unto Mr. John Lovel as an encouragement for him to remain & exert himself in the service of the Town the ensuing Year the same to be paid him quarterly as it shall become due and to commence at the expiration of the last Quarter [354] Voted, that the Sum of Fifty Pounds be allowed & paid unto Mr. James Carter for his Salary as Usher of the Writing School in Queen Street the Year ensuing the same to be paid him quarterly as it shall become due and to commence at the expiration of the last Quarter Voted, that the further Sum of Twenty five Pounds, be allowed and paid unto Mr. James Carter as an encouragement to him to exert himself in the Service of the Town the ensuing Year, the same to be paid him quarterly as it shall become due, & to commence at the expiration of the last Quarter Voted, that the Sum of Fifty Pounds be allowed & paid to such Persons as the Selectmen shall appoint an Assistant for the Master of the Writing School in the Common the Year ensuing, the same to be paid him quarterly as it shall become due, and to commence at the expiration of the last Quarter Voted, that the Sum of Thirty four Pounds be allowed and paid unto Mr. John Tileston Master of the Writing School at the North End for providing an Assistant the Year ensuing, the same to be paid him quarterly as it shall become due, and to commence at the expiration of the last Quarter Voted, that the Sum of One hundred Pounds be allowed and paid out of the Town Treasury unto M'. David Jeffries for his services as Treasurer of the Town the Year past, and for all his Expences in that Office Voted, that the Town Teasurer be and he hereby [355.] is directed and impowered to allow the several School Masters Interest on the Sums due to them from the date of their Warrants to the time of payment The Committee appointed the 6th. Instant to take into Consideration that Article in the Warrant. Vizt. "Whether the Town will take any steps to make that part of the Street leading from Milk Street to Mr. Hallowells House passable for Carriages "Report That we are of Opinion that it is highly necessary said new Street should be paved in order to make it passable for Carriages. We find that by an Act of the General Assembly when said new Street was laid out, that Benjamin Hallowell Esq. was ordered and did Agree to remove the paving Stones of the Old Street into the new at his Expense, but the replacing them was to be at the Expense of the Town. Mr. Halowell is now ready to comply with the aforesaid Order, as soon as the Town shall request it. The Street is about ten or eleven Rods long, and the paving Stones of the Old Street are Judged sufficient for half or a third of the new JOHN ROWE The aforegoing Report having been read & considered It was Voted, that the same be accepted & that the Selectmen be & here by are directed to see that Mr. Hallowell has or does perform what has been enjoined him by the Act of the General Assembly, & that then the said Street be so far paved, as to the Selectmen shall appear necessary The Committee Appointed to prepare Instructions for the Gentlemen who Represent the Town in the General Assembly Reported the following Draft, which being read & considered [356.] Paragraph by Paragraph, was unanimously accepted by the Town and are as follows Vizt. To the Honble. Thomas Cushing Esq. Mr. Samuel Adams The Honble John Hancock Esq. and Mr William Phillips Gentlemen The choice we have made of you to Represent us in the Assembly of the Commons of this Province at the ensuing Sessions of the General Court, is the strongest Testimony of the high Opinion which we entertain of your Abilities and Integrity; Nevertheless we think it our Duty at such a time as this when the very Being of our Constitution is so dangerously attacked, to express to you whom we have deputed & impowered to act for us, the sense we have of the Oppressions which we suffer No People were ever in circumstances more truly alarming than those in which the People of this Province now are An exterior Power claims a Right to govern us, & have for a number of Years been levying an illegal tax on us; whereby we are degraded from the rank of Free Subjects to the despicable Condition of Slaves. For its evident to the meanest Understanding that Great Britain can have no Right to take our Moneys from us without our consents unless we are her Slaves, unless our Bodys our Persons are her property she surely cannot have the least claim to dispose of our earnings, & tho. we have hitherto failed of success our applications for the redress of this cruil grieveance we are still determined to exert our utmost efforts to break up this baneful source of Despotism & Misery. The attention of every one who has the least affection for his Country must be awakened to this important Subject when he sees [357.] The long train of evils which flow from it. We are especially under the most uneasy apprehensions from the repeated refusals of our Governor to accept of an honourable support from the People and we have the highest reason to believe that apart of the very Money unjustly taken from us is applyed to support him in a state of Independance upon the People over whom he presides If this is the case our situation is truly deplorable. The same oppressions of which we so justly complain are made the support of the Man, who ought to exert his utmost power to obtain a redress of our Grievances. A Ruler Independent of the People over whom over whom he presides, is abhorrent to the Principles of a Free Government- Power without a Check is Tyranny, whoever is possessed of such a power is a Master instead of a Governor, and whoever submits to such a power is a Slave instead of a Subject. The intention & only reasonable end of Government is the happiness of Mankind; and every branch of a legal Government ought to be interested in the public wellfare, & should have every possible inducement to study & promote the good & happiness of the governed: But we fear that the Interest of this People and of the Gentleman who presides over us, are made as distinct & even as opposite as they possibly can be; and if we allow ourselves to form a Judgement from what has taken place since his Excellencys Accession to the Chair, our fears must be augmented & confirmed as the Administration of affairs has been altogether such as much necessarily have resulted from an opposition of interest and the Governors intire independancy on us We shall mention to you a few striking Instances of the Justice of this remark We think it impossible that our Governor should be at liberty to consult like the Father of this People, their true Interest whilst he considers himself bound to obey Instructions sent to him from the other side of the Atlantic: For although he may know that doing any particular Act, would be beneficial to the People, & condusive to his Majestys service, yet if he is instructed to the contrary it must not be done [358.] But if he is Instructed t do an Act which he knows will be detrimental to the People and injurious to his Majestys service, yet according to this new System he must do itevery consideration of the fitnes & reasonableness of the transaction is thrown aside, & whatever may be the consequences to King or People, the Governor must excercise the power committed to him not agreable to his discretion and the apparent interest of the Province but according to the Instructions received from a Minister three thousand miles distant- Instructions are urged in excuse for almost everything of which we complain. By an Instruction our Legislative Body are restrained from Meeting at their antient & established seat, contrary to their inclination so repeatedly declared to the Governor. By an Instruction our Fortress Castle William built and for a long time supported by the Province for its defence has been delivered to Troops over whom the Captain General of the Province has declared he has no controul; and who to appearance have taken more care to make it formadable to this Town, than to a Forreign Enemy - Under the Influence of an Instruction the Governor has refused his consent to a tax Bill for defreying the necessary Charges of Government because such Persons as the British Minister was pleased to point out, were not expressly exempted from bearing their due proportion of said Tax. And what seems to compleat our misfortune is, that an Instruction is pleaded for refusing a Grant for the payment of our Agents at the Court of Great Britain. Thus we are to be cut off, even from complaint that last resource of the wretched. His Excellency is Instructed not to sign any grant for the payment of an Agent, unless he is chosen by the three branches of the Legislature, he cannot consent to any one who is proscribed in his Instructions. It is against an Administration in which Lord Hillsburrough & his Dependents are principal Actors that we complain [359.] But no one whom he disapproves must be allowed to manage our complaints. It is difficult to restrain our indignation at the gross affront offered to our Understandings in this affair. A Capasity but little remote from Idiotism is sufficient to discover the fatal consequences of this Ministerial plot. The Town have in times past declared to their Representatives their sense of the burthen laid upon the Commercial Interests of the Community by the extension of the powers of the Court of Admiralty. A Jurisdiction in its very nature repugnant to our Constitution & contrary to Magna Charta, as it invests one Judge appointed by the Crown with Authority to determine concerns the most important to the property and liberty of the Subject - And they expressed their sense of this Grievance as sharpned by the Contrast which appears in the same Statute between the Mother Country & the Colonies For however it may be urged that the Court of Admirality is established by the Charter of this Province yet by the same Charter the People of this Province are entitled to all the Liberties privileges & Immunities of free British Subjects - And to see the British Parliament by one and the same Statute, taking from the Colonies an important right namely TRIALS BY JURIES & securing that Right to themselves in cases of the same nature & importance must be deeply affecting to us. We take this opportunity of renewing our protestations against the powers of that Court which have already proved so vexatious to Persons concerned in trade; and in a very recent Instance according to the best information we are able to obtain, have been made use of to disturb & harrass the industrious Farmer, & which if not restrained bid fair to render all property either Real or Personal to the last degree precarious Thus Gentlemen have we exhibited to you a view of many of the Grievances which distress this People: And we expect you will use your utmost Influence in the ensuing Session of the General Court to have them radically redressed; not doubting but you will receive the most ready and effectual assistance from those wise Patriots who are or shall be chosen [360.] To Represent our Brethren in the several Towns of this faithful Province- In particular we desire that you would use your influence that a Remonstrance be presented to his Majesty whose elevated station denominates him the Father of his People, and the tenor of whose Throne is the protection of his Subjects against the Oppressions which we suffer laying open to his view in the fullest and plainest manner the true state of this his Province of the Massachusetts Bay, & pleading with him with that freedom & firmness which the Justice of the cause & the exigencys of your Country demand. And that you may not fail of reaching the Royal Ear, we Instruct you to exert yourselves to procure a proper Grant from the House of Representatives for the payment of the Agents, who have served the Honble. his Majestys Council & the Honble. House of Representatives for some years past, & that you take timely care to know whether the same is concurred with and consented to by the other two Branches of the Legislature. And that if it is not, that you endeavor to obtain a Resolve of the House for a Brief for raising a Sum sufficient for defraying the charges of an Agency for the Year ensuing, that so we may at least in this way make use of our own Moneys to purchase an access to the Ear of our King. There are Gentlemen many other Matters of great Importance to the Province which will come before you; & we are happy that we can with confidence commit our concerns to you Having that by the favor of Divine Providence you will be greatly Instrumental in restoring and securing both to us & our Posterity our violated Rights, thus only may we with reason expect to enjoy the invaluable Blessings of Harmony & good Government Upon a Motion made & Seconded. Voted, that the Committee appointed to prepare Instructions, for the Gentlemen who are chosen to Represent us in the General Assembly the ensuing Year be & hereby are desired to bring in an Article of Instructions relative the Appointment & [361.] Salaries of the Judges of the Superior Court Voted, that this Meeting be Adjourned to 3. O'Clock P: M: 3 O'Clock P: M: Met according to Adjournment Voted, that the Sum of Six thousand five hundred Pounds be raised by a Tax upon Polls and Estates within this Town for Relief of the Poor and defreying other necessary charges arising within the Town the ensuing Year Upon a Motion made Voted, that John Rowe Esq. Jonathan Williams Esq. be added to the Committee appointed to Audit the Town Treasurers Accompts for the last Year in the room of Nicholas Boylston Esq. deceased, and Mr. John Pitts who is out of the Provinces to Report at the Adjournment The Selectmen Appointed a Committee to view the Towns Lands the Neck &c. Reported That having Attended their Duty they found that the Land has been so much wasted away by the Sea, as makes it absolutely necessary that the Dykes should be repaired in such a manner as may prevent the Pavement on the Neck from being destroyed, and the Neck itself from being so far carried away, as that in no distant period, this Town may become an Island. That they were not able at present to lay before the Town an Estimate of the Charge which will be necessarily incurred in effecting those Repairs, and therefore proposed to the Town that a large Committee be appointed to view the Premisses & to consider of the best Method to secure the Neck, as also of the Sum which will be necessary for the purpose aforesaid, and to Report the same as soon as may be The above mentioned Report having been considered Voted [362.] That the same be accepted, and that the Gentlemen the Selectmen together with William Phillips Esq. Mr. William Dennie Mr. Tuttle Hubbard Mr. Robert Pierpoint Mr. Nathaniel Appleton John Tuder Esq. Mr. Thomas H. Peck Mr. William Greanleaff |