teract the salutary designs of the Continental and Provincial Congresses, to deceive the people into agreements contrary to the welfare of this country, and tending in its consequences to hinder an amicable accommodation with our mother country, the sole end of those Congresses, and the ardent wish of every friend to America: it is therefore recommended by this Congress to the several committees of correspondence in this colony, that they give notice to the Provincial Congress, that shall meet in this province on the first day of February next, and the earliest notice to the public, of all such combinations, and of the persons signing the same, if any should be enticed thereto, that their names may be published to the world, their persons treated with that neglect, and their memories transmitted to posterity with that ignominy, which such unnatural conduct must deserve.

The committee on the state of the province reported an address to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay; the report was considered in paragraphs, and so passed, and was ordered to be printed in all the Boston newspapers, and also in handbills, and a copy thereof sent to all the towns and districts in the province, and is as followeth, viz:

To the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Towns and Districts of Massachusetts Bay.

FRIENDS AND BRETHREN: At a time when the good people of this colony were deprived of their laws, and the administration of justice, civil and criminal; when the cruel oppressions brought on their capital had stagnated almost all their commerce; when a standing army was illegally posted among us for the express purpose of enforcing submission to a system of tyranny; and when the general court was, with the same design, prohibited to sit; we were chosen and empowered by you to assemble and consult upon measures necessary for our common safety and defence.

With much anxiety for the common welfare, we have attended this service, and upon the coolest deliberation have adopted the measures recommended to you.

We have still confidence in the wisdom, justice, and goodness of our sovereign, as well as the integrity, humanity and good sense of the nation; and if we had a reasonable expectation that the truth of facts would be made known in England, we should entertain the most pleasing hopes that the measures concerted by the colonies jointly and severally, would procure a full redress of our grievances; but we are constrained in justice to you, to ourselves, and posterity, to say, that the incessant and unrelenting malice of our enemies has been so success

ful as to fill the court and kingdom of Great Britain with falsehoods and calumnies concerning us, and to excite the most bitter and groundless prejudices against us; that the sudden dissolution of parliament, and the hasty summons for a new election, gives us reason to apprehend that a majority of the house of commons will be again elected under the influence of an arbitrary ministry; and that the general tenor of our intelligence from Great Britain, with the frequent reinforcements of the army and navy at Boston, excites the strongest jealousy that the system of colony administration, so unfriendly to the protestant religion, and destructive of American liberty, is still to be pursued and attempted with force to be carried into execution.

You are placed by Providence in [the] post of honor, because it is the post of danger and while struggling for the noblest objects, the liberties of your country, the happiness of posterity, and [the] rights of human nature, the eyes not only of North America and the whole British empire, but of all Europe, are upon you. Let us be therefore altogether solicitous, that no disorderly behavior, nothing unbecoming our characters as Americans, as citizens, and christians, be justly chargeable to us.

Whoever, with a small degree of attention, contemplates the commerce between Great Britain and America, will be convinced that a total stoppage thereof, will soon produce in Great Britain such dangerous effects, as cannot fail to convince the ministry, the parliament, and people, that it is their interest and duty to grant us relief. Whoever considers the number of brave men inhabiting North America, will know, that a general attention to military discipline must so establish their rights and liberties, as, under God, to render it impossible for an arbitrary ministry of Britain to destroy them. These are facts which our enemies are apprized of, and if they will not be influenced by principles of justice, to alter their cruel measures towards America, these ought to lead them thereto. They, however, hope to effect by stratagem what they may not obtain by power, and are using arts, by the assistance of base scribblers, who undoubtedly receive their bribes, and by many other means, to raise doubts and divisions throughout the colonies,

To defeat their "iniquitous designs, we think it necessary for each town to be particularly careful, strictly to execute the plans of the Continental and Provincial Congresses; and while it censures its own individuals, counteracting those plans, that it be not deceived or diverted from its duty by rumors, should any take place, to the prejudice of

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other communities. Your Provincial Congresses, we have reason to hope, will hold up the towns, if any should be so lost as not to act their parts, and none can doubt that the Continental Congresses will rectify errors should any take place in any colony through the subtilty of our enemies. Surely no arguments can be necessary to excite you to the most strict adherence to the American association, since the mi. nutest deviation in one colony, especially in this, will probably be misrepresented in the others, to discourage their general zeal and perseverance, which, however, we assure ourselves cannot be effected.

While the British ministry are suffered with so high a hand to tyrannize over America, no part of it, we presume, can be negligent in guarding against the ravages threatened by the standing army now in Boston; these troops will undoubtedly be employed in attempts to defeat the association, which our enemies cannot but fear will eventually defeat them; and so sanguinary are those our enemies, as we have reason to think, so thirsty for the blood of this innocent people, who are only contending for their rights, that we should be guilty of the most unpardonable neglect should we not apprize you of your danger, which appears to us imminently great, and ought attentively to be guarded against. The improvement of the militia in general in the art military has been therefore thought necessary, and strongly recommended by this Congress. We now think that particular care should be taken by the towns and districts in this colony, that each of the minute men, not already provided therewith, should be immediately equipped with an effective fire arm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack, thirty rounds of cartridges and balls, and that they be disciplined three times a week, and oftener, as opportunity may offer. To encourage these, our worthy countrymen, to obtain the skill of complete soldiers, we recommend it to the towns and districts forthwith to pay their own minute men a reasonable consideration for their services and in case of a general muster, their further services must be recompensed by the province. An attention to discipline the militia in general is, however, by no means to be neglected.

With the utmost cheerfulness we assure you of our determination to stand or fall with the liberties of America; and while we humbly implore the Sovereign Disposer of all things, to whose divine providence the rights of his creatures cannot be indifferent, to correct the errors, and alter the measures of an infatuated ministry, we cannot doubt of his support even in the extreme difficulties which we all may have to encounter. May all means devised for our safety by the General Congress of America, and assemblies or conventions of the colonies, be

resolutely executed, and happily succeeded; and may this injured people be reinstated in the full exercise of their rights without the evils and devastations of a civil war.

Ordered, That the members of the town of Boston, with the secretary, be a committee to revise the doings of this Congress, and cause such parts thereof, as they think fit should be published, to be printed in a pamphlet, and a copy thereof be sent to every town and district in this province.

The report of the committee on the state of the province, relative to assuming civil government, [was] taken up, and ordered further to lie on th table.

Ordered, That the members be enjoined to attend in the afternoon. Then the Congress|| adjourned to three o'clock this afternoon.

Afternoon.

The committee appointed to collect the several expenses which have accrued to the Congress in this and a former session thereof, reported; which report was read and accepted, and the receiver general ordered to pay and discharge the several demands therein mentioned.

Ordered, That the secretary be directed to furnish the committee of safety with a number of attested copies of their appointment to that

trust.

Resolved, That a gentleman be appointed in each county, to apply to the field officers of the regiments within the same, for the list of the names of the field officers of each regiment, the number of other officers, and the number of the men therein, as well the minute men as the common militia, and return the same unto Mr. Abraham Watson, of Cambridge.

Accordingly, the following gentlemen were appointed: For the COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, Col. Heath; ESSEX, Capt. Farley; MIDDLESEX, Col. Smith; HAMPSHIRE, Col. Pomeroy; PLYMOUTH, Col. Warren; BARNSTABLE, Daniel Davis, Esq.; BRISTOL, Major Keith; YORK, Mr. Sullivan; WORCESTER, Capt. Bigelow; CUMBERLAND, Mr. March; BERKSHIRE, Doct. Whiting; LINCOLN, Capt. Thompson; DUKES COUNTY, Joseph Mayhew, Esq.

The committee on the state of the province reported: which report was read and accepted; and Ordered, That printed copies be sent to the several committees of correspondence, and where there is no such committee, to the selectmen in each town and district in the province; and that the same order be observed relative to the address to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, and that the members of the town of

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Boston, and the secretary, disperse the same.
eth, viz:

The report is as follow

Inasmuch as many states have been taught by fatal experience, that powers delegated by the people for long periods have been abused to the endangering the public rights and liberties, and this Congress having just reason to suppose that their constituents, the good people of this province, when they appointed their present delegates, were not apprehensive that the business necessary to be done would require their attendance for any long time,

Resolved, That the adjournment of this Congress on the twentyninth day of October last, was ordered and made from a due consideration of the present exigencies of the public affairs, and the evident necessity of farther deliberation thereon. And, whereas, for the reason first mentioned, it is not expedient that there should be a further adjournment of this Congress; therefore, Resolved, that after the business necessary to be immediately despatched shall be finished, the Congress be dissolved.

And this Congress being deeply impressed with a sense of the increasing dangers which threaten the rights and liberties of the people of this province with total ruin; our adversaries being still indefatigable in their attempts to carry into execution their deep laid plans for that wicked purpose: and considering the indispensable necessity that an assembly of the province should be very frequently sitting to consult and devise ||"measures|| for their common safety; therefore Resolved, That it be, and it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several towns and districts in this province, that they each of them do forthwith, elect and depute as many members as to them shall seem necessary and expedient, to represent them in a Provincial Congress, to be held at Cambridge, on the first day of February next ensuing; to be chosen by such only as are qualified by law to vote for representatives in the general assembly, and to be continued by adjournment, as they shall see cause, until the Tuesday next preceding the last Wednesday of May next, and no longer; to consult, deliberate and resolve upon such farther measures as, under God, shall be effectual to save this people from impending ruin, and to secure those inestimable liberties derived to us from our ancestors, and which it is our duty to preserve for posterity.

And considering the great uncertainty of the present times, and that unexpected important events may take place, from whence it may be absolutely necessary that the delegates who may be elected as above propos

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