Tuesday, October 11. A copy of the letter to General Gage was brought into Congress, and agreeable to order, signed by the President, and is as follows:

'PHILADELPHIA, October 10, 1774.

'SIR: The inhabitants of the town of Boston have informed us, the representatives of his Majesty's faithful subjects in all the Colonies from Nova Scotia to Georgia, that the fortifications erecting within that town, the frequent invasions of private property, and the repeated insults they receive from the soldiery, have given them great reason to suspect a plan is formed very destructive to them, and tending to overthrow the liberties of America.

'Your Excellency cannot be a stranger to the sentiments of America, with respect to the Acts of Parliament, under the execution of which, those unhappy people are oppressed, the approbation universally expressed of their conduct, and the determined resolution of the colonies, for the preservation of their common rights, to unite in their opposition to those Acts.-In consequence of these sentiments, they have appointed us the guardians of their rights and liberties, and we are under the deepest concern, that whilst we are pursuing dutiful and peaceable measures to procure a cordial and effectual reconciliation between Great Britain and the Colonies, your Excellency should proceed in a manner that bears so hostile an appearance, and which even those oppressive acts do not war

rant.

We entreat your Excellency to consider what a tendency this conduct must have to irritate and force a free people, hitherto well disposed to peaceable measures, into hostilities which may prevent the endeavors of this Congress to restore a good understanding with our parent state, and may involve us in the horrors of a civil

war.

'In order therefore to quiet the minds and remove the reasonable jealousies of the people, that they may not be driven to a state of desperation, being fully persuaded of their pacific dispositions towards the King's troops, could they be assured of their own safety, we hope, Sir, you will discontinue the fortifications in and about Boston, prevent any further invasions of private property, restrain the irregularities of the soldiers, and give orders that the communication between the town and country may be open, unmolested and free.

'Signed by order and in behalf of the General Congress,

'PEYTON RANDOLPH, President.'

October 11. As Congress have given General Gage an assurance of the peaceable disposition of the people of Boston and Massachusetts Bay,

'Resolved unanimously, That they be advised still to conduct themselves peaceably towards his Excellency General Gage, and his Majesty's troops now stationed in the town of Boston, as far as can possibly be consistent with their immediate safety, and the security of the town; avoiding and discountenancing every violation of his Majesty's property, or any insult to his troops, and that they peaceably and firmly persevere in the line they are now conducting themselves, on the defensive.

Ordered, That a copy of the foregoing resolve, and of that passed on Saturday, and the three passed yesterday, be made out; and that the President enclose them in a letter to the committee of correspondence for the town of Boston, being the sentiments of the Congress on the matters referred to them by the committee, in their letter of the 29th of September last.'

'Resolved unanimously, That a memorial be prepared to the people of British America, stating to them the necessity of a firm united, and invariable observation of the measures recommended by the Congress.

'Also that an address be prepared to the people of Great Britain. Ordered, That Mr. Lee, Mr Livingston, and Mr. Jay, be a committee to prepare a draught of the Memorial and Address.'

Wednesday, October 12. The committee appointed to prepare a plan for carrying into effect the non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement, brought in a report, which was read.

The Congress then resumed the consideration of the rights and grievances of these Colonies, and after deliberating on the subject this and the following day, adjourned till Friday.'

'Friday, October 14, 1774. The Congress met according to adjournment, and resuming the consideration of the subject under debate, made the following declaration and resolves:

'Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British Parliament claiming a power, of right, to bind the people of America by Statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some Acts, expressly imposed taxes on them, and, in others, under various pretences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these Colonies, established a board of Commissioners, with unconstitutional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of courts of Admiralty, not only for collecting the said duties, but for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a county.

And whereas, in consequence of other Statutes, judges, who before held only estates at will in their offices, have been made dependent on the crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in times of peace: And whereas, it has lately been resolved

in Parliament, that by force of a Statute, made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, colonists may be transported to England, and tried there upon accusations for treason and misprisions, or concealments of treasons committed in the Colonies, and by a late Statute, such trials have been directed in cases therein mentioned.

And whereas, in the last session of Parliament, three Statutes were made, one entitled, An Act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping of goods, wares, and merchandize, at the town, and within the Harbour of Boston in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in North America;' another entitled An Act for the better regulating the government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England;' and another entitled An Act for the impartial administration of justice in the cases of persons questioned for any act done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England;' and another Statute was then made 'for making more effectual provisions for the government of the Province of Quebec, &c.' All which Statutes are impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, and most dangerous and destructive to American rights: And whereas Assemblies have been frequently dissolved, contrary to the rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate on grievances; and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable petitions to the crown for redress, have been repeatedly treated with contempt by his Majesty's ministers of state.

The good people of the several Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Newcastle, Kent and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, justly alarmed at these arbitrary proceedings of Parliament and Administration, have severally elected, constituted, and appointed deputies to meet, and sit in general Congress, in the city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain such establishment, as that their religion, laws, and liberties may not be subverted: Whereupon the deputies so appointed being now assembled, in a full and free representation of these Colonies, taking into their most serious consideration the best means of attaining their end aforesaid, do in the first place, as Englishmen, their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties,

DECLARE,

'That the inhabitants of the English Colonies in North America, by the immutable Laws of Nature, the principles of the English Constitution, and the several Charters and compacts, have the following RIGHTS:

Resolved unanimously, 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty,

and property; and they have never ceded to any sovereign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent.

'Resolved unanimously, 2. That our ancestors who first settled these colonies, were at the time of their emigration from the mother country, entitled to all the rights, liberties and immunities of free and natural born subjects, within the realm of England.

Resolved unanimously, 3. That by such emigration they by no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights; but that they were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them as their local and other circumstances enable them to exercise and enjoy.

'Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council: and as the English colonists are not represented, and from their local and other circumstances, cannot properly be represented in the British Parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several Provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their Sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore used and accustomed: But from the necessity of the case, and a regard to the mutual interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such Acts of the British Parliament as are, bona fide, restrained to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation internal and external, for raising a revenue on the subjects in America, without their

consent.

'Resolved unanimously, 5. That the respective colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by the peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law.

'Resolved, 6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the English Statutes, as existed at the time of their colonization; and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to their several local and other circumstances.

'Resolved unanimously, 7. That these, his Majesty's Colonies, are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by Royal Charters, or secured by their several codes of Provincial laws.

'Resolved unanimously, 8. That they have a right peaceably to assemble, consider their grievances, and petition the King; and that all prosecutions prohibiting proclamations and commitments for the same are illegal.

'Resolved unanimously, 9. That the keeping a standing army in these Colonies, in times of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that Colony in which such army is kept, is against law.

'Resolved unanimously, 10. It is indispensibly necessary to good government, and rendered essential by the English Constitution, that the constituent branches of the legislature be independent of each other, that therefore the exercise of legislative power in several Colonies, by a council appointed, during pleasure, by the crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous, and destructive, to the freedom of American legislation.

All and each of which, the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of themselves, do claim, demand, and insist on, as their indubitable rights and liberties; which cannot be legally taken from them, altered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own consent, by their representatives in their several Provincial legislatures.

'In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringements and violations of the foregoing rights, which from an ardent desire that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we pass over for the present, and proceed to state such Acts and measures as have been adopted since the last war, which demonstrate a system formed to enslave America.

'Resolved unanimously, That the following Acts of Parliament are infringements and violations of the rights of the Colonists:

'The several Acts of 4 Geo. III. ch. 15 and ch. 34.; 5 Geo. III. ch. 25; 6 Geo. III. ch. 52; 7 Geo. III. ch. 41 and ch. 46; 8 Geo. III. ch. 22; are subversive of American rights.

'Also 12 Geo. III. ch. 24, entitled, An Act for the better securing his Majesty's dock yards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores,' which declares a new offence in America.

'Also the three Acts passed in the last session of Parliament, for stopping the Port and Harbour of Boston, for altering the Charter and government of Massachusetts Bay, and that which is entitled, 'An Act for the better administration of justice, &c.'

Also the Act passed in the same session for establishing the Roman Catholic Religion in the Province of Quebec, abolishing the equitable system of English laws.

Also the Act passed in the same session, for the better providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his Majesty's service, in North America.

'Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of the Colonies, in time of peace, without the consent of the Legislature of that Colony in which such army is kept, is against law.

To these grievous Acts and measures Americans cannot submit; but, in hopes their fellow subjects in Great Britain will, on a revision of them, restore us to that state, in which both countries found happiness and prosperity, we have for the present only resolved to pursue the following peaceable measures: 1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement or association. 2. To prepare an address to the people of Great Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of British Amer