To the Honourable the Representatives of the Several Towns in sd Colony in General Congress assembled

May it please your Honours, We the Committee of Correspondance of the Several Towns in sd County beg leave to Represent to your Honours the Circumstances of this County in this day of Strugel & Danger ー in the first place we confess our Towns have in general heretofore been negligent in providing Arms and Amunition according to Law, until distress came upon us, from our Mother Country & then were debar'd from having them from thence where we were wont to Purchase them, since which we have not been able to furnish our selves ー and in the next place we are in a distress'd Scituation with respect to provision for our people to subsist upon till their years Crops come in owing in part to their last year Crops of Corn being cut short by the Drought & so many of our People not being Farmers but Lumbering Sailors &ca togather with the Difficulty and Danger there now is of getting any from the Southern Goverments, owing to their carefullness to keep a sufficient supply for their own people in this day of Expence and the hazzard of having it taken by the Men of Warr and Tenders, could we procure any of them & where to fly for Relief but to your Honors we know not: Notwithstanding these difficultys we can with pleasure say that the people of this County, almost Universally, are zealous in the Cause of Constitutional Liberty and have exerted themselves in Complying with the Recommendations of the Congress, and in particular in Raising a Regiment of hardy & Spirited men for the Service of the Colony, who have been Exercising every day as we Understand, for sometime past, and expected to be sent for to the Army, till lately we have the satisfaction to hear the Army is like to be Compleat without them ー We would likewise Represent to your Honours that We are exposed to our Enemies by Sea and Land, by Sea our Sheep & Cattle on the Islands and Shores are expos'd to be Ravag'd by every little Tender that may be sent to get fresh Meat for their Fleet and Army, and by Land we may be Alarm'd by the Inroads of our Old Enemies the Indians & French, tho' we hope better things from them.

Wherefore we pray your Honours to take our plain and Just representation into Consideration and if Possible find out some way whereby we may be Supply'd with some Arms, Ammunition and Provision, and that the Regiment Inlisted here, may be Stationed Amoung us, paid and subsisted at the Charge of the Publick, for our Defence, until they shall be more wanted Elsewhere, in which Case they will be Ready to March on the first Notice, and while here to be Employ'd in such a manner as may be most for our Safty and Advantage, And that they may pass muster here, by some person that may be Appointed for that Purpose, Your Honours favourable answer to our Request will much Oblige this County of Cumberland in whose Behalf we are [&c.]