tenth of October, any such Goods, Wares, or Merchandise, it is expressly recommended to the Committees aforesaid, that they take the Goods into their possession, to be stored at the risk of the proper owners, until the repeal of the Acts aforesaid, and publish the names of such refractory Merchants, Traders, or Purchasers, that they may meet with the merits of enemies to their country. And the Towns and Districts throughout the Province are also advised that they by no means fail rigorously to assist and support their Committees in discharging this as well as other duties of their offices, and to cause this Resolution to be executed by every measure which they shall think necessary.

Resolved, That John Adams, Esquire, be joined to the Committee on the State of the Province.

Resolved, That the above Report made by the Committee appointed to take into consideration the state of Rights, &c., as reported by the Continental Congress, be published in all the Newspapers in the Province, and that it be signed by the President and attested by the Secretary; and also, that copies thereof be sent to all the Towns and Districts in the Province.

Resolved, That the vote relating to a Brief be reconsidered, and that it be in order to be revised.

Adjourned till to-morrow morning, nine o'clock.

Tuesday, December 6, 1774, A. M.

The Committee appointed to take into consideration the state of the Manufactures in this Province, reported; the Report was recommitted for some additions.

The Committee appointed to devise means of keeping up a Correspondence between this Province, Montreal and Quebec, and of gaining frequent intelligence from thence of their movements; reported, that a Committee be appointed to correspond with the Inhabitants of Canada. Accordingly the Hon. Major Hawley, Colonel Pomeroy, Mr. Browne, Mr. Samuel Adams, Doctor Warren, Honourable Mr. Hancock, and Doctor Church, were appointed a Committee for that purpose.

The Committee appointed to prepare a Brief to be circulated through the several Towns in this Province, to promote Donations for the persons suffering in the Towns of Boston and Charlestown, under the operation of certain Acts of the British Parliament, having amended the same, reported; the Report was read and accepted, and is as followeth:

The operation of the cruel and iniquitous Boston Port Bill, that instrument of Ministerial vengeance having reduced our once happy Capital and the neighbouring Town of Charlestown, from affluence and ease to extreme distress; many of their inhabitants being deprived of even the means of procuring the necessaries of life; from all which they have most nobly refused to purchase an exemption by surrendering the Rights of Americans; and although the charitable Donations from the other Colonies and several Towns in this Province, have in a good measure relieved their immediate necessities, while their approbation has animated them to persevere in patient suffering for the publick good, yet as the severity of Winter is now approaching, which must add greatly to their misery; and there has been no general collection for them in this Colony, we hold ourselves obliged, in justice, to contribute to their support; while they, under such a weight of oppression, are supporting our Rights and Privileges.

It is therefore Resolved, That it be recommended to our constituents, the inhabitants of the other Towns, Districts, and Parishes, within this Province, that they further contribute liberally to alleviate the burden of those persons, who are the more immediate objects of Ministerial resentment, and are suffering in the common cause of their country; seriously considering how much the liberty, and consequently the happiness, of ourselves and posterity depend, under God, on the firmness and resolution of those worthy patriots.

And it is Ordered, That Doctor Foster, Mr. Devens, and Mr. Cheever, be a Committee to transmit printed copies of the above Resolve to the Ministers of the Gospel in the several Towns, Districts, and Parishes, in this Province, who are desired to read the same to their several Congregations, in order that their contributions of such necessaries of life as they can spare, may be forwarded as soon as possible.

The Committee appointed to prepare an Address to the Clergy, having amended the same, again reported; the Report was read and accepted, and ordered that copies thereof be sent to all the Ministers of the Gospel in the Province; and it is as followeth:

REVEREND SIRS: When we contemplate the friendship and assistance our ancestors, the first settlers of this Province, (while overwhelmed with distress) received from the pious Pastors of the Churches of Christ, who, to enjoy the rights of conscience, fled with them into this land, then a savage wilderness, we find ourselves filled with the most grateful sensations. And we cannot but acknowledge the goodness of Heaven in constantly supplying us with Preachers of the Gospel, whose concern has been the temporal and spiritual happiness of this people.

In a day like this, when all the friends of Civil and Religious Liberty are extending themselves to deliver this country from its present calamities, we cannot but place great hopes in an order of men who have ever distinguished themselves in their country's cause; and do therefore recommend to the Ministers of the Gospel in the several Towns and other places in this Colony, that they assist us in avoiding that dreadful slavery with which we are now threatened, by advising the people of their several Congregations, as they wish their prosperity, to abide by, and strictly adhere to, the Resolutions of the Continental Congress, as the most peaceable and probable method of preventing confusion and bloodshed, and of restoring that harmony between Great Britain and these Colonies, on which we wish might be established, not only the Rights and Liberties of America, but the opulence and lasting happiness of the whole British Empire.

Resolved, That the foregoing Address be presented to all the Ministers of the Gospel in the Province.

Adjourned to three o'clock, P. M.

Afternoon.

Resolved, That the names of the following persons be published repeatedly, they having been appointed Counsellors of this Province by Mandamus, and have not published a renunciation of their Commission, viz: Thomas Fletcher, Esquire, Foster Hutchinson, Harrison Gray, William Browne, James Bouteneau, Joshua Loring, William Pepperell, John Erving, Jun.,Peter Oliver, Richard Lechmere, Josiah Edson, Nathaniel Ray Thomas, Timothy Ruggles, John Murray, and Daniel Leonard, Esquires.

Adjourned to nine o'clock to-morrow morning.

Wednesday, December 7, 1774, A. M.

Ordered, That Captain Barrett, Mr. Bridge, and Major Fuller, be a Committee to collect the several expenses that have accrued to the Congress in this and the former session thereof, and they are directed to sit forthwith.

Ordered, That Mr. Sullivan, Doctor Holten, Mr. Palmer, Colonel Lee, and the Honourable Colonel Ward, be a Committee to take into consideration and determine what recompense the Delegates, who from this Province attended the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, in September last, shall be allowed for their services and expenses.

Ordered, That Colonel Orne, Honourable Mr. Cushing, and Honourable Major Hawley, be a Committee to bring in a Resolve, directing the Honourable James Russell, Esquire, Impost Officer, to pay the Moneys now in his hands to Henry Gardner, Esquire, the Committee are directed to sit immediately.

Ordered, That John Adams, Esquire, Mr. Samuel Adams, and Colonel Danielson, be a Committee to bring in a Resolve, relative to taking the number of inhabitants, and the quantity of exports and imports of Merchandise and of the Manufactures of all kinds in this Colony; and the Committee was directed to sit immediately. The Committee having attended to that service, reported as followeth, viz:

Resolved, That a Committee be appointed, consisting of one gentleman from each County, and one from each maritime Town of this Colony, to prepare from the best authentick evidence which can be procured, a true state of the number of the inhabitants, and of the quantities of exports and imports of Goods, Wares, and Merchandise,