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he will distress us to his power; and we will give publick and free leave to swear, to all that will swear, and will never hinder any one; and for all persons of the Realm, that of their own accord will swear to the said five-and-twenty Barons, to distress us, we will issue our presents, commanding them to swear as aforesaid.” This, my countrymen, is the security granted to you and me, and by this are confirmed all the rights and privileges of an English subject, and which the present Administration seem determined to destroy. It may, indeed, be said, that we do not belong to the Massachusetts-Bay, and that New-Jersey is not attacked. But can you be so supine as to suppose that you will continue to enjoy those inestimable rights of Magna Charta, when other Colonies are bereft of them; and that the Massachusetts is the only Colony to be punished? Have they not done more for the parent State than any Colony on the Continent? Did they not in the war before the last, with very little assistance, take Cape-Breton, the Dunkirk of North-America, the giving up of which procured a peace for the Mother Country? Did they not the last war send seven thousand Troops into the field, under the King’s General, until the final conquest of Canada? Notwithstanding all this, you see their capital blocked up, their Charter mutilated, and an armed force ready to execute the arbitrary measures of the Minister, who covers himself under a purchased majority in Parliament. Hostilities being actually begun in the Massachusetts, you can not expect to fare better than your sister Colony. Your trade is already restrained, and you are daily to expect open violence to enforce unconstitutional taxation. Thus we have lived to see our most sacred rights daringly invaded; but we will not live to see them destroyed. The wound by which our liberty falls ought first to reach our hearts; and the rich torrents of our blood be shed as a libation on the pile of expiring freedom. The power of the people can never be lost or impaired, unless they are wanting to themselves. What they could once do, they can and ought to do now. Let us therefore cordially unite under the Continental Congress, and look to them as the English formerly did to their Barons, and I am confident in so good a cause we shall have the protection of Heaven; which is the sincere desire, and prayer of June 14, 1775. A JERSEY FARMER. WILLIAM DUER TO THE NEW-YORK CONGRESS. New-York, June 14, 1775. SIR: My conduct before the Committee of Albany, with relation to the northern frontier of this Colony, hath, as I am informed, given rise to sundry insinuations derogatory to my character as a gentleman, and as a friend to the rights and liberties of America. Conscious, Sir, that my bosom has never prompted a thought inimical to this Colony, I feel, on this occasion, the warmth of an innocent, injured man. By the report industriously circulated to my disadvantage, my person and property are deeply endangered. At the same time, the facts on which such tales are founded are of such a nature that it would be improper to explain them to the world. I do, therefore, Sir, most humbly entreat of your honourable House, that they would be pleased to appoint some gentlemen as a Committee to examine into my conduct this afternoon; and that they will pardon any seeming impropriety in naming a time for that purpose by me, which I am confident will readily be done, when the House are informed that my presence is absolutely necessary in the County where I reside on Tuesday next, to hold a court there. I have the honour to be, Sir, with the highest respect, your most obedient and humble servant, WILLIAM DUER. To Peter V. B. Livingston, Esq., President of the Provincial Congress, New-York. WILLIAM GODDARD TO THE NEW-YORK CONGRESS. New-York, June 14, 1775. SIR: I beg the favour of you to take an early opportunity to lay before the Provincial Congress the enclosed papers, which are explanatory of a design formed by the friends of freedom for annihilating the old Parliamentary and Ministerial Post-Office in this Country, by the institution of a new one, on a constitutional basis, or such of them as you may judge proper; a design that, for obvious reasons, hath met with the approbation and support of many respectable Colonies, Cities, and Towns, both in New-England and the Southern Governments, as far as North-Carolina; not doubting but the Representatives of the free people of this great Province, now convened in this City, will cheerfully co-operate in giving success to a measure of such capital consequence to the publick welfare, and so indispensable at this interesting crisis. Being on my way to Philadelphia from the Eastern Colonies, where I purpose to address the honourable Continental Congress on the subject of the American Post-Office, which, I am persuaded, will, ere long, take that matter into their serious consideration, and form such a general plan as will prove extensively beneficial to all America, I should be extremely glad to obtain the resolutions of the Provincial Congress of New-York relative to the business in. question, previous to my departure, and as expeditiously as possible. To prevent an imputation of vanity and ostentation, it may be necessary for me to add, that I engaged in this business with the advice and by the desire of many gentlemen of the first character on this Continent, and am happy in being made an instrument, however humble, in promoting the interest of my native Country. I am, with great respect, Sir, your very humble and most obedient servant, WILLIAM GODDARD. To the Honourable Peter Van Brugh Livingston, Esq., President of the Provincial Congress of New-York. In Provincial Congress, Watertown, May 12, 1775. Resolved, As the opinion of this Congress, that Post-Riders be immediately established, to go from Cambridge, and to ride the following roads, viz: To Georgetown, in the County of Lincoln; to Haverhill; to Providence; to Woodstock, by Worcester; and from Worcester to Great Barrington, by Springfield; and to Falmouth, in the County of Barnstable. In Provincial Congress, Watertown, May 15, 1775. Resolved, That David Cheever, Esquire, for reasons by him offered, be excused from serving in the business to which he was appointed by a resolve of this Congress, passed the 12th instant, for establishing Post-Offices and Post-Riders; and that Mr. William Greenleaf, Joseph Greenleaf, Esquire, and Mr. John Pitts, be added to the Committee then appointed. JOSEPH WARREN, President pro tern.
Resolved, That a Post-Office be established in Portsmouth, and that Samuel Penhallow, Esq., of said Portsmouth, be appointed Postmaster; and that the members of this Congress from Portsmouth be a Committee to agree with a Post-Rider or Riders. MATTHEW THORNTON, President. Providence, May 30, 1775. The General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut and the Provincial Congresses of Massachusetts-Bay and New-Hampshire having seconded the wishes and efforts of the friends of freedom in the Southern Colonies, for abolishing that ministerial engine, the unconstitutional Post-Office, by the establishment of Posts and Post-Offices, on constitutional principles; the Committee of this Town have judged it highly expedient and necessary, at. this interesting juncture, to co-operate with their brethren in the important business in question: They have therefore appointed Mr. John Carter to act as Postmaster here, and Mr. Peter Mumford as Post-Rider, under the direction and control of said Committee, until the legislature of this Colony or the Continental Congress shall be pleased to make other regulations and appointments. JAMES ANGELL, Clerk. Newport, May 31, 1775. Whereas the intercourse between the Colonies hath for some time been, and is now, interrupted by the Riders *
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