The committee appointed to hear and determine upon the appeal brought against the sentence passed on the libel, Joshua Wentworth vs. the ship Elizabeth, reported as follows:

Joshua Wentworth Esq. for and in behalf as well of the United States of America, as of John Manly, Daniel Waters and John Ayres, commanders of the officers, marines and mariners, of the three armed vessels Hancock, Lee and Lynch, in the service of the said states, having exhibited a libel before Joshua Brackett, Esq. judge of the court maritime of the state of New, Hampshire, against the brigantine Elizabeth, commanded by Peter Ramsay, and her cargo, and Richard Hart, of Portsmouth, in New Hampshire, owner of the said brigantine, and William Jackson and others, of Boston, in the state of Massachusetts bay, owners of sundry goods and mer-chandise on board of her, having put in their several claims thereto, and the said judge of the court aforesaid, having, on the 21 day of August, in the year of our Lord 1776, decreed and ordered the said brigantine, and so much of her cargo as was claimed to be restored to the respective claimants, and that the claimants recover their legal costs of court, from which decree and sentence the said Joshua Wentworth appealed to Congress.

The committee of Congress, to whom it was referred to hear and determine the said appeal, have diligently inspected the proceedings, and heard the parties by their counsel, and it appearing that on the 1st day of October, in the year of our Lord 1775, General Gage, commander in chief of the British forces, then in Boston, in the state of Massachusetts bay, by his commission, to Crean Brush, Esq. directed him to receive into his care, all such goods, chattels, and effects of the inhabitants of that town, some of whom had departed from it, as might be voluntarily delivered into his charge by the owners, or by other persons with whom they were left, giving his receipts for them and to deliver them to the owners, when he should be required; that, on the 10th day of March then following, General Howe, who had succeeded General Gage in the command of the British forces, by his commission to the said Crean Brush, reciting, that as he was informed there were large quantities of goods in Boston, which, if in the possession of the rebels (as he termed the Americans) might enable them to carry on war, and that he, had given notice to all loyal inhabitants to remove such goods from thence, and that those who should not remove them, or deliver them to the care of the said Crean Brush, would be considered as abettors of rebels, required him to take into his possession all such goods as answered that description, and give certificates to the owners that hk had received them for their use, and would deliver them to the owners, unavoidable accidents excepted, and to seize any such goods, as, upon enquiry, should be found secreted, or left in stores, and to put them on board-of the Minerva ship, or brigantine Elizabeth. That, thereupon, the said Crean Brush, assisted by other persons, took into his possession the goods of the claimants, amongst others, and put them into the said brigantine Elizabeth, and other vessels in the harbour of Boston, without the knowledge of some of the owners, and without the consent of all the others, unless it be William Jackson and James Jackson, of whose consent, however, there are no other proofs, than that one of them went with his goods, and watched there on the wharf from whence they were shipped, and that the other was a passenger in the said brigantine Elizabeth, in her voyage towards Halifax. That the said Crean Brush, by certificates under his hand, acknowledged several parcels of the said goods to be in his custody, and engaged to preserve them safely, to make up exact invoices thereof, and, with the approbation of the commander in chief, to return them to the owners. That, on the 29th day of March afterwards the said Peter Ramsay, by orders from Admiral Shuldham, of the British fleet, given about eight days before, went on board the said brigantine Elizabeth, into which some of the claimants' goods had been shifted from the other vessels; and the same day, between the hours of three and four o'clock in the afternoon, sailed with her, under convoy of the British ship of war Niger, for Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and that, on the Tuesday following, the said John Manly, in the Hancock, coming up with the said brigantine Elizabeth, which had, in the mean time, parted from her convoy, fired a broadside at her, which was returned by a volley of small arms; when the said Daniel Waters, in the Lee, and the said John Ayres, in the Lynch, joining the said John Manly, the said Peter Ramsay struck, it being about four or five of the clock in the afternoon, and the said brigantine was seized and carried into Piscataqua river in New Hampshire; whereupon, the committee, after mature deliberation, are of opinion, that the said brigantine Elizabeth is not comprehended in the description of vessels, which, with their cargoes, by the resolutions of Congress of the. 25th day of November last, may be forfeited, not being an armed or a transport vessel employed in the present war against the United States, nor carrying provisions, or other necessaries, to the British army or navy, within any of the United Colonies: and that the cases of re-captures, mentioned in the resolution of Congress of the 5th day of December last, adjusting the proportions of salvage, those cases only were intenaed, in which the vessels and their cargoes remaining in possession of the enemy, might, by the law of nations, be condemned as prize, which is conceived not to be the case of the said brigantine Elizabeth and her cargo; but, that notwithstanding it was the duty of the re-captors to recover the said brigantine and her cargo, and that the owners, who otherwise might, and probably would, have lost their whole property, ought to make a reasonable satisfaction; and that, therefore, the said sentence is erroneous, and ought to be reversed and annulled: That the said brigantine Elizabeth, and such parts of her cargo as were claimed in the said court maritime, be restored to the respective claimants, upon their paying, to the United States, and the recaptors, 1/12th part of the value thereof, to be determined by the appraisement of appraisers on oath, appointed by the judge of the said court: That the residue of the cargo be sold, and the proceeds, after deducting the like proportion and for the same uses, retained for the persons who shall hereafter prove their right to the same; that William Burk, commander, and the marines and mariners of the Warren, an armed vessel in the service of the United States, who claimed a part of the said brigantine Elizabeth and her cargo, as being joint captors, are not entitled to a share of the salvage, it not appearing that they were present, or in sight, at the time of the recapture: And that the appellants recover against the claimants their costs as well in the said court maritime, as in the prosecution of their appeal here; and that the cause be sent back to the said court maritime, for that court to proceed in carrying this sentence into execution.

Resolved, That Congress agree to the said report.

Resolved, That such part of the twelfth, adjudged in the foregoing report to be paid in lieu of salvage, as belongs to the United States, be released, and given up to the owners of the goods.

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed, to consider what is to be done with negroes taken by vessels of war, in the service of the United States:

The members chosen, Mr. [James] Wilson, Mr. Rlichard] H[enry] Lee, and Mr. [Samuel] Huntington.