The Connecticut courant and Hartford weekly intelligencer — Hartford, Conn., 1775-02-27 00:00:00, page 2

In fa& a true history of the case is this. Our wor
thy progenitors, harraffed by the violence of perse
cution, and the oppression of,government, availed
themselves of a natural right inherent in every
member of society, that of recovering their natural
freedom and independency, by abandoning the
priviledges, and leaving the jurisdiction of a govern
ment which becomes intollerably oppreflive. They
renounced the jurifdiXicn of the British parliament,
and became private adventurers at their private
expence, and own rifque in the wilds of America.
Our pious forefathers soon found the means of ho
nestly succeeding the natives in the possession of their
lands ; at firft by a fair purchase, and afterwards,
sometimes by purchase, and sometimes by a juftifia
ble conquest. If in any inttance they did it by vio
lence unlawful, arid injustice, they did it in their
own wrong, and were amenable to God only and
their own consciences. Certain it is that they rose
up a generation of English Americans, in the dead
of the uncivilized natives, and equally with them
independent of all foreign powers under heaven,
except so far as a mutual stipulation between them
felve: and the King of England had made them de
pendent. What this stipulation was, what were its
qualities, how it was and ought to operate, is wor
thy your furious and impartial consideration.
It is of the last importance, in order to from a
proper judgment of ministerial measures, and the
opposition they have met with, to be determined in
our own minds, whether we area part of the British
empire, and of confequcnce subject to her supreme
authority. On this determination hang all their
laws and authority on the one hand, and on the o^
ther depends the propriety andjuftnefs of pad mea
sures, and the expediency and necessity of future ex
ertions. Ft will enable us to determine with ethical
certainty whether we violated the principles of equi
ty in the deftruXion of the tea, or whether it was
warranted by a prime law inherent, being wrote
with indelible characters on the table of the heart.
As also what is treason in relation to the present
contention, and who are the traitors, those who op
pose or those who endeavour to support and enforce
the new-fangled laws.
I shall go through the evidence upon this fubjeX
in a general way, and then descend to a consideration
of the arguments advanced by Maffachufettenfis, and
of fomecfhis capatal strokes in the sophistical sci
ence of convincing. In doing of which I shall ad
dress your understandings, truth being my objeft,
and your embracement of her my ardent wish. The
ptocefs will-be dry and tedious ; the road rough
though not untrodden. I must insist upon your
company my dear countrymen : Although I cannot
promise you entertainment by the way, you may
receive advantages from your own observations. I
shall not decorate with oritorical flourifhes,nor does
the fubjeX require it. The lillies and roses of rhe
toric do hot grow in a logical foil ;---nor are they
nhceflary where the heart is engaged. His heart
mgft be callous who will not feel at the present day.
'Wishing you, my friends, the gladsome right of
n tural law, the loveliness of freedom, the liability
of good counsels, the fortitude of our ancestors, the
solidity of justice, with the animating smiles of a
propitious providence, ana the glorious success due
to so good a cause, adieu, until my next.
From the County of Hampshire.
B 0 $7 O N, (Monday) February 20.
In PROVINCIAL CONGRESS,
Cambridge, February gth, 1775.
To the Inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay :
Friends and Fellow-Sufferers,
~/ HEN a People intituled to that Freedom
Vy which our ancestors have nobly preserved;
as the richest Inheritance of their Children, are in
vaded by the Hand of Oppression, and trampled on
by the merciless Feet of Tyranny, Refinance is so
far from being criminal, that it becomes the chrif
tian, and social Duty of each Individual.
While you fee the Lives of your Fellow-Men, in
other Nations, sported with and destroyed, and their
Estates confifeated by the 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 having
placed you under such a Form of Government, as,
when duly adminiftred, gives the meanest Peasant
the fame Security in his Life and Property, as his
Sovereign has in his Crown.
This Constitution of Government secures to each
one, fubjedthereto, 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 en
tire Property arises from the uncontroulable Power
of disposing, when your Estates Ihall be brought in
to such a Situation, or under such a Form of Go
vernment, as that they can be disposed of, or grant
ed by Persons who are by no Means accountable to
you therefor, you cease to have any Thing more
than a licenced and precarious Property in them.
Notwithstanding these Principles have been warm
ly contended for, and nobly defended at the Ex.
In Provincial Congress, Feb. 15, 1775.
Jf/HEREAS it has pleased Almighty God, the just and
good Governor of the world, to permit fc great a ca
lamity to befal us, as the present controversy between Great
Britain and these colonies, and which threatens us with
the evils f war ;
* These Resolves, (which are now published in a
Pamphlet) relate chiefly to a Recommendation to
the several Towns and DiftriXs in the Province to
caule their refpeXive Proportions of the Province
Tax to be paid into the Hands of Henry Gardner,
Esq; of Stow, who had given Bond and fufficient
Sureties to the fatisfaXion of the Congress.
pence 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 Controul, and in whose Elec
tion you have no Voice, have claimed and exercised
the Powers of granting your Money without your
Consent, and what renders the fame more aggravat
ed 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 Dispo
sition, have been and still are endeavouring to en
force certain Ads 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 Dispo
sal 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 rifque 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 recom
mended to you, by your former Provincial
Congress.
The Tranfadions of your former Congress, with
Regard to placing the Militia on such a Footing, as
may serve to defend you from each AX of Hostility
that may be offered, have been carefully transmitted
to you, and we rejoice to hear, that you have chear
fully paid the ftriXeft attention to them, and ardent
ly with that the fame martial Spirit, which so re
markably prevails among you, may be encouraged
and increased.
Though we deprecate a Rupture with the Mother
State, yet we mult kill 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
expeX but the vilefl, and molt abjeXSlavery.
The foregoing Pages contain the Resolutions * of
your former Congress, refpeXing the Improvement
ofyour public Monies at this critical Juncture of
your public Affairs.---Such is the alarming State of
the Province, that the Necessity of punctually com
plying with these Resolves, can by no Means need
any further Argument to Simulate thereto, than
what naturally arises from Fads, under your con
stant Observations; but as necessary Preparation for
your Defence, require immediate Supplies of Mo
ney, Duty and Faithfulness to you, compel us to
take Leave to hint, that should you be so unhappy as
to be driven to unfheath the Sword in Defence of
your Lives and Properties, the having proper Ma
gazines duly prepared, may give that Success, which
cannot be expected without them.
Subjeds generally pay Obedience to the Laws of
the Land, to avoid the Penalty that accrues on
Breach of them ; and on the fame Principles we are
assured, that as you hitherto have, you will continue
still ItriXly to adhere to the Resolutions of your se
veral Congresses ; for we can conceive of no greater
Punishment, for the Breach of human Laws, than
the Misery that must inevitably follow your disre
garding the Plans, that have by your Authority, with
that of the whole Continent, been projected.
Your Conduct hitherto, under the fevereflTrials,
has been worthy ofyou, as Men and Christians ; and
notwithstanding the Pains that have been taken by
your Enemies to inculcate the DoCtrines of Non-Re
sistance and passive Obedience, and by every Art to
delude and terrify you, the whole Continent of A
merica has this day occasion to rejoice in your Firm
ness. We trust you will continue fteadfaft, and hav
ing Regard to the Dignity of your CdaraXers as
Freemen, and these generous Sentiments resulting
from natural and political connexions, you never
will submit your Necks to the galling Yoke of Des
potism prepared for you ; but with a proper Sense
of your Dependence on God, nobly defend those
Rights which Heaven gave, and no man onght to
take from you. Signed by Order of the Pro
vincial Congress,
JOHN HANCOCK, President.
A true Extract from the Minutes,
Benjamin Lincoln, Secretary.
And whereas it has been the annual and laudable cuf
tom of this colony, at the opening of the ffering, to observe
a da, of fajling and prayer, to humble themjelves before
God for their fins, and to implore his forgivenefs and blef-
Jing:
IT is therefore RESOLVED, as the Sense of this
Congress, that it is highly and peculiarly proper,
and a Duty incumbent upon this People ; more es
pecially at a Time offuch general Distress, that a
Day of publick Fasting and Prayer should be
observed and kept throughout this Colony, not only
on Accent of the present Calamity, but also in Con
formity to the laudable Custom of cur Ancestors :
And it is accordingly recommended to the several
religiousAffemblies in the fame, thatTHURSDAY the
Sixteenth Day of March next, be observed as a Day
of Fasting and Prayer, to humble ourselves be
fore GOD, on Account of our Sins, to implore his
Forgiveness, to beg his Blessing upon the Labours of
the Field, upon our Merchandize, Fishery and
ManufaXures, and upon the various Means used to
recover and preserve our just Rights and Liberties :
And also that his Blessing may rest upon all the
Britilh Empire, uponGEORGE theThird our right
ful KING, and upon all the Royal Family,that they
may be great and lading Blessings to the World;
to implore the Out-pourings of his Spirit, to enable
us to bear and fuffer whatever his holy and righteous
Providence may fee fit to lay upon us ; and also
humbly to supplicate his Direction and Assistance, to
difeover and reform whatever is amiss, that so he
may be pleased to remove these heavy Afflictions,
these Tokens of his Displeasure ; and may cause
Harmony and Union to be restored between Great-
Britain and these Colonies ; and that we may again
rejoice in the free and undisturbed Exercise of all
those Rights and Privileges, for the Enjoyment of
which our pious and virtuous Ancestors braved every
Danger, and transmitted the fair Possession down to
their Children, to be by them handed down entire to
Thursday last the Provincial Congress adjourned to the
22d of March next, then to meet at Concord.
ExtraX of a letter from a worthy gentleman in
Kingston, Jamaica, dated Jan. 1.
" I have taken up this paper to giVeyou a hint on the
fate of our Jamaica politics : Ifad the many excellent
publicationfrom the continent have bad a wonderful e£
fed infoftenixg the minds of our opponents, enlightening
those who were untnfruCed, and confirming thefaithful.
I claim fame little merit to tnyfelf for having transmitted
those papers ; though it is of that inferior kind which was
due to the sexton who tolled the bell at the church of the
late excellent Dr. Sherlock. I have now a choice piece of
intelligence for our friends, at which the, will be agree
ably furprized: The assembly of this island, by a majori
ty of 16 to 9, have sassed a memorial to his Majefy, and
have petitioned for a repeal of all the late a&s offaxlig.
ment rejpeQing America : It is spirited and judicious,
though not expressed in the elegant diAion which may be
found in the papers offert by the congress
P. S. The memorial is to be sent home by the Grantham
packet, which is to fail the 7th infant."
to the latest Posterity;
Signed by order of the Provincial Congress,
JOHN HANCOCK, President
In Provincial Congress, Cambridge, Feb. 15, 1775,
WHEREAS it appears to this congress, from the pre
sent difpoftion of the Britife ministry and parlia
ment, that there is real cause to fear the reasonable and just
applications of this continent to Great Britain, for peace,
liberty and fafety, will not meet with a favourable recep
tion : but on she contrary,from the large reinforcement of
troops expected in this colony, the tenor of the intelligence
from Great-Britarn, and general appearance, we have
reason to apprehend that the sudden defruflion of this
colony inparticular is intended, for refufag with the 0-
ther American colonies, tamely to submit to the mos igno
minious Jlavery.
Therefore Refolded, that the great law of felf-prefer
vation, calls upon the inhabitants of this colony, immedi
ately to prepare themselves against every attempt that ma,
be made to attack them by Surprize. And it is upon seri
ous deliberation mos earnestly recommended to the militia
in general, as well as to the detached part of it in minute
men, that they spare neither time, pains nor expence, at so
critical a junAure, in perfe&ing themselves fortwith in
military discipline ; andthat fkilful infruflors be provi
ded for those companies which are not already provided
therewith.
And it is recommended to the towns and difriAs in this
colony, that they encourage such persons as are fill'd
in the manufaAury of fire-arms and bayonets, diligently to
apply themjelves thereto, for supplying such of the inha
bitants as Jhall be deficient.
And for the encouragement of American manufactures of
fire-arms and bayomts, it is further Refolded, That this
congress willgive the preference to, and purchase from
them, so many effiCive arms and bayonets as can be deli
vered in a reasonable time, upon notice given to this con
gress at its next session.
Signed by order of the Provincial Congress,
JOHN HANCOCK, President.
A true ExtraC from the Minutes,
Betjamin Lincoln, Secretary.
BOSTON, (Thursday) February 2s.