On the twelfth of June, in the afternoon, Generals Putnam and Mifflin, who bad evidently witnessed the outrages to which Elting alluded, " complained to the Provincial Congress of the riotous and disorderly " conduct of numbers of the inhabitants of this City, which hadledrhis " day to acts of violence towards some disaffected persons ; " but what had shocked Israel Putnam, by reaBon of its b arbarism, even while the "complaint" of those two Officers urged the Congress to condemn the offenders, one of whom was then occupying a seat in the Congress, that body winked at, and, at the same time, it screened the offenders, and qualified the offense-- its words were these : " Re60lveu ; That thiB Con- " grese by no means approve of the riots that have happened this day ; " they flatter themselves, however, that they have proceeded from a real " regard to Liberty and a detestation of those persons who, by their " language and conduct, have discovered themselves »o be inimical to " the cause of America.
To urge the warm friends of Liberty to de- " cency and good order, this Congress assures the public that effectiial " measures shall be taken to secure the enemies of American Liberty in " this Colony, and do require the good people of this City and Colony to " desist from all Riots, and leave the offenders against so good a cause to be " dealt with by the constitutional representatives i.f the Colony "-- the subsequently infamous " Committee to detect Conspiracies," then in embryo, having been, undoubtedly, the "constitutional " agency referred to, (Journal of the Provincial Congress, " Wednesday afternoon, June 12, "1776.")