The Eighteenth Report of the Record Commissioners is a continuation of the Sixteenth, and contains the proceedings of the town from 1770 through 1777. It is almost superfluous to speak of the interest which will be felt in this report of the proceedings of the town during this important period. The resolves, instructions, and reports are essential to any correct understanding of the rise of the Revolution. Many of these papers have been published before, but it is instructive to read them in their proper sequence, and to see that the functions of the town, in small matters as well as great, were systematically attended to at all times. It is suggestive to note that the town meeting of Boston for March 5, 1776, was held at Watertown; but with this exception, little appears on the record to show the suspension of civic rights during the occupancy of the town by British troops. The ample indices will enable the student to promptly avail of the information herein collected. WILLIAM H. WHITMORE, For the Record Commissioners. CITY HALL, BOSTON, Dec. 1, 1887. |