him; but that if he joined with them, and colonel Dalrymple,
after that, should refuse to remove the troops, the blame would
then lie at his door."The lieutenant-governor all along declared,
that he had no authority over the troops; yet as the council
knew, by what had passed, that upon this desire colonel Dalrymple
would consent to remove them, He, on this emergency, told
the council, he would comply with their advice, and would de-
sire it of him accordingly; and the colonel declared, "That upon
receiving a letter from the lieutenant-governor to that purpose, he
would do it." These declarations were made to the towns-com-
mittee, and were by them said to be reported to the town, still
assembled in town-meeting; whereupon the minds of the people
appeared to be quieted.

The council was adjourned to the next morning, to see the
minutes made by the secretary of this day's proceedings set in
order, as well as to do some other business that had been assigned
over to that time.

The secretary, in his draft, expressed what had been said in de-
bate, in these terms.--"Divers gentlemen of the council in-
formed his honour the lieutenant-governor, They were of opi-
nion, that it was the determination of the people to have the
troops removed from the town; and that this was not the sense
of the inhabitants of the town of Boston only, but of other
towns in the neighbourhood, who stood ready to come in, in or-
der to effect this purpose, be the consequence of it what it may;
unless they shall be withdrawn by the commanding officers,
which, in their opinion, was the only method to prevent the ef-
fusion of blood, and, in all probability, the destruction of his Ma-
jesty's troops, who must be overpowered by numbers, which
would not be less than ten to one."

This form was allowed strictly to express the truth, but that
it would not stand well on the council records. One of the gen-
tlemen on the board prepared an amendment, as in the words
following,---"That the people of this, and some of the
neighbouring towns, were so exasperated and incensed, on ac-
count of the inhuman and barbarous destruction of a number of
the inhabitants by the troops, that they apprehended imminent
danger of further bloodshed, unless the troops were forthwith
removed from the body of the town, which, in their opinion,
was the only method to prevent it."--This amendment was sub-
stituted, and the minutes of the whole proceedings set in order
and agreed to.
ANDREW OLIVER.
Suffolk, ss. Boston, March 13th, 1770.