The Congress then proceeded to bring in their votes for one other General Officer; the Committee having counted and sorted the same, reported that Colonel William Heath was chosen.

Congress then adjourned till to-morrow morning, ten o'clock.

Friday, December 9, 1774, A. M.

The Committee appointed to inquire into the sufficiency of the bondsmen procured by the Receiver General, reported that they had attended to that service, and that the gentlemen he had engaged as his security were amply sufficient for the sum mentioned.

Ordered, That Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Pickering, and Mr. Sayer, be a Committee to bring in a Resolve relating to an Address from the Baptists to this Congress.

Ordered, That the Report of the Committee, relative to the Publick Moneys, now in the hands of the Constables and others, which was ordered to lie on the table, be now taken up; which was taken up accordingly and passed, and is as followeth, viz:

Whereas this Congress at their session in October last, taking into consideration the alarming state of this Colony, were upon the most mature deliberation fully convinced, that to provide against the danger to which it was then exposed by a Standing Army illegally posted in Boston, and from time to time reinforced for the purposes of subverting our ancient Constitution and the liberties of all North America, it was indispensably necessary that a considerable sum of money should be immediately laid out for the just defence of this people; and whereas by a Resolve of the Congress, bearing date the 28th of said October, and published in the Newspapers, it was among other things earnestly recommended to the several Towns and Districts that they would cause to be paid into the hands of Henry Gardner, Esq., all the Province Money due from them respectively, to supply the said pressing exigencies of the Colony; and whereas the danger that then threatened the Province still continues and is daily increasing:

It is Resolved, And hereby most earnestly recommended to all the inhabitants of the Towns and Districts aforesaid, as they regard their own safety and the preservation of their inestimable rights and liberties, that they cause the Moneys aforesaid to be paid forthwith to the said Henry Gardner, Esquire, who hath given Bonds with sufficient sureties, to the satisfaction of this Congress, and that they cause their respective proportion of the Tax granted by the General Court in June last, and all other the Province Moneys due from them respectively, to be supplied in some way that shall be more expeditious than the usual mode of collecting the Taxes, in order to prevent any delay in providing against the imminent dangers above mentioned. And the Members of the Congress are hereby desired to exert their utmost industry for having this Resolve speedily and punctually complied with; and the Sheriffs and Deputy Sheriffs of the several Counties to pay the Province Moneys in their respective hands as has been already recommended.

Ordered, That Colonel Orne, Mr. Pickering, and Colonel Cushing, be a Committee to bring in a Resolve purporting the sense of this Congress of the Continental Congress' Association, as now voted, relative to Goods, Wares, and Merchandise, landed in England and Ireland, as well as those which are manufactured in England and Ireland; who reported as followeth, which was read and accepted, and ordered to be sent to the Committee at Marblehead, and published in the Newspapers:

Resolved, That it is the clear opinion of this Congress that the first article in the Association of the Continental Congress extends to all Goods, Wares, and Merchandise, of the growth, production, or manufacture, of any part of Europe, or any other part of the world imported from Great Britain or Ireland, in case they have been entered and cleared in any part of either of those Kingdoms, as fully as to Goods, Wares, and Merchandise, of the growth, production and manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, and that the said first article ought to be so construed by all concerned, and in that universal sense carried strictly into execution.

Ordered, That Colonel Heath, Colonel Gerrish, Colonel Gardner, Captain Fuller, Colonel Thomas, Colonel Orne, and Colonel Barnes, be a Committee to take into consideration a plan of Military Exercise, proposed by Captain Timothy Pickering.

Ordered, That the Petition of the Officers in the Northwesterly part of the County of Worcester, be committed to the same Committee, and report.

Afternoon.

The Committee appointed to bring in a Resolve, relative to the Petition of the Reverend Mr. Backus, in behalf of the Baptists, reported; which was read and accepted, and the Secretary directed to send him a copy of the Resolve, which is as followeth, viz:

On reading the Memorial of the Reverend Isaac Backus, Agent to the Baptist Churches in this Government, Resolved, That the establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty, to each denomination in the Province, is the sincere wish of this Congress; but being by no means vested with power of Civil Government, whereby they can redress the grievances of any person whatsoever, they therefore recommend to the Baptist Churches, that, when a General Assembly shall be convened in this Colony, they lay the real grievances of said Churches before the same, when and where their Petition will most certainly meet with all that attention due to the Memorial of a denomination of Christians so well disposed to the publick weal of their country.

Ordered, That Mr. Stickney, Colonel Gardner, Colonel Pomeroy, Colonel Thayer, and Mr. Wheeler, be a Committee to wait on the Reverend Doctor Appleton, and return him the Thanks of this Congress for his services as Chaplain during this session.

Ordered, That Major Fuller, Captain Brown, and Mr. Pigeon, be a Committee to wait on the Proprietors of the Meeting House and return them the Thanks of the Congress for the use thereof.

The Congress then adjourned for half an hour.

Being met upon the adjournment, Mr. President brought into Congress a Letter from the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Hardwick, with a number of Paper enclosed, which were read; the Congress then ordered that Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Pickering, Colonel Gardner, Colonel Mendal, and Colonel Danielson, be a Committee to take the same into consideration and report in the morning.

Adjourned to nine o'clock to-morrow morning.

Saturday, December10, 1774, A. M.

The Committee to take into consideration the Letter and Papers enclosed received from the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Hardwick, reported; which was read and accepted, and ordered to be published in the publick Papers, and also the Papers on which the said Report is founded. The Report is as followeth, viz:

Whereas, it appears to this Congress that one or more members of the lately appointed unconstitutional Council in this Province, now residing in Boston, has sent to the Town of Hardwick a paper purporting to be an Association to be entered into by those persons who falsely assume the name of friends to Government; calculated to counteract the salutary designs of the Continental and Provincial Congresses, to deceive the people into agreements contrary to the welfare of this country, and tending in its consequences to hinder an amicable accommodation with our mother country,—the sole end of those Congresses and the ardent wish of every friend to America, It is therefore recommended by this Congress to the several Committees of Correspondence in this Colony, that they give notice to the Provincial Congress, that shall meet in this Province on the first day of February next, and the earliest notice to the publick, of all such combinations, and of the persons signing the same, if any should be enticed thereto, that their names may be published to the world, their persons treated with that neglect, and their memories transmitted to posterity with that ignominy which such unnatural conduct must deserve.

The Committee on the State of the Province reported an Address to the Inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay; the Report was considered by paragraphs, and so passed, and