you, requesting the favour of you to direct and forward them to your Supervisors in their several districts.

By order of the Committee, ISAAC LOW, Chairman.

Directed to the Treasurer of the county of Albany, with forty copies; to the Treasurer of the county of Tryon, with thirty; to the Treasurer of the county of Charlotte, with twelve; to the Treasurer of the county of Cumberland, with twelve; to the Treasurer of the county of West-Chester, with thirty; to the Treasurer of the county of Gloucester, with twelve; to the Treasurer of the county of Ulster, with twenty; to the Treasurer of the county of Orange, with twenty; to the Treasurer of the county of Dutchess, with forty; to the Treasurer of the county of Richmond, with six; to the Treasurer of the county of Kings, with six; to the Treasurer of the county of Queens, with thirty; and to the Treasurer of the county of Suffolk, thirty.—Total two hundred and eighty-eight.

New York, June 6, 1774.

The Committee met, by adjournment, at the Exchange, at 6 o'clock, in the evening: Present,

Ordered, That a Committee be appointed to write a Letter to the Committee of Correspondence in Boston, acquainting them that we adhere to the measure of a Congress, and that we shall be ready to meet them at any time and place they shall think fit to appoint, either Deputies from the General Assembly, or such other Deputies as shall be properly chosen and authorized to speak the sentiments of their different Colonies.

That the Committee at Boton give a sufficient time for the Deputies of the Colonies to the southward, as far as Carolina, to assemble, and acquaint them with the measure of Congress. Those letters to the southward of us, we shall with pleasure forward.

shutting up the two ports of New-York and Philadelphia, they could by no means think of such a measure, because it did not seem to be at all the general opinion of the inhabitants of the two cities to do so; that they of themselves were but a small number when compared to the inhabitants of these cities, and these few could not pretend to dictate to them, much less to the whole Province, which must be reduced to distress and desperation by such a measure." This, I am told, was the purport of their letter, for I was not present, because I never have chosen to countenance self-appointed meetings of this sort, which appears to me contrary to law, and flying in the face of Government. I would have sent you all the papers printed on the occasion of those meetings, together with the impudent and inflammatory pieces published on account of the Boston Port Bill, but as those latter pieces are in general copied or inserted in the newspapers which, I fancy, you will sec at the coffee houses, it is needless; and were I to send the former, it would not be worth the heavy charge of postage. Upon the whole I think there is little doubt but that all will be pretty quiet in all the Colonies m a short time; the most bitter pill will be the acknowledgement of the right of taxation in the Parliament. There is a talk of desiring the different Governours to call their wise Assemblies to settle this matter, and that it would be proper to have a Congress of the most sensible men amongst all the Colonies to meet somewhere to try to ward off the blow aimed at that great goddess of the Dutch East India Company in America, called AMERICAN LIBERTY. YOU will have discovered that I am no friend to Presbyterians, and that I fix all the blame of those extraordinary American proceedings upon them. You would perhaps, think it proper to ask, whether no Church of England people were among them? Yes, there were, to their eternal shame be it spoken! but in general they were interested in the motion, either as smugglers of tea, or as being overburdened with dry goods they know not how to pay for, and would therefore have been glad to have a non-importation agreement, or a resolution to pay no debts to England. But, Sir, these are few in number. Believe me the Presbyterians have been the chief and principal instruments in all these flaming measures, and they always do and ever will act against Government, from that restless and turbulent anti-monarchical spirit which has always distinguished them every where, whenever they had, or by any means could assume power, however illegally. In short, I am myself well convinced, that Government at. home, if they mean to look for genuine loyalty, and cordial affection to the State, will no where find it except in the hearts of the professors of the Church of England: And I am as well convinced, that if Government would wish to preserve and encourage loyalty in the Colonies, they must countenance the Church of England much more than they have done hitherto. It is an indubitable fact that previous to and during all those acts of violence committed in the Colonies, especially to the eastward, the Presbyterian pulpits groaned with the most wicked, malicious and inflammatory harangues, pronounced by the favourite orators amongst that sect, spiriting their godly hearers to the most violent opposition to Government; persuading them that the intention of Government was to rule them with a rod of iron, and to mate them all slaves; and assuring them that if they would rise as one man to oppose those arbitrary schemes, God would assist them to sweep away every ministerial tool, (the amiable name these wretches are pleased to bestow on the professors of the Church) from the face of the earth; that now was the time to strike, whilst Government at home was afraid of them; together with a long string of such seditious stuff, well calculated to impose on the poor devils their hearers, and make them run into every degree of extravagance and folly, which if I foresee aright, they will have leisure enough to be sorry for: But in general, the Church of England people during all this time, without any public oratory to spur them, did, from principle, from their own truly loyal principles, in which care is taken to educate them, every thing they could by writing and argument, and their influence, to stop the rapid progress of sedition, which would have gone much farther lengths if it had not been for them.

I am not a little, amazed at reading over the speeches in the House in the debates on the Boston Bill, to find those gentlemen saying such mighty pretty things of the Americans in general, and of Boston in particular; if those things have not been said merely out of opposition to the Ministry, believe me, those gentlemen in the House are egregiously ignorant of the state of the Colonies and have an opinion of them, they are far from meriting; however, I hope every thing will soon be settled, and that the Americans will be taught to pursue their true interest, viz: the improvement of their commerce, and the cultivation of their lands; if they attend to those particulars, I fancy they will find it full as much to their advantage as the regulation of the State. In short, Administration at homo has really nothing further to

do but to be determined, and steady, to put an entire stop to smuggling, and to make an example of some few of the ringleaders of the faction, in every principal city on the Continent, and if this is done, I fancy America will afterwards give very little trouble.

NEW-YORK, May 31, 1774.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER TO A GENTLEMAN IN SCOTLAND.

SIR: I seldom trouble you with politics, but at this time you may like perhaps to know what reception the Boston Port Bill has met with. To give you any tolerable idea of our present system of politics in America in general, would exceed the bounds of a letter. I shall only tell you that the power which it was found necessary to throw into the hands of the mob, during the general opposition to the Stamp Act, was not extinguished with the repeal of that Act. The attempt of the India Company to import their tea was no sooner in agitation, than the leaders of the mob, supported by the Dutch tea smugglers, made their appearance;; and finding the men of property careless of shewing themselves, they took upon them to act for the whole community. It was the same body who formed the association for opposing the landing of the tea, and for returning it, which they afterwards deliberately effected. When the account of the Boston Port Bill reached us, the same body assumed the lead, and were hurrying themselves into the most violent measures. The men of property, however, finding affairs began to wear too alarming an appearance for them to stand any longer neuter, determined to attempt wresting the power once more out of their hands, A committee of fifty of the mercantile body was accordingly opposed to these leaders, and the election was carried in their favours, though with some, difficulty. In this state has New-York been since the Stamp Act, and that of Philadelphia, Charleston, and Boston, has been pretty much the same. As the management, however, has now Fallen into the hands of men averse to precipitate measures, I think the interdict of the Parliament to Boston, and the new modelling of this Government will meet with no opposition. But what alarms us is their suspicion of the third bill, which we have heard is before the House. Should the import of this bill prove to be what is surmised of it, viz: the sending homo those suspected or charged with any act against Government, to stand trial in Westminster Hall, you must not be surprised to find all America in flames. The friends of Government and the. advocates for the proper subordination of America to England, have a hard struggle to keep things in the situation they are now in; but should a bill have passed to this effect, we shall no longer find argument, or, what is more, dare to offer them though we should.

NEW-YORK, June, 1774,

EXTRACT OF A LETTER TO A GENTLEMAN IN ENGLAND.

You'll see by the papers I sent you by Captains Lawrence and Miller, that we have published the intelligence we received from all our friends in England, by Captain Coupar, and the last vessels. They have had as great an effect as could be wished and from one end to the other of the British Colonies we shall sec, but one sentiment, that is, to view the treatment and pretensions of Great Britain with the highest resentment and disdain., We shall all he united, and act as one man; and if you should see any friends to America, pray tell them to be in no pain for us; we shall act as we ought, and, to a man, not hesitate to die, rather than submit to be the slaves Briton would make us. We fear not to tell the highest of them that we are as free as they are, and so will live and die. If their force should plunder us of our rights and property, we will tell them with our latest breath, that they are tyrants and robbers, and we shall leave them a land as desolate as our forefathers found it. We shall leave the stings of their own guilty consciences to avenge our wrongs, and present them with a lively view of the borrours they have caused. We are at the time assured. Great Britain will not long survive the destruction of her Colonies. Alas! that a few traitors should a comparatively, and extensive calamity! We are well assured it is but few, comparatively, a contemptible few, that are the authors of all this mischief and that the whole body of the nation, as well in England and Ireland, as here, have the same sentiments that we have, and like us are injured and oppressed. We love the nation, its Constitution, and constitutional Government, and have ever been ready to risk our lives in their defence. We lament their fall as well as our own, in which we see it involved, unless Providence interpose. Perhaps he may turn all the mischief upon the heads of the contrivers of it; perhaps, by the united exertions of all the Colonies, which there is no doubt of, we may be delivered and, England preserved, though its strength seems now only applied to crush us, the best friends it had in the world. The boat waits, adieu.

NEW-YORK, June 2, 1774,