POLITICAL AND COMMERCIAL 49 



the gauntlet, and at a town meeting held 

 Dec. 27, 1808, voted to appoint a commit- 

 tee of safety and correspondence. Two 

 weeks later Gloucester did the same. Bos- 

 ton called a meeting as usual at Faneuil 

 Hall, and four thousand citizens passed a 

 vote, "That we will not voluntarily aid or 

 assist in the enforcement act, and that all 

 those who shall so assist in enforcing upon 

 others the arbitrary and unconstitutional 

 provisions of this act ought to be considered 

 as enemies to the Constitution of the United 

 States and this state, and hostile to the 

 liberties of the people." Some towns went 

 further and in true revolutionary spirit au- 

 thorized the purchase of arms, 1 and the 



1 "At an adjourned meeting of the best citizens of 

 Newburyport, it was voted, that every subscriber should in 

 ten days, if possible, be provided with a good musket and 

 24 rounds of ball cartridge, and shall keep the same in a 

 safe and convenient place. It was also resolved, that we 

 do not consider the duty of any soldier to aid in carry- 

 ing into execution the law of the United States laying an 

 embargo. Wm. BartWt, Mod." New York Evening 

 Post, Jan. 20, 1809. 



