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some step for the encouragement of collecting of linen rags in their respective towns [was] read and Ordered, that Mr. Gorham, Mr. Bigelow, and Mr. Freeman, be a committee to bring in a resolve recommending the saving of linen rags, according to the prayer of the petition.

Resolved, That the Congress will now proceed to the choice of some person to serve on the committee of safety, in the place of Norton Quincy, Esq., who declined serving thereon.

Ordered, That Mr. Pitts, Major Fuller, and Doct. Holten, be a committee to count and sort the votes for a person to serve on the committee of safety, in the stead of Norton Quincy, Esq., who declined serving thereon.

The Congress then proceeded to bring in their votes for a person to serve on the committee of safety: the committee having sorted and counted the same, reported that Mr. Jabez Fisher was chosen.

Resolved, That to-morrow morning at ten o'clock, the Congress will come to the choice of some person to serve on the committee of supplies, instead of Mr. Hall, who hath been excused.

The Congress then|| adjourned till to-morrow morning, nine o'clock.

THURSDAY, February 9, 1775, A. M.

The report of the committee relative to the power of the committee of safety, and the power of the general officers, being amended, was accepted, and is as followeth, viz:

Resolved, That the Hon. John Hancock, Esq., Doct. Joseph Warren, Doct. Benjamin Church, Jun., Mr. Richard Devens, Capt. Benjamin White, Col. Joseph Palmer, Mr. Abraham Watson, Col. Azor Orne, Mr. John Pigeon, Col. William Heath, and Mr. Jabez Fisher, be and hereby are appointed a committee of safety, to continue until the farther order of this or some other Congress, or house of representatives of this province; whose business and duty it shall be, most carefully and diligently to inspect and observe all and every such person or persons as shall at any time attempt to carry into execution by force, an act of the British parliament, entitled "an act for the better regulating the government of the province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England;" or who shall attempt to carry into execution by force, another act of the British parliament, entitled "an act for the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons questioned for an 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" which said committee, or any five of them, provided always

that not more than one of the said five shall be an inhabitant of the town of Boston, shall have power, and they are hereby empowered and directed, when they shall judge that such attempt or attempts are made, to alarm, muster, and cause to be assembled with the utmost expedition, and completely armed, accoutred and supplied with provisions sufficient for their support in their march to the place of rendezvous, such and so many of the militia of this province, as they shall judge necessary for the end and purpose of opposing such attempt or attempts, and at such place or places as they shall judge proper; and them to discharge as the safety of the province shall permit.

And this Congress doth most earnestly recommend to all the officers and soldiers of the militia in this province, who shall from time to time during the commission of the said committee, receive any call or order from the said committee, to pay the strictest obedience thereto, as they |||| regard the liberties and lives of themselves and the people of this province-any order or orders of any former Congress varying therefrom notwithstanding.

Resolved, That the Hon. Jedediah Prebble, Esq., Hon. Artemas Ward, Esq., Col. Seth Pomeroy, Col. John Thomas, and Col. William Heath, be and they hereby are appointed general officers; whose business and duty it shall be, with such and so many of the militia of this province, as shall be assembled by order of the committee of safety, effectually to oppose and resist such attempt or attempts as shall be made for carrying into execution by force, an act of the British Parliament, entitled "an act for the better regulating the government of the province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England," or who shall attempt the carrying into execution by force, another act of the British parliament, entitled " an act for the more 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," so long as the said militia shall be retained by the committee of safety and no longer; and the said general officers shall, while in the said service, command, lead and conduct, in such opposition, in the order in which they are above named, any order or orders of any former Congress varying therefrom, notwithstanding.

The order of the day was moved for.

Upon a motion, Ordered, That a committee be appointed to count and sort the votes for the choice of a person to serve on the committee of supplies in the place of Mr. Hall, who hath been excused; ac

a shall.

cordingly Mr. Sayer, Mr. Lothrop, and Capt. Greenleaf, were appointed.

The Congress then proceeded to bring in their votes for a person to serve on the committee of supplies; after counting and sorting the same, the committee reported that Mr. Manning was chosen. Upon a motion made by Mr. Manning, the question was put whether he be excused from serving on the committee of supplies, and passed in the affirmative. The Congress then proceeded to bring in their votes for a person to serve in his place, and, after counting and sorting the same, the committee reported that Mr. Elbridge Gerry was chosen.

Ordered, That during the debates of the Congress, the members thereof be seated in their proper places.

A number of letters, said to be from gentlemen in England, were read; upon a motion, Ordered, that they be committed to the committee on the state of the province, to take them into consideration and report.

The committee appointed to prepare an address to the inhabitants of this province, having amended their report, the same was read, considered and accepted, and ordered to be attested and added to the pamphlet directed to be printed by this Congress, and is as followeth, viz:

To the Inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay.

Friends and Fellow SuffererS:-When a people entitled to that freedom, which your ancestors have nobly preserved, as the richest inheritance of their children, are invaded by the hand of oppression, and trampled on by the merciless feet of tyranny, resistance is so far from being criminal, that it becomes the christian and social duty of each individual.

While you see the lives of your fellow men, in other nations, sported with and destroyed, and their estates confiscated by their prince, only to gratify the caprice, ambition, or avarice of a tyrant, you ought to entertain and cultivate in your minds, the highest gratitude to the Supreme Being, for his having placed you under such a form of government, as, when duly administered, gives the meanest peasant the same security in his life and property, as his sovereign has in his crown.

This constitution of government secures to each one subject thereto, such an entire property in his inheritance and the fruit of his industry, that they cannot be taken from him without his personal or representative consent; and as the evidence of entire property arises from the uncontrollable power of disposing, when your estates shall be brought into such a situation, or under such a form of government, as

that they can be disposed of or granted by persons who are by no means accountable to you therefor, you cease to have any thing more than a licensed and precarious property in them.

Notwithstanding these principles have been warmly contended for and nobly defended at the expense of much blood and treasure, by your British ancestors, who have ever been seriously alarmed at the least infringement on this branch of their happy privileges, the house of commons there, over whom you have not the least control, and in whose election you have no voice, have claimed and exercised the power of granting your money without your consent; and what renders the same more aggravated, is, that the money extorted from you, is applied to the vile purpose of maintaining a set of men, who, through depravity of mind, and cruelty of disposition, have been, and still are, endeavoring to enforce certain acts of parliament, made with express purpose to take from you your charter rights, and reduce you to a state of misery, equal to that ever attendant on those, whose prince has the sole disposal of their lives and properties.

Fleets, troops, and every implement of war, are sent into the province, with apparent design to wrest from you that freedom which it is your duty, even at the risk of your lives, to hand inviolate to posterity.

Those strides of tyranny have fixed the united attention of all America; and, being greatly and justly alarmed, the wisdom of the whole continent has been collected in that Congress, whose salutary resolutions have pointed you to effectual means of redress, and the execution of the plan projected by that honorable assembly, has been warmly recommended to you by your former Provincial Congress.

The transactions of your former Congress, with regard to placing the militia on such a footing as may serve to defend you from each act of hostility that may be offered, have been carefully transmitted to you, and we rejoice to hear, that you have cheerfully paid the strictest attention to them, and ardently wish that the same martial spirit which so remarkably prevails among you may be encouraged and increased.

Though we deprecate a rupture with the mother state, yet we must still urge you to every preparation for your necessary defence; for, unless you exhibit to your enemies such a firmness as shall convince them that you are worthy of that freedom your ancestors fled here to enjoy, you have nothing to expect but the vilest and most abject slavery.

The foregoing sheets contain the resolutions of your former Congress, respecting the improvement of your public monies at this critical juncture of your public affairs. Such is the alarming state of the

province, that the necessity of punctually complying with these resolves can, by no means, need any further argument to stimulate thereto, than what naturally arises from facts under your constant observation; but as necessary preparations for your defence require immediate supplies of money, duty and faithfulness to you, compel us to take leave to hint, that, should you be so unhappy as to be driven to unsheath the sword, in defence of your lives and properties, the having proper magazines duly prepared, may give that success which cannot be expected without them.

Subjects generally pay obedience to the laws of the land, to avoid the penalty that accrues on breach of them; and on the same principles we are assured, that, as you hitherto have, you will continue still strictly to adhere to the resolutions of your several congresses; for we can conceive of no greater punishment for the breach of human laws, than the misery that must inevitably follow your disregarding the plans, that have, by your authority, with that of the whole continent, been projected.

Your conduct hitherto, under the severest trials, has been worthy of you as men and christians, and, notwithstanding the pains that have been taken by your enemies, to inculcate the doctrines of non-resistance and passive obedience, and, by every art, to delude and terrify you, the whole continent of America has, this day, cause to rejoice in your firmness. We trust you will still continue steadfast, and having regard to the dignity of your characters as freemen, and those generous sentiments resulting from your natural and political connections, you will never submit your necks to the galling yoke of despotism prepared for you; but with a proper sense of your dependance on God, nobly defend those rights which Heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.

An address from the committee of correspondence of the town of Scituate and others, showing that a number of his majesty's troops are now stationed in the town of Marshfield, &c. ||^was|| read:

Ordered, That Doct. Warren, Doct. Taylor, Col. Henshaw, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Gill, be a committee to take the same into consideration, and the papers accompanying it, and report.

Ordered, That Mr. Sullivan Mr. Pickering, and Capt. Greenleaf, be a committee to bring in a resolve, empowering the committee of safety to take into their hands the warlike stores, the property of the province. Ordered, That Col. Thomas, Col. Heath, Hon. Col. Ward, Col.

a. being.

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