Sixth, That such as are owners of vessels will give positive orders to their captains, or masters, not to receive on board their vessels any goods prohibited by the said non-importation agreement, on pain of immediate dismission from their service.

Seventh, We will use our utmost endeavours to improve the breed of sheep, and increase their number to the greatest extent; and to that end, we will kill them as seldom as may be, especially those of the most profitable kind; nor will we export any to the West-Indies or elsewhere; and those of us, who are or may become overstocked with, or can conveniently spare any sheep, will dispose of them to our neighbours, especially to the poorer sort, on moderate terms.

Eighth, We will, in our several stations, encourage frugality, œconomy, and industry, and promote agriculture, arts and the manufactures of this country, especially that of wool; and will discountenance and discourage every species of extravagance and dissipation, especially all horse-racing, and all kinds of gaming, cock fighting, exhibitions of shews, plays, and other expensive diversions and entertainments; and on the death of any relation or friend, none of us, or any of our families will go into any further mourning-dress, than a black crape or ribbon on the arm or hat, for gentlemen, and a black ribbon and necklace for ladies, and we will discontinue the giving of gloves and scarves at funerals.

Ninth, Such as are venders of goods or merchandize will not take advantage of the scarcity of goods, that may be occasioned by this association, but will sell the same at the rates we have been respectively accustomed to do, for twelve months last past. And if any vender of goods or merchandize shall sell such goods on higher terms, or shall, in any manner, or by any device whatsoever, violate or depart from this agreement, no person ought, nor will any of us deal with any such person, or his or her factor or agent, at any time thereafter, for any commodity whatever.

Tenth, In case any merchant, trader, or other person, shall import any goods or merchandize, after the first day of Decem

ber, and before the first day of February next, the same ought forthwith, at the election of the owner, to be either re-shipped or delivered up to the committee of the county or town, wherein they shall be imported, to be stored at the risque of the importer, until the non-importation agreement shall cease, or be sold under the direction of the committee aforesaid; and in the lastmentioned case, the owner or owners of such goods shall be reimbursed out of the sales, the first cost and charges, the profit, if any, to be applied towards relieving and employing such poor inhabitants of the town of Boston, as are immediate sufferers by the Boston port-bill; and a particular account of all goods so returned, stored, or sold, to be inserted in the public papers; and if any goods or merchandizes shall be imported after the said first day of February, the same ought forthwith to be sent back again, without breaking any of the packages thereof.

Eleventh, That a committee be chosen in every county, city, and town, by those who are qualified to vote for representatives in the legislature, whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons touching this association; and when it shall be made to appear, to the satisfaction of a majority of any such committee, that any person within the limits of their appointment has violated this association, that such majority do forthwith cause the truth of the case to be published in the gazette; to the end, that all such foes to the rights of BritishAmerica may be publicly known, and universally contemned as the enemies of American liberty; and thenceforth we respectively will break off all dealings with him or her.

Twelfth, That the committee of correspondence, in the respective colonies, do frequently inspect the entries of their customhouses, and inform each other, from time to time, of the true state thereof, and of every other material circumstance that may occur relative to this association.

Thirteenth, That all manufactures of this country be sold at reasonable prices, so that no undue advantage be taken of a future scarcity of goods.

Fourteenth, And we do further agree and resolve, that we will have no trade, commerce, dealings, or intercourse whatsoever, with any colony or province, in North-America, which shall not accede to, or which shall hereafter violate this association, but will hold them as unworthy of the rights of freemen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country.

And we do solemnly bind ourselves and our constituents, under the ties aforesaid, to adhere to this association, until such parts of the several acts of parliament, passed since the close of the last war, as impose or continue duties on tea, wine, molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee, sugar, pimento, indigo, foreign paper, glass, and painters colours, imported into America, and extend the powers of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorise the judge's certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he might otherwise be liable to, from a trial by his peers, require oppressive security from a claimant of ships or goods seized, before he shall be allowed to defend his property, are repealed.—And until that part of the act of the 12. G. 3. ch. 24. entitled, “An act for the better securing his majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores," by which any persons charged with committing any of the offences therein described, in America, may be tried in any shire or county within the realm, is repealed-and until the four acts, passed the last session of parliament, viz. that for stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of Boston—that for altering the charter and government of the Massachusetts-Bay - and that which is entitled, "An act for the better administration of justice, &c."— and that "For extending the limits of Quebec, &c." are repealed. And we recommend it to the provincial conventions, and to the committees in the respective colonies, to establish such farther regulations as they may think proper, for carrying into execution the association.

21. An act to restrain the trade and commerce of the provinces of Massachuset's Bay and New Hampshire, and colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island, and Providence Plantation, in North America, to Great Britain, Ireland, and the British islands in the West Indies; and to prohibit such provinces and colonies from carrying on any fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, or other places therein mentioned, under certain conditions and limitations1

March 30, 1775

Whereas by an act, made in the twelfth year of the reign of king Charles the Second, intituled, An act for the encourageing and increasing of shipping and navigation; and by several subsequent acts of parliament which are now in force, it is, amongst other things, enacted, That for every ship or vessel which shall load any commodities, in those acts particularly enumerated, at any British plantation, being the growth, product, or manufacture thereof, bonds shall be given, with one surety, to the value of one thousand pounds, if the ship be of less burthen than one hundred tons, and of the sum of two thousand pounds, if the ship be of greater burthen, that the same commodities shall be brought by such ship or vessel to some other British plantation, or to some port in Great Britain: and whereas, by several other acts of parliament which are now in force, no commodities of the growth, product, or manufacture of Europe (except salt for the fisheries, wines of the Madeiras and Azores and Western Islands, and victual and linen cloth from Ireland, under the restrictions in such acts particularly mentioned), can be imported into any plantation, colony, territory, or place, belonging to his Majesty, 1 Pickering, Statutes at Large, vol. 31, pp. 3-11.

in Asia, Africa, or America, but what shall be bona fide, and without fraud, laden and shipped in Great Britain, and carried directly from thence: and whereas, during the continuance of the combinations and disorders, which at this time prevail within the provinces of Massachuset's Bay and New Hampshire, and the colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island, to the obstruction of the commerce of these kingdoms, and other his Majesty's dominions, and in breach and violation of the laws of this realm, it is highly unfit that the inhabitants of the said provinces and colonies should enjoy the same privileges of trade, and the same benefits and advantages to which his Majesty's faithful and obedient subjects are intitled; be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the first day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and during the continuance of this act, no goods, wares, or merchandises, which are particularly enumerated in, and by the said act made in the twelfth year of king Charles the Second, or any other act, being the growth, product, or manufacture of the provinces of Massachuset's Bay, or New Hampshire, or colonies of Connecticut, Rhode Island, or Providence Plantation, in North America, or any or either of them, are to be brought to some other British colony, or to Great Britain; or any such enumerated goods, wares, or merchandise, which shall at any time or times have been imported or brought into the said provinces or colonies, or any or either of them, shall be shipped, carried, conveyed, or transported, from any of the said provinces or colonies respectively, to any land, island, territory, dominion, port, or place whatsoever, other than to Great Britain, or some of the British islands, in the West Indies, to be laid on shore there; and that no other goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, of the growth, product, or manufacture of the provinces or colonies herein before mentioned, or which shall at any time or times have been imported or brought into the same, shall, from and after the said first day of July, and during