CAPT. BENJAMIN CHAPMAN, OF THE ROYAL IRISH OR 18TH REGIMENT OF FOOT, TO A FRIEND IN IRELAND.

Boston, June 21, 1775.

I have further to inform you (though I know you to be an advocate for the Americans) that their Grand Continental Congress have resolved, in order to force Great Britain to confirm the wild claims they have set up, that they will do their utmost to ruin the commerce of Ireland, and starve their fellow-subjects in the West-Indies, who never injured them. And in their address to the people of Canada, after inviting them to join in their illegal opposition, they flatter them with the enjoyment and prosperity of a religion which, in their address to the people of Great Britain, they themselves say is fraught with the most impious and sanguinary tenets. Many of their Provincial Conventions have resolved not to pay their debts to the British merchants, nor will they suffer any legal process to be resorted to upon that account; thus trampling on every principle of humanity, candour, and common honesty. When the unprejudiced eye of posterity shall cast a retrospect view on those dark transactions, how will they be amazed that a party could be found so shameless as to defend them in Parliament. Matters about Boston wear a truly warlike aspect. The Army of the rebels consists of at least fifteen thousand men, and are daily increasing. They are, besides, possessed of a considerable number of artillery: and when we consider the disposition of those infatuated people; that the pulpits and publick meetings breathe nothing but sedition; that the people are in the most slavish subjection to the priests and demagogues; it can no longer remain a matter of surprise if (to use their own phrase) they resist, even unto death. The Continental Congress has been sitting since the tenth of May: their deliberations. are wonderfully secret; the few Resolves that have transpired are mostly inflammatory; their High Mightinesses now appear in various capacities; they have erected themselves into a court of Star-Chamber, and have already tried and passed sentence on several delinquents who have dared to contravene their inquisitorial decrees; in short, they are as omnipotent in this quarter of the globe as any earthly power can be. I will not hazard a conjecture on the steps that may be pursued by Parliament on this important, this unparalleled crisis. America seems determined not to recede; should, therefore, Great Britain relax, I fear her laurels will wither on her brows, and that her sun of glory will soon set to rise no more. My knowledge of the Americans is founded on long experience, from their own writings/and from my intimacy with many of the first characters amongst them; rely upon it, their aim is independency. My. Lords, the planters in the South, have long plumed themselves on the prospect of an approaching aristocracy; whilst the levellers in the North already enjoy, by anticipation, their adored republick. The honour and dignity of Great Britain, as well as the securing the rights of Parliament, call for an exertion of military power. I cannot fight in a more just, a more noble cause; every other consideration must give way to this; nor do I wish to quit America until her dependance on the Parent State is effectually secured, and my much injured Country’s, rights fixed on the most solid basis.

STOCKBRIDGE INDIANS TO MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS.

Stockbridge, June 21, 1775.

We; whose names are hereunto subscribed, being soldiers enlisted to serve in the Provincial Army during summer, beg leave to lay this our request before you. We; in our more serious hours, reflect with shame upon our aptness to drink spirituous liquors to excess when we are under temptation; by which foolish conduct, when we are guilty of it, we render ourselves unfit for usefulness and service to our fellow-men, and also disagreeable to those that have any thing to do with us. We are sensible that we injure ourselves more than any one else. When we get a taste, we must some of us with shame say, that sometimes no interest of our own will prevent us from procuring more, till we get too much. We therefore desire you would, in your wisdom, do something, during our residence there, that we may get so much as will be good for us, and no more. We further desire you to order the Paymaster-General to pay all our wages, that is now or may be due to us when we are dismissed, to Timothy Edwards or Jahiel Woodbridge, Esquires, Delegates from the Town of Stockbridge, and to them only or their order, that they may be enabled to provide for us while we are here what we may necessarily want, and bring all the rest home, that it may be altogether, and divide it among us as We like.

To the Hon. Joseph Warren, President of Provincial Congress sitting at Watertown; to be communicated.

THOMAS TWINING TO THE MASSACHUSETTS CONGRESS.

To the Honourable Provincial Congress of the MASSACHUSETTS-BAY:

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOURS: Deeply impressed with a sense of the weighty task you have to perform, in the management of our publick affairs at this difficult and alarming crisis, and how necessary it is that many of your deliberations and resolves should be kept a profound secret from the enemies of our common liberties, whether foreign invaders or our own domestick traitors; and humbly apprehending that one Mr. Amos Knowles, Jun., from the Town of Eastham, hath behaved in such a manner as to give just ground to suspect his fidelity to his Country, and even to suppose him inimical thereto, your petitioner, in behalf of himself and of the Association in Eastham, thinking it a duty incumbent on him so to do, as a member of society, begs leave to represent to your Honours, that the said Knowles, who now hath a seat in said Congress, hath been an opposer of the common cause of this Country, and hath frequently exclaimed against Congresses and the present mode of opposition, as may appear by the papers herewith presented. And your petitioner, apprehending a known enemy to our Country ought not to be allowed a seat in said Congress, lest he might thereby betray its secret plans to our common enemy, humbly prays your Honours to take the matter into consideration, and expel him from said Congress, or otherwise deal with him as you in your wisdom shall judge proper. And your petitioner; as in duty bound, shall ever pray.

Your petitioner begs leave further to represent, that the said Knowles was one whom the Committee of Correspondence of the Town of Eastham, thought it their duty to discriminate and disarm, in consequence of recommendations from the late Congress, but did not think it prudent to attempt it, knowing said Knowles had a considerable party of similar principles and conduct, who had before armed themselves to oppose some publick measures.

THOMAS TWINING.

To the Friends of Liberty, to whom the bearer hereof shall apply himself:

This may certify, that we, the subscribers, do hereby ask your advice and assistance on the important matters that shall be laid before you by our worthy friend, Mr. Thomas Twining, relating to the great and intolerable difficulties between the Whigs and Tories in this Town. Although we are a minority, our number of zealous friends will, we hope, be thought sufficient to gain some notice. Mr. Twining is one whose veracity may be relied on; and if by this messenger we gain no relief, we see nothing but we must submit to the mercy of the Tories in this place.

Eastham, June 12, 1775.