temporary newspapers and publications, and from other authentic sources.

The text of the original journals has been carefully preserved, and the variations introduced by later writers, except such as were too inconsiderable to be matter of importance or curiosity, have been indicated.

Documents elucidating the subjects of action or debate, have been placed in connection with the proceedings of each Congress, and some brief explanatory notes occasionally added.

Preparations for defence, and the execution of important measures pointed out by each Congress, were confided to the committees of safety and of supplies. The proceedings of these bodies while their sessions were held in union, and of the former, after the increasing weight of labor and responsibility rendered a division of duties necessary, were closely connected with the acts of the assemblies conferring the powers exercised for the common good. The journals, preserved with many imperfections, have been inserted in this volume.

The resolutions of the conventions held in the several counties, were of deep interest, and it is hoped, will be deemed appropriate additions to those of the representatives of the state. The whole journal of the local assembly held in Worcester, redeemed from the destruc

tion which has overwhelmed so many of the memorials of the revolution, has been printed with the notices of the acts of the other communities, unfortunately less full, but the most complete which could be obtained.

The records of the towns of Massachusetts, from the first practical attempt to separate the power of taxation and the right of representation, to the termination of the war of independence, are filled with papers breathing an ardent spirit of patriotism. On their pages are eloquent vindications of the principles of civil liberty, able expositions of chartered privileges, and bold appeals against the encroachments of the crown. They bring to us the thoughts and words of the fathers of the revolution as vividly as they rose on the minds or came from the lips of the authors of the heroic resolutions. Desirable as it was to embody these representations of the virtues of the patriots of former time, it was found that the doings of each of the municipal republics, formed connected series of noble acts and exertions, spreading through many years, and that a mere selection from among the documents, made at the risk of unjust preference, would impair the value by separation, and possibly prevent the collection and publication of all of these honorable relics.

Soon after the nineteenth of April, 1775, a narrative of the events of that memorable day was prepared, substantiated by numerous depositions of witnesses of the

ravages of the British during their excursion from Boston. They were transmitted to England and to the Continental Congress, and widely circulated, as the justification to the nation and the world, for the appeal to arms. These have been placed in the Appendix.

Frequent references in the journals to the letters of Arnold, and to communications relating to the capture of the fortresses at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, rendered the correspondence with Congress and the committees, a necessary supplement to the volume.

Some extracts have been made from the journals of the Continental Congress, detailing proceedings connected with the acts of the provincial assemblies. A few papers of interesting character, copied from the files,

have been added.

A copious table of the principal subjects, and a full index, will afford the means of ready access to the facts spread through the pages of the work, and will render the use more easy.

Such are the contents of this volume. It was conceived to be the primary purpose of the resolve authorizing the publication, to perpetuate materials for the history of a glorious era in our national existence. Within the restrictions imposed by its terms, efforts have been made to give to the records the best form which could

be bestowed. It was not the object of the legislature to provide for the preparation of a new narrative of the revolution, but to preserve the remains of the past. Had it been permitted, it would have been a pleasant labor to have drawn from the journals illustrations of the virtues of our ancestors, and of their devotion to liberty: the humbler duty of arranging some testimonials of their worth, it is hoped, will be found to have been executed with diligence and fidelity.

WILLIAM LINCOLN.

EXPLANATIONS OF THE REFERENCES.

Words in the original journals which have been omitted from the copy in the archives of the Commonwealth, and words different in the original from those in that copy, have been enclosed by parallels the reading of the original has been followed in this volume; that of the copy is placed at the foot of the page with appropriate references.

a The words added to the original journals in the copy before described, have been placed in the margin, and the place they occupied in the public transcript indicated by a letter of reference between parallels.

[] Words and passages neither in the original nor copy, inserted in the text of this edition, are enclosed between brackets.

[a] A letter of reference enclosed by brackets, points to some word removed from the text to the margin as being superfluous. Words clearly erroneous in the original or copy have been changed, and those substituted have been enclosed by the same marks, while suitable reference points to the words first used.