“COLONY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS-BAY.

“No. . . . . . the . . . . . . day of. . . . . . . A. D. 177, borrowed and received of . . . . . . A. B. . . . . . . the sum of . . . . . . . . lawful money, for the use and service of the Colony of the Massachusetts-Bay, and in behalf of said Colony. I do hereby promise and oblige myself, and successors in the office of Treasurer, or Receiver-General, to repay to the said . . . . . . . . or to his order, the first day of June, 1777, the aforesaid sum of . . . . . . lawful money, in Spanish milled dollars, at six shillings each, or in the several species of coined silver and gold enumerated in an Act made and passed in the twenty-third year of his late Majesty King George the Second, intituled “An Act for ascertaining the rates at which coined silver and gold, English half-pence and farthings, may pass within this Government:” and according to the rates therein mentioned, with interest to be paid annually at six per cent. Witness my hand

A. B.
C. D.
E. F.

“And whereas, inconveniences may arise, by the Receiver-General’s issuing notes for small sums; therefore,

“Resolved, That the Receiver-General be, and he hereby is directed, not to issue any notes for a less sum than four Pounds lawful money.

“A true extract from the minutes:

“SAMUEL FREEMAN, Secretary pro tem.”

Ordered, That the Secretary have the above Depositions, and the Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain, published.

Resolved unanimously, That the Congress will, on Monday next, resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, to take into consideration the state of America.

Ordered, That the Letter from the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts-Bay be referred to that Committee.

Adjourned till to-morrow at ten o’clock.

Friday, May 12, 1775.

The Congress met, and adjourned till to-morrow at ten o’clock.

Saturday, May 13, 1775, A. M.

The Congress met according to adjournment. Present the same as yesterday, and also Mr. J. Jay, from New-York, and Thomas Stone, from Maryland.

The Congress being informed that Doctor Lyman Hall attended at the door as a Delegate from the Parish of St. John’s, in the Colony of Georgia, and desired to know whether, as such, he may be admitted to this Congress;

Agreed unanimously, That he be admitted as a Delegate from the Parish of St. John’s, in the Colony of Georgia, subject to such regulations as the Congress shall determine relative to his voting.

Mr. Lyman Hall being accordingly admitted, produced his Credentials, which were read and approved, and are as follow:

“To the Honourable Gentlemen of the Congress designed to be held at PHILADELPHIA, on MAY, A. D. 1775:

“The Address of the Inhabitants of the Parish of ST. JOHN’S, in the Province of GEORGIA.

“GENTLEMEN: To give a particular detail of our many struggles in the cause of liberty, the many meetings thereby occasioned and held in this Parish, the endeavours we have used to induce the rest of this Province to concur with us, the attendance of our Committee on the Provincial Conventions, held at Savannah, in this Province, and particularly that of the eighteenth of January last, with their proceedings, and the reasons of our dissent from them, we think would be tedious to you, and therefore send a summary abstract which, with the account that may be given by Lyman Hall, Esq., appointed a Delegate to represent and act for this Parish in the General Continental Congress, to be held in May next, and the testimonies of the honourable Delegates from South-Carolina, we hope will be satisfactory.

“Immediately upon our being honoured with an answer to the representation of our case transmitted to the honourable Congress which sat at Philadelphia last year, with a copy of the Association there entered into, we had a meeting, and our proceedings then and since that time will in brief appear, from the following abstracts of an Address from this Parish to the Committee of Correspondence in Charlestown, South-Carolina, which are as follow:

“St. John’s, February 9, 1775.

“GENTLEMEN: Herewith will be communicated to you the several steps taken by this Parish in their endeavours to conform, as near as possible, to the resolutions entered into by the other Colonies, and the particular measures now adopted for carrying into execution the Continental Association, which we embraced the earliest opportunity of acceding to, by subscribing it, on condition that trade and commerce with the other Colonies be continued to us the subscribers; and thereupon should have immediately sent to you for your approbation and indulgence, but were delayed by a summons to attend a Provincial Congress in Savannah, on the eighteenth of January last, for the purpose, as we understood, of a general association with the other Colonies, and choosing Delegates; at which time and place we attended, and acquainted the other Parishes, assembled on that occasion, that we had already acceded to the General Association, on condition as above mentioned, and earnestly requested them to do the same. Had they acceded fully to the General Association, we should have had no occasion to trouble you with this address; but as they did not, we now apply to you to admit us, the subscribers, to an alliance with you, requesting that you will allow trade and commerce to be continued to us, the same to be conducted under such regulations and restrictions as shall be consistent with the Continental Association, and which, on our part, we engage with all possible care to keep inviolate. As we of this Parish are a body detached from the rest (i. e. of this Province) by our resolutions, and sufficiently distinct by local situation, large enough for particular notice, adjoining a particular port, and in that respect capable of conforming to the General Association, if connected with you, with the same fidelity as a distant Parish of your own Province, we must be considered as comprehended within the spirit and equitable meaning of the Continental Association and hope you will not condemn the innocent with the guilty, especially when a due separation is made between them.

“Give us leave to add only, that we wait your answer, shall be glad of your advice, and are, with esteem, Gentlemen, yours, &c.”

“To which we received the following answer:

“GENTLEMEN: Your letter, accompanying sundry papers, having been laid before a very full Committee: of this Colony, and undergone the most mature deliberation, I am, by their desire, to acquaint you that they have the highest sense of your arduous struggles in favour of the common cause of America, and most sincerely lament your present unhappy situation, but would recommend a continuance of your laudable exertions, and the laying a state of your case before the ensuing Continental Congress, as the only means of obtaining relief, and to put you in the situation you wish, which this Committee apprehend to be entirely out of their power to do, as it is their opinion that the Parish of St. John, being a part of the Colony of Georgia, which (by not acceding to, has violated the Continental Association) falls under the fourteenth Article of then said. Association, no part of which any Committee can presume to do away, &c.”

“Upon the receipt of this answer, It was seriously considered in what manner to conduct in the present situation, and proposed whether we should immediately break off all connexion and commerce with Savannah, and all other inhabitants of this Province, who have not fully acceded to the Continental Association.

“It was considered, that as we were denied commerce with any other Colony, and but one merchant among us considerable for dry goods had signed our Association, and he insufficient for a present supply, and we utterly unable at present to procure materials or manufactures for clothing among ourselves, we must, by such a resolution, become extremely miserable; it was therefore concluded, that till we could obtain trade and commerce with some other Colony, it is absolutely necessary to continue it in some

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