consents to risk the loss of them; his folly only is to be pitied.

2d. I consider that importation of tea, not as a mercantile concern of the India Company, but as a political medium agreed upon by that Company and the Ministry together, to force the Tea Duty upon America against their consent, and therefore the destruction of it was not, in the least degree, a malicious design by the Bostonians to injure the India Company, but a virtuous effort to preserve their own liberties. If a man draws his sword on me to deprive me of life or liberty, and I break his sword, ought I to pay for the sword? If a man shuts me in his house to deprive me of my liberty, and I break the door, ought I to pay for the door? If I lie an anchor in a ship, and one sends a fire ship down to bum me, and I sink the fire ship, ought I to pay for it?

3d. But here is property destroyed which ought to be paid for; then, say I, let those sustain the damage who were the blameable causes of it, and not, by any means, those who acted from a virtuous necessity, from which they could not be excused, without breach of that duty they owed to their country, to themselves, and their posterity.

4th. An action cannot be good or advisable from which bad consequences and no good ones will necessarily flow upon a whole country. Paying for the tea will be deemed repentance, a submission, a retraction of that virtue by which the liberties of America were asserted and saved, and the grand scheme to destroy them rendered abortive. Virtue relinquished, repented of, and given up with shame, becomes the butt of ridicule for an enemy, and argues a baseness of soul which even a friend must view with contempt.

I beg to be free enough to mention another thing which astonishes me and all your friends, viz: that a number of reputable people of Boston, (some say forty, some sixty,) have humbly addressed Governour Hutchinson, to implore the mercy of the Ministry on poor Boston. I would deny this with great bitterness, but I fear I cannot. I should have thought the late proceedings of Parliament had dumbfounded every tory in America, but could not have imagined that a single one in Boston could have remained unconverted. That sort of poor spirited animals must have wagged their tails, and licked the feet of their despots so long as to have lost the spirit of an ordinary cur, or they could never do this. To kiss the rod is a submission that can never be due to any but a righteous chastiser. Imploring mercy is always a confession of guilt, and to do this without a conviction of guilt is the most abject conduct conceivable. And in the case in point, to be really and sincerely convicted of guilt, is worse; it is, in principle, to give up all the liberties of America. Can a Bostonian compliment a man of Mr. Hutchinson's conduct, whom all America believes to be the great instrument of your calamities? Can a Bostonian implore his intercession with your oppressors; oppressors who have violated the laws of God to wrong you; who have deprived you of the wharfs, landing places, and harbour, which the God of nature, the obligation of civil contract, and the law of the land, will conspire to, seal to you as your property and right; who have vacated the obligations of personal covenants, such as are contained in bills of lading, charter parties, &c., and which the laws of Heaven will oblige the conscience of every honest man to fulfil; I say, can the virtue, can the pride of a Bostonian submit to implore the mercy of such oppressors, and that too by soliciting the mediation of their capital tool of oppression? I always had an exalted opinion of the virtue of the Bostonians. I indeed knew they might suffer, hut never once suspected they could lose their dignity in suffering. Excuse my warm sentiments. If they give wounds they are the wounds of a friend. But I lament to tell you this conduct of a few with you, weakens the hands of your friends, and furnishes occasion to some to say the Bostonians themselves are melting away our support can never save them whilst they want firmness themselves, and whilst they themselves acknowledge that they suffer for their own faults, and not for the cause of American liberty. Depend on it, it is the design of the Southern Colonies to support Boston with their united strength, to make their cause a common one; but at the same time they greatly rely on your firmness, your prudence, your virtue, and example in the struggle.

LOWER FREEHOLD (NEW-JERSEY) RESOLUTIONS.

As meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Township of Lower Freehold, in the County of Monmouth, in New-Jersey, on Monday, the 6th day of June, 1774, after notice given of the time, place, and occasion of this meeting.

Resolved, That it is the unanimous opinion of this meeting, that the cause in which the inhabitants of the town of Boston are now suffering is the common cause of the whole Continent of North America; and that unless some general spirited measures, for the public safety, be speedily entered into, there is just reason to fear that every Province may in turn share the same fate with them; and that, therefore, it is highly incumbent on them all to unite in some effectual means to obtain a repeal of the Boston Port Bill, and any other that may follow it, which shall be deemed subversive of the rights and privileges of free-born Americans.

And that it is also the opinion of this meeting, that, in case it shall appear hereafter to be consistent with the general opinion of the trading towns, and the commercial part of our countrymen, that an entire stoppage of importation and exportation from and to Great Britain and the West Indies, until the said Port Bill and other Acts be repealed, will be really conducive to the safety and preservation of North America and her liberties, they will yield a cheerful acquiescence in the measure, and earnestly recommend the same to all their brethren in this Province.

Resolved, moreover, That the inhabitants of this township will join in an Association with the several towns in the county, and, in conjunction with them, with the several counties in the Province, (if, as we doubt not, they see fit to accede to the proposal,) in any measures that may appear best adapted to the weal and safety of North America and all her loyal sons.

Ordered, That John Anderson, Esq., Messrs. Peter Forman, Hendrick Smock, John Forman, and Asher Holmes, Captain John Covenhoven, and Doctor Nathaniel Scudder, be a Committee for the township, to join with those who may be elected for the neighbouring townships or counties, to constitute a General Committee, for any purposes similar to those above mentioned; and that the gentlemen so appointed do immediately solicit a correspondence with the adjacent towns.

NORWICH (CONNECTICUT) RESOLUTIONS.

At a very full Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Norwich, in the Colony of Connecticut, legally warned and convened, in the Town House, on the 6th day of June, 1774.

The Hon. JABEZ HUNTINGDON, Esq., Moderator.

Voted, That this meeting be adjourned to the Meeting House, and there immediately opened, that more convenient room may be had for the number of people now assembled.

The meeting was opened at the Meeting House accordingly, when the following Resolves passed, almost unanimously.

Voted, That we will, to the utmost of our abilities, assert and defend the liberties and immunities of British America; and that we will co-operate with our brethren in this and the other Colonies, in such reasonable measures as shall, in a general Congress, or otherwise, be judged most proper to relieve us from the burdens we now feel, and secure us from greater evils we fear will follow from the principles adopted by the British Parliament respecting the town of Boston.

Voted, That Captain Jedediah Huntingdon, Christopher Leffingwell, Esq., Dr. Theophilus Rogers, Captain William Hubhard, and Captain Joseph Trumbull, be a Standing Committee, for the keeping up a correspondence with the towns in this and the neighbouring Colonies, and that they transmit a copy of these votes to the Committee of Correspondence for the town of Boston.

A true copy of record—attest,

BENJ. HUNTINGDON, Jun.; Town Clerk.