a few days we expect a good many more Troops from England, and then, we shall surely burn the whole Country before us, if they do not submit, which I do not imagine they will do, for they are an obstinate set of people. Tell Bill if he comes to Boston he may have a wife in every house he comes to, for the women are left at home while the men go to fight the soldiers. They have formed an army, and keep guard close to our works, so that our centries can talk together at ease. We were engaged from six to six. The whole Country is in arms against us, and they are headed by two of the Generals that headed our army last war; their names are Ward and Putnam. We have a great deal of shipping, but they are of little service, only to cover the Town, cannon and Troops, except the small schooners that go up in the creeks and destroy them, which they have done many of them. There is no market in Boston, the inhabitants all starving; the soldiers live on salt provisions, and the officers are supplied by the men-of-war cutters, who go up the creeks and take live cattle and sheep wherever they find them. We vex the Americans very much, by cutting down their liberty poles and alarm posts. We have had a great many died in our Regiment last winter, so that what with wounded men, and what have deserted, we have not three hundred men; and duty is so hard that we come off guard in the morning, and mount picket at night.

Boston, April 25, 1775.

HONOURED MOTHER: The rebels, when we came to Concord, burnt their stores, fired upon the King’s Troops, and a smart engagement ensued. About two o’clock our Brigade came up to them, where we engaged and continued fighting and retreating towards Boston. The rebels were monstrous numerous, and surrounded us on every side; when they came up we gave them a smart fire, but they never would engage us properly. We killed some hundreds and burnt some of their houses. I received a wound in my head. The Troops are in Boston, and surrounded on the land side by the rebels, who are very numerous, and fully determined to lose their lives and fortunes, rather than be taxed by England. We had thirty-four killed and wounded; I suppose the King’s Troops in all about one hundred and sixty. In case they take Boston, the Troops will retire on board the Men-of-War, and then the Men-of-War will burn the Town, and remain till more Troops come from England, and then conquer them; so their estates and lives will be forfeited. There are only four thousand soldiers, and about fifty or sixty thousand of them.

Boston, May 2, 1775.

LOVING BROTHERS AND SISTERS: The 19th of April the engagement happened, and my husband was wounded and taken prisoner, but they use him well, and I am striving to get to him, as he is very dangerous; but it is almost impossible to get out or in, or to get any thing, for we are forced to live on salt provisions entirely, and they are building batteries round the Town, and so are we, for we are expecting them to storm us, and are expecting more Troops every day. My husband is now lying in one of their hospitals, at a place called Cambridge, and there are now forty or fifty thousand of them gathered together, and we are not four thousand at most. It is very troublesome times, for we are expecting the Town to be burnt down every day, and I believe we are sold; and I hear my husband’s leg is broke, and my heart is broke.

A SERIOUS ADMONITION TO THE INHABITANTS OF WILLIAMSBURGH.

Williamsburgh, Va., April 29, 1775.

Friends and Fellow-Citizens:

Permit one who sincerely wishes the prosperity of his Country, to address you on a subject of great importance, which has engaged the attention of us all, though the effects it has produced in our minds seem not to be of the same impression.

Some, I find, consider the Governour’s ordering the removal of the powder from the magazine an illegal act, that as such it might be resisted; and the rage of patriotism has been carried so far as even to occasion a tumult directed to that end. What the consequences might have been, I tremble to think of; and earnestly congratulate you, and my Country in general, that a stop has been put to this scene of confusion by the virtuous and zealous interposition of some of our worthy inhabitants. I feel particular pleasure, too, in reflecting, that those who, in an unguarded moment were for carrying things the farthest, have not yet advanced, so far as to be impenetrable to the still voice of reason. Though we had committed our unruddered bark to the mercy of a stormy ocean, we have providentially recovered the firmer element, on which we may tread in security and peace; and here let us rest.

Anxious, my friends, for every thing which is necessary to our welfare, suffer me to observe, that even admitting the powder which was removed to have been purchased by this Country, (a fact I do pot pretend to be acquainted with,) yet the money given for that purpose could be constitutionally given only to the King. The powder must therefore be under his direction, to be employed indeed for the benefit of the Country; but how, and in what manner, as long as our Government exists, is in the discretion of the King, or of his Representatives. It is true, Kings have sometimes violated the most sacred trust, and in the course of their Government have chose rather to build on a discretionary power originating in themselves, than on that fiduciary and limited authority which is derived from the people. Instances of this sort we have had, and fatal instances we have had too of the resentment of the people on account of their abused rights; but no man acquainted with that part of our history will, in his cooler moments, think it right to fly in an outrageous manner in the face of Government, upon every occasion when there may be real cause of complaint. A decent representation of grievances ought certainly to precede, and much, very much, ought to be borne before the people can be justified in resorting to their natural power, in the reclaiming of which so much disorder and confusion must necessarily arise.

How frantick, then, would it appear in us to think of acting on the idea of reverted power, and of appealing to Heaven upon no other inducement than the Governour’s exertion of a right certainly vested in him by the Constitution, which, for what we know, might have been necessary to our welfare, and which, after the information his Excellency has been pleased to give to the Corporation, cannot, without the most causeless breach of good manners to him as a man, and of that respect and decorum which are due to him as our Governour, be conceived not to have been so, at least in his Lordship’s opinion.

Understanding, however, that though a stop has been happily put to the commotions first occasioned by this affair, there is still a leaven of discontent among a few of us, which, without some seasonable address, might possibly spread, and break out into fresh disorder; I hope it will be taken in good part that I thus venture to commit my sentiments to the examination of every friend of order.

I beg leave to conclude by observing, that whatever opinions we may hold with respect to the British Parliament, I have never yet heard it doubted, whether we are not bound to the King by the most sacred tie of allegiance; and I trust we shall all join hand and heart in proving ourselves, as we have always hitherto been, among the most loyal of his subjects.

CIVIS.

OFFICERS OF ALBEMARLE VOLUNTEERS TO COLONEL GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Charlottesville, April 29, 1775.

SIR: The County of Albemarle in general, and the Gentlemen Volunteers in particular, are truly alarmed and highly incensed with the unjustifiable proceedings of Lord Dunmore, who, we are informed, has clandestinely taken possession of our ammunition lodged in the Magazine. We should have attended at Fredericksburgh, in order to have proceeded to Williamsburgh to demand a return of the powder, had the alarm reached us before an account of security being given for its delivery. However, to assure you and the world of our readiness and willingness to resent any encroachment of arbitrary power, we now declare to you, should it be necessary, that the First Company of Independents for Albemarle will attend in Williamsburgh, properly equipped, and prepared to enforce an