That our countrymen and the world may know ticular, have been precipitated into measures, exour disposition, we choose that this be published. traordinary perhaps in their nature, but warranted And we have one request to add, that is, that the by necessity, from whence, among many other measons of freedom who appeared for us at Philadel-sures, the appointment of committees, in the sevephia, will accept our most ardent, grateful ac-ral towns and counties, took its birth, to prevent, knowledgments; and we hereby plight them our as much as in them lay, the operations of such unfaith, that we will religiously observe their resolu- constitutional encroachments: And the assembly tions, and obey their instructions, in contempt of remain unconvinced of any steps taken by those power and temporary interest; and should the mea- committees, but such as they were compelled to sures they have wisely calculated for our relief take for that salutary purpose. fail, we will stand prepared for every contingency. We are, gentlemen, your dutiful, &c. The Freeholders of Botetourt. NORTH CAROLINA. 1775. To his excellency Josiah Martin, esq. captain general, governor, and commander in chief, in and over the province of North Carolina. SIR:-We, his majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the members of the assembly of North Carolina, have taken into consideration you excellency's speech, at the opening of this session. It is not to be controverted, that his majesty's subjects have a right to petition for a redress of grievances, or to remonstrate against them; and as it is only in a meeting of the people, that their sense, respecting such petition and remonstrance, can be obtained, that the right of assembling is as undoubted.-To attempt, therefore, under the mask of authority, to prevent or forbid a meeting of the people for such purposes, or to interrupt their proceedings when met, would be a vain effort, unduly to exercise power in direct opposition to the constitution. Far be it from us, then, sir, even to wish to pre: vent the operations of the convention now held at We met in general assembly, with minds supe- Newbern, or to agree with your excellency in be rior to private dissention, determined calmly, unit- stowing upon them the injurious epithet of an iledly, and faithfully, to discharge the sacred trust legal meeting. They are, sir, the respectable re. reposed in us by our constituents. Actuated by presentatives of the people, appointed for a spesentiments like these, it behoves us to declare, cial and important purpose, to which, though our that the assembly of this colony have the highest constituents might have thought us adequate, yet, sense of their allegiance to the king of Great Bri- as our meeting depended upon the pleasure of the tain, to whom alone, as our constitutional sovereign, crown, they would have been unwise to have trustwe acknowledge allegiance to be due, and to whomed to so precarious a contingence, especially as the we so cheerfully and repeatedly have sworn it, that frequent and unexpected prorogations of the asto remind us of the oath was unnecessary. This sembly, one of them in particular, as if all respect allegiance, all past assemblies have, upon every and attention to the convenience of their represenoccasion, amply expressed; and we, the present tatives hath been lost, was proclaimed but two or representatives of the people, shall be always rea-three days before the time which had been appointdy, by our actions, with pleasure to testify; sensi- ed for the meetings, gave the people not the least ble, however, that the same constitution which established that allegiance, and enjoined the oath in consequence of it, hath bound majesty under as solemn obligations, to protect subjects inviolate in all their just rights and priviledges, wisely intend. ing, by reciprocal dependence, to secure the hap piness of both. reason to expect that their assembly would have been permitted to sit till it was too late to appoint delegates to attend the continental congress at Philadelphia; a measure which they joined the rest of America in thinking essential to its interest. The house, sir, neither know, nor believe that any base arts have been practised upon the people We contemplate, with a degree of horror, the in order to lead them from their duty; but we unhappy state of America, involved in the most know with certainty, that the steps they have taken embarrassing difficulties and distresses, by a num-proceeded from a full conviction, that the parliaber of unconstitutional invasions of their just rights ment of Great Britain had, by a variety of oppres. and privileges; by which, the inhabitants of the sive and unconstitutional proceedings, made those continent in general, and of this province in par. Isteps absolutely necessary. We think it, therefore, a duty we owe the people, to assert, that their con- We take this opportunity, sir, the first that has duct has not been owing to base arts, practised been given us, to express the warm attachment upon them by wicked and designing men; and have we have to our sister colonies in general, and the it much to lament, that your excellency should add heart-felt compassion we entertain for the deploryour sanction to such groundless imputations, as able state of the town of Boston in particular, and it has a manifest tendency to weaken the influence also to declare the fixed and determined resoluwhich the united petition of his majesty's Ameri- tion of this colony, to unite with the other colocan subjects might otherwise have, upon their so-nies in every effort to retain those just rights and vereign, for a redress of those grievances of which they so justly complain. liberties which, as subjects to a British king, we possess, and which it is our absolute and indispensible duty, to hand down to posterity, unimpaired. JOHN HARVEY, Speaker. We should feel inexpressible concern at the information given us by your cxcellency, of your be. ing authorized to say, that the appointment of de-In provincial congress, North Carolina, September 8, legates, to attend the congress at Philadelphia, now in agitation, will be highly offensive to the 1775. Mr. Hooper laid before the house an address to follows viz. king, had we not recently been informed, from the the inhabitants of the British empire; and the same best authority, that his majesty has been pleased being read was unanimously received, and is as to receive, very graciously, the united petition of his American subjects, addressed to him by the Friends, and fellow-citizens-"The fate of the concontinental delegates, lately convened at Philadel- test which at present subsists between these Amephia. We have not, therefore, the least reason to rican colonies and the British ministers who now suppose, that a similar application to the throne, sit at the helm of public affairs, will be one of the will give offence to his majesty, or prevent his re- most important epochs which can mark the annals ceiving a petition for the redress of grievances, of the British history. which his American subjects have a right to present, either separately or unitedly. happy state of this western region, and strove to exterminate the patterns of those virtues which shone with a lustre which bids fair to rival and eclipse their own. "Foreign nations with anxious expectation wait the result, and see with amazement the blind We shall always receive, with pleasure, the in- infatuated policy which the present administration formation of any marks of loyalty to the king, pursues to subjugate these colonies, and reduce given to your excellency, by the inhabitants of them from being loyal and useful oubjects, to an this colony; but we are greatly concerned, lest the absolute dependance and abject slavery; as if the descendants of those ancestors who have shed rimanner in which you have thought proper to con. vey this information, should excite a belief, that a vers of blood, and expended millions of treasure, great number of the people of this province are in fiving upon a lasting foundation the liberties of disaffected to their sovereign, to prevent which, the British constitution, saw with envy the once it is incumbent upon us, in this manner, solemnly to testify to the world, that his majesty has no subjects more faithful than the inhabitants of North Carolina, or more ready, at the expence of their lives and fortunes, to protect and support his per. "To enjoy the fruits of our own honest industry; son, crown, and dignity. If, however, by the sig- to call that our own which we earn with the labor nal proofs your excellency speaks of, you mean of our bands, and the sweat of our brows, to rethose addresses lately published in the North Ca-gulate that internal policy by which we, and not rolina Gazette, and said to be presented to you, they, are to be affected; these are the mighty the assembly can receive no pleasure from your boons we ask. And traitors, rebels, and every congratulations thereupon, but what results from harsh appellation that malice can dictate, or the the consideration that so few have been found in violence of language express, are the returns which so populous a province, weak enough to be seduced we receive to the most humble petitions and earnest from their duty, and prevailed upon by the base supplications. We have been told that independarts of wicked and designing men, to adopt prin-ence is our object; that we seek to shake off all ciples so contrary to the sense of all America, and connection with the parent state. Cruel suggestion! so destructive of those rights and privileges, it do not all our professions, all our actions, uniformly was their duty to maintain. contradict this? "We again declare, and we invoke that Almighty who thereby intended that the rectitude of our Being who searches the recesses of the human designs might be brought into distrust, and sedition, heart and knows our most secret intentions, that anarchy, and confusion, spread through this loyal it is our most earnest wish and prayer to be restor- province. ed, with the other United Colonies, to the state in "We have discharged a duty which we owe to which we and they were placed before the year the world, to ourselves, and posterity; and may 1763, disposed to glance over any regulations which Britain had made previous to this, and which seem to be injurious and oppressive to these colonies, hoping that at some future day she will benignly interpose, and remove from us every cause of complaint. "Whenever we have departed from the forms of the constitution, our own safety and self-preservation have dictated the expedient; and if in any instances we have assumed powers which the laws invest in the sovereign or his representatives, it has been only in defence of our persons, pro perties, and those rights which God and the con. stitution have made unalienably ours. As soon as the cause of our fears and apprehensions are removed, with joy will we return these powers to their regular channels; and such institutions formed from mere necessity, shall end with that necessity which created them. the Almighty God give success to the means we make use of, so far as they are aimed to produce just, lawful, and good purposes, and the salvation and happiness of the whole British empire." SOUTH CAROLINA. IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. Charleston, June 21, 1775. Ordered-That the hon. William Henry Drayton, the hon. Barnard Elliot, colonel Charles Pinckney, col. James Parsons, col. Isaac Motte, col Stephen Bull, col. William Moultrie, major Owen Roberts, captain Thomas Savage, captain John Huger, Miles Brewton, Thomas Ferguson, and Gabriel Capers, esquires, be a deputation to present his excellency the governor, the address of this congress. To his excellency the right honorable lord William Campbell, governor and commander in chief over the province aforesaid, The humble address and declaration of the provincial congress. "These expressions flow from an affection, bordering upon devotion, to the succession of the house. of Hanover, as by law established, from subjects May it please your excellency-We, his majesty's who view it as a monument that does honor to hu- loyal subjects, the representatives of the people man nature; a monument capable of teaching kings of this colony, in congress assembled, beg leave to how glorious it is to reign over a free people.-disclose to your excellency, the true cause of our These are the heartfelt effusions of men ever ready present proceedings; not only that upon your arrito spend their blood and treasure, when constitu- val among us, you may receive no unfavorable imtionally called upon, in support of that succession pression of our conduct, but that we may stand of his majesty King George the third, his crown justified to the world. and dignity, and who fervently wish to transmit his reign to future ages as the era of common happiness to his people. Could these our sentiments reach the throne, surely our sovereign would forbid the horrors of war and desolation to intrude into this once peaceful and happy land, and would stop that deluge of human blood which now threatens to overflow this colony; blood too precious to be shed but in a common cause, against the common enemy of Great Britain and her sons. "This declaration we hold forth as a testimony of loyalty to our sovereign, and affection to our parent state, and as a sincere earnest of our present and future intentions. When the ordinary modes of application for redress of grievances, and the usual means of defence against arbitrary impositions have failed, mankind generally have had recourse to those that are extraordinary. Hence, the origin of the conti. nental congress-and hence the present representation of the people in this colony. It is unnecessary to enumerate the grievances of America; they have been so often represented, that your excellency cannot be a stranger to them.— Let it, therefore, suffice to say, that the hands of bis majesty's ministers, having long lain heavy, now press with intolerable weight. We declare, that no love of innovation-no desire of altering "We hope, thereby, to remove those impressions the constitution of government-no lust of indewhich have been made by the representation of weak pendence has had the least influence upon our counand wicked men to the prejudice of this colony, 'cils: but, alarmed and roused by a long succession of arbitrary proceedings, by wicked administra-, and of mankind: to testify our just resentment to tions-impressed with the greatest apprehension of so base and cruel a conduct in the inhabitants of instigated insurrections--and deeply affected by Poole, it is hereby resolved, That this colony will the commencement of hostilities by the British not use or employ any shipping belonging to that troops against this continent,-solely for the pre port, or owned by any inhabitant there, or carry on servation and deferce of our lives, liberties, and any transactions, or hold any communication with properties, we have been impelled to associate and that people. to take up arms. PETER TIMOTHY, Secretary. In provincial congress, Charleston, Thursday, June 22. "Resolved, that all absentees, bolding estates in this colony, except the sick, those above 60, and those under 21 years of age, ought, forthwith, to return to this colony. "Resolved, that no persons, holding estates in this colony, ought to withdraw from its service, without giving good and sufficient reasons for so doing to this congress, or, during its recess, to the general committee. We sincerely deplore those slanderous informations and wicked councils, by which his majesty has been led into measures, which, if persisted in, must inevitably have involved America in all the calamities of a civil war, and rend the British em. pire. We only desire the secure enjoyment of our invaluable rights, and we wish for nothing more ardently, than a speedy reconciliation with our mother country, upon constitutional principles. Conscious of the justice of our cause, and the integrity of our views, we readily profess our loyal attachment to our sovereign, his crown, and dignity; and, trusting the event to Providence, we pre. fer death to slavery. These things, we have thought Association, unanimously agreed to in the provincial it our duty to declare, that your excellency, and through you, our august sovereign-our fellow subjects-and the whole world-may clearly under. stand, that our taking up arms, is the result of dire necessity, and in compliance with the first law of nature. PETER TIMOTHY, Secretary. congress of South Carolina. The actual commencement of hostilities against this continent, by the British troops, in the bloody scene on the 19th of April last, near Boston; the increase of arbitrary impositions, from a wicked and despotic ministry, and the dread of instigated insurrections in the colonies, are causes sufficient We entreat and trust, that your excellency will to drive an oppressed people to the use of arms:— make such a representation of the state of this co- We, therefore, the subscribers, inhabitants of South lony, and of our true motives, as to assure his ma- Carolina, holding ourselves bound, by that most jesty, that in the midst of all our complicated dis-sacred of all obligations, the duty of good citizens tresses, he has no subjects in his wide dominions, towards an injured country, and thoroughly conwho more sincerely desire to testify their loyalty vinced, that, under our present distressed circumand affection, or who would be more willing to devote their lives and fortunes to his real service. By order of the provincial congress, at Charles ton, June 20, 1775. HENRY LAURENS, President. FROM THE SOUTH CAROLINA GAZETTE. 21, 1775. stances, we shall be justified before God and mas, in rsisting force by force, no UNITE ourselves under every tie of religion and honor, and associate as a band in her defence, against every foe; hereby solemnly engaging that whenever our continental and provincial councils shall decree it necessary, we will go forth, and be ready to sacrifice our lives In provincial congress, Charleston, Wednesday, June and fortunes, to secure her freedom and safety.This obligation to continue in full force until a re"Whereas, the inhabitants of Poole, a seaport in concilation shall take place between Great Britain the English Channel, lost to all sense of honor, and America, upon constitutional principles; an humanity and gratitude, have, by their late peti- event which we most ardently desire. And we will tion to parliament, manifested themselves not only hold all those persons inimical to the liberties of inimical to America, but desirous to add to the the colonies, who shall refuse to subscribe to this heavy oppressions under which the unfortunate association. and virtuous inhabitants of the four New England governments labor, in consequence of their lauda-fied by ble conduct in defence of the liberties of America! June, 1775. Subscribed by every member present, and certi JOURNAL OF THE STAMP-ACT CONGRESS; HELD AT NEW-YORK, 1755. New-Jersey-Robert Ogden Pennsylvania Delaware- Hendrick Fisher John Morton Cæsar Rodney. -William Murdock Edward Tilghman South Carolina-Thomas Lynch New Hampshire, We have several times promised to treat our rea- in vain. Christopher Gadsden John Rutledge. Were not represented in this con. gress. But their assemblies wrote that they would agree to whatever was done by the congress." THE JOURNAL. Boston, June, 1765. SIR-The house of representatives of this prounanimously agreed to propose a meeting, as soon vince, in the present session of general court, have as may be, of committees from the houses of representatives or burgesses, of the several British colo. nies on this continent, to consult together on the present circumstances of the colonies, and the difficulties to which they are and must be redued by the operation of the acts of parliment, for levying duties and taxes on the colonies; and to consuler of presentation of their condition to his majesty and a general and united, dutiful, loyal and humble reto the parliment, and to implore relief. bers to attend that service, with such as the other houses of representatives or burgesses, in the seve ral colonies, may think fit to appoint to meet them; and the committee of the house of representatives of this province, are directed to repair to the said New-York, on the first Tuesday in October next, In this journal the reader will not find any thing to astonish or surprize him; but there is much to admire. In every line he will discover a spirit The house of representatives of this province of decision and firmness totally irreconcilable at the city of New-York, in the province of Newhave also voted, to propose that such meeting be with a state of servitude, and highly worthy of York, on the first Tuesday in October next, and imitation at the present day. The difficulties have appointed the committee of three of their mem the people encountered in forming this congress, unknown to the laws and opposed by the royalists invested with power, are honorable to their cause and its agents. With an eye steadily fixed on freedom, they cast behind them the cold max-accordingly; if, therefore, your honorable house ims of prudence, and nobly resolved to systemable, that as early notice of it as possible might be should agree to this proposal, it would be acceptatise an opposition to the growing tyranny of the transmitted to the speaker of the house of represen"mother country." They did so, and therein tatives of this province. generated a spirit of union, that finally brought about the independence of these states, and led to the establishment of our present happy constitution. SAMUEL WHITE, Speaker. In consequence of the foregoing circular letter, the following gentlemen met at New-York, in the province of New-York, on Monday, the 7th of Oc. tober, 1765, viz: |