"Resolved, therefore, 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 required 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 sufficient security to appear before the " General Committee of the County, at such time and " place as they shall order him to attend, and, then " and there, to answer such matters as shall, before " the said General Committee, be alleged against him ; "and, on refusal to give such security, to commit to
' safe custody the said person or persons so refusing, ' until the next meeting of the said General Com- ' inittee, with whom the accusation against the said ' dangerous and disaffected person or persons ought, ' forthwith, to be lodged by the Committee of the ' Town or District by whom they may be apprehended, ' summoned, or committed, as aforesaid.
" And whereas there is, in this Colony, divers ' persons who, by reason of their holding Offices from ' the King of Great Britain, from their having neg- ' lected or refused to associate with their fellow citi- ' zens, for the defence of their common Rights, from ' their having never manifested, by their conduct, a ' zeal for and attachment to the American cause, or ' from their having maintained an equivocal neutral- ' ity, have been considered by their countrymen in a 'suspicious light, whereby 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 who ' withhold from them their aid and influence :