The Connecticut courant and Hartford weekly intelligencer — Hartford, Conn., 1774-09-26 00:00:00, page 2

as possible, and do for that purpose appear under
arms at least once every week.
12. That during the present hostile appearances
on the part of Great-Britain, nofwithftanding the
many infinite, and oppeflions, which we most fen
ffblyrreset;n t; yet, nevertheless, from our affeflion
to his Ma^efty, which we have at all times evi-
Aenced, we are determined to aft merely upon the
defensive, so long as such conduft may be vindicated
by reason, and the principles of felf preservation;
but no longer.
13. That as we underhand it has been in con
templation to apprehend sundry persons of this
county, who have rendered themselves conspicu
ous in contending for the violated rights and li
berties of their countrymen, we do recommend,
ihould such an audacious measure be put in prac
tice, to seize and keep in fafe cullody, every ser
vant of the present tyrannical and unconstitutional
government, throughout the county and province,
until the persons so apprehended be liberated from
. the hands of our adversaries, and restored fafe and
uninjured to their refpedtive friends and families.
14. That until our rights are fully restored to
ns, we will .to the utmost of our power, and re
commend the fame to the other counties, withhold
all commercial intercourse with Great-Britain, Ire
land, and the Weft-Indies; and abstain from the
consumption of Britilh merchandize and manufac
tures, and especially of East-India teas, and piece
goods, with such additions, alterations, and ex
ceptions only, as the Grand Congress of the colonies
may agree to.
15. That under our present circumstances, it is
incumbent on us to encourage arts, and manufac
tures among us, by all means in our power; and
that
be and hereby are appointed a Committee to con
fider of the best ways and means to promote and
eftablilh the fame, and to report to this convention
as soon as may be.
16. That the exigencies of our public affairs de
mand, that a provincial Congress be called to con
cert such. mcafures as may be adopted, and vigor
ously executed; by the whole people; and we do
recommend it to the several towns in this county,
to chufe members for such a provincial Congress,
to be hold^n at Concord, on the second Tuesday
of Ofiobernext ensuing.
17. That this county confiding in the wisdom
and integrity of the continental Congress, now fit
ting at Philadelphia, nay all due refpccl and fub
milfion to such measures as may be recommended
by them to the colonies, for the reiteration and
eftabliihment of our just rights, civil and religious;
and for renewing that harmony and union between
Great Britain and the colonies, so earnestly wished
for by all good men.
18 That whereas the universal uneasiness which
prevails among all orders of men, arising from the
wicked and oppreflive measures of the present ad
ministration, may influence fame unthinking per
lons to commit outrage upon private property; we
would heartily recommend to all persons of this
community, not to engage in anyroitts, riots, or li
centious attacks upon the properties of any person
whatsoever, as being subversive of all order and
government; but by a steady, manly, uniform and
persevering opposition, to convince our enemies that
in a contest so important, in a caufefo folcmn, our
condufl shall be such as to merit the approbation of
the wife, and the admiration of the brave and free
of every age, and of every country.
19. That Ihould our enemies by any sudden ma
noeuvres, render it necessary to alk the aid and as
sistance of our brethren in the country, some one
of the Committee of Correspondence, or a feleft
man of such town, or the town adjoining, where
such hostilities (hall commence, or shall be expect
ed to commence, shall dispatch couriers with writ
ten messages to the fekft men or Committees of
Correspondence of the several towns.in the vicinity,
with a written account of such matter, who shall
dispatch others to committees more remote, until
proper and fufEcicnt afliftance be obtained; and
that the expencc of said couriers be defrayed by
the County, until it fnall be otherwise ordered by
. the provincial Congress.
At a meeting cf the Delegates from the several toVons and
difrldls in the county cf Suffolk, held at. Midton, on
Eri day the gth day of September, ly 74.
VOTE D,
THAT Dr. Joseph Warren, Boston; Dr. Ben
jamin Church, ditto; Deacon Joseph Palmer,
Germantown; Capt. Lemuel Robin fon,Dorchefter;
Capt. William Hdath, Roxbury; Col. Ebenezer
Thayer, Braintree; William Holden Esq; Dor
chester; Col. William Taylor, Milton; Capt.
John Homans, Dorchefler; Isaac Gardiner, Esq;
Brooklyn; Dr. Samtiel Gardiner, Milton; Natha
niel Summer, Esq; Dedham; Capt. Thomas Af
pinwall, Brooklyn; Be a committee to wait on
his Excellency the Governor, to inform him that
this county arc alarmed at the fortifications making
•on Boston neck, and to rcmonftrate against the
1 tepeated faits offered by the fol -
diery to persons palling and repaying into thht town,
and to confer with him upon those fubje&s. Atief.
William Thompson, Clerk.
To his Excellency THOMAS GAGE, E/q', Captain
General, and Commander in Chief of-all his Majefy'f
province of Massachusetts-Bay.
May it please your Excellency,
'J 1 HE county of Suffolk being greatly, arid in
their opinion justly alarmed, at the formida
ble appearances of hostility now threatening his
Majesty’s good fubjeds of this county, and more
particularly of the town of Boston, the loyal an.d
faithful capital of this province ; beg leave to ad
dress your Excellency, and represent that the ap
prehensions of the people are more especially in
creased by the dangerous design now carrying into
execution, of repairing and manning the. fortificati
on, at the south entrance of the town of Boston,
which when compleated may at any time be im
proved to aggravate the miseries of that already im
poverished and diftreft city, by intercepting the
wonted and necessary intercourse between the town
and country, and compel the wretched inhabitants
to the most ignominous state of humiliation and
vassalage, by depriving them of the necessary fop
plies of provisions, for which they are chiefly de
pendant on that communication : We have been in
formed that your Excellency in confeqilence of the
application of the Seleft Men of Boston, has in
deed disavowed any intention to injure the town in
yourprefent manoeuvres, and expressed your pur
pose to be for the security of the troops, and his
Majesty’s fubjedts in the town ; we are at a loss to
guess, may it please your Excellency, from whence
your want of confidence in the loyal and orderly
people of this county could originate; a measure so
formidable carried into execution, from a pre-con
ceived though causeless jealousy of the insecurity of
his Majesty’s troops and fubjedts in the to'wn, deeply
wounds the loyalty, and is an additional.injury to
the faithful fubjefts of this county; and affords
them a strong motive for this application : We there
fore entreat ydur Excellency to desist from your de
sign, altering your Excellency, that the people of
this county, are by no means disposed to injure his
Majesty’s troops; they think themselves aggrieved.,
and oppressed by the late acts of Parliament; and
ae resolved by divine affftance, never to submit to
them ; but have no inclination to commence a war
with his Majesty’s troops, and beg leave to observe
to your Excellency, that the ferment row excited
in the minds of the people is occasioned by some
tranfaftions, by seizing the powder in the arienal at
Charleftown,'by withholding the powder lodged
in the magazine of the town of Boston from the le
gal proprietors, insulting, beating, and abufin.g
passengers to and from the town of Boston, by the
soldiery; in which they have been encouraged by
some of their officers, putting the people in fear,
and menacing them in their nightly patrole into the
neighbouring towns, and “more particularly by the
fortifying the foie avenue by land to the town of
Boston.
In duty therefore, to his Majesty, and to your
Excellency, and for the reiteration of order, and se
curity to this county, we the delegates from the se
veral towns in this county, being coinmiflioned for
this purpose, beg your Excellency’s attention to this
our humble and faithful address, altering you that
nothing less than an immediate removal of the ord
nance, and restoring the entrance into that town to
its former state, and an efte&ual flop to all abuses
in future, can place the inhabitants of this county
in that state of peace and tranquility in which every
free fubjeft ought to live.
His Excellency was waited on to know if he
would receive the committee with the above writ
ten. address, but desiring he might have a copy cf
it in a private way, that so when he received itYrora
the committee, he might have an an Ever prepared
for them, he was accordingly furnilhed with a co
py. His Excellency then declared that he would
receive the committee on Monday at 12 o’clock,
Saturday, Sept. 10, 1774.
The Congrefc taking the foregoing into consi
deration,
Resolved unanimoufy,
THxAT this assembly deeply feels the fuffering
of their countrymen in the Massachusetts-Bay under
the operation cf the late unjust, cruel, and oppreflive
ads of the Britilh Parliament—-that they most
thoroughly approve the wisdom and fortitude with
which opposition to these wicked mihifterial mea
sures has hitherto been conduced, and they earnest
ly recommend to their brethren a per fever an ce in the
fame firm and temperate conduct as expressed in the
rcfolutions determined upon at a meeting of thede
legates for the county of Suffolk, on Tuesday the
6th inst. trusting that the effect of the united efforts
of North America in their behalf, will carry such
conviction to the Britilh nation of the unwise, unjust,
and ruinous policy of the present administration, as
quickly to introduce better men and wiser measures.
Resolved unanimoufy.
That contributions from all the colonies for fop
plying the neceffties and alleviating rhe distresses
of odr brethren at Boston ought to be continued;
in tech manner and so long as their occafioas may
require. , ■
BOSTON, (Monday Sept. 19.)
Governor Gage's Anfveer, to the Suffolk Address.
Gentlemen,
T Hoped the assurances I gave the Seleft-men of
x Boston, on the fubjed you now address me, had
been fatisfaftory to everybody. 1 cannot possibly in
tercept the intercourse between the town and coun
try; it is my duty and intent to encourage it; and
it is as much inconsistent with my duty and intent,
to form the strange scheme you are pfoafed to frrg
geft of reducing the inhabitants to a state of humi
liation and vaflalage, by flopping iheir supplies;
nor have I made it caller to effect this, than wh;t
nature has made it. You mention the foldurs in
sulting and abusing passengers, as a common thing ;
an instance perhaps may be given of the b^d beha
viour of some disorderly foldicrs; but Im lift appeal
to the inhabitants of both town and country, for
their general good behaviour from their firft arrival,
to this tinid.
I would arte what occasion there is for such num
bers going armed in and cut of the town, and
through the country, in a hostile manner? or why
were the guns removed privately in the night, from
the battery'- at Chaileftown ?
The refufing fubmifiion to the late afts cf ParHa
ment, I find general thorughout the province; and I
shall lay the fame before his Majeflv.
BofonSept. 12th 1774 THO’s. GAGE.
We hear the 30 cherts of tea that lately arrived at
Portsmouth in the mast-ship, have been shipped on
board a vefiel bound to Hailifax, which failed for
that place last week. It is laid in future no such
Indulgence will be allowed there.
BOSTON, (Thursday) September 22.
Upon receiving the last answer of his Excellency,
the Committee met together, and having carefully
pern fed the fame, were unanimously of Opinion,
That his Excellency’s Answer could not be deemed
fatisfaftory to the County.-—And further, That his
Excellency in his reply had been pleafedto propbfe
several Quefticns,which if unanswered by theCom
mittee, would leave on the minds df People not ful
ly acquainted with the State of Fadis some very dis
agreeable Impreflions concerning the Conduct and
Behaviour of the People in the County & Province.
And the following Address was unanimously voted
to be presented to his Excellency.
May it Pleafeyour Excellency,
^HE Amwer you have been pleased to favour us
with to the Address this Day presented to ydu,
gives us Satisfaction so far as it relates to your own
Intentions; and we thank your Excellency for the
- Declaration- yt>u have made, that it is your Duty &
Interest to encourage an Intercourse between Town
and Country ; and we intreat your indulgence while
we inodeftly reply to the Questions proposed in your
Answer. Your Excellency is too well acquainted
with the human Heart not to be sensible that it is
natural for the People to be loured by Opprcffion,
and jealous fortheir personal Security, when their
Exertions for the Preservation of their Rights are
construed intoTreafon and Rebellion. Our Liber
ties are invaded by Afis of the British Farliamtnt,
Troops are sent to enforce those Adis. They are
now erecting Fortifications at the Entrance ci the
Town of Borton, upon the compleating these, the
Inhabitants of the Town of Boston will be in the
Power of a Soldiery who must implicitly obey the
Orders of an Administration who have hitherto evi
denced no Angular Regard to the Liberties of Ame
rica. The'Lown is already greatly impovc.’Aed
anddiftrefs’d by the Operation cf the barbarous
Port-Bill. Your Excellency, we are perfii ad cd,from
Principles of Humanity,would refofc to bean Actor
in the tragical Scene that muHenfue upon Glutting
up the Avenues to the Town, and icdhcing the In
habitants by Distress and Famine, to a difgraceful
and itaviih Submiff.on ; but that cruel Work may
possibly be reserved for a Successor. disposed and in
ftrudled thereto. Daily Supplies of Provisions are
necessary for the Subfiflance of the Inhabitants of
the Town. The Country disgusted and jealous at
the formidable Operations now Carrying on, forvey
with Horror, a Plan concerted—-v/hereby the Inha
bitants of the Town of Boston may be imprisoned Sc
starved at the Will of a Military Command. They
kindly invite them to abandon the Town, and earn
estly solicit them to (hare the homely Banquet cf
Peace in the Country. Should their refufai involve
them in Miseries hitherto unheard cf, and hardly
conceiv’d of, the Country must ft and acquitted, and
will not held their Liberties so Icofely as to faeriitee
them to the Obflinacy of their Brethren in i often.
Your Excellency has been pleased to order the
Powder from the Magazine in Charleftown, to for
bid the Delivery of the Powder in the Magazine of
Boston to the legal Proprietors, to seize the Cannon,
at Cambridge, and bring a formidable Number
from Caftlc William, which arc now placed at the
Entrance of the Town cf Boston. And have like
wise, in Addition to the Troops new heie, been
pleased to lend for Reinforcements, to Quebec and