Having  formed  a  council  under  the  new  act  for  the  government  of  Massachu-
setts Bay,  General  Gage,  by  its  advice,  issued  writs  for  holding  an  assembly  in
Salem,  on  the  5th  of  October  ;  but  was  induced  by  subsequent  events  to  coun-
termand the  elections  by  a  second  preclamation,  and  to  suspend  the  meeting  of
the  members  already  returned.  The  colonists,  considering  the  second  procla-
mation illegal,  utterly  disregarded  it,  and  chose  their  representatives  in  obedi-
ence to  the  first.
The  assembly,  to  the  number  of  ninety,  met  at  the  time  and  place  appointed
They  waited  a  day  for  the  governor  to  open  the  session  ;  but  finding  he  did  not
appear,  they,  on  the  third  day,  resolved  themselves  into  a  provincial  congress,
and  adjourned  to  Concord,  a  town  about  twenty  miles  distant  from  Boston.  They
chose  John  Hancock  president ;  and  appointed  a  committee  to  wait  on  the  gov-
ernor with  a  remonstrance,  in  which  they  apologized  for  their  meeting  by  rep-
resenting the  distressed  state  of  the  colony  ;  mentioned  the  grievous  apprehen-
sions of  the  people  ;  asserted  that  the  rigor  of  the  Boston  port  bill  was  increased
by  the  manner  of  its  execution  ;  complained  of  the  late  laws,  and  of  the  hostile
preparations  on  Boston  Neck  ;  and  adjured  him  to  desist  immediately  from  the
construction  of  a  fortress  there.
