The Massachusetts spy, or, Thomas's Boston journal (Boston [Mass.]), 1773-02-25 00:00:00

THE Massachusetts Spy
Or, Thomas's Boston Journal.
A Weekly, Political, and Commercial PAPER:--Open to ALL Parties, but Influenced by None.
DO THOU Great LIBERTY INSPIRE our Souls,--And make our Lives in THY Possession happy,--Or, our Deaths glorious in THY JUST Defence.
VOL. II.]
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1773.
[NUMB. 108.
FRIDAY, February 19. BOSTON.
On Tuesday last his Excellency the Governor was pleased to send a message by the Secretary to the honourable His use of Representatives, directing their attendance forthwith in the Council Chamber. The House went up accordingly, and after his Excellency had given his assent to several engrossed bills, he made the following SPEECH to both houses.
Gentlemen of the Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives. THE proceedings of such of the inhabitants of the town of Boston, as assembled together and passed and published their resolves or votes, as the act of the town at a legal town meeting, denying
in the most express terms the supremacy of parliament, and inviting every other town and district in the province to adopt the same principle and to establish committees of correspondence to consult upon proper measures to maintain it, and the proceedings of divers other towns, in consequence of this invitation, appeared to me to be so unwarrantable and of such a dangerous nature and tendency, that I thought myself bound to call upon you in my speech at opening the session, to join with me in discountenancing and bearing a proper testimony against such irregularities and innovations.
I stated to you fairly and truly, as I conceived, the constitution of the kingdom and of the province so far as relates to the dependance of the latter upon the former; and I desired you, if you differed from me in sentiments, to show me with candor my own errors, and to give your reasons in support of your opinions, so far as you might differ from me. I hoped that you would have considered my speech by your joint committees, and have given me a joint answer; but, as the House of Representatives have declined that mode of proceeding, and as your principles in government are very different, I am obliged to make separate and distinct replies.
I shall first apply myself to you.
Gentlemen of the Council. The two first parts of your answer, which respect the disorders occasioned by the stamp-act and the general nature of supreme authority, do not appear to me to have a tendency to invalidate any thing which I have said in my speech; for, however the stamp-act may have been the immediate occasion of any disorders, the authority of parliament was notwithstanding denied in order to justify or excuse them. And, for the nature of the supreme authority of parliament, I have never given you any reason to suppose that I intended a more absolute power in parliament, or a greater degree of active or passive obedience in the people, than what is founded in the nature of government let the form of it be what it may. I shall therefore, pass over those parts of your answer with us any other remark. I would also have saved you the trouble of all those authorities which you have brought to show, that all taxes upon English subjects must be levied by virtue of the act of the king alone but in conjunction with the Lords and Commons, for I should very readily have allowed it; and I should as readily have allowed that all other acts of legislation must be passed by the same joint authority and not by the king alone.
Indeed I am not willing to continue a controversy with you upon any other parts of your answer. I am glad to find that independence is what you have not in contemplation; and that you will not presume to prescribe the exact limits of the authority of parliament; only as with due deference to it, you are humble of opinion, that as all human authority in the nature of it is and ought to be limited, it cannot constitutionally extend, for the reasons you have suggested, to the levying of taxes in any form on his Majesty's subjects of this province.
I will only observe, that your attempts to draw a line as the limits of the supreme authority in government, by distinguishing some natural rights, as more peculiarly exempt from such authority than the rest, rather tend to evince the impropriety of drawing such a line and that some parts of your answer seem to infer a supremacy in the province, at the same time that you acknowledge the supremacy of parliament, for otherwise the rights of the subjects cannot be the same in all essential respects, as you suppose
them to be, in all parts of the dominions, "under a like form of Legislature."
From these, therefore, and other considerations I cannot help flattering myself, that upon more mature deliberation and in order to a more consistent plan of government, you will chuse rather to doubt of the expediency of parliament's exercising its authority in cases that may happen than to limit the authority itself, especially as you agree with me in the proper method of obtaining a redress of grievances by constitutional representations, which cannot well consist with a denial of the authority to which the representations are made; and from the best information I have been able to obtain, the denial of the authority of parliament, expressly or by implication in those petitions to which you refer was the cause of their not being admitted, and not any advice given by the minister to the agents of the colonies.
I must enlarge and be much more particular in my reply to you.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives. I shall take no notice of that part of your answer which attributes the disorders of the province to an undue exercise of the power of parliament, because you take for granted, what can by no means be admitted, that parliament had exercised its power without just authority. The sum of your answer, so far as it is pertinent to my speech is this.
You alledge that the colonies were an acquisition of foreign territory not annexed to the realm of England, and therefore at the absolute disposal of the crown; the king having as you take it, a constitutional right to dispose of and alienate any part of his territories not annexed to the realm--that Queen Elizabeth accordingly conveyed the property, dominion and sovereignty of Virginia to Sir Walter Raleigh to be held of the crown by homage and a certain render , without reserving any share in the legislative and executive authority--that the subsequent grants of America were similar in this respect, that they were without any reservation for securing the subjection of the colonists to the parliament and future laws of England--that this was the sense of the English crown, the nation and our predecessors when they first took possession of this country--that if the colonies were not then annexed to the realm they cannot have been annexed since that time--that if they are not now annexed to the realm they are not part of the kingdom, and consequently not subject to the legislative authority of the kingdom; for no country, by the common law, was subject to the laws or to the parliament but the realm of England.
Now if this your foundation shall fail you in every part of it, as I think it will, the fabric which you have raised upon it must certainly fall.
Let me then observe to you that, as English subjects, and agreeable to the doctrine of feudal tenure, all our lands and tenements are held mediately or immediately of the crown, and although the possession and use or profits be in the subject, there still remains a dominion in the crown. When any new countries are discovered by English subjects, according to the general law and usage of nations, they become part of the state, and, according to the feudal system, the lordship or dominion is in the crown and a right acquires of disposing of such territories, under such tenure or for such services to be performed as the crown shall judge proper, and whensoever any part of such territories, by grant from the crown, becomes the possession or property of private persons, such persons, thus holding under the crown of England, remain or become subjects of England to all intents and purposes, as fully as if any of the royal manors forests or other territory within the realm had been granted to them upon the like tenure. But that it is now, or was when the plantations were first granted, the prerogative of the Kings of England to alienate such territories from the crown, or to constitute a number of new governments altogether independent of the sovereign legislative authority of the English Empire, I can by no means concede to you. I have never seen any better authority to support such an opinion than an anonymous pamphlet by which I fear you have too easily been misled, for I shall presently show you that the declarations of King James the first, and of King Charles the first, admitting they are truly related by the author of this pamphlet ought to have no weight with you; nor does thecession or restoration, upon a treaty of peace, of countries which have been lost or acquired in war will ease with
these principles, nor may any particular act of power of a prince in selling or delivering up any part of his dominions to a foreign prince or state against the general sense of the nation be urged to invalidate them, and upon examination it will appear that all the grants which have been made of America are founded upon them and are made to conform to them, even those which you have adduced in support of very different principles.
You do not recollect that, prior to what you call the first grant by Q. Elizabeth to Sir Walter Raleigh, a grant had been made, by the same princess, to Sir Humphrey Gilbert of all such countries as he should discover which were to be of the allegiance of her, her heirs and successors but, he dying in the prosecution of his voyage, a second grant was made to Sir Walter Raleigh which, you say, conveyed the dominion and sovereignty without any reserve of legislative or executive authority being held by her, her heirs and successors. To hold by homage , which implies fealty, and a render is descriptive of socage tenure as fully as if it had been said to hold as of our manor of East Greenwich the words in your charter. Now this alone was a reserve of dominion and sovereignty in the Queen her heirs and successors and, besides this, the grant is made upon this express condition, which you pass over, that the people remain subject to the crown of England, the head of that legislative authority which, by the English constitution, is equally extensive with the authority of the crown throughout every part of the dominions. Now if we could suppose the Queen to have acquired dependents from her relation to her subjects or in her natural capacity, which she could not do, a title to a country discovered by her subjects and then to grant the same country to English subjects in her public capacity as Queen of England still by this grant she annexed it to the crown. Thus by not distinguishing between the crown of England and the Kings and Queens of England in their personal or natural capacities, you have been led into a fundamental error which must prove fatal to your system. It is not material whether Virginia reverted to the crown by Sir Walter's attainder or whether he never took any benefit from his grant, though the latter is most probable seeing he ceased from all attempts to take possession of the country after a few years trial. There were, undoubtedly, divers grants made by King James the first of the continent of America in the beginning of the 17th century and, similar to the grant of Q. Elizabeth in this respect, that they were dependent on the crown. The charter to the council at Plymouth in Devon dated November 3d, 1620 in re immediately respects us, and of that we have the most authentic remains.
By this charter, upon the petition of Sir Ferdinando Gorges a corporation was constituted to be and continue by succession forever in the town of Plymouth aforesaid, to which corporation that part of the American continent which lies between the 40th and 48th degrees of latitude was granted to be held of the King his heirs and successors as of the manor of East Greenwich with powers to constitute subordinate governments in America and to make laws for such governments, not repugnant to the laws and statutes of England. From this corporation your predecessors obtained a grant of the soil of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, in 1627, and, in 1628, they obtained a charter from K. Charles the first making them a distinct corporation, also within the realm, and giving them full powers within the limits of their patent, very like to those of the council of Plymouth throughout their more extensive territory.
We will now consider what must have been the sense of the King of the nation and of the patentees at the time of granting these patents. From the year 1602 the banks and sea coasts of New England had been frequented by English subjects for catching and drying cod-fish. When an exclusive right to the fishery was claimed, by virtue of the patent of 1620, the house of commons was alarmed and a bill was brought in for allowing a free fishery and it was upon this occasion that one of the secretaries of state declared, perhaps as his own opinion, that the plantations were not annexed to the crown and so were not within the jurisdiction of parliament. Sir Edwin Sandys, who was one of the Virginia company and an eminent lawyer, declared that he knew Virginia had been annexed and was held of the crown as of the manor of East Greenwich and he believed New-England was so also; and so it
most certainly was. This declaration, made by one of the King's servants, you say shewed the sense of the crown and, being not secretly but openly declared in parliament you would make it the sense of the nation also, notwithstanding your own assertion that the Lords and commons passed a bill that shewed their sense to be directly the contrary. But if there had been full evidence of express declarations made by King James the first, and King Charles the first they were declarations contrary to their own grants, which declare this country to be held of the crown and consequently it must have been annexed to it. And may not such declarations be accounted for by other actions of those princes who when they were soliciting the parliament to grant the duties of tonnage and poundage with other aids and were, in this way, acknowledging the rights of parliament, at the same time were requiring the payment of those duties with ship money, &c. by virtue of their prerogative?
But to remove all doubt of the sense of the nation and of the patentees of this patent or charter in 1620, I need only refer you to the account published by Sir Ferdinando Gorges himself of the proceedings in parliament upon this occasion. As he was the most active member of the council of Plymouth and as he related what came within his own knowledge and observation, his narrative, which has all the appearances of truth and sincerity, must carry conviction with it. He says that soon after the patent was passed and whilst it lay in the crown-office he was summoned to appear in parliament to answer what was to be objected against it, and the house being in a committee and Sir Edward Coke, that great oracle of the law, in the chair, he was called to the bar and was told by Sir Edward that the house understood that a patent had been granted to the said Sir Ferdinando and divers other noble persons for establishing a colony in New-England; that this was deemed a grievance of the common wealth contrary to the laws, and to the privileges of the subject, that it was a monopoly, &c. and he required the delivery of the patent into the house. Sir Ferdinando Gorges made no doubt of the authority of the house but submitted to their disposal of the patent as in their wisdom they thought good "not knowing, under favour, how any action of that kind could be a grievance to the public, seeing it was undertaken for the advancement of religion the enlargement of the bounds of our nation, &c." He was willing, however, to submit the whole to their honourable censures. After divers attendances he imagined he had satisfied the house that the planting a colony was of much more consequence than a simple disorderly course of fishing. He was, notwithstanding, disappointed and, when the public grievances of the kingdom were presented by the two houses, that of the patent for New-England was the first. I don't know how the parliament could have shown more fully their sense they then had of their authority over this new acquired territory, nor can we expect better evidence of the sense which the patentees had of it, for I know of no historical fact of which we have less reason to doubt.
And now gentlemen I will show you how it appears from our charter itself, which you say I have not yet been pleased to point out to you except from that clause which restrains us from making laws repugnant to the laws of England, that it was the sense of our predecessors, at the time when the charter was granted that they were to remain subject to the supreme authority of parliament.
Besides this clause, which I shall have occasion to further to remark upon before I finish you will find that, by the charter a grant was made of exemption from all taxes and impositions upon any goods imported into New-England or exported from thence into England for the space of twenty one years, except the custom of five per cent upon such goods as, after the expiration of seven years, should be brought into England. Nothing can be more plain than that the charter, as well as the patent to the council of Plymouth, constitutes a corporation in England with powers to create a subordinate government or governments within the plantation, so that there would always be subjects of taxes and impositions both in the kingdom and in the plantation. An exemption for twenty one years implies a right of imposition after the expiration of the term and there is no distinction between the kingdom and the plan-

tation. By what authority, then, in the understanding of the parties, were these innovations to be laid? If say, to support a system, should say by the King rather than to acknowledge the authority of parliament, yet this could not be the sense of one of our principal patentees. Mr. Samuel Vassall who at that time, 1628, the date of the charter, was suffering, he lost his goods rather than submit to an imposition laid by the King without the authority of parliament; and to prove that a few years after it could not be the sense of the rest, I need only to refer you to your own records for the year 1628 where you will find an order of the House of Commons, conceived in such terms as to cover a plain reference to this part of the charter, after fourteen years of the twenty one were expired. By this order the House of Commons declare that all goods and merchandise exported to New-England or imported from thence shall be free from all taxes and impositions both in the kingdom and in New England until the house shall take further order therein to the contrary. The sense which our predecessors had of the benefit which they took from this order, evidently appears from the vote of the General Court, acknowledging their humble thankfulness and preserving a grateful remembrance of the honourable respect from that high court, and resolving that the order sent unto them under the hand or the clerk of the honourable House of Commons shall be entered among their public records to remain there unto posterity: And, in an address to parliament, nine years after, they acknowledge, among other undeserved favours that of taking off the customs from them.
I am at a loss what your ideas could be when you say that if the plantations are not part of the realm, they are not part of the kingdom. Seeing the two words can properly convey but one idea and they have one and the same signification in the different languages from whence they are derived. I do not charge you with any design, but the equivocal use of the word realm in several parts of your answer makes them perplexed and obscure. Sometimes, you must intend the whole dominion which is subject to the authority of parliament, sometimes only strictly the territorial realm to which other dominions are or may be annexed. If you mean that no countries but the ancient territorial realm can constitutionally be subject to the supreme authority of England, which you have very incautiously said is a rule of the common law of England, this is a doctrine which you will never be able to support. That the common law should be controlled and changed by statutes every day's experience teaches, but that the common law prescribes limits to the extent of the legislative power, I believe has never been said upon any other occasion. That acts of parliament for several hundred years past have respected countries, which are not strictly within the realm, you might easily have discovered by the statute book. You will find acts for regulating the affairs of Ireland, though a separate and distinct kingdom. Wales and Calis, which they sent no representatives to parliament, were subject to the like regulations. So are Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, &c. which send no members to this day. These countries are not more properly a part of the ancient realm, than the plantations, nor do I know that they can more properly be said to be annexed to the realm, unless the declaring that acts of parliament shall extend to Wales, though not particularly named shall make it so, which I conceive it does not in the sense you intend.
Thus, I think, I have made it appear that the plantations, though not strictly within the realm, have from the beginning been constitutionally subject to the supreme authority of the realm and are far annexed to it as to be, with the realm and the other dependencies upon it one entire dominion; and that the plantation or colony of Massachusetts Bay in particular is held as a dependency of the imperial crown of England: Deem it to be no part of the realm it is immaterial for, to use the words of a very great authority in a case in some respects analogous, "being a dependency the conclusion necessarily follows, that it is under the government of the King's laws and the King's courts in cases proper for them to interpose, though (like countries palatine) it has peculiar laws and customs, Jura Regalia, and complete jurisdiction at home."
Your remark upon and construction of the words, not repugnant to the laws of England are much the same with those of the council; but can any reason be assigned why the laws of England as they stood just at that period should be pitched upon as the standard, more than at any other period? If so, why was it not resorted to when the second charter was granted, more than sixty years after the first? It is not improbable that the original intention might be a repugnancy in general and, a fortiori, such laws as were made more immediately to respect us, but the statute of 7th and 8th of King William and Queen Mary, soon after the second charter, favours the latter construction only, and the province agent, Mr. Dummer, in his much applauded defence of the charter, says that then a law in the plantations may be said to be repugnant to a law made in Great-Britain , when it strictly contradicts it so far as the law made there mentions and relates to the plantations . But, gentlemen, there is another clause both in the first and second charter which, I think will serve to explain this or to render all dispute upon the construction of it unnecessary. You are enabled to impose such oaths only as
are warrantable by, or not repugnant to the laws and statutes of the realm, I believe you will not contend that these clauses must mean such oaths only as were warrantable at the respective times when the charters were granted. It has often been found necessary, since the date of the charters, to alter the forms of the oaths to the government by acts of parliament, and such alterations have always been conformed to in the plantations.
Let you should think that I admit the authority of king Charles the second in giving his assent to an act of the assembly of Virginia, which you subjoin to the authorities of James the first and Charles the first, to have any weight, I must observe to you that I do not see any greater inconsistency with Magna charta in the king's giving his assent to an act of a subordinate legislature, immediately or in person then when he does it mediately by his Governor or substitute, but, if it could be admitted that such an assent discovered the king's judgment that Virginia was independent, would you lay any stress upon it when the same king was from time to time giving his assent to acts of parliament which inferred the dependence of all the colonies, and had by one of those acts declared the plantations to be inhabited and peopled by his Majesty's subjects of England?
I gave you no reason to remark upon the absurdity of a grant to persons born within the realm of the same liberties which would have belonged to them if they had been born within the realm, but rather guarded against it by considering such grant as declaratory only, and in the nature of an assurance that the plantations would be considered as the dominions of England. But is there no absurdity in a grant from the King of England of the liberties and immunities of Englishmen to persons born in and who are to inhabit other territories than the dominions of England, and would such grant, whether by charter or other letters patent, be sufficient to make them inheritable, or to entitle them to the other liberties and immunities of Englishmen, in any part of the English dominions?
As I am willing to rest the point between us upon the plantations having been, from their first discovery and settlement under the crown a part of the dominions of England, I shall not take up any time in remarking upon your arguments to shew that since that time, they cannot have been made a part of those dominions.
The remaining parts of your answer are principally intended to prove that, under both charters, it hath been the sense of the people that they were not subject to the jurisdiction of parliament, and, for this purpose, you have made large extracts from the history of the colony. Whilst you are doing honor to the book, by laying any stress upon its authority, it would have been no more than justice to the author if you had, cited some other passages which would have tended to reconcile the passage, in my speech to the history — I have said that, except at the time of the anarchy which preceded the restoration of King Charles the second, I have not discovered that the authority of parliament had been called in question even by particular persons. It was as I take it, from the principles imbibed in those times of anarchy that the persons of influence, mentioned in the history, disputed the authority of parliament, but the Government would not venture to dispute it. On the contrary, in four or five years after the restoration, the government declared to the King's commissioners that the act of navigation had been for some years observed here, that they knew not of its being greatly violated and that such laws as appeared to be against it were repealed. It is not strange that these persons of influence should prevail upon great part of the people to fall in, for a time with their opinions and suppose acts of the colony necessary to give force to acts of parliament; the government, however, several years before the charter was vacated, more explicitly acknowledged the authority of parliament and voted that their Governor should take the oath, required of him, faithfully to do and perform all matters and things enjoined him by the acts of trade. I have not recited in my speech all these particulars, nor had I them all in my mind but, I think, I have said nothing inconsistent with them. My principles in government are still the same with what they appear to be in the book you refer to, nor am I conscious that, by any part of my conduct, I have given cause to suggest the contrary.
Inasmuch as you say that I have not particularly pointed out to you the acts and doings of the General Assembly which relate to acts of parliament, I will do it now, and demonstrate to you that such acts have been acknowledged by the assembly, or submitted to by the people.
From your predecessors removal to America until the year 1620 there was no session of parliament, and the first short session of a few days only in 1640, and the whole of the next session, until the withdrawal of the King, being taken up in the disputes between the King and the parliament, there could be no room for plantation affairs. Soon after the King's withdrawal the house of commons passed the memorable order of 1642, and from that time to the restoration, this plantation seems to have been distinguished, from the rest, and the several acts or ordinances which respected the other plantations, were never enforced here, and, possibly, under colour of the exemption in 1642, it might not be intended they should be executed.
For 15 or 16 years after the restoration, there was no officer of the customs in the colony, except the Governor annually elected by the people, and the acts of trade were but little regard-
ed, nor did the Governor take the oath required of Governors by the act of the 12th of King Charles the second, until the time which I have mentioned. Upon the revolution the force of an act of parliament was evident in a case of as great importance as any which could happen to the colony. King William and Queen Mary were proclaimed in the colony King and Queen of England, France and Ireland and the dominions thereunto belonging, in the room of King James, and this not by virtue of an act of the colony, for no such act ever passed, but by force of an act of parliament which cited the succession to the crown, and for which the people waited several weeks with anxious concern. By force of another act of parliament, and that only such officers of the colony as had taken the oaths of allegiance to King James deemed themselves at liberty to take, and accordingly did take the oaths to King William and Queen Mary. And that I may mention other acts of the like nature together, it is by force of an act of parliament that the illustrious house of Hanover succeeded to the throne of Britain and its dominions, and by several other acts, the forms of the oaths have from time to time, been altered, and by a late act that form was established which every one of us has complied with as the charter in express words requires and makes our duty. Shall we now dispute whether acts of parliament have been submitted to when we find them submitted to in points which are of the very essence of our constitution? If you should disown that authority, which has power even to change the succession to the crown, are you in no danger of denying the authority of our most gracious sovereign, which I am sure none of you can have in your thoughts?
I think I have before shewn you, gentlemen, what must have been the sense of our predecessors at the time of the first charter, let us now, whilst we are upon the acts and doings of the assembly, consider what it must have been at the time of the second charter. Upon the first advice of the revolution in England, the authority which flamed the government instructed their agents to petition the parliament to restore the first charter, and a bill for that purpose passed the House of Commons, but went no farther. Was not this owning the authority of parliament? By an act of parliament, passed in the first year of King William and Queen Mary, a form of oaths was established to be taken by those Princes and by all succeeding Kings and Queens of England at their coronation, the first of which is, that they will govern the people of the kingdom and the dominions thereunto belonging, according to the statutes in parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs of the same. When the colony directed their agents to make their humble application to King William to grant the second charter, they could have no other pretence than they were inhabitants of part of the dominions of England, and they also knew the oath the King had taken to govern them according to the statutes in parliament; surely then, at the time of this charter also, it was the sense of our predecessors, as well as of the King and of the nation that there was and would remain a supremacy in the parliament. About the same time, they acknowledged, in an address to the King, that they have no power to make laws repugnant to the laws of England. And, immediately after the assumption of the powers of government by virtue of the new charter, an act passed to revive, for a limited time all the local laws of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and New Plymouth, respectively, not repugnant to the laws of England. And, at the same session, an act passed establishing naval officers in several ports of the province, for which this reason is given, that all undue trading contrary to an act of parliament made in the fifteenth year of King Charles the second may be prevented in this their Majesties province. The act of this province passed so long ago as the second year of King George the first, for stating the fees of the custom house officers, must have relation to the acts of parliament by which they are constituted, and the provision made in that act of the province for extending the port of Boston to all the roads as far as Cape Cod, could be for no other purpose than for the more effectual carrying the acts of trade into execution. And to come nearer to the present time, when an act of parliament had passed in 1741, for putting an end to certain un-warrantable schemes in this province, did the authority of government, or those persons more immediately affected by it, ever dispute the validity of it?
On the contrary, have not a number of acts been passed in the province, that the burdens to which such persons were subjected might be equally apportioned, and have not all those acts of the province been very carefully framed to prevent their militating with the act of parliament? I will mention also an act of parliament made in the first year of Queen Ann, although the proceedings upon it more immediately respected the council. By this act no office civil or military shall be void by the death of the King, but shall continue six months, unless suspended or made void by the next successor. By force of this act Governor Dudley continued in the administration six months from the demise of Queen Ann, and immediately after, the council assumed the administration and continued it until a proclamation arrived from King George, by virtue of which Governor Dudley resumed the government. It would be tedious to enumerate the addresses, votes and messages of both the council and house of representatives to the same purpose. I have said enough to shew that this government has submitted to parliament from a conviction of its constitutional supremacy, and
this not from inconsideration, nor merely from reluctance at the idea of contending with the parent state.
If then I have made it appear, that both by the first and second charters we hold our lands and the authority of government not of the King but of the Crown of England, that being a dominion of the crown of England, we are consequently subject to the supreme authority of England, that this hath been the sense of this plantation, except in those few years when the principles of anarchy which had prevailed in the kingdom had not lost their influence here; and if, upon a review of your principles, they shall appear to you to have been delusive and erroneous, as I think they must, or if you shall only be in doubt of them, you certainly will not draw that conclusion which otherwise you might do, and which I am glad you have hitherto avoided, especially when you consider the obvious and inevitable distress and misery of independence upon our mother country, if such independence could be allowed or maintained, and the probability of much greater distress, which we are not able to foresee.
You ask me if we have not reason to fear we shall soon be reduced to a worse situation than that of the colonies of France, Spain or Holland. I may safely affirm that we have not; that we have no reason to fear any evils from a submission to the authority of parliament, equal to what we must feel from its authority being disputed, from an uncertain rule of law and government. For more than seventy years together the supremacy of parliament was acknowledged without complaints of grievance. The effect of every measure cannot be foreseen by human wisdom. What can be expected more from any authority than when the unfitness of a measure is discovered, to make it void? When upon the united representations and complaints of the American colonies any acts have appeared to parliament to be unilateral, have they not been repeated instances of the repeal of such acts? We cannot expect these instances should be carried so far as to be equivalent to a disavowal or relinquishment of the right itself. Why then shall we fear for ourselves and our posterity, greater rigour of government for seventy years to come than what we and our predecessors have felt in the seventy years past.
You must give me leave, gentlemen, in a few words to vindicate myself from a charge, in one part of your answer, of having, by my speech, reduced you to the unhappy alternative of appearing by your silence to acquiesce in my sentiments, or of freely discussing this point of the supremacy of parliament. I saw, as I have before observed, the capital town of the province, without being reduced to such an alternative, voluntarily not only discussing but determining this point, and inviting every other town and district in the province to do the like. I saw that many of the principal towns had followed the example, and that there was imminent danger of a compliance in most if not all of the rest, in order to avoid being distinguished. Was not I reduced to the alternative of rendering myself justly obnoxious to the displeasure of my sovereign by acquiescing in such irregularities, or of calling upon you to join with me in suppressing them? Might I not rather have expected from you an expression of your concern that any persons should project and prosecute a plan of measures which would lay me under a necessity of bringing this point before you? It was so far from being my inclination, that nothing short of a sense of duty to the King, and the obligations I am under to consult your true interest could have compelled me to it.
Gentlemen of the Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, We all profess to be the loyal and dutiful subjects of the King of Great-Britain. His Majesty considers the British empire as one entire dominion, subject to one supreme legislative power, a due submission to which is essential to the maintenance of the rights, liberties and privileges of the several parts of this dominion. We have abundant evidence of his Majesty's tender and impartial regard to the rights of his subjects; and I am authorized to say that "his Majesty will most graciously approve of every constitutional measure that may contribute to the peace, the happiness, and prosperity of his colony of Massachusetts-Bay, and which may have the effect to shew to the world that he has no wish beyond that of reigning in the hearts and affections of his people."
T. HUTCHINSON. "Council-Chamber, 16 February, 1773."
The following are the titles of the engrossed bills to which his Excellency signed his assent, viz.
An act for incorporating the west part of the town of Great-Barrington, in the county of Berkshire, into a district by the name of Alford.
An act for annexing certain lands to the town of Great-Barrington in the county of Berkshire.
An act for annexing sundry persons, inhabitants of the first precinct in the town of Marlfield with their estates to the second precinct in said town.
An act for confirming the titles and quieting the possessions of the proprietors of the towns of Lunenburgh and Fitchburgh.

February 25.
SATURDAY February, 13. BOSTON.
Tuesday last the house of representatives sent the following message to his Excellency the Governor.
"May it please your Excellency, The house of representatives think it of the last importance to wait on your Excellency, and pray that you would be pleased to inform them, whether your Excellency can now satisfy the house that the justices of the Superior Court have refused or will refuse to except of their support from the crown. A matter which appears to have filled the minds of the good people of this province with great anxiety; and a determination of which in the affirmative will tend to promote his Majesty's service and the peace and happiness of the people."
His EXCELLENCY's answer. "Gentlemen of the house of representatives, I most certainly am not able to inform you that the justices of the Superior Court, have refused or will refuse to accept of their support from the crown. All that I thought necessary for me to do before I gave my assent to the grants which you had made, was the taking proper caution to prevent their being intitled to a salary from the province after a salary from the crown should commence, if the warrants for the payment of such salary should hereafter be received."
T. HUTCHINSON. Council Chamber 16 February, 1773.
MONDAY, February 22. BOSTON.
The beginning of this month a large barn at Stonnington was consumed by fire, together with ten horses and a yoke of fat oxen, twelve tons of hay, and some oats: A negro boy has confessed he set fire to it on purpose, because he was tired of tending the creatures.
Yesterday morning about two o'clock, a fire broke out in a joiner's shop belonging to Mr. Benjamin Sumner, jun. at the bottom of Cole Lane, which before the town was alarmed, very speedily communicated to his dwelling-house (occupied by Mr. Coolidge, Tailor) and to his father's house near adjoining, as also to a large double house belonging to John Fillis, Esq; of Halifax, in which Mr. Sumner, jun. lived, together with several work-shops, barns and other buildings, were all destroyed by the raging flames. As the wind was high and the weather extreme cold, it was with the utmost difficulty prevented from spreading further; the fire having caught several of the adjacent houses, and many others were in imminent danger; but by the extraordinary activity of the people of the town especially at this severe season, they were preserved.
Capt. Samuel Barrett, with several others in that neighbourhood, whose estates were in so great danger of being destroyed, desire their most sincere and hearty thanks might be returned to their fellow-citizens for the kind and almost incredible application which they made to preserve them.
About two hours before the above accident happened, a fire was discovered at the north part of the town, by two children in the house that were awakened almost suffocated with smoke, who calling for help, were immediately assisted by the neighbours and the fire soon extinguished.
As the assuring from loss or damage by fire tends to the preservation of many families from that distress, poverty and ruin which such a calamity might otherwise expose them to—Policies for assuring houses and other buildings from loss or damage by fire will be underwrote, at moderate premiums, at Mr. Price's Insurance Office, near the Exchange.
TUESDAY, February 23. BOSTON.
The following melancholy accident lately happened at Putney: The dwelling-house of Mr. Michael Laws by some means took fire in the night, when all the family were in bed and sleep; the man and his wife and three small children were in the lower room, five other children were in the chamber:—The woman awoke first with the noise of the devouring flames; she awoke her husband, and with difficulty they got out with the three children in their arms.—Their cries awaked three others in the chamber, two of whom leaped through the flames and escaped; though one, viz. Mr. Law's eldest son, was much burnt; the other three, viz. a daughter about 14 years old, a son 10 years, and another son of 5 years old, all perished in the unrelenting flames.—The fire was at such a height when first discovered that there was no possibility of affording any relief to those in the chamber.—They saved nothing but the things they set on.
in.—Their circumstances are truly deplorable!—Mr. Law's eldest son died a few days afterwards, aged 16 years.
NEW LONDON, February 12. About eight o'clock last Saturday evening a small shock of an earthquake was felt in this town, attended by a considerable rumbling noise.
WEDNESDAY, February 24. BOSTON.
The message from this town to the Governor, on the 30th of October and 2d of November last, relative to the report that stipends were affixed to the offices of the Judges with his Excellency's answers thereto are all published in the London Journal of the 19th of December.
NEW YORK, February 4. Wednesday the 17th ult. Capt. Henshaw arrived here from St. Vincents, but last from St. Martins: He left St. Vincents about five weeks ago, and informs us, that General Leybourne was gone to Grenada, and the command of the troops devolved on Col. Dairymple, who had entirely surrounded the Indians, and it was imagined the greatest part of them would be made prisoners, as they never had testified the least willingness of engaging the soldiers in any other manner than in scouting parties; that Capt. Reed's boat in going ashore with Capt. Stanton and 25 men, overset, by which accident 18 soldiers were drowned.
THURSDAY, February 25. BOSTON.
We hear that a large dwelling house belonging to Mr. Nathan Sergeant was consumed at Maiden last Sunday, during the time of divine service.
This town has been alarmed ten times with the cry of fire since Sunday morning, but happily no great damage has since ensued.
We cannot pass over in silence the surprising alertness of the inhabitants of Charlestown, in cases of fire in this town; on every unhappy occasion, they to speedily give their assistance as to be of much service in such times of distress, for which they at least merit our applause.
We are told that two or three persons were found frozen to death the beginning of this week; among whom was a very ancient Negro man, known by the name of Sambo.
* This Paper, No. 108, completes TWO years, since the first publication. DIED Mrs. Anne Domet, widow of the late Capt. Domet, of this town—Miss Polly Bolter.—Mr. Philip Vibart.—At New-London, the hon. Hezekiah Huntington, Esq; of Norwich.—At the Ohio, the Rev. John Davis.
PORT OF BOSTON, February 22.
ARRIVED. Ingersol from South Carolina, Stanwood from Virginia, Cofeman from Surinam.
To be LET,
The House that Mr. WILLIAM-HENRY PRENTICE now lives in, in Dunstable, and has kept a Tavern some years, on the great Road on Merimack river; there is every accommodation of house and stable for travellers and is much used. Enquire of JOHN TYNE, Esq; of Dunstable, the owner.
Just Imported by Capt. Jarvis from LONDON, And to be sold by
LYDIA DYAR, Near the North battery, Boston.
A FRESH Assortment of Garden SEEDS, which she will warrant to be new and good, and of the last Year's produce, early charlton Peas, early golden hotspur, early ormond ditto, large marrowfatt ditto, dwarf do. blue and green ditto, large rouncival and Spanish and Moratto Ledman dwarf ditto, large Windsor Beans, early Lisbon and early bush and pole Beans, early Yorkshire and Battersea Dutch and sugar loaf, large winter, red, green and yellow Savoy, ca ly and late Colliflower, early and late Turnip, short top scarlet and salmon Radish, Cucumber and Squash, double Parsley, double Pepper grass, round Spring, red Beets, Seller, Endive, white Spanish and silver skin Onions, red ditto, orange purple and yellow Carrot, Parsnip, Cabbage, Lettuce, green and white Gowes, brown Dutch and marble Thyme, Baun, sweet Marjoram, Summer Savory, Sage, Hemp Canary and Rape, Bird Seed.
Boston, February 13, 1773. TWO DOLLARS REWARD.
TAKEN out of the House of the subscriber, at the head of long-wharf last evening, a silver can, mark-
M. ed I. M. M. name, Reverse. If said can is returned to the owner again, two dollars reward will be given, and no questions asked. N. B. If it should be offered for sale, it is desired it may be stopped, and notice given to MARY MAVERICK.
For the MASSACHUSETTS SPY. Mr. THOMAS,
IT is said a certain Major General was pleased to observe to the Governor that if his E—y should reply to the council's address, he would swear for it; that the council would never answer it; this among other things might encourage the Governor to treat the reply of the honourable board in his last Speech, with so much inattention, not to say contempt.
The world will form their own opinion of the abilities and judgment of a Governor who appears eager and proud to step forward as a champion, for ministerial measures in opposition to the fundamental rights of these extensive colonies, particularly of his native province; and to furnish ministry, with every little observation he could muster in favour of their oppressive plan.—If his E—y's principles are just, and his reasoning conclusive, he has then proved that the people of this province and the other colonies, by being subjects of the British crown, are the most abject slaves in all Christendom.—All our charters are made of no more worth than a tobacco paper—we are under the absolute dominion of a British parliament, and yet not a part of Britain so as to avail ourselves of Magna Charta, the bill of rights, or any part of the English constitution, or to share with our brethren there in the advantages arising from manufactures, trade and commerce.—No we are without a barrier, a guard, a check, against the worst of oppressions, and the most despotic power—we are to be restricted in our manufactures, and trade, and to have our monies forced from us without our consent and given away in pensions, &c. to such Americans as can be found base enough to receive them as a reward for betraying the liberties of their country.—Thus is a great continent led by his E—y to conceive themselves in the dreadful situation of being considered as a part of the British dominions only in respect to burthens, but not in point of advantage, with regard to constitution, trade or manufactures. But whether it will be in the power of such ministerial advocates to make this continent easy in such a forlorn condition time will discover.
For the MASSACHUSETTS SPY. Mr. THOMAS,
When humble suppliants would the gods appease,
And in severe afflictions beg for ease, With constant importunity they sue, And their PETITIONS every day renew; Grow still more earnest as they are deny'd, Nor one well weigh'd expedient leave untry'd, 'Till heaven those blessings they enj'y'd before Not only does return, but gives 'em more.
By re-printing the following extract from the CEN TINEL, whose prophecies of this country are verifying every day, you will oblige a constant reader.
I AM of opinion, had this measure proceeded the stamp act, and been the first hostile design that appeared, it would have been so flagrantly destructive of the constitution, that the scene might have closed with blood. A new era would have been laid in this western world, and the consequences might have dazled Europe. But misfortunes coming on the back of misfortunes, has rendered us insensible to them. The disease has crept on from the extreme parts of the body, till at length it has attacked the vital's. Unless speedily checked we shall soon make a poor figure in American history, and in a distant day posterity may read the following account of us:
About this period, the tragedy of the province of Massachusetts-Bay was wholly completed. After all their noise, the minister at length proved superior to them. Their spirits sunk, and they are now a poor, mean, contemptible race, governed by a set of Bashaws, who fleece them of the little they had left, and make them hewers of wood and drawers of water!
If this my countrymen is an agreeable picture, slumber on a while longer, and you will have it in reality: If not, awake thou that sleepest!
I shall in my next pursue the subject more fully. In the mean time, I leave life and death, a blessing and a curse with you; choose your portion. On you it depends whether posterity, and children unborn, may live a beggarly race, forever cursing their ancestors; or whether, happy in freedom secured, and a constitution preserved, they may not rise up and call you blessed.
A TAYLOR that is a good workman, being at present out of employ, would be glad to work at low wages by the day or week, in any gentleman's family. Enquire of the Printer.
TO-MORROW MORNING,
At ELEVEN o'Clock, Will be Sold by PUBLIC VENDUE, At the Bunch of Grapes in King Street, FOUR hogheads of very good Shop SUGARS. A few Boxes of Lisbon LEMONS. J. RUSSELL, Auctioneer.
This Day was published, price 1s.
THE REVOLUTION NEW-ENGLAND, [In 1688] JUSTIFIED, AND THE PEOPLE there VINDICATED
From the aspersions cast upon them by Mr. JOHN PALMER, in his pretended answer to the declaration published by the inhabitants of Boston and the country adjacent, on the day when they secured their late oppressors, who acted by an illegal and arbitrary commission from the late King James.
To which is added, AN NARRATIVE of the PROCEEDINGS
Sir EDMUND ANDROSSE
And his complices. Who acted by an illegal and arbitrary commission from the late King JAMES, during his government in New-England. By several Gentlemen who were of his Council. Boston: Re-printed and sold by I. THOMAS. * * SUBSCRIBERS are desired to call or send for their books.
Just Imported by Capt. Jarvis, from
LONDON, and to be sold by
ANNA JOHNSON,
At the head of Black-horse lane, near the Rev.
Dr. Pemberton's Meeting house:
A large assortment of
Garden Seeds, Peas, Beans, &c.
among which are,
EARLY charlton, early golden hotspur, Ormond hotspur, Spanish moratto, white rouncival, dwarf marrowfat and bush peas, large Windsor, true early Lisbon, early yellow six weeks white kidney and fine token beans, early Yorkshire, Dutch. sugar loaf, battersea, savoy, red and broccoli cabbage seed, cellyflower, cucumber, onion, carrot, turnip, radish and lettuce of all sorts, round spinach, cavide, cellery and asparagus, thyme, baun, sweet marjoram, broad clover, white Dutch clover, la lucerne, rape, canary, and an assortment of flower seeds, and herds grass seed: Also a variety of other seeds not mentioned; all which were imported from the seeds-men in London, and are warranted to be fresh and good and of the last years produce.
ELIZABETH GREENLEAF,
Informes her customers and others, that she has removed from her shop at the end of Union-street, to the second shop southward of the lane leading to Dr. Byles's meeting-house where she continues to sell as usual.
EARLY charlton, omorods hot-
spur and golden hotspur peas, dwarf,
green and large marrowfat, Leadman's dwarf,
rouncivil and Spanish moratto peas, early
yellow, large Windsor, early Lisbon and token
beans, red, silver skin, and white Spanish on-
on seeds, red, early golden and orange carrot
ditto, early prickly cucumber, long prickly
ditto, early and large colly flower, early
Dutch, large winter sugar-loaf, battersea, green
and yellow curled savoy, cabbage seeds, swell-
ing parsnip, early Dutch and common turn-
ip seeds, short topped salmon, white and pink
radish seed, lettuce of all sorts, scarlet beet,
curled and common parsley, curled and common
pepper grass, summer and winter spinach, sweet-
marjoram, thyme, baun, summer savory, enuive,
asparagus, cellery, white mustard, white lavender,
hemp, rape, and Canary birds seeds, &c. &c.
Imported in Capt. Jarvis from LONDON, and
to be SOLD by
SUSANNA RENKEN,
At her shop near the Draw-Bridge, in Fore Street,
EARLY Charlton, early Hotspur,
early golden Hotspur, large Marrowfat,
dwarf ditto, Leadman's dwarf, crooked Sugar,
blue and white Rouncival, split and boiling,
PEAS; large Windsor, Toker, early Lisbon,
early yellow, and Pole BEANS. early Dutch,
early Battersea, early Yorkshire, Red, and large
Winter Cabbage, early and late, Colliflower,
green and yellow Savoy, marble, green,
white, gosa, cabbage and imperial Lettuce, dou-
ble and Hamborough Parsley, winter and sum-
mer Spinage, early Yellow, Scarlet and Or-
range Carrots, Cellery, Endive, early and late
Turnip, white Spanish, Strasburgh, and silver-
skinned Onion, summer and winter Savoy, ear-
ly, late, long, green and Turkey Cucumber,
Thyme, Sweet Marjoram, Rosemary, Lavender,
Sage, summer and winter Squash, Mul-
meilon, Hemp, Rape and Canary Seed, red
and white Clover, Fowl Meadow and Herd-
grass, Burnet, Lucerne, &c. new, and warranted
of the last Year's growth.—Durham's best
flower of Mustard in pound, half pound, and
quarter pound Bottles, Kippen's Snuff, Figs,
a variety of China Bowls and Dishes.
Likewise, an Assortment of
English and India GOODS

At a meeting of the Town of LYNN, legally assembled, on the 6th of January, A. D. 1773, the late votes and proceedings of the town of Boston, were read, considered, and approved of by a vote: Instructions that were thought proper, for the Representative of the town were voted;—then a committee of seven men were chosen, to draught a letter to be sent to the committee of correspondence at Boston; and then the meeting was adjourned to the 20th of the same month, when the town met accordingly, and the committee reported as follows, viz.
To the committee of correspondence of the Town of Boston.
GENTLEMEN, You may inform your town, that, we the freeholders, their brethren and friends, of Lynn, in town meeting, duly and legally assembled, having fully considered their votes and proceedings contained in a pamphlet transmitted to us by you their committee, are fully of the opinion, that they have stated our rights with justice and propriety; that to secure and maintain those rights inviolate is a matter of the highest importance, for we cannot be a free and happy people without the free enjoyment of them; that the several acts of parliament and measures of administration pointed out by them, are dangerous encroachments upon those rights, and tend, with great rapidity, to reduce us to the most unhappy condition to which any community can be subjected, that of complete slavery. That we are therefore excited, by the strongest and most active principle in human nature; self preservation, to repel these attacks of wanton and capricious power, upon our dearest rights and liberties, with resolution and perseverance. That we have instructed our Representative in General Assembly, to use all his influence, in the present session of the General Court, to obtain a full redress of the many real and inportable grievances under which this province labours, and to stand firm to recommend support all those liberties and immunities which are now taking shall fail to obtain measures that may be proposed and conducive to that end, upon a general convention, either by letter or a convention of the respective committees of the towns in the province,—and that we acknowledge with gratitude the care and zeal which the town of Boston have, not only of late, but formerly, in many instances, shewn in the defence of liberty, and their spirited exertions against tyranny and oppression.
We ardently wish to see the same spirit of liberty and patriotism, which appears to be roused in many of our principal towns, diffused throughout the colonies; then might we expect a restoration of our extorted rights to follow as a certain effect,—whereby the disorders which appear in our government would subside, and order with contentment return.
The question was put, whether the above was acceptable to the town, and it was determined in the affirmative, nem. con.
Voted, That the pamphlet containing the late votes and proceedings of the town of Boston be lodged with the Town-Clerk.
Ordered, That the above letter be entered on the town records, and a copy thereof be signed by the Town Clerk, and sent to the committee of correspondence at Boston. Copy. Attest.
EBENEZER BURRILL, Town-Clerk.
INDIAN CORN, just imported and to be sold reasonable, if applied for immediately. Enquire at JOHN WINTHROP'S Store near the market, or on board the Schooner Diamond, now lying at the south side of the Long Wharf.
CHOICE DUMB FISH, to be sold cheap for Cash; apply to JEREMIAH WEBB, near the New North Church, or to PETER CLARK at Francis Trees, opposite Christ-Church.
FEATHERS, CHOICE water fowl feathers, to be sold at ENOCH BROWN'S store, Boston neck, which he will sell as he does every thing else, extremely cheap.
To be LET, A Building and parcel of land adjoining, in the center of the town of Boston fronting one street or high way, one hundred and fifty feet: The building will be altered to a dwelling, work-house, or shop, as may suit the business of any one wanting the same. Enquire at the ware house No. 14 at the Long Wharf.
DANIEL SCOTT, At his Medicine Store the Sign of the Leopard, South End.
TAKES this method of informing all Gentlemen, Ladies, and others, who have had the Misfortune to lose their Teeth, that he still continues the Business of making and fixing artificial Teeth as usual, in so elegant a manner as to be but little inferior to the natural, either in Use or Beauty, as many who have experienced them can testify: Where also any Person afflicted with painful Stumps or unfound Teeth, may have them removed with a peculiar Dexterity and Ease.—And all Persons who have the Scurvy in their Teeth, which threatens their removal though sound, may have them cleaned without hurting the Enamel, or in the least degree impairing them, and may be supplied with his DENTUM CONSERVATOR, which is an excellent Powder, the best adapted for preserving the Teeth and Gums, and preventing them from Aching, of any Preparation ever offered to the Public: It will cure the Scurvy in the Gums, bring the Teeth to their original Whiteness, and by a continuance of its Use, will Preserve both Teeth and Gums in a pure state during life—It is not pretended that it will perform Impossibilities, that it will make rotten Teeth sound, or will ease them when they violently ach; but it will assuredly preserve those Teeth found that are so, and cause the Gums to adhere to them and prevent those that are decayed in part, from becoming worse.
At the above Store may be had Morgan's useful Eye-Water, which is in so many cases been found serviceable that it must escape the censure of the most critical Oculist—Brigden's famous Bug Liquid, which effectually destroys those hateful Vermin,—be they ever so numerous.—An assortment of genuine patenteeed and other Medicines of the best quality, and Medicine Boxes for Families or Shipping, with exact and particular directions for using them, and a variety of other articles cheap.
The above Powder may be had also of Cox and Berry in Boston, Doctor Kast in Salem, and Dummer Jewett, Esq; at Ipswich
IRISH LINEN. WILLIAM SCOTT, At the IRISH LINEN STORE in Ann-street, near the Draw-Bridge, Boston, Has just imported from Ireland,
A Large quantity of 3-4, 7-8 and yard-wide Linens of all prices, Diapers, clouting ditto, Huckabuck, Dowlas, Table Cloth, 9 8ths wide Sheetings, white Ticken, brown Hollands, &c.
A great variety of European and India Goods, amongst which are, broad Cloths, Lambkins, Coatings, Baizes, &c silk and worsted Stuffs, Poplins, Crapes, Denmark Lustres, Missinets, Dorsetteens, Camblets, worsted Damasks, &c. Satins and capuchin Silks of all colours, with lace and fur trimmings, Ducapes, striped and plain Lutestring, English Damasks, &c. a large assortment of Ribbons, Gauzes, striped and flowered Jacquet and 6 4 wide book Muslin of all prices; Jersey, Aberdeen knit, and patent ribbed men's worsted Hose, ditto plain of all colours, for men, women and children; with too great a multiplicity of goods, suitable for the season, to be enumerated in an advertisement, all which will be sold at the lowest reduced prices for ready money only.
Excellent Gloucester Cheese, French Indigo, Teas, Coffee, Spices, &c. patent Cakes for making the liquid shining blacking for shoes and leather bottomed chairs, &c. a number of low priced bound Books of divinity, Bibles, Testaments, &c.
A Convenient Blacksmith's shop at the North-End. Enquire of the Printer.
JACOB HEMET, DENTIST to her Majesty and the Princess Amelia.
BEGS Leave to recommend to the Public, his newly discovered Essence of Pearl, and Pearl Dentifrice, which he has found to be greatly superior not only in elegance, but also in efficacy, to any thing hitherto made use of for complaints of the Teeth and Gums: Particularly they will preserve the Teeth in a perfect sound state, even old age; they render them white and beautiful, without in the least impairing the name; fasten such as are loose, keep such as are already decayed from becoming worse, prevent the Tooth-Ach, perfectly cure the Scurvy in the Gums, and make them grow firm and close to the teeth; they likewise render the breath delicate, sweet, and remedy almost all those disorders that are the consequence of scorbutic gums.
Sold (by appointment of Mr. Hemet) wholesale and retail, by W. Bayley, Perfumer, in Cockspur street, near the bottom of the Hay-market, London, and at William Scott's Irish Linen Store, near the Draw-Bridge, Boston, New-England.
To be SOLD, by NATHANIEL RUSSELL, In Common-street, a little to the northward of Dr. Byles's Meeting-House, BOSTON,
A Compleat assortment of HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE, consisting of Clocks, Tables, Chairs, Bedsteads dumb Waiters, &c. &c. Cheap for Cash. This day published, price 7 coppers.
And SOLD by E. RUSSELL, Next the Cornfield, in Union-Street, Boston THE Appendix: Or, some Observations on the Expediency of the Petition of the Africans, living in Boston, &c. lately presented to the General Assembly of this Province. To which is annexed, the Petition referred to. Likewise, Thoughts on SLAVERY With a useful Extract from the Massachusetts Spy, of January 28, 1775, by way of an Address to the Members of the Assembly. By a Love of Constitutional Liberty.
To be SOLD, by Wholesale or Retail, JOSEPH PALMER & SON, As they are TORR opposite the Golden-Ball
PALMER'S common Chocolate as cheap and good as any; excepting only some which they make of a superior quality, fit for any gentleman's table Also cocoa, fagus, tea, flax, t. b. fish, hollow ware, glass ware, indigo, razors, &c. N. B. These are English Goods at said store, now selling off very cheap for cash, West-India goods, or any kind of barter that may suit.
To be LET, And entered upon the beginning of April next A large FARM lying in the town of Brookfield, about a mile from the meeting-house, containing between 3 and 400 acres of good pasturing, plowing, mowing, and orcharding, now in the occupation of Mr. John Wait, inn holder in said town: There are on said farm, a large double house, two large barns, &c. Any person inclining to hire it, or to take it on any other terms, may know further by applying to DUNCAN INGRAHAM, in Concord. Who has for sale,
A large assortment of English and West-India GOODS, by wholesale and retail, as cheap as at any store in Boston. N. B. Good hoghead hoops, lumber, and grain of all sorts, will be received as payment for goods.
NEW RICE, Indigo, and a few quintals of choice dumb Fish, brown and loaf Sugars, Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, Spices, Cheese, Indian and Rye Meal, Oatmeal, Spermaceti Oil, &c. to be sold cheap for Cash, at
CHARLES LOWE'S Shop in Marshall's-Lane, facing the Boston-STORE.
N. B. English Beer and London Porter, sold as usual. Cash given for Bottles The SECOND EDITION. This Day was published,
AN ORATION on the Beauties of Liberty or the essential rights of the Americans. Humbly dedicated to the right honourable the Earl of Dartmouth. Printed and sold by D. KNEELAND, and N. DAVIS.
This day were published, SEVEN Sermons, viz. I. Of the Unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost: Or, the Sin unto death. II. The Saint's Duty and Exercise: In two Parts. Being an Exhortation to, and Direction for, Prayer. III. The Accepted Time and Day of Salvation. IV. The End of Time and Beginning of Eternity. V. Joshua's Resolution to serve the Lord. VI. The Way to Heaven made plain. VII. The future State of Man: Or, A Treatise on the Resurrection. By ROBERT RUSSELL, At Wardourst in SUSSEX. Boston: Printed and sold by I. THOMAS near the Mill-Bridge.
This Day was published, The new Book of KNOWLEDGE, shewing the Effects of the Planets and other Astronomical Constellations; with the strange Events that befall Men, Women and Children, born under them. Together with the Husbandman's Practice: Or, Prognostications for ever. With the Shepherds perpetual Prognostication for the Weather. Also, a brief Discourse on the Natural Causes of Meteors; with an account of several remarkable Earthquakes, Rains, Thunder, Lightnings, Comets, Blazing-Stars, &c. that have happened in several Countries. And Observations on the Weather, and Signs foretelling Rain. A brief Collection of all the Members of Man Physiognomized: The Signification of Moles on Men and Women: The interpretation of Dreams: And Pythagoras's Wheel of Fortune. With several other Secrets of Art and Nature, not to be found in any other Book of this Kind and Price, Boston, Printed and sold by I. THOMAS, near the Mill-Bridge.
New Book-Store. JOHN LANGDON, Opposite Mr. THOMAS LEVERETT's leading to the Market, Informs his friends, and the Public, that he has received in the several last ships from London and Scotland,
A LARGE and Grand Assortment of BOOKS in all Arts and Sciences, which, with his former importations, make as large a collection as is to be found at any Store in America. As he intends for England in the Spring, every Gentleman who may please to favour him with their custom may depend on purchasing at a little more than the sterling cost and charges.
To be sold by Samuel Sloane, at his Distil-House, opposite the Blue-ball and Mason's-Arms, formerly Green-Dragon, New-England RUM, and all sorts of SPIRITS, cheap for cash or Molasses; and as he makes those articles himself, he will warrant them fit for any market.
To be SOLD, A NEGRO WOMAN about twenty two years of age, as good a house negro as any in America; a fine temper for a family of children; being sold for no other reason than that her master is removed to the country, and she being incapable of country work: Any person inclining to purchase said negro may have her on trial a month or six weeks. Enquire of the Printer.
To be sold at the nett sterling cost, Without any Charge, At the store lately improved by Mr. WARD NICHOLAS BOYLSTON, next door to Mr. Francis Green's.
A VERY large and valuable assortment of English and India GOODS suited to all seasons, and too many to be enumerated—likewise to be sold, enquire at said store, four valuable regale slaves that can be well recommended, two very good chaise horses next light chariot, and a two wheeled chaise. Also several pieces of rich and fashionable horse furniture, &c. &c.
To be SOLD cheap A Cooper's Shop, Warehouses and Wharf in Fish-street. Enquire of Abigail Marshall, of Boston, in Fifth-street aforesaid, or Francis Marshall, off Newton.
AN IRON GRIST-MILL to be Sold, with two winches and an Iron wheel for to regulating the motion, the hopper large. Enquire of the Printer.
BOSTON: Printed by ISAIAH THOMAS,
At the South Corner of MARSHAL'S LANE, leading from the MILL-BRIDGE into UNION-STREET, where all Persons may be supplied with this Paper at Six Shillings and Eight Pence Lawful Money, per Annum, unsealed, and Eight Shillings sealed and directed; and where Articles of Intelligence, &c. are thankfully received:— ADVERTISEMENTS taken in—PRINTING in its various Branches, performed in a neat Manner, with the greatest Care and Dispatch, on the most reasonable Terms. Small HAND-BILLS at an Hour's Notice. SUBSCRIPTIONS for the SPY are also taken in by J. Larkin, Chairmaker, and Mr. W. Calder, Painter, in Charles-town; Mr. J. Hillers, Wagonmaker in Salem; Mr. B. Emerson, Bookseller, in Newbury-Port; and Mr. M. Belcher, in Bridgewater.