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Whereas, a number of persons unlawfully assembled at Cambridge, in the month of October last, calling themselves a Provincial Congress, did, in the most open and daring terms, assume to themselves the powers and authority of Government, independent of and repugnant to his Majesty' s Government, legally established within this Province, and tending utterly to subvert the same; and did, amongst other unlawful proceedings, take upon themselves to resolve and direct a new and unconstitutional regulation of the Militia, in high derogation of his Majesty' s royal Prerogative; and also to elect and appoint Henry Gardner, Esquire, of Stow, to be Receiver General, in the room of Harrison Gray, Esquire, then and still legally holding and executing that office; and also to order and direct the moneys granted to his Majesty, to be paid into the hands of the said Henry Gardner, and not to the said Harrison Gray, Esquire; and further earnestly to recommend to the inhabitants of the Province, to oblige and compel the several Constables and Collectors to comply and execute the said directions, contrary to their oaths, and against the plain and express rules and directions of the law; all which proceedings have a most dangerous tendency to ensnare his Majesty' s subjects the inhabitants of this Province, and draw them into perjuries, riots, sedition, treason, and rebellion.
For the prevention of which evils, and the calamitous consequences thereof, I have thought it my duty to issue this Proclamation, hereby earnestly exhorting, and in his Majesty' s name strictly prohibiting all his liege subjects within this Province from complying in any degree with the said Requisitions, Recommendations, Directions, or Resolves, of the aforesaid unlawful Assembly, as they regard his Majesty' s highest displeasure, and would avoid the
Given at Boston, this tenth day of November, in the fifteenth year of the Reign of his Majesty George the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France,, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c˙, Annoque Domini 1774.
THOMAS GAGE.
By his Excellency' s Command,
THOMAS FLUCKER, Secretary.
Proclamation of Governour Gage
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pains and penalties of the law. And I do hereby charge and command all Justices of the Peace, Sheriffs, Constables, Collectors, and other Officers in their several departments, to be vigilant and faithful in the execution and discharge of their duly in their respective offices, agreeable to the well known established laws of the land; and to the utmost of their power, by all lawful ways and means, to discountenance, discourage, and prevent, a compliance with such dangerous Resolves of the above mentioned or any other unlawful Assembly whatever.