Windham, or Mansfield; and that the account of powder, ball, and flints that shall be supplied by the several Towns, shall be adjusted by two Assistants or Justices of the Peace, and delivered to die Selectman of such respective Towns, who shall present the same to the Committee of the Pay-Table, who shall give an order on the Treasurer to pay the sum due to such Selectmen accordingly; and that the Paymaster of each Company shall take a particular account of the powder, ball, and flints that each person belonging to such Company shall provide for himself, and shall procure an order on the Treasurer from the Committee of the Pay-Table for the sums due for the same according to the rates aforesaid, and such Paymaster shall receive and pay the same to each person to whom it is due accordingly; and that five thousand of the flints that belong to this Colony shall be sent to New-London, and five thousand of ditto to Norwich, ten thousand of ditto to Windham, five thousand of ditto to remain at New-Haven, three thousand of ditto be sent to Fairfield, and two thousand be sent to Litchfield, and delivered to the Keepers of the Colony Stores in those places; and that one ton of the ball belonging to the Colony, in the care of the Treasurer, be forthwith sent to Windham.

An Act for encouraging the Manufacturing Fire-Arms and Military Stores within this Colony, for the safety and defence thereof.

Be it enacted by the Governour, Council, and Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That there be procured, as soon as may be, three thousand stands of Arms for the use of this Colony, of the following dimensions, viz: the length of the barrel of the gun three feet and ten inches, the diameter of the bore from inside to inside three-quarters of an inch, the length of the blade of the bayonet sixteen inches, the length of the socket four inches and one-quarter; that the barrels of the guns be of a suitable thickness, with iron ramrods, with a spring in the lowest loop to secure the ramrod; a good substantial lock, and a good stock well mounted with brass, and marked with the name or initial letters of the maker’s name.

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That a bounty of Five Shillings shall be given for every stand of Arms, including a good lock, that shall be manufactured within this Colony by or before the twentieth day of October next; provided the same be not made for or sold to any person not belonging to this Colony; and also that a bounty or premium of One Shilling and Six Pence be given for every good Gun-lock that shall be made and manufactured within this Colony by or before the twentieth day of October next; and that all such arms made and manufactured in this Colony by or before the twentieth day of October next, shall be purchased by this Colony at a reasonable price over and above the premium or bounty aforesaid.

And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That William Williams, William Hilhouse, Titus Hosmer, Ichabod Lewis, Ebenezer Norton, and Erastus Wolcott, Esquires, be, and they are hereby appointed a Committee to procure said Fire-Arms to be made and completed according to the direction of this Act; and said Committee are hereby ordered and directed forthwith to make inquiry what number of fire-arms and gun-locks may probably be made and furnished in the several parts of this Colony by the twentieth day of October next, and report the same to his Honour the Governour as soon as may be. And said Committee are also hereby empowered and directed to receive such sums, of money out of the publick Treasury as may be necessary to pay for the arms that shall be made and completed pursuant to this Act by the time limited as aforesaid, with the bounty and premium aforesaid; and the Treasurer of this Colony is hereby ordered and directed to pay the same accordingly. And said Committee are hereby directed to pay the same to the several persons to whom it is due pursuant to this Act, according to the orders and directions they shall receive from the General Assembly of this Colony for that purpose, and receive and secure such arms so purchased for the use and benefit of this Colony.

And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That a bounty or premium of Ten Pounds shall be given for every fifty pounds weight of Saltpetre that shall be made and manufactured from materials found in this Colony within one year next after the rising of this Assembly, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser quantity. And also that a bounty or premium of Five Pounds shall be given for every hundred pounds weight of Sulphur that shall be made and manufactured within this Colony from materials found in any of the British Colonies on the Continent of America within one year next after the rising of this Assembly, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser quantity.

An Act for Regulating and Ordering the Troops that are or may be raised for the defence of this Colony.

Whereas God in his providence hath been pleased in great mercy to bestow upon the inhabitants of this Colony all the rights, liberties, and immunities of the free and natural-born subjects of the Realm of England, which have been established and confirmed by a sacred compact, and secured by a Royal Charter—which rights, liberties, and immunities were the birthright of our brave, virtuous, and religious ancestors whilst in England, who, rather than submit to religious or civil tyranny, chose to leave their pleasant seats and all their happy prospects in their native Country, bravely encountered the danger of untried seas and coasts of a howling wilderness, barbarous men and savage beasts, at the expense of their ease and safety of their blood, their treasure, and their lives, transplanted and reared the English Constitution in these wilds upon the strong pillars of civil and religious liberty, and having led the way by their great example, bequeathed their inestimable purchase as a sacred and inalienable legacy to their posterity, who have ever since united the sincerest loyalty to their Sovereign and the warmest affection for their elder brethren in England with the enjoyment of their aforesaid rights, liberties, and immunities; nor have they till lately been thought incompatible:

And whereas since the close of the last war the British Parliament, claiming a power of right to bind the people of America by Statute in all cases whatsoever hath, in some Acts, expressly imposed taxes upon them; and in others, under various pretences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a Revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these Colonies, established a Board of Commissioners with unconstitutional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of Courts of Admiralty, not only for collecting said duties, but also for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a County:

And whereas, in consequence of other Statutes, Judges, who before held only estates at will in their offices, have been made to depend on the Crown alone for their salaries; and Standing Armies kept up in time of peace; and it has been lately resolved in Parliament that, by force of a Statute made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, Colonists may be transported to England and tried there upon accusations for treason and misprision, or concealment of treasons committed or alleged to be committed in the Colonies; and by a late Statute such trials have been directed in cases therein mentioned:

And whereas three Acts of Parliament have been passed, by one of which the Port of Boston is shut up, and thousands reduced from affluence to poverty and distress; by another the Charter of the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay is subverted and destroyed; and by the third, under pretence of the Impartial administration of justice, all hope of justice is taken away in certain cases:

And whereas another Statute hath been made, by which the Roman Catholick Religion is established, the equitable system of English laws abolished, and a tyranny exercised in the Province of Quebeck, to the great danger of the neighbouring Colonies; and also in the present session of Parliament another Act is passed, by which the New-England Colonies are in a great measure deprived of their Trade and Fishery—the blessings which God and nature have indulged them, being thus attempted by force to be wrested from them:

And whereas all our humble, dutiful, and loyal Petitions to the Throne for redress of grievances, have been treated with contempt, or passed by in silence by His Majesty’s Ministers of State; and the refusal to surrender our just rights, liberties, and immunities, hath been styled rebellion, and Fleets and Armies have been sent into a neighbouring