application to you; and are confident you will do what you can, that he may have such warlike stores as he wants, if they are, to be had, or to assist and advise him what steps to take so that we may be provided; and that he may be despatched back as soon as possible: for we have reason to be suspicious of the Indians, and, were we able, would keep a scout in the woods daily, to discover their motions; but without the assistance of the Province, of ourselves we are not able; for there are so many of our young men enlisted, that all the men that are left are not sufficient to carry on our farming. Therefore, we shall be under the necessity of asking or petitioning the Congress for some men, to be employed as a scouting party, to guard this quarter of the frontiers; but we are afraid these matters will be omitted until it is too late. We shall esteem it a favour if the Congress will give us directions what to do, or what steps to take, for we are fully determined to adhere strictly to all orders that may come from the Congress.

We expected to have been called upon to send a member to the Congress, but we suppose our being at such a distance left us to be forgot. We shall come down as soon as Burbank returns: Any arms or ammunition that we want, we are ready to make over our estates for security, but as to money, at present we have none.

In hopes, Sir, you will do and assist us all you can, I subscribe myself, your obedient humble servant,

Signed in behalf of the Town and Committee:

ANDREW MCMULLEN.

To Colonel M. Thornton.

TRYON COUNTY (NEW-YORK) COMMITTEE.

At a meeting of the Committee of Tryon County, on Sunday, the eleventh of June, 1775, at the house of Gosen Van Alstyn: Upon reading Letters from the Provincial Congress, dated the thirty-first of May, and third of June, 1775, recommending the appointing of Deputies to meet in Congress with the Deputies of the different Counties at New-York, the question being put, whether any should be sent down? was carried in the affirmative.

This Committee having great confidence in the integrity and ability of Christopher P. Yates and John Malett, Esquires, do resolve that the said Christopher P. Yates, and John Malett, be appointed, and are accordingly appointed, to be Deputies to attend the Provincial Congress without delay, and to act, in conjunction with the members of that body, upon the very alarming and calamitous situation of British America. By order of the Committee:

NICHOLAS HERKIMER, Chairman pro tem.

ANDREW FINCK, JUN., Clerk.

MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS TO CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

[Read in Congress June 19, 1775.]

In Provincial Congress, Watertown, June 11, 1775.

Resolved unanimously, That the following address be immediately transmitted to the honourable American Congress now sitting at Philadelphia.

MAT IT PLEASE YOUR HONOURS: The situation of any Colony or People, perhaps, was never before such as made it more necessary for fully exercising the powers of civil government than the present state and situation of the Colony of the Massachusetts-Bay,

The embarrassments, delays, disappointments, and obstructions, in executing every undertaking necessary for the preservation of our lives, and, much more, of our property, are so great and many, as that they cannot be represented or enumerated; and that is chiefly to be attributed to our want of a settled civil polity or government. Besides, every thing necessary for the above said most important purposes, which is, in some degree, effected, is done in the most expensive manner, in that although the times we are fallen into, and the prospects before us are such as require the utmost economy; yet nothing of the kind can be preserved, in our present state.

There are, in many parts of the Colony, alarming symptoms of the abatement of the sense in the minds of some people of the sacredness of private property, which is plainly assignable to the want of civil government; and your Honours must be fully sensible that a community of goods and estate will soon be followed with the utter waste and destruction of the goods themselves. Besides, the necessity of civil government appears more and more apparent, from the extreme difficulty of maintaining the publick peace without it; although we can truly say, much fewer enormities and breaches of the peace have happened among us, than it was natural to expect from the contemplation of such a state as we have been cast into.

May it please your Honours, the pressing weight of our distresses has necessitated the sending a special post to obtain your immediate advice upon this subject, and we do most earnestly entreat that you would, as soon as possible, despatch the messenger with such advice.

Our former application to you, of the sixteenth of May last, has rendered it Unnecessary that we should further enlarge upon the subject; and to prevent repetition, we beg leave to refer you to our letter of that date.

The Army under the command of General Gage, we estimate to amount to at least five thousand men, well appointed, under the command of Generals of character and experience, and prepared with every thing necessary for action, exclusive of the additional strength derived from negroes, which the General has taken into his service, and disaffected Americans; and we have great reason to apprehend a re-enforcement of at least eight regiments of Foot, and one of Horse, may be hourly expected. We enclose a copy of an intercepted letter from Major Sherriff, which exhibits to you one ground of that apprehension.

We have had under our consideration the propriety and necessity of augmenting our Army, notwithstanding our great embarrassments, and though we have not yet adopted it, nothing perhaps but the more ample provision of the neighbouring Colonies will relieve that necessity.

The depredations and piracies frequently committed on our sea-coasts, and the little trade which remains to us, whereby, among other capital articles, the importation of ammunition and provision is almost totally obstructed, and threatens our ruin, has also occasioned our contemplating steps to prevent these inconveniences, by fitting out a number of armed vessels, with sufficient strength to encounter their small though numerous cutters.

We shall only add, that as the seat of war and all the attendant distresses have, for the present, taken their principal residence here, we should consider it as a happy event if you should think proper to adjourn to some part of the Continent not so far distant, that the advice and aid of the Continent may be more expeditiously afforded upon any emergency.

We have, may it please your Honours, the honour to be your most obedient humble servants,

By order of Congress:

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM LONDON TO A GENTLEMAN IN VIRGINIA, DATED JUNE, 12, 1775.

We have had the news of the skirmish at Concord between the King’s Troops and the Provincials for some time past; and yesterday it was confirmed by an express from General Gage to Government, in the Sukey, Capt. Brown. The first advice many (especially the Court party) threw away, declaring it to be an absolute lie, and wished Government would secure the person who brought it, although we had the Salem paper brought by Captain John Derby, who said that the account was as particular as could be collected at the time of his departure; but now they believe it to their shame, that eighteen hundred disciplined troops ran away from a handful of brave Yankees. I believe that seven-eighths of this Country would willingly fight for us against the King’s Troops, if it were possible for them to get to you. The Americans bear the greatest applause here of any people in the world, and I hope they may now stand firm, for it is not in the power of Government to send out any more troops. I had the honour of being sent for by Sir John Warren, who is nephew to the late Admiral, and a great friend to America, with whom I breakfasted. We had all the American affairs over, and he positively declared there were not seven thousand of the King’s Troops both in England and Ireland; and he hoped the Americans