nor shall he suffer any prisoner to escape on the penalty of being punished for it by the sentence of a General Court Martial.

Article 44th. Every Officer, or Provost Martial, to whose charge prisoners shall be committed, is hereby required, within twenty-four hours of such confinement, or as soon as he shall be released from his guard, to give in writing to the Colonel of the Regiment, to whom the prisoner belongs, (when the prisoner is confined upon the guard belonging to the said Regiment, and that his offence only relates to the neglect of duty in his own Corps,) or to the Commander-in-Chief, their names, their crimes, and the names of the Officers who committed them, on the penalty of his being punished for his disobedience or neglect, at the discretion of a General Court Martial.

Article 45th. And if any Officer under arrest shall leave his confinement before he is set at liberty by the Officer who confined him, or by a superiour power, he shall be cashiered for it.

Article 46th. Whatsoever Commissioned Officer shall be convicted before a General Court Martial of behaving in a scandalous, infamous manner, such as is unbecoming an Officer and a Gentleman, shall be discharged from the service.

Article 47th. All Officers, Conductors, Gunners, Matrosses, Drivers, or any other person whatever, receiving pay or hire in the service of the Massachusetts Artillery, shall be governed by the aforesaid Rules and Articles, and shall be subject to be tried by Courts Martial in like manner with the Officers and Soldiers of the Massachusetts Troops.

Article 48th. For differences arising amongst themselves, or in matters relating solely to their own Corps, the Courts Martial may be composed of their own Officers; but where a number sufficient cannot be assembled, or in matters wherein other Corps are interested, the Officers of Artillery shall sit in Courts Martial with the Officers of the other Corps.

Article 49th. All crimes not capital, and all disorders and neglects which Officers and Soldiers may be guilty of, to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, though not mentioned in the Articles of War, are to be taken cognizance of by a General or Regimental Court Martial, according to the nature and degree of the offence, and be punished at their discretion.

Article 50th. No Court Martial shall order any offenders to be whipped, or receive more than thirty-nine stripes for any one offence.

Article 51st. The Field Officers of each and every Regiment are to appoint some suitable person belonging to such Regiment to receive all such fines as may arise within the same, for any breach of any of the foregoing Articles, and shall direct the same to be carefully and properly applied to the relief of such sick, wounded, or necessitous Soldiers as belong to such. Regiment; and such person shall account with such Officer for all fines received and the application thereof.

Article 52d. All Members sifting in Courts Martial shall be sworn by the President of said Courts, which President shall himself be sworn by the Officer in said Court next in- rank; the oaths to be administered previous to their proceeding to the trial of any offender, in form following, viz:

You, A. B., swear that you will well and truly try, and impartially determine the cause of the prisoner now to be tried, according to the Rules for regulating the Massachusetts Army, so help you God.

Article 53d. All persons called to give evidence in any case before a Court Martial, who shall refuse to give evidence, shall be punished for such refusal, at the discretion of such Court Martial.

The Oath to be admistered in the form following, viz:

You swear that the evidence you shall give in the case in hearing, shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.

Resolved, That the inhabitants of the Town of Northfield be desired, in consideration of the bodily indisposition of their Member, Mr. Ebenezer Jones, which prevents his attendance, to add one other Member to him in order that their Town may be represented in Congress, who are very desirous that the wisdom of the Province may be collected at this critical juncture of our publick affairs.

The Committee appointed to take into consideration the application of the Committee from Boston, and others, reported that the Papers lie on the table for further consideration at some future day.

Adjourned to three o'clock in the afternoon.

Afternoon.

Ordered, That the Committee on the State of the Province be directed to sit.

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

Thursday, April (6, 1775, A. M.

An application from the Committees of Inspection of Taunton, and all the other Towns in the County of Bristol, setting forth that General Gage had applied to five Justices in said County to provide Quarters for two hundred of his Majesty's Troops, which may be sent to the Town of Freetown:

Thereupon, Ordered, That Mr. Murray, Doctor Gunn, Colonel Pomeroy, Colonel Cushing, Mr. Freeman, Captain Holmes, and Mr. Watson, be a Committee to take the said application into consideration, and report thereon.

Adjourned until twelve o'clock, at noon.

Met and adjourned to four o'clock, P. M.

Afternoon.

The Committee appointed to take into consideration the application of all the Towns in the County of Bristol, reported; amended, and passed unanimously, and is as followeth, viz:

GENTLEMEN: Your very interesting letter of the 4th instant, directed to the President, has been early laid before us; heartily affected with the matters it contains, this Congress resolved on the immediate consideration of it. The part acted by Colonel Gilbert, respecting the common cause of America, since the commencement of its publick troubles, is sufficiently consonant to the tenour of his ordinary conduct so far as it has been the object of publick observation, and leaves no American room to hesitate in pronouncing him an inveterate enemy to his country, to reason, justice, and the common rights of mankind; and therefore whoever has knowingly espoused his cause, or takes up Arms for its support does, in common with himself, deserve to be instantly cut off from the benefit of commerce with, or countenance of, any friend of virtue, America, or the human race.

This Congress cannot but rejoice in the satisfactory evidence they have of the patriotism and publick spirit of the County of Bristol, and the vigilance of its inhabitants, over the manœuvres of the incendiaries among them; we are much pleased with their joint readiness, for their most vigorous exertions in this country's cause, and earnestly hope that their preparations will be pursued with unabated zeal, as the known resolutions of our publick enemies have at last necessitated the contemplations of a plan of general defence, in support of which the spirit and prowess of the County of Bristol may very soon be called up to the view of mankind.

We earnestly recommend to you, gentlemen, as guardians of the publick interest, to exert yourselves, that the Militia, and especially the Minute-men of your County, be found in the best posture of defence, whenever any exigence may require their aid. But the plans laid for the general good oblige us to request that whatever patience and forbearance it may require for the present, you would act on the defensive only until the further direction of this Congress.

And, therefore, though we could wish that a particular account of the conduct of Colonel Gilbert and his adherents, as well as of the King's Troops, whilst stationed among you, might be taken on sufficient evidence, in perpetuam rei memoriam, yet we could not advise to any measures, either with respect to said Gilbert and his banditti, or the King's Troops, that our enemies might plausibly interpret as a commencement of hostilities.

This Congress, however, are clearly of opinion, that what ever Justice of the Peace, or other person, in the County of Bristol, shall be active in providing Quarters or other