That the said Commit- " tees of the different Towns and Districts in the "several Counties in this Colony be and they hereby "are authorized and reciiiired to cause all persons "whom they may esteem dangerous and disaffected to "appear before them, either by arrest or summons, as "the said Committees, in their discretion, may think " proper, and take from the said persons respectively, "good and sufheient security to api)ear before the " General Committee of the County, at such time and " place as they shall order him to attend, aiul, then " aud there, to answer such nuitters as shall, before " the said General Committee, be alleged against him ; "and, on refusal to give such securitv, to commit to •>,s

"safe custody Ihe said person or pei"sons so refusing, " until the next meeting of the said General Com- " mittee, with whom the accusation against the said " dangerous and disaHected person or persons ought, "forthwith, to be lodged by the Committee of tlie " Town or District by whom they may be apprehended, " sunuiu)ued, or eonuaitled, as aforesaid.

"And whereas there is, in this Colony, divers " persons who, by reason of their holding Otiices from " the King of Great Britain, from their haviug neg- " lecled or refused to associate witli their fellow citi- " zens, for the defence of their common Rights, from '' their having never mariil'ested, by their conduct, a " zeal for and attacliment to the American cause, or " from their having maintained an equivocal ueutral- " ity, have been considered by their countrymen in a " suspicious light, wliereby it hath become necessary, " as well for the safety as for the satisfaction of the " people, who, in times so dangerous and critical, are " naturally led to consider those as their enemies wlio " withhold from them their aid and infiueuce :