General Washington appointed persons to procure an account and to take care of the articles which the British troops left behind. Beside others, there were at the Castle-Island and Boston 250 pieces of cannon, great and small, more than half of which may be rendered serviceable by the aids of ingenuity; the heaviest have been the least injured—four thirteen and a half inch morters, two of them with their beds weighing five tons each—2,500 chaldron of sea coal—25,000 hushels of wheat—2,300 bushels of barley—600 bushels of oats—100 jars of oil, containing a barrel each—and 150 horses. Some of the ordnance were thrown into the water; but the Americans will recover them. The joy of the inhabitants, whether such as remained in town or withdrew for personal security, upon finding themselves restored to the safe and peaceable enjoyment of their ancient rights, freed from what they deemed an odious tyrannical authority, in a situation to triumph over the disgrace of their enemies, and with the prospect of speedy relief from the distresses which they had been under for many tedious months—that joy is more easily conceived than expressed. They received the commander in chief with every mark of respect and gratitude, which could be shown to a deliverer. [Mar. 28.] At his excellency’s request, Dr. Elliot preached a thanksgiving sermon on the opening afresh of the Thursday’s lecture. That you may not be at the trouble of turning to your Bible, take his text in manuscript, “Look upon Zion the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.” When you are minded to exaamine the context, look for chap. xxxiii. 20. of Isaiah. The general and a number of officers attended. A dinner was provided for his excellency and other gentlemen in public and private life.