for the present, to the most essential part of the books. This also was negatived.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 24TH.

Some days prior to this, sundry papers had been laid before Congress by the War Office, showing that a cargo of supplies which had arrived at Wilmington for the British and German prisoners of war, under a passport from the Commander-inChief, and which were thence proceeding by land to their destination, had been seized by sundry persons in Chester county, under a law of Pennsylvania, which required in such cases a license from the Executive authority, who exposed to confiscation all articles not necessary for the prisoners, and referred the question of necessity to the judgment of its own magistrates. Congress unanimously considered the violation of the passport, issued under their authority, as an encroachment on their constitutional and essential rights; but, being disposed to get over the difficulty as gently as possible, appointed a Committee, consisting of Mr. RUTLEDGE, Mr. WOLCOTT, and Mr. MADISON, to confer with the Executive of Pennsylvania on the subject. In the first conference, the Executive represented to the Committee the concern they felt at the incident, their disposition to respect and support the dignity and rights of the Federal Sovereignty, and the embarrassments in which they were involved by a recent and express law of the State to which they were bound to conform. The Committee observed to them, that the power of granting passports for the purpose question being inseparable from the general power of war delegated to Congress, and being essential

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for conducting the war, it could not be expected that Congress would acquiesce in any infractions upon it; that as Pennsylvania had concurred in the alienation of this power to Congress, any law whatever contravening it was necessarily void, and could impose no obligation on the Executive. The latter requested further time for a consideration of the case, and laid it before the Legislature then sitting; in consequence of which a Committee of their body was appointed, jointly with the Executive, to confer with the Committee of Congress. In this second conference the first remarks made by the Committee of Congress were repeated. The Committee of the Legislature expressed an unwillingness to entrench on the jurisdiction of Congress, but some of them seemed not to be fully satisfied that the law of the State did so. Mr. Montgomery, lately a member of Congress, observed, that although the general power of war was given to Congress, yet that the mode of exercising that power might be regulated by the States in any manner which would not frustrate the power, and which their policy might require. To this it was answered, that if Congress had the power at all, it could not, either by the Articles of Confederation or the reason of things, admit of such a controlling power in each of the States; and that to admit such a construction would be a virtual surrender to the States of their whole federal power relative to war, the most essential of all the powers delegated to Congress. The Committee of the Legislature represented, as the great difficulty with them, that even a repeal of the law would not remedy the case without a retrospective law,

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