tude to the Supreme Being for his having placed you under such a form of Government, as when duly administered, gives the meanest peasant the same security in his life and property as his Sovereign has in his crown.

The Constitution of Government secures to each one, subject thereto, such an entire property in his inheritance, and the fruit of his industry, that they cannot be taken from him without his personal or representative consent; and as the evidence of entire property arises from the uncontrollable power of disposing, when your estates shall be brought into such a situation, or under such a form of Government, as that they can be disposed of or granted by persons who are by no means accountable to you therefor, you cease to have any thing more than a licensed and precarious property in them.

Notwithstanding these principles have been warmly contended for, and nobly defended at the expense of much blood and treasure, by your British ancestors, who have ever been seriously alarmed at the least infringement on this branch of their happy privileges, the House of Commons there, over whom you have not the least control, and in whose election you have no voice, have claimed and exercised the power of granting you money without your consent; and what renders the same more aggravated is, that the money extorted from you is applied to the vile purpose of maintaining a set of men who, through depravity of mind, and cruelty of disposition, have been and still are endeavouring to enforce certain Acts of Parliament, made with express purpose to take from you your Charter rights, and reduce you to a state of misery, equal to that ever attendant on those whose Prince has the sole disposal of their lives and properties. Fleets, Troops, and every implement of war, are sent into the Province with apparent design to wrest from you that freedom which it is your duty, even at the risk of your lives, to hand inviolate to posterity.

These strides of tyranny have fixed the united attention of all America; and being greatly and justly alarmed, the wisdom of the. whole Continent has been collected in that Congress, whose salutary Resolutions have pointed you to effectual means of redress, and the execution of the plan projected by that honourable assembly has been warmly recommended to you by your former Provincial Congress.

The transactions of your former Congress, with regard to placing the Militia on such a footing as may serve to defend you from each act of hostility that may be offered, have been carefully transmitted to you, and we rejoice to hear that you have cheerfully paid the strictest attention to them, and ardently wish that the same martial spirit which so remarkably prevails among you, may be encouraged and increased.

Though we deprecate a rupture with the mother state, yet we must still urge you to every preparation for your necessary defence; for, unless you exhibit to your enemies such a firmness as shall convince them that you are worthy of that freedom your ancestors fled here to enjoy, you have nothing to expect but the vilest and most abject slavery.

The foregoing sheets contain the Resolutions of your former Congress, respecting the improvement of your publick moneys at this critical juncture of your publick affairs. Such is the alarming state of the Province, that the necessity of punctually complying with these Resolves can by no means need any further argument to stimulate thereto, than what naturally arises from facts under your constant observation; but as necessary preparations for your defence require immediate supplies of money, duty and faithfulness to you compel us to take leave to hint, that should you be so unhappy as to be driven to unsheath the sword in defence of your lives and properties, the having proper magazines duly prepared, may give that success which cannot be expected without them.

Subjects generally pay obedience to the Laws of the land, to avoid the penalty that accrues on breach of them, and on the same principles we are assured, that as you hitherto have, you will continue still strictly to adhere to the Resolutions of your several Congresses; for we can conceive of no greater punishment for the breach of human laws than the misery that must inevitably follow your disregarding the plans that have, by your authority, with that of the whole Continent, been projected.

You conduct hitherto, under the severest trials, has been worthy of you as men and Christians; and, notwithstanding the pains that have been taken by your enemies to inculcate the doctrines of non-resistance and passive obedience, and by every art to delude and terrify you, the whole Continent of America has this day cause to rejoice in your firmness. We trust you will still continue steadfast; and having regard to the dignity of your characters as freemen, and those generous sentiments resulting from your natural and political connections, you will never submit your necks to the galling yoke of despotism prepared for you; but with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which Heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.

An Address from the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Scituate, and others, showing that a number of his Majesty's Troops are now stationed in the Town of Marshfield, &c., being read,

Ordered, That Doctor Warren, Doctor Taylor, Colonel Henshaw, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Gill, be a Committee to take the same into consideration, and the Papers accompanying it, and report.

Ordered, That Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Pickering, and Captain Greenleaf, be a Committee to bring in a Resolve empowering the Committee of Safety to take into their hands the Warlike Stores, the property of the Province.

Ordered, That Colonel Thomas, Colonel Heath, Honourable Colonel Ward, Colonel Pomeroy, and Colonel Gardner, be a Committee to bring in a Resolve, directing how the Ordnance in the Province shall be used.

Afternoon.

The Committee on the Petition of John Sawyer, and others, reported, by way of Resolve; which Report was ordered to lie on the table.

Ordered, That the several Members who were appointed to make return of the Officers and number of the Militia and Minute-men, in the several Counties, be directed to comply with the said order as soon as possible.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That Colonel Patterson, Mr. Brown, of Pittsfield, and Major Bliss, be a Committee to report a Resolve for the publication of the Names of those who have been appointed Counsellors by Mandamns, and have refused to resign their appointments.

The Committee on the Accounts of the Delegates from this Province to the Continental Congress, reported, which was accepted; and thereupon,

Ordered, That Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Devens, and Mr. Gorham, be a Committee to report a Resolve agreeable to the same.

The Committee on the Petition of Boice and Clark, reported by way of Resolve; which was read and accepted, and is as followed, viz:

Whereas, the encouragement of Manufactories of this Country will, at all times, (and more especially at this,) be attended with the most beneficial effects; and Messrs. Boice and Clark having represented to this Congress that they have, at a very considerable expense, erected Works at Milton, in this Province, for the making of Paper, and have not heretofore been able to obtain a sufficiency of Rags to answer their purpose; and in order to procure a larger quantity of that article, have raised the price thereof: Therefore,

Resolved, That it be recommended, and is by this Congress accordingly recommended, to every family in this Province, to preserve all their Linen and Cotton Rags, in order that a Manufactory so useful and advantageous to this Country, may be suitably encouraged; and it is also recommended to our several Towns, to take such further measures for the encouragement of the manufacture aforesaid, as they shall think proper.

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

Friday, February 10, 1775, A. M.

Ordered, That Mr. Devens, Mr. Watson, Colonel Gardner, Colonel Howe, and Captain Batcheldor, be a Committee to observe the motion of the Troops said to be on their road to this Town.

An application from Thomas Legate, Esquire, was read.