Resolves of the Connecticut Committee of Safety for the Arrest and Punishment of Suspected Persons

v1:424

At a meeting of the Governour and Committee of Safety of the Colony of Connecticut, held at Lebanon, on the 18th day of July, A˙ D˙ 1776:

Whereas many persons inimical to the United States of America, do wander from place to place, with intent to spy out the state of the Colonies, and give intelligence to their enemies, whereby confederacies may be formed and strengthened, and other great inconveniences may ensue therefrom: Which to prevent,

Resolved, That no person or persons unknown or suspected, whether they appear in the character of gentlemen, expresses, travellers, or common beggars, be permitted to travel or pass from town to town in this Colony, unless he or they can and do produce a certificate from some Congress, Committee of Safety or Inspection, some Magistrate, Justice of the Peace, or General, or Field-Officer in the Army, therein mentioning from whence and to what place the person producing the same is travelling, and that he is friendly to the liberties of the American States, unless he be a person well known, and friendly as aforesaid.

And all officers, civil and military, Selectmen, Committees of Inspection, Sheriffs, Grand Jurors, and Tythingmen in this Colony, are directed to require every person travelling as aforesaid, to produce such certificate, and to stop and examine such persons travelling without such certificate as aforesaid; and unless he or they can give full satisfaction that he, or they are pursuing their lawful business, and are friendly to the liberties and interests of the United American States, and has no design to hurt or injure them in his or their journey, that they apprehend such person or persons, and him or them carry before the civil authority, Selectmen, or Committee of Inspection of the town in which he or they shall be found, to be further examined and dealt with as the nature of the case, in his or their opinion, may require.

And it is further recommended to the civil authority and Selectmen of the larger towns in this Colony, that proper watches and wards be kept in suitable places in said towns, by night, to apprehend any such persons as aforesaid, that may travel from place to place, and practise mischief against this or the rest of the United Colonies, and bring them

v1:425