d the following resolutions:

"That a general discontent on account of the Revenue Acts, an
expectation of the sudden arrival of a military power to enforce said
Acts, an apprehension of the troops being quartered upon the
inhabitants, the General Court (or Assembly) dissolved, the Governor
refusing to call a new one, and the people almost reduced to a state of
despair, rendered it highly expedient and necessary for the people to
convene their (town) committees to associate (in convention), consult,
and advise the best means to promote peace and good order; to present
their united complaints to the Throne, and jointly to pray for the Royal
interposition in favour of their violated rights; nor can this procedure
possibly be illegal, as they expressly disclaim all governmental acts.

"That the establishment of a standing army in this colony, in time of
peace, is an invasion of national rights.

"That a standing army is not known as a part of the British
constitution.

"That sending an armed force into the colony, under pretence of
assisting the civil authority, is highly dangerous to the people,
unprecedented and unconstitutional."

On the 12th of July the Governor sent a message to the House requesting
an explicit answer to his message of the 6th, as to whether the House
would or would not make provision for quartering the troops. After
anxious deliberation, the unusually full House of 107 members present
unanimously answered:

"As representatives, by the Royal Charter and the nature of our trust,
we are only empowered to grant such aids as are reasonable, of which we
are free and independent judges, at liberty to follow the dictates of
our own understanding, without regard to the mandates of another. Your
Excellency must, therefore, excuse us in this express declaration that
as we cannot, consistently with our honour or interest, and much less
with the duty we owe to our constituents, so we shall never make
provision for the purposes mentioned in your messages."

Governor Barnard rejoined, in his last words to the Assembly, "To his
Majesty, and if he pleases to his Parliament, must be referred your
invasion of the rights of the Imperial sovereignty. By your own acts you
will be judged. Your publications are plain and explicit, and need no
comment." And he prorogued the Assembly until the 10th day of January,
1770. He wrote to Lord Hillsborough: "Their last message exceeds
everything." Three weeks afterwards, the