USA > Massachusetts > The journals of each Provincial congress of Massachusetts in 1774 and 1775, and of the Committee of safety, with an appendix, containing the proceedings of the county conventions-narratives of the events of the nineteenth of April, 1775 > Part 13
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4th. The making of steel, and the preferable use of the same, we do also recommend to the inhabitants of this colony.
5th. We do in like manner recommend the making tin plate, as an article well worth the attention of this people.
6th. As fire arms have been manufactured in several parts of this colony, we do recommend the use of such in preference to any import- ed; and we do recommend the making gun-locks, and furniture, and other locks, with other articles in the iron way.
7th. We do also earnestly recommend the making of saltpetre, as
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· FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
[Dec. 8,
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 repair- ing 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 ad- vantage 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 necessa- ry in our woollen manufactures.
15th. We do in like manner heartily recommend the preferable use of the stockings and other hosiery ||ªwove|| 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 busi- ness, and which may be easily raised and cured among ourselves, we do therefore earnestly recommend the raising and curing the same.
a ||worn.|}
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FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
1774.]
17th. In order the more effectually to carry these resolutions into effect, we do earnestly recommend that a society or societies be estab- lished for the purposes of introducing and establishing such arts and manufactures as may be useful to this people, and are not yet introduc- ed, 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 pre- ference 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 bond- men procured by the receiver general, reported that they had attended [to] that service, and that the gentlemen he had engaged as his | bond- men were in their opinion a very ample security|| for the sum men- tioned.
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 or- dered to lie on the table, be now taken up; which was taken up ac- cordingly, 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 subvert- ing our ancient constitution and the liberties of all North America, it
a |security were amply sufficient.||
9
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was indispensably necessary that a considerable sum of money should be immediately laid out for the just defence of this people ; and where- as, by a resolve of the Congress, bearing date the 28th of said Octo- ber, and published in the newspapers, it was, among other things, ear- nestly recommended to the several towns and districts, that they would cause to be paid into the hands of Henry Gardner, Esq., all the pro- vince moneys due from them respectively, to supply the said pressing exigencies of the colony; and whereas, the danger ||ªwhich|| 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 provid- ing against the imminent dangers above mentioned. And the members of the Congress are hereby desired to ||buse|| 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 report- ed 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 manu- facture, of any part of Europe, or any other part of the world, import- ed 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
a ||that.||
b ||exert.|| :
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1774.]
construed by all concerned, and in that universal sense carried strictly into execution.
Ordered, That Col. Heath, Col. Gerrishı, 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. Timo- thy Pickering.
Ordered, That the petition of the officers in the northwesterly part of the county of Worcester, be committed to the same committee, ||toll report.
Afternoon.
The committee appointed to bring in a resolve, relative to the pe- tition 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 colo- ny, 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 Con- gress 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.
.
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FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
[Dec. 10,
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 re- siding in Boston, has sent to the town of Hardwick, a paper purport- ing [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, pre- pared, 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 pub- lic 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 distress- ing efforts for a dissolution of all government, whereby our lives, liberties, and properties, are ren- dered precarious, and no longer under the protection of the law : and apprehending it to be our in- dispensahle 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, mntually support each other in the free exercise and en- joyment 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, en- force 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, forth- with 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 he, 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 pow- er, 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 execut- ed, 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."
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FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
1774.]
teract the salutary designs of the Continental and Provincial Congresses, to deceive the people into agreements contrary to the welfare of this country, and tending in its consequences to hinder an amicable accom- modation with our mother country, the sole end of those Congresses, and the ardent wish of every friend to America : it is therefore recom- inended by this Congress to the several committees of correspondence in this colony, that they give notice to the Provincial Congress, that shall meet in this province on the first day of February next, and the earliest notice to the public, of all such combinations, and of the per- sous signing the same, if any should be enticed thereto, that their names may be published to the world, their persons treated with that neglect, and their memories transmitted to posterity with that ignominy, which such unnatural conduct inust deserve.
The committee on the state of the province reported an address to the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay ; the report was considered in paragraphs, and so passed, and was ordered to be printed in all the Boston newspapers, and also in handbills, and a copy thereof sent to all the towns and districts in the province, and is as followeth, viz :
To the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Towns and Districts of Massachusetts Bay.
FRIENDS AND BRETHREN : At a time when the good people of this colony were deprived of their laws, and the administration of justice, civil and criminal ; when the cruel oppressions brought on their capi- tal had stagnated almost all their commerce; when a standing army was illegally posted among us for the express purpose of enforcing sub- mission to a system of tyranny ; and when the general court was, with the same design, prohibited to sit ; we were chosen and empowered by you to assemble and consult upon measures necessary for our common safety and defence.
With much anxiety for the common welfare, we have attended this service, and upon the coolest deliberation have adopted the measures recommended to you.
We have still confidence in the wisdom, justice, and goodness of our sovereign, as well as the integrity, humanity and good sense of the nation ; and if we had a reasonable expectation that the truth of facts would be made known in England, we should entertain the most pleas- ing hopes that the measures concerted by the colonies jointly and sev- erally, would procure a full redress of our grievances ; but we are con- strained in justice to you, to ourselves, and posterity, to say, that the incessant and unrelenting malice of our enemies has been so success-
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FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS.
[Dec. 10.
ful as to fill the court and kingdom of Great Britain with falsehoods and calumnies concerning us, and to excite the most bitter and ground- less prejudices against us; that the sudden dissolution of parliament, and the hasty summons for a new election, gives us reason to appre- hend that a majority of the house of commons will be again elected under the influence of an arbitrary ministry ; and that the general tenor of our intelligence from Great Britain, with the frequent rein- forcements of the army and navy at Boston, excites the strongest jeal- ousy that the system of colony administration, so unfriendly to the protestant religion, and destructive of American liberty, is still to be pursued and attempted with force to be carried into execution.
You are placed by Providence in [the] post of honor, because it is the post of danger : and while struggling for the noblest objects, the liber- ties of your country, the happiness of posterity, and [the] rights of hu- man nature, the eyes not only of North America and the whole British empire, but of all Europe, are upon you. Let us be therefore alto- gether solicitous, that no disorderly behavior, nothing unbecoming our characters as Americans, as citizens, and christians, be justly charge- able to us.
Whoever, with a small degree of attention, contemplates the com- merce between Great Britain and America, will be convinced that a total stoppage thereof, will soon produce in Great Britain such danger- ous effects, as cannot fail to convince the ministry, the parliament, and people, that it is their interest and duty to grant us relief. Whoever considers the number of brave men inhabiting North America, will know, that a general attention to military discipline must so establish their rights and liberties, as, under God, to render it impossible for an arbitrary ministry of Britain to destroy them. These are facts which our enemies are apprized of, and if they will not be influenced by principles of justice, to alter their cruel measures towards America, these ought to lead them thereto. They, however, hope to effect by stratagem what they may not obtain by power, and are using arts, by the assistance of base scribblers, who undoubtedly receive their bribes, and by many other means, to raise doubts and divisions throughout the colonies.
To defeat their ||ªiniquitous|| designs, we think it necessary for each town to be particularly careful, strictly to execute the plans of the Con- tinental and Provincial Congresses ; and while it censures its own in- dividuals, counteracting those plans, that it be not deceived or diverted from its duty by rumors, should any take place, to the prejudice of
a ||wicked.||
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other communities. Your Provincial Congresses, we have reason to hope, will hold up the towns, if any should be so lost as not to act their parts, and none can doubt that the Continental Congresses will rec- tify errors should any take place in any colony through the subtilty of our enemies. Surely no arguments can be necessary to excite you to the most strict adherence to the American association, since the mi- nutest deviation in one colony, especially in this, will probably be mis- represented in the others, to discourage their general zeal and perse- verance, which, however, we assure ourselves cannot be effected.
While the British ministry are suffered with so higli a hand to tyran- nize over America, no part of it, we presume, can be negligent in guard- ing against the ravages threatened by the standing army now in Bos- ton ; these troops will undoubtedly be employed in attempts to defeat the association, which our enemies cannot but fear will eventually de- feat them ; and so sanguinary are those our enemies, as we have reason to think, so thirsty for the blood of this innocent people, who are only contending for their rights, that we should be guilty of the most unpardonable neglect should we not apprize you of your danger, which appears to us imminently great, and ought attentively to be guarded against. The improvement of the militia in general in the art military has been therefore thought necessary, and strongly recom- mended by this Congress. We now think that particular care should be taken by the towns and districts in this colony, that each of the minute men, not already provided therewith, should be immediately equipped with an effective fire arm, bayonet, pouch, knapsack, thirty rounds of cartridges and balls, and that they be disciplined three times a week, and oftener, as opportunity may offer. To encourage these, our worthy countrymen, to obtain the skill of complete soldiers, we recommend it to the towns and districts forthwithi to pay their own minute men a reasonable consideration for their services : and in case of a general muster, their further services must be recompensed by the province. An attention to discipline the militia in general is, however, by no means to be neglected.
With the utmost cheerfulness we assure you of our determination to stand or fall with the liberties of America; and while we humbly im- plore the Sovereign Disposer of all things, to whose divine providence the rights of his creatures cannot be indifferent, to correct the errors, and alter the measures of an infatuated ministry, we cannot doubt of his support even in the extreme difficulties which we all may have to encounter. May all means devised for our safety by the General Con- gress of America, and assemblies or conventions of the colonies, be
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FIRST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. [Dec. 10.
resolutely executed, and happily succeeded ; and may this injured peo- ple be reinstated in the full exercise of their rights without the evils and devastations of a 'civil war.
Ordered, That the members of the town of Boston, with the secre- tary, be a committee to revise the doings of this Congress, and cause such parts thereof, as they think fit should be published, to be printed in a pamphlet, and a copy thereof be sent to every town and district in this province.
The report of the committee on the state of the province, relative to assuming civil government, [was] taken up, and ordered further to lie on the table.
Ordered, That the members be enjoined to attend in the afternoon. ||Then the Congress|| adjourned to three o'clock this afternoon.
Afternoon.
The committee appointed to collect the several expenses which have accrued to the Congress in this and a former session thereof, reported; which report was read and accepted, and the receiver general ordered to pay and discharge the several demands therein mentioned.
Ordered, That the secretary be directed to furnish the committee of safety with a number of attested copies of their appointment to that trust.
Resolved, That a gentleman be appointed in each county, to apply to the field officers of the regiments within the same, for the list of the names of the field officers of each regiment, the number of other offi- cers, and the number of the men therein, as well the minute men as the common militia, and return the same unto Mr. Abraham Watson, of Cambridge.
Accordingly, the following gentlemen were appointed : For the COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, Col. Heath ; ESSEX, Capt. Farley ; MIDDLESEX, Col. Smith ; HAMPSHIRE, Col. Pomeroy ; PLYMOUTH, Col. Warren ; BARNSTABLE, Daniel Davis, Esq. ; BRISTOL, Major Keith ; YORK, Mr. Sullivan; WORCESTER, Capt. Bigelow; CUMBERLAND, Mr. March ; BERKSHIRE, Doct. Whiting ; LINCOLN, Capt. Thompson ; DUKES COUN- TY, Joseph Mayhew, Esq.
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