and it being of the greatest importance, that an early, true, and authentic account of this inhuman proceeding should be known to you, the congress of this colony have transmitted the same, and from want of a session of the hon. continental congress, think it proper to address you on the alarming occasion.

good sense, that a body of men in Great | troops under the command of General Gage, Britain, who have little intercourse with America, and of course know nothing of us, nor are supposed to see or feel the misery they would inflict upon us, shall invest themselves with a power to command our lives and properties, at all times and in all cases whatsoever? You say you are no politician. Oh, sir, it requires no Machiavelian head to develop this, and to discover this tyranny and oppression. It is written with a sun beam. Every one will see and know it because it will make them feel, and we shall be unworthy of the blessings of Heaven, if we ever submit to it.

By the clearest depositions relative to this transaction, it will appear that on the night preceding the nineteenth of April instant, a body of the king's troops, under command of colonel Smith, were secretly landed at Cambridge, with an apparent design to take or All ranks of men amongst us are in arms. destroy the military and other stores, provided Nothing is heard now in our streets but the for this colony, and deposited at Concord-that trumpet and drum; and the universal cry is some inhabitants of the colony, on the night "Americans to arms." All your friends are aforesaid, whilst travelling peaceably on the officers: there are captain S. D., lieut. B. and road, between Boston and Concord, were seized captain J. S. We have five regiments in the and greatly abused by armed men, who apcity and county of Philadelphia, complete in peared to be officers of General Gage's army; arms and uniform, and very expert at their mili- that the town of Lexington, by these means, tary manœuvres. We have companies of light- was alarmed, and a company of the inhabihorse, light infantry, grenadiers, riflemen, and tants mustered on the occasion-that the regIndians, several companies of artillery, and ular troops on their way to Concord, marched some excellent brass cannon and field pieces. | into the said town of Lexington, and the said Add to this, that every county in Pennsylvania, company, on their approach, began to disperse and the Delaware government, can send two thousand men to the field. Heaven seems to smile on us, for in the memory of man never were known such quantities of flax, and sheep without number.-We are making powder fast, and do not want for ammunition. In short, we want for nothing but ships of war to defend us, which we could procure by making alliances but such is our attachment to Greattachment then marched to Concord, where a Britain, that we sincerely wish for reconciliation, and cannot bear the thoughts of throwing off all dependence on her, which such a step would assuredly lead to. The God of mercy will, I hope, open the eyes of our king that he may see, while in seeking our destruction, he will go near to complete his own. It is my ardent prayer that the effusion of blood may be stopped. We hope yet to see you in this city, a friend to the liberties of America, which will give infinite satisfaction to,

that, notwithstanding this, the regulars rushed on with great violence and first began hostilities, by firing on said Lexington company, whereby they killed eight, and wounded several others-that the regulars continued their fire, until those of said company, who were neither killed nor wounded, had made their escape-that colonel Smith, with the de

number of provincials were again fired on by the troops, two of them killed and several wounded, before the provincials fired on them, and that these hostile measures of the troops, produced an engagement that lasted through the day, in which many of the provincials and more of the regular troops were killed and wounded.

To give a particular account of the ravages of the troops, as they retreated from Concord to Charlestown, would be very difficult, if not impracticable; let it suffice to say, that a great number of the houses on the road were plundered and rendered unfit for use, several were burnt, women in child-bed were driven by the

ADDRESS OF PROVINCIAL CONGRESS OF MAS- soldiery naked into the streets, old men peace

SACHUSETTS,

To the Inhabitants of Great Britain.

WATERTOWN, April 26th, 1775. Friends and Fellow Subjects-Hostilities are at length commenced in this colony by the

ably in their houses were shot dead, and such scenes exhibited as would disgrace the annals of the most uncivilized nation.

These, brethren, are marks of ministerial vengeance against this colony, for refusing, with her sister colonies, a submission to sla

very; but they have not yet detached us from our royal sovereign. We profess to be his loyal and dutiful subjects, and so hardly dealt with as we have been, are still ready, with our lives and fortunes, to defend his person, family, crown and dignity. Nevertheless, to the per- | secution and tyranny of his cruel ministry we will not tamely submit-appealing to Heaven for the justice of our cause, we determine to die or be free.

We cannot think that the honor, wisdom and valor of Britons will suffer them to be longer inactive spectators of measures in which they themselves are so deeply interestedmeasures, pursued in opposition to the solemn protests of many noble lords, and expressed sense of conspicuous commoners, whose knowledge and virtue have long characterized them as some of the greatest men in the nationmeasures, exécuted contrary to the interest, petitions and resolves of many large, respectable and opulent counties, cities and boroughs in Great Britain-measures highly incompatible with justice, but still pursued with a specious pretence of easing the nation of its burthensmeasures which, if successful, must end in the ruin and slavery of Britain, as well as the persecuted American colonies.

We sincerely hope that the Great Sovereign of the universe, who hath so often appeared for the English nation, will support you in every rational and manly exertion with these colonies, for saving it from ruin, and that, in a constitutional connection with the mother country, we shall soon be altogether a free and happy people.

Therefore, resolved, that the said general Gage hath, by these and many other means, utterly disqualified himself to serve to this colony as a governor, and in every capacity; and that no obedience ought, in future, to be paid by the several towns and districts in this colony, to his writs for calling an assembly, or to his proclamations, or any other of his acts or doings; but that, on the other hand, he ought to be considered and guarded against, as an unnatural and inveterate enemy to the country.

JOSEPH WARREN, President P. T.

CORRESPONDENCE

Between GEN. LEE, Continental army, and
GEN. J. BURGOYNE of the British forces,
Boston, Mass. GENERAL LEE to GEN.
BURGOYNE upon his arrival in Boston.

PHILADELPHIA, June 7, 1775.

My Dear Sir-We have had twenty different accounts of your arrival at Boston, which have been regularly contradicted the next morning; but as I now find it certain that you are arrived, I shall not delay a single instant addressing myself to you. It is a duty I owe to the friendship I have long and sincerely professed for you; a friendship to which you have the strongest claim from the first moments of our acquaintance. There is no man from whom I have received so many testimonies of esteem and affection; there is no man whose esteem and affection could in my opinion, have done me greater honor. I entreat and conjure you, therefore, my dear sir, to impute these few lines not to a petulant itch of scribbling, but to the most unfeigned solicitude for the future tranquillity of your mind, and for your reputation. I sincerely lament the infatuation of the times, GRESS OF MASSACHUSETTS DEPOSING GEN- when men of such a stamp as Mr. Burgoyne

By order,

JOSEPH WARREN, President P. T.

RESOLUTIONS OF THE PROVINCIAL CON

ERAL GAGE.

WATERTOWN, May 5, 1775. Whereas his excellency, general Gage, since his arrival in this colony, hath conducted, as an instrument in the hands of an arbitrary ministry, to enslave this people; and a detachment of the troops under his command, has of late been by him ordered to the town of Concord, to destroy the public stores, deposited in that place for the use of that colony and whereas, by this clandestine and perfidious measure, a number of respectable inhabitants of this colony, without any provocation given by them, have been illegally, wantonly, and inhumanly slaughtered by his troops:

and Mr. Howe, can be seduced into so impious
and nefarious a service by the artifice of a
wicked and insidious court and cabinet. You,
sir, must be sensible that these epithets are
not unjustly severe. You have yourself expe-
rienced the wickedness and treachery of this
court and cabinet. You cannot but recollect
their manoeuvres in your own select committee,
and the treatment yourself, as president, re-
ceived from these abandoned men.
not but recollect the black business of St.
Vincent's by an opposition to which you
acquired the highest and most deserved honor.
I shall not trouble you with my opinion of the
right of taxing America without her own con-

You can

leagues from those prejudices which the same miscreants, who have infatuated general Gage and still surround him, will labor to instil into you against a brave, loyal and most deserving people. The avenues of truth will be shut up to you. I assert, sir, that even general Gage will deceive you as he has deceived himself; I do not say he will do it designedly. I do not think him capable; but his mind is totally poisoned, and his understanding so totally blinded by the society of fools and knaves, that he no longer is capable of discerning facts as manifest as the noon day sun. I assert, sir, that he is ignorant, that he has from the beginning been consummately ignorant of the principles, temper, disposition and force of the colonies. I assert, sir, that his letters to the ministry, (at least such as the public have seen) are one continued tissue of misrepresentation, injustice, and tortured inferences from misstated facts. I affirm, sir, that he has taken no pains to inform himself of the truth; that he has never conversed with a man who has had the courage or honesty to tell him the truth-I am apprehensive that you and your colleagues may fall into the same trap, and it is the apprehension that you may be inconsiderately hurried by the vigor and activity you possess, into measures which may be fatal to many innocent individuals, may hereafter wound your own feelings, and which cannot possibly serve the cause of those who sent you, that has promoted me to address these lines to you. I most devoutly wish, that your industry, valor and military talents, may be reserved for a more honorable and virtuous service against the natural enemies of your country, (to whom our court are so basely complaisant) and not be wasted in ineffectual attempts to reduce to the wretchedest state of servitude, the most meritorious part of your fellow subjects. I say, sir, that any attempts to accomplish this purpose, must be ineffectual. You cannot possibly succeed. No man is better acquainted with the state of this continent than myself. I have run through almost the whole colonies, from the North to the South, and from the South to the North. I have conversed with all orders of men, from the first estated gentlemen, to the lowest planters and farmers, and can assure you, that the same spirit animates the whole.

sent, as I am afraid, from what I have seen of | self to the main design and purpose of this your speeches, that you have already formed letter, which is to guard you and your colyour creed on this article; but I will boldly affirm, had this right been established by a thousand statutes, had America admitted it from time immemorial, it would be the duty of every good Englishman, to exert his utmost to divest parliament of this right, as it must inevitably work the subversion of the whole empire. The malady under which the state labors is indisputably derived from the inadequate representation of the subject, and the vast pecuniary influence of the crown. To add to this pecuniary influence and incompetency of representation, is to insure and precipitate our destruction. To wish any addition, can scarcely enter | the heart of a citizen, who has the least spark of public virtue, and who is at the same time capable of seeing consequences the most immediate. I appeal, sir, to your own conscience, to your experience and knowledge of our court and parliament, and I request you to lay your hand upon your heart, and then answer with your usual integrity and frankness, whether, on the supposition America should be abject enough to submit to the terms imposed, you think a single guinea, raised upon her, would ́be applied to the purpose (as it is ostentatiously held out to deceive the people at home) of easing the mother country? or whether you are not convinced that the whole they could extract would be applied solely to heap up still further the enormous fund for corruption, which the crown already possesses, and of which a most diabolical use is made. On these principles I say, sir, every good Englishman, abstracted of all regard for America, must oppose her being taxed by the British parliament; for my own part, I am convinced that no argument (not totally abhorrent from the spirit of liberty and the British constitution) can be produced in support of this right. But it will be impertinent to trouble you upon a subject which has been so amply, and in my opinion, so fully discussed. I find by a speech given as yours in the public papers, that it was by the king's positive command you embarked in this service. I am somewhat pleased that it is not an office of your own seeking, though, at the same time, I must confess that it is very alarming to every virtuous citizen, when he sees men of sense and integrity, (because of a certain profession) lay it down as a rule implicitly to obey the mandates of a court, be they ever so flagitious. It furnishes, in my opinion, the best arguments for the total reduction of the army. But I am running into a tedious essay, whereas I ought to confine my

Not less than an hundred and fifty thousand gentlemen, yeomen and farmers, are now in arms, determined to preserve their liberties or perish.-As to the idea that the Americans are deficient in courage, it is too ridiculous and

glaringly false to deserve a serious refutation. | Had they been notoriously of another disposi

Yours, &c.

C. LEE.

-I never could conceive upon what this tion, had they been homines ad servitudinem notion was founded.- -I served several cam- paratos, they might have made as free with the paigns in America the last war, and cannot property of the East-India company as the recollect a single instance of ill behavior in the felonious North himself with impunity. But provincials, where the regulars acquitted them- the lords of St. James', and their mercenaries selves well. Indeed we well remember some of St. Stephen's, will know that, as long as the instances of the reverse, particularly where the free spirit of this great continent remains unlate colonel Grant, (he who lately pledged | subdued, the progress they can make in their himself for the general cowardice of America) | scheme of universal despotism, will be but ran away with a large body of his own regi- trifling. Hence it is, that they wage inexpiament, and was saved from destruction by the ble war against America. In short, this is the valor of a few Virginians. Such preposterous last asylum of persecuted liberty. Here, should arguments are only proper for the Rgibys and the machinations and fury of her enemies Sandwichs, from whose mouths never issued, prevail, that bright goddess must fly off from and to whose breasts, truth and decency are the face of the earth, and leave not a trace utter strangers. You will much oblige me in behind. These, sir, are my principles; this is communicating this letter to general Howe, to my persuasion, and consequentially I am deterwhom I could wish it should be considered in mined to act. some measure addressed, as well as to your- that whatever measures you pursue, whether I have now, sir, only to entreat self. Mr. Howe is a man for whom I have those which your real friends (myself amongst ever had the highest love and reverence. I them) would wish, or unfortunately those have honored him for his own connections, but which our accursed misrulers shall dictate, above all for his admirable talents and good you will still believe me to be, personally, with qualities. I have courted his acquaintance and the greatest sincerity and affection, friendship, not only as a pleasure, but as an ornament; I flattered myself that I had obtained it.-Gracious God! is it possible that Mr. Howe should be prevailed upon to accept of such an office? That the brother of him, to whose memory the much injured people of Boston erected a monument, should be employed as one of the instruments of their destruction!-But the fashion of the times it seems is such, as renders it impossible that he should avoid it. The commands of our most gracious sovereign, are to cancel all moral obligations, to sanctify every action, even those that the sátrap of an eastern despot would start at.—I shall now beg leave to say a few words with respect to myself and the part I act. I was bred up from my infancy in the highest veneration for the liberties of mankind in general. What I have seen of courts and princes convince me, that power cannot be lodged in worse hands than in theirs; and of all courts I am persuaded that ours is the most corrupt and hostile to the rights of humanity. I am convinced that a regular plan has been laid (indeed every act, since the present accession, evinces it) to abolish even the shadow of liberty from amongst us. It was not the demolition of the tea, it was not any other particular act of the Bostonians, or of the other provinces which constituted their crimes. But it is the noble spirit of liberty manifestly pervading the whole continent, which has rendered them the objects of ministerial and royal vengeance.

GENERAL BURGOYNE, in answer to GENE-
RAL LEE. BOSTON, July 9, 1775.
Dear Sir-When we were last together in
service, I should not have thought it within the
vicissitude of human affairs that we should
meet at any time, or in any sense as foes; the
letter you have honored me with, and my own
feelings combine to prove we are still far from
being personally such.

I claim no merit from the attentions you so
kindly remember, but as they manifest how
much it was my pride to be known for your
friend. Nor have I departed from the duties
of that character, when I will not scruple to
say, it has been almost general offence to
maintain it: I mean since the violent part you
have taken in the commotions of the colonies.
It would exceed the limits and propriety of our
present correspondence to argue at full, the
great cause in which we are engaged. But
anxious to preserve a consistent and ingenuous
character, and jealous, I confess, of having the
part I sustain imputed to such motives as you
intimate, I will state to you as concisely as I
but most conscientiously, I undertook it.
can, the principles upon which, not voluntarily,

a veneration for public liberty. I have likeI have, like you, entertained from my infancy wise regarded the British constitution as the best safeguard of that blessing, to be found ir

all the sophistry that attends it, though it may catch the weakness and prejudices of the

preposterous to weigh seriously with a man of your understanding, and I am persuaded you will admit the question fairly put.

It is then for a relief from taxes-or from the control of parliament, "in all cases whatsoever," that we are in war? If for the former the quarrel is at an end-There is not a man of sense and information in America, who does not see it is in the power of the colonies to obtain a relinquishment of the exercise of taxation immediately and forever.—I boldly assert it, because sense and information must also suggest to every man, that it can never be the interest of Britain to make a second trial.

the history of mankind. The vital principle of the constitution, in which it moves and has its being, is the supremacy of the king in parlia-multitude, in a speech or a pamphlet, is too ment; a compound, indefinite, indefeasible power, coeval with the origin of the empire, and coextensive over all its parts-I am no stranger to the doctrines of Mr. Locke and other of the best advocates for the rights of mankind, upon the compact always implied between the governing and governed, and the right of resistance in the latter, when the compact shall be so violated as to leave no other means of redress. I look with reverence, almost amounting to idolatry, upon those immortal whigs who adopted and applied such doctrine during part of the reign of Charles the Ist, and in that of James the IId.-Should corruption pervade the three estates of the realm, so as to pervert the great ends of their institution, and make the power, vested in them for the good of the whole people, operate like an abuse of the prerogative of the crown, to general oppression, I am ready to acknowledge, that the same doctrine of resistance applies as forcibly against the abuses of the collective body of power, as against those of the crown, or either of the component branches separately still always understood that no other means of redress can be obtained.—A case, I contend, much more difficult to suppose when it relates to the whole than when it relates to parts. But in all cases that have existed, or can be conceived, I hold that resistance, to be justifiable, must be directed against the usurpation or undue exercise of power, and that it is most criminal when directed against any power itself inherent in the constitution.

And here you will discern immediately why I drew a line in the allusion I made above to the reign of Charles the first. Towards the close of it the true principle of resistance was changed, and a new system of government projected accordingly. The patriots, previous to the long parliament and during great part of it, as well as the glorious revolutionists of 1688, resisted to vindicate and restore the constitution; the republicans resisted to subvert it. Now, sir, lay your hand upon your heart, as you have enjoined me to do on mine, and tell me, to which of these purposes do the proceedings of America tend? Is it the weight of taxes imposed, and the impossibility of relief, after due representation of her burthens, that has induced her to take arms? Or is it a denial of the legislative right of Great Britain to impose them, and consequently a struggle for total independency?—For the idea of a power that can tax externally and not internally, and

But if the other ground is taken, and it is intended to wrest from Great Britain, a link of that substantial, and I hope perpetual chain, by which the empire holds-think it not a ministerial mandate; think it not mere professional ardor; think it not prejudice against any part of our fellow subjects, that induces men of integrity, and among such you have done me the honor to class me, to act with vigor :-But be assured it is conviction that the whole of our political system depends upon preserving entire its great and essential parts, and none is so great and essential as the supremacy of legislation-It is conviction that as a king of England never appears in so glorious a capacity as when he employs the executive power of the state to maintain the laws, so in the present exertions of that power, his majesty is particularly entitled to our zeal and grateful obedience, not only as a soldiers but as citizens.

These principles, depend upon it, actuate the army and fleet throughout. And let me, at the same time add, there are few, if any, gentlemen among us who would have drawn his sword in the cause of slavery. But, why do I confine myself to the fleet and army: I affirm the sentiments I here touched, to be those of the great bulk of the nation. I appeal even to those trading towns which are sufferers by the dispute, and the city of London at the head of them, notwithstanding the petitions and remonstrances that the arts of parties and factions have extorted from some individuals; and last, because least in your favor, I appeal to the majorities of the last year upon American questions in parliament. The most licentious news writer wants assurance to call these majorities ministerial; much less will you, when you impartially examine the characters of which they were in a great degree composed -men of the most independent principles and