Committee of Corrspondence and Observation (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

Extracts from the Votes and Proceedings of the Committee of Observation for the County of Lancaster. At a Meeting ... held at the Court-House ... on the 16th and 17th Days of June 1775. ... Lancaster: Printed by Francis Bailey, (June 1775)

Printed broadside (16 3/4 x 10 3/8 in.; 425 x 264 mm) on an untrimmed sheet of laid paper, 43 lines + 6 headlines + six column typographic table set within type ornaments; a bit of careful restoration to margins and fold separations with about ten letters supplied in facsimile. Half blue morocco slipcase, chemise. 

The Family of Thomas and William Barton (sale, Sotheby's New York, 11 December 2008, lot 108). Acquisition: William Reese

Evans 14142; not in Hildeburn

On the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the revolutionary government of Lancaster responds to the unrest ignited by the Lexington and Concord alarms.

This scarce broadside, announcing the organization of Lancaster County into six militia battalions, is a vivid example of the intemperance displayed on both sides of the Revolution, as it not only rallies American patriots to arms but none-too-subtly threatens retaliation against pacifists and loyalists.

"[I]t is hereby recommended to all the Inhabitants of the County of Lancaster, whose Circumstances will admit of it, and whose Religious Tenents do not forbid them to enter into Associations, and take up Arms at this alarming Crisis, in Defence of their Civil and Religious Rights, immediately to provide themselves with good and sufficient Firelocks. ..." The Committee further resolved that those citizens whose religious principles barred them from taking up arms or joining associations could fulfill their civic duty by paying the Committee treasurer the sum of  three pounds, ten shillings "to be applied to such uses, as by this Committee shall be deemed most advantageous to the Public Interest."  The Committee of Observation also stipluated that persons not taking up arms or declining to associate due to "scruple of Conscience" also make a payment to its Treasurer.

But more ominously, the Lancaster Committee also resolved that it be given "the Names of all those, who, unmoved by the Calamities which threaten their Country, and by every thing that is dear and valuable to Freemen, shall ungenerously refuse to comply with these Resolutions."

Having dealt with Lancaster County matters, the broadside concludes by exhorting "those Inhabitants of this County, who have already subscribed for the benevolent purpose of relieving the distressed Poor of the Town of Boston, to be as expedititous as possible, in paying up their Subscriptions. Those who have not yet subscribed, and intend to do it, will, it is hoped, make no further Delay."

This broadside was issued, somewhat incongruously, over the name of William Barton, Secretary of the Committee of Correspondence and Observation. Barton's father, the Rev. Thomas Barton, was an inveterate loyalist who complained of a bullying and oppressive aspect among the supporters of the Revolution. William Barton himself would leave Pennsylvania for London (and the study of the law) in September 1775; when he returned to America in 1779, however, he fully embraced independence and was long active in Federalist  politics in Pennsylvania.