them. They formed themselves into a provincial congress; and immediately adjourned to Concord, where they met three days after, and proceeded to public business. Immediately upon their organization here, they appointed a committee of several leading delegates to consider the state of the province, and of this Mr. Gerry was a leading and conspicuous member. They prepared directly an address to the governor which was approved by the congress, in which after an apology for having thus assembled, and observing that the distressed situation of the province, owing to the many grievances and oppressions under which the people groaned, had brought them together to prevent impending ruin, and provide for the public safety; they remonstrated against his hostile measures, which threatened to involve the province in the horrors of civil war. They declared their attachment to Britain, their loyalty to the king, and their love of order and tranquillity: but added, "that when the power of government, which was originally designed for the security and welfare of the people, was employed to harass and enslave them, it became a curse, rather than a blessing." They complained of the late act of parliament, by which their charter was directly violated, their rights abridged, justice perverted, and even murders were licensed; and which, if carried into execution, would reduce them to abject slavery; of the large military force in the capital, and of the fortifications erected at its entrance, as most oppressive and insulting, not only to the inhabitants of Boston, but to all the people of the

province. They urged him to discontinue these offensive preparations; and declared that the citizens would not be satisfied until these hostile works were wholly demolished. Congress then adjourned to Cambridge, where they met the following week.

This assembly was composed of patriotic and resolute men, prepared for any measure which should be deemed wise or proper for the restoration or defence of their violated rights. They continued to meet by adjournments from time to time during the month, and to consult and adopt measures for the defence and safety of the province. They declared the counsellors appointed by the king and ministry unconstitutional; they recommended the people to refrain as much as possible from purchasing imported articles and goods of every description; the constables and collectors of taxes were ordered, not to pay any sums to the treasurer of the province, who had then become less opposed to the policy of ministers, and would be likely to pay over the same to the officers of the crown; but to retain it, and to pay it afterwards, as the congress might direct. An estimate was made of the sum necessary to be expended in providing ordnance and military stores, in addition to the quantity then belonging to the province, and the estimated amount was twenty thousand pounds.

They solemnly declared, that, in their opinion, nothing, except slavery, was more to be deprecated than hostilities with Great Britain; and that they had no design to attack or annoy his majesty's troops within the province. But being satisfied, that in their situa

VOL. VIII.-C

tion, measures of defence and safety were absolutely necessary, they proceeded to choose an executive committee, with authority to call out, assemble and put in military array any portion of the militia of the province, for the protection of the citizens; and earnestly recommended to the militia officers, as they regarded the lives and liberties of their fellow citizens, to be prompt in obedience to such requisitions.

On the first of February following, a second provincial congress met at Cambridge, to which Mr. Gerry was also a delegate. This body, as did the former, made a public appeal to the patriotism of the people. They acknowledged that the crisis was alarming; but they entreated them not to despond, nor to relax in their preparations for defence. Great firmness and resolution, they said, were necessary; and all the exertions to be made, of which the resources of the country afforded the means and the power. They expressed their abhorrence of actual hostilities; but declared their conviction, that they were bound to defend their civil rights, both as men and as christians. They referred to the claims of parliament for taxing the people in America without their consent, and without any representatives in the British legislature; and to the late acts for altering the charter of Massachusetts, and introducing arbitrary measures and a military power, which tended directly to the entire misery and slavery of the people. And they expressed a firm belief, that all America would support them, in their struggles for liberty.

Much of the business of the congress, and indeed of all the legislative bodies in those days, was prepared and arranged by committees. Of these Mr. Gerry was a principal member, and we find him constantly associated in them, with the most distinguished citizens of the province. The two great committees were those of safety and supplies; and in both of them he was very active. In the spring of 1775, indeed, this activity became absolutely necessary. There was a strong apprehension that troops would be sent to places where military stores were deposited, to remove them to the capital. The committee of safety, therefore, selected several persons to give notice of any movements of the British from Boston into the country; and placed a watch at Concord and at Worcester, where provisions and military articles were chiefly collected, for the purpose of giving an alarm to the surrounding country, on the report of any such expedition. Some of the cannon were ordered from Concord to Groton, and some were removed from Worcester to Leicester. The committee for supplies, chosen some time before, was also engaged in procuring powder, fire-arms, bayonets and flints, as well as various articles of provisions, to be in readiness for a large body of the militia, should it be necessary to call them out for the defence of the province. Scarcely had these measures been adopted when the bloody scenes of Lexington and Concord occurred, and the war which had been so long dreaded, but which also had been so long inevitable, actually commenced. About this period a circumstance occurred with regard to the subject of

our memoir, which, as it has been preserved by tradition, is worthy of insertion. The committees of safety and supplies had been sitting at Cambridge on the day preceding the battle of Lexington, and had adjourned before night; but Mr. Gerry with colonels Lee and Orne being at a distance from their houses, determined to remain there till the next morning. In the middle of the night, they were alarmed by the approach of the British troops, on their march to Concord. When the main body came opposite the house in which these important committees had been sitting, a file of soldiers was unexpectedly detached and ordered to surround the house, for the purpose of taking prisoners such of the committee as might be there. With great difficulty and good fortune, these gentlemen escaped with scarcely any covering but their shirts, and concealed themselves till the search was over. They afterwards returned to spread the alarm among the citizens, and impel them to the noble resistance of that memorable day. Mr. Gerry continued for some time an active and influential member of these committees, and was the intimate friend and confidant of the revered general Warren.

On the night preceding that gentleman's departure for Bunker Hill, the two patriots retired to the same bed; the night was passed in a restless anxiety for their country, and the last words of this martyred hero before his departure for the "awful heights" were addressed to his heart's best friend, with a melancholy presentiment of his fate.

Dulce et decorum est,

Pro patria mori