Supplement, No. 1, February 3, 1775

[Supplement to the Virginia Gazette, No. 1, February 3, 1775]

[2] pages

SUPPLEMENT No. 1 FEBRUARY 3,
1775.

The following is a true and genuine copy
of the petition of the American Conti-
nental Congress to his Majesty.
To the KINGS's Most Ecxellent Majesty
Most gracious Sovereign,
WE your MAJESTY's faithful
subjects of the colonies of New
Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode
Island, and Providence Plantations,
Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, the counties of New
castle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
and South Carolina, in behalf of our-
selves and the inhabitants of those co-
lonies who have deputed us to repre-
sent them in General Congress, by
this our humble petition beg leave to
lay our grievances before the Throne.

A standing army has been kept in
these colonies ever since the conclusion
of the late war, without the consent
of our Assemblies; and this army,
has been employed to enforce the col-
lection of taxes.

The authority of the Commander
in Chief, and, under him, of the Bri-
gadiers General, has, in times of
peace, been rendered supreme in all
the civil governments in America.

The Commander in Chief of all
your Majesty's forces in North Ame-
rica has, in time of peace, been ap-
pointed Governour of a Colony.

The charges of usual offices have
been greatly increased, and new,
expensive, and oppresive offices,
have been multiplied.

The judges of Admiralty and Vice
Admiralty courts are empowered to
receive their salaries and fees from the
effects condemned by themselves.

The Officers of the Customs are em-
powered to break open and enter
houses without the authority of any
civil magistrate, founded on legal in-
formations.

The Judges of Courts of Common
Law have been made entirely depen-
dent on one part of the legislature for
their salaries, as well as for the dura-
tion of their commissions.

Counsellors, holding their commis-
sions during pleasure, exercise legis-
lative authority.

Humble and reasonable petitions
from the Representatives of the people
have been fruitless.

The Agents of the people have been
discountenanced, and Governours have
been instructed to prevent the pay-
ment of their salaries.

Assemblies have been repeatedly and
injuriously dissolved.

Commerce has been burthened with
many useless and oppressive restricti-
ons.

By several acts of Parliament, made
in the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th
years of your Majesty's reign, duties
are imposed on us for the purpose of
raising a revenue, and the powers of
Admiralty and Vice Admiralty courts
are extended beyond their ancient li-
mits, whereby our property is taken
from us without our consent, the
trial by jury in many civil cases is

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abolished, enourmous forfeitures are
incurred for slight offences, vexatious
informers are exempted from paying
damages, to which they are justly
liable, and oppressive security is re-
quired from owners before they are
allowed to defend their rights.

Both Houses of Parliament have re-
solved that colonists may be tried in
England for offences alledged to have
been committed in America, by vir-
tue of a statute passed in the 35th
year of Henry VIII. and in conse-
quence thereof attempts have been
made to enforce that statute.

A statute was passed in the 12th
year of your Majesty's reign, directing
that persons charged with committing
any offence therein described, in any
place out of the realm, may be in-
dicted and tried for the same in any
shire or county within the realm;
whereby inhabitants of these colonies
may, in sundry cases by that statute
made capital, be deprived of a trial
by their peers of the vicinage.

In the last session of Parliament, an
act was passed for blocking up the
harbour of Boston; another empow-
ering the Governour of the Massachu-
setts Bay to send persons indicted for
murder in that province to another
colony, or even to Great Britain, for
trial, whereby such offenders may
escape legal punishment; a third, for
altering the chartered constitution of
government in that province; and a
fourth, for extending the limits of
Quebeck, abolishing the English and
restoring the French laws, whereby
great numbers of British freemen are
subjected to the latter, and establish-
ing an absolute government and the
Roman Catholick religion throughout
those vast regions, that border on the
westerly and northerly boundaries of
the free Protestant English settlements;
and a fifth, for the better providing
suitable quarters for officers and soldi-
ers in your Majesty's service in North
America.

To a sovereign, who "glories in the
name of Briton," the bare recital of
these acts must, we presume, justify
the loyal subjects who fly to the foot
of his throne and implore his clemency
for protection against them. From
this destructive system of colony ad-
ministration, adopted since the con-
clusion of the last war, have flowed
those distresses, dangers, fears, and
jealousies, that overwhelm your Ma-
jesty's dutiful colonists with affliction;
and we defy our most subtle and in-
veterate enemies to trace the unhappy
differences between Great Britain and
these colonies from an earlier period,
or from other causes than we have as-
signed. Had they proceeded, on our
part, from a restless levity of temper,
unjust impulses of ambition, or artful
suggestions of seditious persons, we
should merit the opprobious terms fre-
quently bestowed upon us by those
we revere; but, so far from promot-
ing innovations, we have only op-
posed them, and can be charged with
no offence, unless it be one, to re-
ceive injuries, and be sensible of them.

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Had our Creator been pleased to
give us existence in a land of slavery,
the sense of our condition might have
been mitigated by ignorance and ha-
bit; but, thanks to his adorable good-
ness, we were born the heirs of free-
dom, and even enjoyed our right un-
der the auspices of your royal ancestors,
whose family was seated on the Bri-
tish throne to rescue and secure a pious
and gallant nation from the Popery
and despotism of a superstitious and
inexorable tyrant. Your Majesty, we
are confident, justly rejoices that your
title to the crown is thus founded on
the title of your people to liberty;
and therefore we doubt not but your
royal wisdom must approve the sen-
sibility that teaches your subjects
anxiously to guard the blessing they
received from Divine Providence, and
thereby to prove the performance of
that compact which elevated the illus-
trious house of Brunswick to the im-
perial dignity it now possesses.

The apprehension of being degraded
into a state of servitude from the pre-
eminent rank of English freemen,
while our minds retain the strongest
love of liberty, and clearly foresee the
miseries preparing for us and our pos-
terity, excites emotions in our breasts,
which, though we cannot describe,
we should not wish to conceal. Feel-
ing as men, and thinking as subjects,
in the manner we do, silence would
be disloyalty. By giving this faith-
ful information, we do all in our
power to promote the great objects of
your royal cares, the tranquility of
your government, and the welfare of
your people.

Duty to your Majesty, and regard
for the preservation of ourselves and
our posterity, the primary obligations
of nature and of society command us
to entreat your royal attention; and
as your Majesty enjoys the signal dis-
tinction of reigning over freemen, we
apprehend the language of freemen
cannot be displeasing. Your royal in-
dignation, we hope, will rather fall
on those designing and dangerous men
who, daringly interposing themselves
between your royal person and your
faithful subjects, and for several years
past incessantly employed to dissolve
the bonds of society, by abusing your
Majesty's authority, misrepresenting
your American subjects, and prose-
cuting the most desperate and irritating
projects of oppression, have at length
compelled us, by the force of accu-
mulated injuries, too severe to be any
longer tolerable, to disturb your Ma-
jesty's repose by our complaints.

These sentiments are extorted from
hearts that much more willingly
would bleed in your Majesty's service;
yet so greatly have we been misre-
presented that a necessity has been
alledged of taking our property from
us without our consent, "to defray
the charge of the administration of
justice, the support of civil govern-
ment, and the defence, protection,
and security of the colonies." But we
beg leave to assure your Majesty, that
such provision has been, and will be

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made, for defraying the two first
articles, as have been and shall be
judged, by the legislatures of the se-
veral colonies, just and suitable to
their respective circumstances; and
for the defence, protection, and secu-
rity of the colonies, their militias, if
properly regulated, as they earnestly
desire may immediately be done,
would be fully sufficient, at least in
times of peace; and in case of war,
your faithful colonists will be ready
and willing, as they ever have been,
when constitutionally required, to de-
monstrate their loyalty to your Majesty,
by exerting their most strenuous efforts
in granting supplies and raising forces.
Yielding to no British subjects in af-
fectionate attachment to your Majesty,
person, family, and government, we
too dearly prize the privilege of ex-
pressing that attachment, by those
proofs that are honourable to the
Prince who receives them, ever to
resign it to any body of men upon
earth.

Had we been permitted to enjoy in quiet
the inheritance left us by our forefathers,
we should at this time have been peace-
ably, cheerfully, and usefully employed in
recommending ourselves by every testimo-
ny of devotion to your Majesty, and of
veneration to the state from which we
derive our origin; but though now exposed
to unexpected and unnatural scenes of dis-
tress, by a contention with that nation in
whose parental guidance, on all impor-
tant affairs, we have hitherto with filial
reverence constantly trusted, and there
fore can derive no instruction, in our pre-
sent unhappy and perplexing circumstances,
from any former experience, yet we doubt
not the purity of our intention, and the
integrity of our conduct, will justify us at
that grand tribunal before which all man-
kind must submit to judgment.

We ask but for peace, liberty, and
safety. We wish not a diminution of the
prerogative, nor do we solicit the grant
of any new right in our favour. Your
royal authority over us, and our connexion
with Great Britain, we shall always care-
fully and zealously endeavour to support
and maintain.

Filled with sentiments of duty to your
Majesty, and of affection to our parent
state, deeply impressed by our education,
and strongly confirmed by our reason, and
anxious to evince the sincerity of these
dispositioins, we present this petition, only
to obtain redress of grievances and relief
from fears and jealousies occasioned by the
system of statutes and regulations adopted
since the close of the late war, for raising
a revenue in America, extending the pow-
er of Admiralty and Vice Admi-
ralty, trying persons in Great Britain for
offences alledged to be committed in
America, affecting the province of Massa-
chusetts Bay, and altering the govern-
ment and extending the limits of Quebeck;
by the abolition of which system the har-
mony between Great Britain and these
colonies, so necessary to the happiness of
both, and so ardently desired by the latter,
and the usual intercourse will be immedi
diately restored. In the magnanimity and
justice of your Majesty and Parliament we
confide for a redress of our other grievances,
trusting that when the causes of our ap-
prehensions are removed our future con-
duct will prove us unworthy of the re-
gard we have been accustomed, in our
happier days, to enjoy; for, appealing to
that Being who searches thoroughly the
hearts of his creatures, we solemnly pro-
fess that our councils have been influence
by no other motive than a dread of im-
pending destruction.

Permit us then, most gracious sovereign,
in the name of all your faithful people in

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America, with the utmost humility to im-
plore you, for the honour of Almighty
God, whose pure religio our enemies are
undermining; for your glory, which can
be advance only by rendering your sub-
jects happy and keeping them united; for
the interest of your family, depending on
an adherence to the principles that en-
throned it; for the safety and welfare of
your kingdom and dominions, threatened
with almost unavoidable dangers and dis-
putes; that your Majesty, as the loving
father of your whole people, connected by
the same bands of law, loyalty, faith, and
blood, though dwelling in various coun-
tries, will not suffer the transcendent rela_
tion formed by these ties to be farther
violated in uncertain expectation of effects,
that, if attained, never can compensate for
the calamities through which they must be
gained.

We therefore most earnestly beseech
your Majesty that your royal authority
and interposition may be used for our re-
lief, and that a gracious answer may be
given to this petition.

That your Majesty may enjoy every fe-
licity, through a long and glorious reign
over loyal and happy subjects, and that
your descendents may inherit your prospe-
rity and dominions, till time shall be no
more, is, and always will be, our sincere
and fervent prayer. (a true copy)
CHARLES THOMPSON, Secretary.

LONDON, November 30.
His Majesty's most gracious SPEECH to both
Houses of Parliament.
My Lords and Gentlemen,
IT gives me much concern that I am
obliged, at the opening of this Parlia-
ment, to inform you that a most daring
spirit of resistance and disobedience to the
law still unhappily prevails in the province
of the Massachusetts Bay, and has, in di-
vers parts of it, broke fort in fresh violences
of a very criminal nature. These proceed-
ings have been countenanced and encou-
raged in other of my colonies, and unwar-
rantable attempts have been made to ob-
struct the commerce of this kingdom, by
unlawful combinations. I have taken such
measures, and given such orders, as I
judged most proper and effectual for car-
rying into execution the laws which were
passed in the last session of the late Parlia-
ment, for the protection and security of
the commerce of my subjects, and for the
restoring and preserving peace, order, and
good government, in the provinc of the
Massachusetts Bay; and you may depend
upon my firm and stedfast resolution to
withstand every attempt to weaken or im-
pair the supreme authority of this Legisla-
ture over all the dominions of my Crown,
the maintenance of which I consider as
essential to the dignity, the safety, and the
welfare of the British empire, assuring my-
self that while I act upon these principles I
shall never fail to receive your assistance
and support.

I have the greatest satisfaction in being
able to inform you that a treaty of peace
is concluded between Russia and the Porte.
By this happy event, the troubles which
have so long prevailed in one part of Europe
are composed, and the general tranquillity
rendered complete. It shall be my con-
stant aim, and endeavour, to prevent the
breaking out of fresh disturbances; and I
cannot but flatter myself I shall succeed, as
I continue to receive the strongest assur-
ances from other powers of their being
equally disposed to preserve the peace.

Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
I have ordered the proper estimates for
the service of the ensuing year, to be laid
before you; and I doubt not but that, in
this House of Commons, I shall meet with
the same proofs of zeal and attachment to my
person and government, which I have al-
ways, during the course of my reign, re-
ceived from my faithful Commons.

My Lords and Gentlemen,
Let me particularly recommend to you,
at this time, to proceed with temper in

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your deliberations, and with unanimity in
your resolutions. Let my people, in every
part of my dominions, be taught, by your
example, to have a due reverence for the
laws, and a just sense of the blessings of
our excellent constitution. They may be
assured, that, on my part, I have nothing
so much at heart as the real prosperity, and
lasting happiness, of all my subjects.

WILLIAMSBURG, February 3.
THIS day, at the courthouse, the in-
habitants of this city unanimously
made choice of the Hon. PEYTON RAN-
DOLPH, Esq; to represent them at the
ensuing General Convention to be held in
the town of Richmond.

Peter Lyons, Esq; of Hanover County,
had the misfortune to have his office burnt
down last Tuesday night, containing many
papers of consequence to himself and others,
besides a number of valuable books, &c.

The following is the substance of a mo-
tion of the House of Lords for an address
to the King, in answer to that part of his
speech which relates to America: "They
declare their abhorrence and destestation of
the daring spirit of resistance and disobe-
dience to the laws which so strongly pre-
vails in the province of the Massachusetts
Bay, and of the unwarrantable attempts
in that and other provinces of America to
obstruct, by unlawful combinations, the
trade of the kingdom; they return his
Majesty their humble thanks for having
been pleased to communicate to them that
he has taken such measures, and given
such orders, as he had judged most proper
and effectual for the protection and security
of the commerce of his subjects, and for
carrying into execution the laws which
were passed in the last sesson of the late
Parliament relative to the province of the
Massachusetts Bay; they express their en-
tire satisfaction in his Majesty's firm and
stedfast resolution to continue to support
the supreme authority of the Legislature
over all the dominions of his crown; and
give his Majesty the strongest assurances
that they will cheerfully co-operate in all
such measures as shall be necessary to main-
tain the dignity, safety, and welfare, of
the British empire. [The rest runs in the
usual strain of all addresses, and little con-
cerns the publick.]

Whereupon a protest was entered by
nine of the Lords, viz. Richmond, Rock-
ingham, Stanhope, Ponsonby, Camden,
Portland, Stamford, Torrington, and
Wycombe, to the following effect: "That
they cannot agree to commit themselves,
with the careless facility of a common ad-
dress of compliments, in expressions which
may lead to measures, in the event, fatal
to the lives, properties, and liberties, of
a very great part of their fellow subjects;
that the address does, in effect, imply an
approbation of the system adopted with re-
gard to the colonies in the last Parliament,
which unfortunate system, conceived with
so little prudence, and pursued with so
little temper, consistency, or foresight,
they were in hopes would be at length
abandoned, from an experience of the
mischiefs which it has produced, in pro-
portion to the time in which it has conti-
nued, and the diligence with which it has
been pursued, as system which has created
the utmost confusion in the colonies, with-
out any rational hope or advantage to the
revenue, and with certain detriment to
the commerce of the mother country;
and that it affords them a melancholy pros-
pect of the disposition of the Lords in the
present Parliament, when they see the
House, under the pressure of so severe and
uniform an experience, again ready, with-
out any inquiry, to countenance, if not
to adopt, the spirit of the former fatal pro-
ceedings.

The freeholders of JAMES CITY
county are desired to meet at the courthouse,
on Monday, the 13th instant, to choose their
deputies to represent them at the GENERAL
CONVENTION to be held in the town of
RICHMOND the 20th of March next.

Ink on paper