er Town, about ten miles
from Boston. It was resolved by this congress that an army of 30,000
men should be raised and established, whereof 13,600 should be of the
province of Massachusets Bay. It was further resolved that a letter
and delegates should be sent to the several colonies of Hampshire,
Connecticut, and Rhode Island, for further assistance and co-operation.
Despatches were also sent to Franklin, in England, containing an account
of the Lexington battle, and enclosing an address to the people of Great
Britain, complaining of the conduct of the troops, professing great
loyalty, but appealing to Heaven for the justice of their cause,
and declaring their determination to die rather than sacrifice their
liberty. At the same time the provincial congress made great exertions
to clothe and pay the besieging army, voting a large sum in paper
currency, for the redemption of which the faith of the whole province
was pledged. They also formally declared that General Gage, by the late
transactions, had utterly disqualified himself from acting as governor,
or in any other capacity, and that no obedience was due to him, but
that he ought to be considered an inveterate enemy. A similar spirit
was exhibited in other provinces. At New York military associations were
formed, and a provincial congress called; in Jersey the populace took
possession of the treasury; and in Philadelphia, the very Quakers
renounced their principles of peace, and took up arms as volunteers,
under the pretence of self-defence. It was in this state of affairs that
Lord North's conciliatory propositions arrived. These were read first in
the assembly of Pennsylvania by governor Penn, who expressed an anxious
wish that all due consideration should be given them, and that, if
possible, they might become instruments of restoring tranquillity to
the country. It was determined by the assembly of Pennsylvania, however,
that the union of the colonies to which they were pledged should not
be deserted. Similar results followed the reading of them in other
provincial assemblies, and all concurred in referring them to the
general congress, which was in itself a rejection, since its legality
would never be acknowledged by the British parliament.

The general congress met on the 10th of May. Its first acts were to
frame resolutions for organising an army, and the emission of a paper
currency, guaranteed by the united colonies; to stop all exportation
of provisions to