4 The Committees who had been sent to Salem and Marblehead, "to communicate the Sentiments of this Metropolis to the Gentlemen, "there; to consult with them; and to report at the adjournment," (Minutes of the Town-Meeting, of Boston, May 13, 1774,) did, indeed, go to those Towns, and report the results of their visits, to the Town, at its Adjourned Meeting, five days subsequently ; but thoBe results were so discouraging to the violently disposed leaders of Boston -- including Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, and their associates -- that they contented themselves with ostentatiously "recommending to their fellow-citizens, "Patience, Fortitude, and a firm Trust in God," without making record of the formal Reports of the Committees, if any such formal Reports were really made, (Minutes of the Adjourned Meeting of the Town, May 18, 1774,) and with adjourning, a second time, until the thirty-first, "by which " time it is expected we shall have encouraging News from some of the "sister Colonies,"to recompense them for the disappointment they had experienced from the results of their conferences with the Merchants of Newburyport and Salem.

The substance of the Reports from the Committees sent to the seaport Towns of the Province, all mention of which was thus suppressed by the Town-Clerk, was saved to the world, however, in& Despatch from Governor Gage to the Eari of Dartmouth, dated " Boston : May 19, 1774," and laid before the Parliament, on the nineteenth of January, 1775, in which it was said the Town- Meeting "appointed Persons to go to Marblehead "and Salem, to communicate their Sentiments to the People there, and " bring them into like Measures ; which Persons were to make their "Report at the Adjournment, on the 18th, when the Meeting was again "held, and, lam told, received little encouragement from Salem and " Marblehead, and transacted nothing of consequence." -- (Parliamentary Register, i., 36.)