in College were lousy and deserted by hundreds;” the inhabitants of the Town of Worcester assembled,

Resolve, That said Paine be sent to Watertown or Cambridge with William Cambell, under the care of Captains Jonas Hubbard and Edward Craft, to be dealt with as the honourable Congress or Commander-in-Chief shall, upon examination, think proper.

JOSHUA BIGELOW,

Per order Selectmen of Worcester.

To the Honourable Provincial Congress in Watertown, or Commander-in-Chief at Cambridge.

Worcester, Massachusetts, May 9. 1775,

I, Gardner Chandler, of lawful age, do testify and say, that on the sixth instant, being in my garden, Samuel Paine came to me, (being the first time I had seen him since he came from Cambridge.) I asked him what news. He told me none but what we had here. I then asked him how matters were at Mr. Bradish’s house; he said that the Hampshire Soldiers had got possession of it, and of all that was in it. I then mentioned the things that were lost the first day; he said they were not taken by the Regulars, but by our people. I asked him if the Soldiers did not come off; he said he heard they did in great numbers; and that he was told that the men were so close stowed in the Colleges that they were lousy.

GARDNER CHANDLER

WORCESTER, SS., May 9, 1775:

The within named Gardner Chandler, after due caution, made oath to the truth of the within written affidavit taken before me.

ROBERT GODDAED,

Justice of the Peace.

SFOTTSYLVANIA COUNTY (VIRGINIA) COMMITTEE.

At a Committee for the County of Spottsylvania, held at the Town-House in Fredericksburgh, on Tuesday the ninth of May, 1775: Present twenty-six members:

FIELDING LEWIS, ESQ., in the Chair.

The Committee having before them a copy of the proceedings of Captain Patrick Henry, and other gentlemen, officers and volunteers under his command, concerning the Powder taken from the County Magazine, cordially approve of the same, and unanimously vote them their thanks for their prudent, firm, and spirited conduct on that occasion.

Resolved unanimously, That the easy acquisition of the Powder from the County Magazine in the City of Williamsburgh, by order of his Excellency the Governour, and the convenient situation of that City with respect to the Navy, render it unsafe to continue the publick Treasury at that place, and that it is the opinion of this Committee that the same ought to be removed to a place of greater safety.

Resolved, That Mr. Chairman, Charles Dick, James Mercer, Charles Mortimer, and George Thornton, gentlemen, do write to the Treasurer, requesting him to call a Convention of the Delegates for this Colony as soon as possible.

ALEXANDER DICK, Clerk

ORANGE COUNTY (VIRGINIA) COMMITTEE.

May 9, 1775.

The Committee for Orange County met on Tuesday the ninth of May. Taking into their consideration the removal of the Powder from the publick Magazine, and the compensation obtained by the Independent Company of Hanover; and observing also that the receipt given by Captain Patrick Henry to his Majesty’s Receiver-General refers the final disposal of the Money to the next Colony Convention, came to the following Resolutions:

1. That the Governour’s removal of the Powder lodged in the Magazine, and set apart for the defence of the Country, was fraudulent, unnecessary, and extremely provoking to the people of this Colony.

2. That the resentment shewn by the Hanover Volunteers, and the reprisal they have made on the King’s property, highly merit the approbation of the publick, and the thanks of this Committee.

3. That if any attempt should be made, at the ensuing Convention, to have the Money returned to His Majesty’s Receiver-General, our Delegates be, and they are hereby instructed, to exert all their influence in opposing such attempt, and in having the Money laid out in Gunpowder for the use of the Colony.

4. That the following Address be presented to Captain Patrick Henry, and the gentlemen independents of Hanover:

“GENTLEMEN: We, the Committee for the County of Orange, having been fully informed of your seasonable and spirited proceedings in procuring a compensation for the Powder fraudulently taken from the County Magazine by command of Lord Dunmore, and which it evidently appears his Lordship, notwithstanding his assurances, had no intention to restore, entreat you to accept their cordial thanks for this testimony of your zeal for the honour and interest of your Country. We take this occasion also to give it as our opinion, that the blow struck in the Massachusetts Government is a hostile attack on this and every other Colony, and a sufficient warrant to use violence and reprisal, in all cases where it may be expedient for our security and welfare.”

HANOVER COUNTRY (VIRGINIA) COMMITTEE.

At a meeting appointed and held for Hanover County, at the Court-House, on Tuesday, the 9th of May, 1775: Present: John Syme, Samuel Overton, William Cranch, Meriwcther Skelton, Richard Morris, Benjamin Anderson, John Pehdleton, John Robinson, Nelson Berkeley, and George Dabney, Junior.

Agreeable to a Resolution of the Committee held at Newcastle, the 2d instant, setting forth that they being fully informed of the violent hostilities committed by the King’s Troops in America, and of the danger arising to the Colony by the loss of the publick Powder, and of the conduct of the Governour, which threatens altogether calamities of the greatest magnitude and most fearful consequences to this Colony; and therefore recommending reprisals to be made upon the King’s property, sufficient to replace the Gunpowder taken out of the Magazine: It appears to this Committee that the Volunteers who marched from Newcastle to obtain satisfaction for the Gunpowder, by reprisal or otherwise, proceeded on that business as follows, to wit:

That an Officer, with sixteen men, was detached to seize the King’s Receiver-General, with orders to detain him; and this, it was supposed, might be done without impeding the progress of the main body. The said Receiver-General not being apprehended, owing to his absence from home, the said detachment, according to orders, proceeded to join the main body on its march to Williamsburgh, and the junction happened on the 3d instant, at Doncastle’s Ordinary, about sunset. A little after sunrise next morning, the Commanding Officer being assured that proper satisfaction, in money, should be instantly made, the Volunteers halted, and the proposal being considered by them, was judged satisfactory as to that point; and the following Receipt was given, to wit:

“Doncastle’s Ordinary, New-Kent, May 4, 1775.

“Received from the Honourable Richard Corbin, Esq., His Majesty’s Receiver-General, £330, as a compensation for the Gunpowder lately taken out of the publick Magazine by the Governour’s order; which money I promise to convey to the Virginia Delegates at the General Congress, to be under their direction laid out in Gunpowder for the Colony’s use, and to be stored as they shall direct, until the next Colony Convention, or General Assembly, unless it shall be necessary, in the mean time, to use the same in defence of this Colony. It is agreed, that in case the next Convention shall determine that any part of the said money ought to be returned to His Majesty’s Receiver-General, that the same shall be done accordingly.

“PATRICK HENRY, JUNIOR.”

It was then considered, that as a General Congress would meet in a few days; and probably a Colony Convention would shortly assemble, and that the reprisal now made