an article of vast importance, to be encouraged as may be directed hereafter.

8th. That gun powder is also an article of such importance, that every man among us who loves his country, must wish the establishment of manufactories for that purpose; and as there are the ruins of several powder mills, and sundry persons among us who are acquainted with that business, we do heartily recommend its encouragement by repairing one or more of said mills, or erecting others, and renewing said business as soon as possible.

9th. That as several paper mills are now usefully employed, we do likewise recommend a preferable use of our own manufactures in this way; and a careful saving and collecting of rags, &c. And, also, that the manufacturers give a generous price for such rags, &c.

10th. That it will be the interest as well as the duty of this body, or of such as may succeed us, to make such effectual provision for the further manufacturing of the several sorts of glass, as that the same may be carried on to the mutual benefit of the undertaker and the public, and firmly established in this colony.

11th. Whereas buttons, of excellent qualities, and of various sorts, are manufactured among us, we do earnestly recommend the general use of the same, so that the manufactories may be extended to the advantage of the people and the manufacturers.

12th. And whereas salt is an article of vast consumption within this colony, and in its fisheries, we do heartily recommend the making the same in the several ways wherein it is made in several parts of Europe, especially in the method used in that part of France where they make. bay salt.

13th. We do likewise recommend an encouragement of horn smiths in all their various branches, as what will be of public utility.

14th. We do also recommend the establishment of one or more manufactories for making wool-combers' combs, as an article necessary in our woollen manufactures.

15th. We do in like manner heartily recommend the preferable use of the stockings and other hosiery wove|| among ourselves, so as to enlarge the manufactories thereof, in such a manner as to encourage the manufacturers and serve the country.

16th. As madder is an article of great importance in the dyer's business, and which may be easily raised and cured among ourselves, we do therefore earnestly recommend the raising and curing the same.

a worn.||

17th. In order the more effectually to carry these resolutions into effect, we do earnestly recommend that a society or societies be established for the purposes of introducing and establishing such arts and manufactures as may be useful to this people, and are not yet introduced, and the more effectually establishing such as we already have among us.

18th. We do recommend to the inhabitants of this province to make use of our own manufactures, and those of our sister colonies, in preference to all other manufactures.

The order of the day was moved for.

Afternoon.

Resolved, That Doct. Church, Mr. Wheeler, and Doct. Holten, be a committee to count and sort the votes for two general officers, and that the Congress vote for the officers separately.

The Congress then proceeded to bring in their votes for a general officer; the committee having sorted and counted the same, reported that Col. Thomas was chosen.

The Congress then proceeded to bring in their votes for one other general officer; the committee having counted and sorted the same, reported that Col. William Heath was chosen.

Then the Congress adjourned till to-morrow morning, ten o'clock.

FRIDAY, December 9, 1774, A. M.

The committee appointed to inquire into the sufficiency of the bondmen procured by the receiver general, reported that they had attended [to] that service, and that the gentlemen he had engaged as his "bondmen were in their opinion a very ample security|| for the sum mentioned.

Ordered, That Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Pickering, and Mr. Sayer, be a committee to bring in a resolve relating to an address from the Baptists to this Congress.

Ordered, [That] the report of the committee relative to the public moneys, now in the hands of the constables and others, which was ordered to lie on the table, be now taken up; which was taken up accordingly, and passed, and is as followeth, viz:

Whereas, this Congress, at their session in October last, taking into consideration the alarming state of this colony, were, upon the most mature deliberation, fully convinced, that to provide against the danger to which it was then exposed by a standing army illegally posted in Boston, and from time to time reinforced for the purposes of subverting our ancient constitution and the liberties of all North America, it a security were amply sufficient.||

was indispensably necessary that a considerable sum of money should be immediately laid out for the just defence of this people; and whereas, by a resolve of the Congress, bearing date the 28th of said October, and published in the newspapers, it was, among other things, earnestly recommended to the several towns and districts, that they would cause to be paid into the hands of Henry Gardner, Esq., all the province moneys due from them respectively, to supply the said pressing exigencies of the colony; and whereas, the danger which|| then threatened the province is still continued and daily increasing:

It is Resolved, and hereby most earnestly recommended to all the inhabitants of the towns and districts aforesaid, as they regard their own safety and the preservation of their inestimable rights and liberties, that they cause the moneys aforesaid to be paid forthwith to the said Henry Gardner, Esq., who has given bonds with sufficient sureties, to the satisfaction of this Congress; and that they cause their respective proportion of the tax granted by the general court in June last, and all other the province moneys due from them respectively, to be supplied in some way that shall be more expeditious than the usual mode of collecting the taxes, in order to prevent any delay in providing against the imminent dangers above mentioned. And the members of the Congress are hereby desired to use their utmost industry for having this resolve speedily and punctually complied with; and the sheriffs and deputy sheriffs of the several counties, to pay the province moneys in their respective hands as has been already recommended.

Ordered, That Col. Orne, Mr. Pickering, and Col. Cushing, be a committee to bring in a resolve purporting the sense of this Congress of the Continental Congress's association, as now voted, relative to goods, wares, and merchandize, landed in England and Ireland, as well as those which are manufactured in England and Ireland; who reported as followeth; which was read and accepted, and ordered to be sent to the committee at Marblehead, and published in the newspapers:

Resolved, That it is the clear opinion of this Congress, that the first article in the association of the Continental Congress, extends to all goods, wares, and merchandize, of the growth, production, or manufacture, of any part of Europe, or any other part of the world, imported from Great Britain or Ireland, in case they have been entered and cleared in any part of either of those kingdoms, as fully as to goods, wares, and merchandize, of the growth, production and manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, and that the said first article ought to be so

construed by all concerned, and in that universal sense carried strictly into execution.

Ordered, That Col. Heath, Col. Gerrish, Col. Gardner, Capt. Fuller, Col. Thomas, Col. Orne, and Col. Barnes, be a committee to take into consideration a plan of military exercise, proposed by Capt. Timothy Pickering.

Ordered, That the petition of the officers in the northwesterly part of the county of Worcester, be committed to the same committee, ||to|| report.

Afternoon.

The committee appointed to bring in a resolve, relative to the petition of Rev. Mr. Backus, in behalf of the Baptists, reported; which was read and accepted, and the secretary directed to send him a copy of the resolve, which [is] as followeth, viz :

On reading the memorial of the Rev. Isaac Backus, agent to the Baptist churches in this government, Resolved, That the establishment of civil and religious liberty, to each denomination in the province, is the sincere wish of this Congress; but being by no means vested with powers of civil government, whereby they can redress the grievances of any person whatsoever, they therefore recommend to the Baptist churches, that, when a general assembly shall be convened in this colony, they lay the real grievances of said churches before the same, when and where their petition will most certainly meet with all that attention due to the memorial of a denomination of christians so well disposed to the public weal of their country.

Ordered, That Mr. Stickney, Col. Gardner, Col. Pomeroy, Col. Thayer, and Mr. Wheeler, be a committee to wait on the Rev. Doct. Appleton, and return him the thanks of this Congress for his services as chaplain during this session.

Ordered, That Major Fuller, Capt. Brown, and Mr. Pigeon, be a committee to wait on the proprietors of the meeting-house and return them the thanks of the Congress for the use thereof.

The Congress then adjourned for half an hour.

Being met upon the adjournment, Mr. President brought into Congress a letter from the committee of correspondence of the town of Hardwick, with a number of papers enclosed, which were read; the Congress then ordered that Mr. Sullivan, Mr. Pickering, Col. Gardner, Col. Mandell, and Col. Danielson, be a committee to take the same into consideration and report in the morning.

||Then the Congress|| adjourned till nine o'clock to-morrow morning.

SATURDAY, December 10, 1774, A. M.

The committee ||appointed|| to take into consideration the letter and papers enclosed, received from the committee of correspondence of the town of Hardwick, reported; which was read and accepted, and ordered to be published in the public papers, and also the papers on which the said report is founded. The report is as followeth, viz:

Whereas, it appears to this Congress, that one or more members of the lately appointed unconstitutional council in this province, now residing in Boston, has sent to the town of Hardwick, a paper purporting [to be] an association to be entered into by those persons who falsely assume the name of friends to government;1 calculated to coun

(1) The following is the form of the association, intended for the signature of the royalists, prepared, and sent by the Hon. Timothy Ruggles to the town of Hardwick, where he had resided until his acceptance of the appointment of mandamus counsellor compelled him to seek refuge from public indignation in Boston:

"We, the subscribers, being fully sensible of the blessings of good government on the one hand, and convinced, on the other hand, of the evils and calamities attending on tyranny in all shapes, whether exercised by one or many, and having lately seen, with great grief and concern, the distressing efforts for a dissolution of all government, whereby our lives, liberties, and properties, are rendered precarious, and no longer under the protection of the law and apprehending it to be our indispensable duty, to use all lawful means in our power for the defence of our persons and property against all riotous and lawless violence and to recover, and secure the advantages which we are entitled to have, from the good and wholesome laws of the government, do hereby associate, and mutually covenant, and engage to and with each other, as follows, viz:

"1. That we will, on all occasions, with our lives, and fortunes, stand by and assist each other in the defence of life, liberty, and property, whenever the same shall be attacked or endangered by any bodies of men, riotously assembled, upon any pretence or under any authority not warranted by the laws of the land."

"2. That we will, upon all occasions, mutually support each other in the free exercise and enjoyment of our undoubted right to liberty, in eating, drinking, buying, selling, communing and acting, what, with whom, and as we please, consistent with the laws of God, and of the King."

"3. That we will not acknowledge, or submit to the pretended authority of any Congresses, committees of correspondence, or other unconstitutional assemblies of men but will, at the risk of our lives, if need be, oppose the forcible exercise of all such authority."

"4. That we will, to the utmost of our power, promote, encourage, and, when called to it, enforce obedience to the rightful authority of our most gracious sovereign, King George the Third, and of his laws."

"5. That when the person or property of any one of us shall be invaded or threatened by any committees, mobs, or unlawful assemblies, the others of us, will, upon notice received, forthwith repair, properly armed, to the person whom, or place where such invasion or threatening shall be, and will, to the utmost of our power, defend such person and his property, and, if need be, will oppose and repel force with force."

"6. That if any one of us shall unjustly and unlawfully be injured in his person or property, by any such assemblies as before mentioned, the others of us will, unitedly, demand, and, if in our power, compel the offenders, if known, to make full reparation and satisfaction for such injury and if all other means of security fail we will have recourse to the natural law of retaliation." "In witness of all which we hereto subscribe our names."

As the order of the Congress for the publication of these resolutions was not immediately executed, a copy was sent by the writer himself, to the printer of the Boston Evening Post, and inserted in that paper, December 26, 1774, with a letter from General Ruggles, in which he writes thus: "As many of the people for some time past have been arming themselves, it may not be amiss to let them know, that their number will not appear in the field so large as was imagined before it was known that independence was in contemplation; since which, many have associated in divers parts of the province to preserve their freedom and support government."