Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston

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At a legal and very full Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the town of Boston, by adjournment, at Faneuil Hall, June 17, 1774.

Upon a motion made, the town again entered into the consideration of that article in the warrant, viz: "To consider and determine what measures are to be taken on the present exigency of our public affairs, more especially relative to the late edict of a British Parliament for blocking up the harbour of Boston, and annihilating the trade of this town;" and after very serious debates thereon,

Voted, (with only one dissentient, ) That the Committee of Correspondence be enjoined forthwith to write to all the other Colonies, acquainting them that we are not idle; that we are deliberating upon the steps to be taken on the present exigencies of our public affairs; that our brethren, the landed interest of this Province, with an unexampled spirit and unanimity, are entering into a non-consumption agreement, and that we are waiting with anxious expectation for the result of a Continental Congress, whose meeting we impatiently desire, in whose wisdom and firmness we can confide, and in whose determination we shall cheerfully acquiesce.

Agreeably to order, the Committee of Correspondence laid before the town such letters as they had received in answer to the circular letters wrote by them to the several Colonies, and also the seaport towns in this Province, since the reception of the Boston Port Bill; and the same being publicly read,

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Voted, unanimously. That our warmest thanks be transmitted to our brethren on the Continent, for that humanity, sympathy and affection with which they have been inspired, and which they have expressed towards this distressed town at this important season.

Voted, unanimously, That the thanks of this town be, and hereby are, given to the Committee of Correspondence, for their faithfulness in the discharge of their trust, and that they be desired to continue their vigilance and activity in that service.

Whereas the Overseers of the Poor in the town of Boston are a body politic, by law constituted for the reception and distribution of charitable donations for the use of the poor of the said town,

Voted, That all grants and donations to this town, and the poor thereof, at this distressing season, be paid and delivered into the hands of said Overseers, and by them appropriated and distributed, in concert with the Committee lately appointed by this town for the consideration of ways and means of employing the poor.

Voted, That the Town Clerk be directed to publish the proceedings of tills meeting in the several newspapers.

The meeting was then adjourned to Monday, the 27th June, instant. Attest,

WILLIAM COOPER, Town Clerk.