the report had been true, there were several thousand armed men ready to have marched to their assistance. They tell them further, that they are commissioned to acquaint them, that even though they should be disposed to a surrender of their liberties, the people of the country will not think themselves at all included in their act; that by the late act and the bills pending in the British parliament when the last intelligence was received, their charter was utterly vacated; and that the compact between Britain and the colonies being thus dissolved, they are at full liberty to combine together, in what manner and form they think best, for mutual security. [August 4.] The governor, by a proclamation for the encouragement of piety and virtue, the prevention and punishment of vice, profaneness and immorility, has exasperated the minds of the people, owing to the insertion of _hypocrisy_ among the immoralities. They have been scoffed at and reproached by enemies, and those of looser manners, for a pharisaical attention to outward forms and the appearances of religion; and therefore view this insertion as an intended insult. With the new acts, the governor received a list of thirty-six new counsellors, who agreeable to the new regulations, have been appointed by the crown, contrary to the method prescribed by the charter.—About twenty-four of the gentlemen have accepted, so that there is a sufficient number to attempt carrying on the business of government. But the courts of judicature at Boston are suspended, for the grand jurors refuse to take the oaths, and to act under new judges and laws. The petit jurors decline serving, on account of _Peter Oliver_, esq. standing impeached by a late honorable house of commons of the province, and of the judges of the superior court being made to depend upon the crown. Not only so, but the great and petty juries through the colony, unanimously refure to act in any manner under the new regulations; and the clerks of the court have found it necessary to acknowledge their contrition in the public papers, for issuing the warrants by which the juries were summoned, and not only to declare that they will not act so again, but to apologize for what they have done. At Great Barrington and some other places, the people assembled in large bodies, and filled the court-house and avenues in such a manner, that neither judge nor officer could obtain entrance; and upon the sheriff’s commanding them to make way for the court, they answered, “We know no court, nor any other establishment, independent of the ancient laws and usages of our country, and to none other will we submit, or give way upon any account.”