The Pennsylvania evening post — Philadelphia, Pa., 1776-04-09 00:00:00, page 3

To his Excellency GEORGE WASHINGTON, Efg; Ge
neral and Commander in Chief of the forces of the United
American Colonies.
May it please your Excellency,
WHEN the liberties of America were attacked by the
violent hand of oppression ; when troops hostile to the
rights of humanity invaded this colony, seized our capital,
and spread havock and deftrudion around it; when our vir
tuous sons were murdered, and our houses destroyed by the
troops of Britain, the inhabitants of this and the other Ame
rican colonies, impelled by felf preservation and the love of
freedom,, forgetting their domestic concerns, determined re
solutely and unitedly to oppose the sons of tyranny.
Convinced of the vast importance of having a gentleman
of great military accomplishments, to discipline, lead and
conduct the forces of the colonies, it gave us the greatest fa
tisfadion to hear that the Honorable Congress of the United
Colonies had made choice of a gentleman thus qualified,
who, leaving the pleasures of domestic and rural Fife, was
ready to undertake the arduous talk. And your nobly de
clining to accept the pecuniary emoluments annexed to this
high office, fully evinced to us that a warm regard to the sa
cred rights of humanity, and sincere love to your country,
solely influenced you in the acceptance of this important
From your acknowledged abilities as a soldier, and your
virtues in public and private life, we had the most pleasing
hopes ; but the fortitude and equanimity so conspicuous in
your conduct ; the wisdom of your councils ; the mild yet
ftri& government of the army ; you? attention to the civil con
stitution of this colony ; the regard you have at all times
ffiewn for the lives and health of those under your command ;
the fatigues you have with cheerfulnefs endured ; the regard
you have (hewn for the preservation of our metropolis, and the
great address with which our military operations have been
conduced, have exceeded our most sanguine expectations, and
demand the warmest returns of gratitude.
The supreme ruler of the universe having smiled on our
arms, and crowned your labors with remarkable success ; we
are now, without that effufion of blood we so much wished to
avoid, again in the quiet possession of our capital ; the wisdom
and prudence of those movements which have obliged the
enemy to abandon our metropolis, will ever be remembered
by the inhabitants of this colony.
May you still go on approved by Heaven, revered by all
good men, and dreaded by those tyrants who claim their fel
low men as their property. May the United Colonies be de
fended from slavery by your victorious arms. May they still
ministry) the inhabitants of the town of BOSTON, assem
bled at the Old Brick Meeting House in that town, and made
choice of their town officers for the ensuing year.
The Sukey, a large transport Ihip, with four Tories at
feaft on board, is ashore on George's illand, and it is said can
not be got off.
Yesterday many cannon were heard in the Bay.
In COUNCI L, March 28, 1776.
Ordered that Thomas Cufliing and Moses Gill, Efqrs. with
such as the Honorable House shall join, be a Committee, to
wait on his Excellency GEORGE WASHINGTON, Esq.
and present him with the following address:
Sentdown for concurrence.
JOHN LOWELL Dep. Sec. pro tem.
In the HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES, March 29, 1776,
Read and concurred, and Mr. Sullivan, Col. Orne, and
Major Hawley, are joined.
WILLIAM COOPER, Speaker, pro'tem^
179
fee their enemies flying before you \ And (the deliverance of
your country being effected) may you, in retirement, enjoy
that peace and fatisfaftion of mind, which always attends
the good and great : And may future generations, in the
peaceful enjoyment of that freedom, the exerclie of which
your sword shall have established, raise the richest and most
lading monuments to the name of WASHINGTON.
A true copy.
Attest. JOHN LOWELL, Dp. Sec. pro. tem.
His Excellency's ANSWER.
To the Honorable COUNCIL and REPRESENTATIVES
of the province of Massachusetts-Bay.
Gentlemen,
I Return you my most sincere and hearty thanks, for your
polite Address ; and feel myfelf called upon by every
principle of gratitude, to acknowledge the honor you have
done me in this testimonial of your approbation of my ap
pointment to the exalted station 1 now fill ; and what is more
pleasing, of my conduct in discharging its important duties.
When the councils of the British nation had formed a plan
for enslaving America, and depriving her sons of their most
sacred and invaluable privileges, against the cleared remon
strances of the constitution—of justice—and of truth—and to
execute their schemes, had appealed to the sword, I esteemed
it my duty to take a part in the contest, and more especially
when called thereto by the unsolicited fuffrages of the repre
sentatives of a free people ; wishing for no other reward, than
that arising from a confeientious discharge of the important
trust, and that my services might contribute to the establish
ment of freedom and peace, upon a permanent foundation ;
and merit the appiaufe of my countrymen, and every virtuous
citizen.
Your profeffions of my attention to the civil constitution of
this colony, whilst ading in the line of my department, alfa
demand my grateful thanks. A regard to every provincial
institution, where not incompatible with the common interefy'
I hold a principle of duty, and of policy, and shall ever
form a part of my condu&—Had I not learned this before,
the happy experience of the advantages resulting from a
friendly intercourse with your honorable body; their ready
and willing concurrence to aid and to council, whenever
called upon in cases of difficulty and emergency, would have
taught me the ufeful lesson.
That the metropolis of your Colony is now relieved from
the cruel and oppressive inyafion of those who were sent to
ere& the standard of lawless domination, and- to trample on
the rights of humanity, and is again open and free for its
rightful pofleffors, must give pleasure to every virtuous antV
sympathetic heart ; and being effected without the blood of
our soldiers, and fellow citizens, must be ascribed to the in~
terpofition of that providence, which has manifestly appeared
in our behalf through the whole of this important struggle,
as well as to the measures pursued for bringing about the
happy event.
May that being, who is powerful to save, and in whose
hands is the fate of nations, look down with an eye of tender
pity and compassion upon the whole of the United Colonies ;
may he continue to smile upon their councils and arms, and
crown them with success whilst employed in the cause of vir
tue and of mankind ; may this diftrefted colony and its ca
pital, and every part of this wide extended continent,
through his divine favor, be rettored to more than their former
luftre and once happy date, and have peace, liberty and
fafety secured upon a solid, permanent, and lading founda
tion
GEORGE WASHINGTON.