of this body, on the request of the Members of ten Towns, the determination thereof shall be put off to the next day of sitting.

“8. That no Member speak without standing up.”

A Letter being received from Hunking Wentworth, Esquire, Chairman of a Committee at Portsmouth, the same was read and ordered to lay.

Voted, That a Post-Office shall be established at Portsmouth, and that Samuel Penhallow, Esquire, shall be Postmaster, and that he, together with the Members from Portsmouth, shall be a Committee to agree with a Post Rider or Riders.

Voted, That John Hale, Esquire, be empowered in behalf of this Convention to proceed immediately to the City of Albany, or any other place he thinks proper, for the purpose of procuring Fire-Arms and Gunpowder for the use of this Province; and as the scarcity of money and suddenness of the occasion hinders this Convention from supplying Colonel Hale with cash for the said purpose, if Colonel Hale can obtain credit for said articles, this Convention pledges their honour and faith to pay said money at the time agreed by Colonel Hale and the vender or venders of the same.

Voted, That a number of men be raised in this Province to join in the common cause of defending our just rights and liberties.

Voted, That Colonel Bartlett, Captain Whipple, Colonel Folsom, Mr. President, Reverend Mr. Webster, Reverend Mr. Stearns, Colonel Nicholas Gilman, Captain Page, Moses Parsons, Mr. Wheelock, Mr. Rollings, Reverend Mr. Farrar, Mr. Morey, Mr. Gregor, and Colonel Ashley, be a Committee to prepare and bring into this Convention a plan of ways and means for furnishing Troops, &c.

Voted, That the Reverend Mr. Wingate, Reverend Mr. Fletcher, and Mr. Samuel Sherburn, be a Committee to prepare a draught to be sent to the several Towns in this Province, respecting disputes about Tories.

Adjourned till eight o’clock to-morrow morning.

Friday, May 19, 1775.

Met according to adjournment.

The President being necessarily absent,

Voted, That Samuel Cutts, Esquire, be President pro tempore.

A Petition of Major Andrew Me Clary, praying redress of sundry grievances; read and ordered to lay for consideration.

A Letter from Colonel John Stark, requesting a supply of Fire-Arms for the Soldiers under his command; read and ordered to be put under the consideration of the Committee of Ways and Means.

1. Voted unanimously, That the good and wholesome Laws of this Province be faithfully supported, and that all persons assist the Justices thereof in the due execution of their office.

2. That in these times of general distress, it is recommended to the inhabitants of this Province, that they encourage all Religious Worship, and that they, by all means, discountenance all manner of vice, and especially the profanation of the Sabbath, which is and has been a growing evil, and that all officers exert themselves for the above purpose.

3. That it is enjoined on all Planters and Farmers that they pay the strictest attention to Agriculture, that, with the blessings of kind Heaven, the sore calamities of famine may not be added to our present distress; and that to encourage the Woollen Manufactory, they kill no Lambs before the first of August next; likewise that they raise as much Flax as possible.

4. That as the Linen and Woollen goods will be much in demand, it is recommended that those who have abilities employ all persons who are acquainted with those manufactures; likewise, that extravagance and dissipation of every kind be discountenanced.

5. That encouragement be given for the making of Saltpetre, by granting a Bounty of One Shilling per pound for the first hundred weight; and that the said Bounty be continued as long as this Congress shall think proper.

6. That whereas many persons, who, through inadvertency, wilful malice, or immoderate heat, have thrown out many opprobrious expressions respecting the several Congresses, and the methods of security they have thought proper to adopt, and thereby have made themselves obnoxious to the inhabitants of this Province, it is therefore recommended that the Committees of the several Towns have a watchful eye over all such persons; and they shall be the proper persons only to take cognizance thereof, and that their result be final; and that proper complaint being made to either of the Committee, they make the most speedy and critical inquiry thereof, in order to prevent riots and mobs, and that they discountenance the same.

Adjourned to three o’clock, P.M.

Met according to adjournment,

The Convention being informed that a Committee from the Convention of the Massachusetts-Bay were waiting to deliver a message to this Convention,

Voted, That Mr. President, Colonel Folsom, Colonel Bartlett, Captain Whipple, Mr. Cutts, Mr. Stearns, and Captain. McDuffee, be a Committee to wait on those gentlemen, and introduce them into the Convention, and further converse with them relative to their mission.

The Honourable Joseph Gerrish, Esquire, and Colonel Ebenezer Sawyer, a Committee from the Massachusetts Congress, were introduced and delivered a Letter to the President from the President of the Congress, together with a copy of an application by them made to the Continental Congress, both of which are on file.

Voted, That the Selectmen of the respective Towns where the persons enlisted under Colonel Stark, who are destitute of Fire-Arms, belong, be desired to procure the same and forward them to the persons so destitute, and if such Towns cannot furnish them, Colonel Stark, or any of the Officers under him, are desired to purchase the same, and upon a just account thereof being rendered to this Convention, it shall be allowed and paid. And Colonel Stark is desired, as soon as circumstances will permit, to transmit to this Convention what shall be done in consequence of this Vote; and every Soldier supplied as aforesaid is required to give a receipt for such Fire-Arm that he will, at his dismission from the service, return the same, or have the value thereof deducted out of his wages.

Voted, That Mr. Enoch Poor, Captain Ezekiel Worthen, and Colonel Nicholas Gilman, be a Committee to fix immediately on Carriages fit for the field eight Cannon, out of such as they think most serviceable among those that may be found for that purpose.

Adjourned till to-morrow morning, eight o’clock.

Saturday, May 20, 1775, A. M.

Met according to adjournment, and came to the following Resolutions, viz:

Whereas by the late Acts of the British Parliament, and conduct of the Ministers in pursuance thereof, it appears very evident that a plan is laid and now pursuing to subjugate this and the other American Colonies to the most abject slavery, and the late hostilities committed by the British Troops in our sister Colony of the Massachusetts-Bay, leaves us no doubt in determining that no other way is left us to preserve our most darling rights and inestimable privileges but by immediately defending them by arms. Reduced, therefore, by this most terrible necessity, this Convention, after the most solemn deliberations thereon, have,

1. Resolved, That it is necessary to raise immediately two thousand effective Men in this Province, including Officers and those of this Province already in the service, and that the time from their enlistment continue to the last day of December, unless the Committee of Safety should judge it proper that a part or the whole be discharged sooner.

2. That every Member pledge his honour and estate, in the name of his constituents, to pay their proportion of maintaining and paying the Officers and Soldiers of the above number while in their service.

3. That application be made immediately to the Continental Congress for their advice and assistance respecting means and ways to put the above plan into execution.

4. That the establishment of Officers and Soldiers shall be the same as in the Massachusetts-Bay.