Letter from the Massachusetts Congress to the Congress of New-Hampshire

v2:429

In Provincial Congress, Watertown,

April 28, 1775.

"Resolved unanimously, That the following Letter be authenticated by the President of this Congress, and delivered to Colonel Nathaniel Folsom, Colonel Josiah Bartlett, and Major Samuel Hobart, Esquires, Committee from the Convention of the Colony of New-Hampshire, as an answer to their Letter of the 26th instant."

GENTLEMEN: It is with pleasure we have received your letter above mentioned, and by a Committee of this

v2:430

We find the fullest conviction in the minds of the inhabitants of our sister Colonies, as well as of this, that by their immediate and most vigorous exertions, there is the greatest prospect of establishing their liberties and saving their Country; and that without such exertions, all must be lost.

It is the opinion of this Congress, as already communicated, that a powerful army on our side must at once cut out such a work for a tyrannical Administration, as, under the great opposition which they meet with in England, they cannot accomplish; and that their system of despotism must soon be shaken to the foundation. But should they still pursue their sanguinary measures, the Colonies will then be able to make a successful stand. We have the utmost confidence in your patriotick Colony, whose inhabitants have signalized themselves in joining their brethren in this; and I hope to see the New-Hampshire Government, which has been exposed to the corruption of a British Ministry, soon placed upon such a footing as will be best calculated to promote the true interest of the same, and to prevent in future such unhappy disputes as have taken place with the Mother Country: We have just received an agreeable account of the conduct of our brethren in New-York, and have delivered a copy of the letter to your Committee.

We sincerely thank you for the late measures taken by your Convention at Exeter, and are fully persuaded that the Congress of the Colony, which is to meet on the 17th of May, will take such effectual steps as the present emergency of publick affairs requires, and the Continent of America must necessarily approve at large.