of New York had already consulted
congress on this subject, and had been advised to permit the soldiers
to take possession of the barracks, and to remain there so long as
they conducted themselves peaceably; but, if they should commit
hostilities, or invade private property, to repel force by force. Thus
anxious was congress even after a battle had been fought, not to widen
the breach between the two countries. In addition to the real wish for
reconciliation, sound policy directed that the people of America
should engage in the arduous conflict which was approaching, with a
perfect conviction that it was forced upon them, and not invited by
the intemperate conduct of their leaders. The divisions existing in
several of the States suggested the propriety of this conduct, even to
those who despaired of deriving any other benefit from it, than a
greater degree of union among their own countrymen. In this spirit,
congress mingled with the resolutions for putting the country in a
state of defence, others expressing the most earnest wish for
reconciliation with the mother country, to effect which, that body
determined to address, once more, an humble and dutiful petition to
the King, and to adopt measures for opening a negotiation in order "to
accommodate the unhappy disputes subsisting between Great Britain and
the colonies."

As no great confidence could be placed in the success of pacific
propositions, the resolution for putting the country in a state of
defence was accompanied with others rendered necessary by that
undetermined state between war and peace, in which America was placed.
All exports to those colonies, which had not deputed members to
congress, were stopped; and all supplies of provisions, and other
necessaries, to the British fisheries, or to the army or navy in
Massachusetts Bay, or to any vessels employed in transporting British
troops to America, or from one colony to another, were prohibited.
Though this resolution was only an extension of the system of
commercial resistance which had been adopted before the commencement
of hostilities, and was evidently provoked by the late act of
parliament, it seems to have been entirely unexpected, and certainly
produced great distress.

Massachusetts having stated the embarrassments resulting from being
without a regular government, "at a time when an army was to be raised
to defend themselves against the butcheries and devastations of their
implacable enemies," a