The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg, Va., 1775-12-29 00:00:00, page 2

IN CONGRESS, December 6, 1775.
E, the delegates o! the united colo
nies in North America, have taken
into our most serious consideration a pro
clamation issued from the 'court of it.
ames's on the 23d_day of August last.
he name _of majeity. is used to give it a
sanction and influence; and, on that ac
count, it becomes a matter of importance
to wipe off, in the name of the people of
these united colonies , the asperlions which
it is calculated to throw upon our cause,
and to yrevent, as far as possible, the un
deserved punishments which it is designed
'- to prepare for our friends.
We are accused of " forgetting the al
" legiance which we owe to the power
'5- that has yrotected and sustained us."
Why all this ambiguity and obscurity in
" what ought to be so plain and obvious,
_ "that he vvhsso runs may read it ? What
- silllegiance is it that we forget ? Allegi
"duce to parliament! We never owed,
sitve never' owned it. AllcgianCe to our
king! Our words have ever avowed it,
Qsiur conduct has eversibesien consistent with
fix,
We condemn, and, with arms in
"hold: (a resource with sreemen will
Fsict'fdr
psizfileverct part with) we oppose, the claim
andfltekcise of unconshtutional owers,
a
* ctsi'sifisisfflictch neither the crown or pa iament
'si- : ere ever entitled. By the British confli
, n, our best inheritancc, rights, as
, well as duties, descend upon us. -We
cannot violate the latter by defending the
- fort-ner. We should act in diametrical
o position to both if we permitted the
e turns of the British parliament to be esta
sisiss'si'sisifflhedsi and the measures pursued in con
ct-ct'fiqneoce of those claims to be carried into
"eaecution among us. Our sa acions an
cestor: provided moundl again the inun
dation of tyranny and lawless pOWer on
si tone,.ictide, as Weil as aid-ask that of faction
ggsshfldciacentionsness on ( 'esiother. On which
:ctisijsidesiha: the breach been made"? Is it ob
-ss5 "fected against na. by the most inveterate
va . ct , . .
_ and the most uncanthd of our enemies,
that we have opposed any of the just pre
ro ativu of the crown, or any legal exer
tion of thus? (preroo-atives? Whv then
atje- wesi' accu e of {(it-getting our ctalleg'i
fand! We have performed our duty;
, ;We have resistecl in those cases in which
sisssiae fight to rehst is stipulated as expressly,
m.part, as the right to govern is, in
"'siother cases, stipulated on the part of the
crown. The breach of allegiance is re
moved from our rcsistance, as far as ty
4.
(
' rannv is removed from legal government.
!
it is alledged, that " we have proceed
" ed to an open and avowed rebellion."
In what does this rebellion consisi ? it is
thus described: " Arraying ourselves in
" h'ostile manner to withstand the execu
" tion of the law, ct and traiteroully pre
Lsi' 'ss' ctparin , ordering-, and levying war
i-si'uctsi again the king-." We' know of no
lywc bindin upon us but such as have
,been transmuted to us by our ancestors,
find such as have keen consented to by
' ourselves, or our representatives elected
for th'-t purpose. What laws, stamped
.with th'-se characters, have we withstand?
We have, indeed, defended them; and
- -we*-*-sssidil'i[kevei'y thin , doeverything,and
ffss' siiffereverythingjnt eirdesence. Tosup
ct portourlaws,andourlibertiesestablished by
— ssourlaws, We have prepared, ordered, and
,ct-sssikvied war; put is this traiteroufly, or
igainst the king? We view him as the
constitution represents him ; that tells us,
he can do no wrng. The cruel and ille
, {al attacks which we oppose have no
oundatinn in the royal authority. We
villnot, on our part, lose the distinction
betwebfl the king and his ministers. Hap
py it would have been, for some sormcr
princes, had it been always preserved on
_ the part of the crown !
Besides all this, we'ohs'erve, on this
part of the proclamation, that rehrllian is
etern: undesined, and unknown in the
law. It might have been expected that a
proclzsimation which, by the Brilillt con
lfitntion, has no other Operation than
merely that as ensurcing what is already
law, would have hsissd a known legal baiis
to have rested upon. A Correspundence
between he inhabitants of Great Britain,
and their brethren in America, produced,
in better times, much satisfaction to indi
viduals, and much advantage to the pub
lick. By what criterion shall one, who is
unwilling to break offthis correspondence,
and is, at the same time, anxious not to
expose himself to the dreadful consequen—
ces threatened in this proclamation, by
what criterionshall he regulate his conduct !
He is admonished not to carry on corres
pondence with the persons now in rebelli
on in the colonies. How shall he asccrtain
who are in rebellion, and who are not?
He consults the law to learn the nature of
the supposed crime ;--—the law is lilent up—
on the subject. This, in a country whc re
it has been ost'en said, and formerly with
justice, that the government is by law,
and not by men, might render him per
fectly easy. But proclamations have been
sometimes dangerous en ines in the hands
of those in power. lnstsizrmatiuu is com—
manded to be given, to one of the secre
taries of state, of all persons " who shall
" be found carryin on correspondcnce
" with the persons in rebellion, in order
" to bring to eondign punishment the au
." thors, perpetrators, or abetters , of
" such dangerous designs-T' Let us sup
pOse, for a moment, that some persons in
the colonies are in rebellion, and that
those who carry 0n cc rrespondence with
them might learn, by some rule (which
Britons are bound to know) how to dis
criminate them : Does it follow that all
correspondence with them deserves to be
punished ? lt might have been intended
to apprise them of their danger, and to,
rcclaim them from their crimes. By what
law does a correspondence with a criminal
transfer or communicate his guilt ? We
know that those" who aid and adhere to
the king's enemies, and those who corres
pond with them in order to enable them
to carry their desi : into effect, are cri
minal in the eye o the law ; but the law
goes no tarther'. Can proclamations, ac
cording to the principles of reason and
justice, and the constitntion, go farther
than the law ?
But, perhaps, the principles of reason
and justice, and the constitution, will not
prevail. Experience suggests to us the
doubt. lfthey should not, we must re.
.sort to arguments drawn from a very dif
ferent source. We, therefore, in the
name of the people of these United Colo
nies, and by authority, according to the
purest maxims of representation derived
from them, declare, that whatever pu
nishment shall be inflicted upon an per
sons in the power of our enemies, for fa—
vouring, aiding, or abetting, the cause of
American liberty, shall be retaliuted in
the same kind, and the same degree,
upon those in our power, who have fa
voured, aided, or abetted, or shallfavonr,
nissl- or she! . the swfl'cn] Os minisisic-risiil nn
prcilion. The esiesincial difference between
our cause and that of our enemies might
julliiy :! severer punishment; the law of re
taliation will unquestionably Warrant one
equally severe.
We mean not, however, by this decla—
ration, to occasion. or to multiply, pu
nilhments. ()ur shle view is to prevent
them . In this unhappy and unnatural con
troversy, in which Britons sight against
Britons, and the descendents of Britons,
let the calumities immediately incident
to & civil w suflice. \Ve hope additions
will not, from wantonness, be. made to
them on one side. \Ve shall regret the
neceslitv, is laid under the neceshty, of
making them on the other.
CHAILES Tnomysou, sccrctary.
URSUANT to an ordinance of the)
General Conventiunsiluid uL' Richi
mond joly the 17th, 1775, the lrcehuhhrsf
for the couniy os Prince [- dwurd aiieuzhiedsssi
themselves at the courthpuse of the suici
county on Monday the zoth of Nuvember:
(being court day) in order to eledt 21 0
the molt discreet, lit, and able personsv
to serve as committee-men for the sisiict-i
county; and after having delivered in theier
lifls, which were fairly counted, 'in the:
presence of so many of the committee si. _
chose to attend, the majority of wu
a peared in favour usthcl'ollowingpcrshn-ct
nz. Robert Law/on, sulm Nash, juu. sz.
liam Boo/wr, llsilliam Bibb, Not/lame!}
Venable, Fame: Allm, sen. Thomas Scottsh
sen. Yohn Alorton, the reverend SamucQ
Stanhopc Smith, 70}!!! Nash, len. the rc-.'
vereud Richard Sanlsiey, Yolm Halczmzbe,
Henry Wulkcr, lemu: Fluurnoy, jumussss;
Clarkc, Obadiuh Wood/in:, David Hsalkersi
join: Will/07], Philemau Halcombe, 70fi-phsii
Parks, and .Itdrew Balzer, gentlem-i—siz:
who are accordingly considered as a ("L' n'...
mittee for the coumy asoresaid , publicatimi
having been duly made of the same.
john Nash, sen. esq; was unanimouflyi
elected chainnan of the laid committee "
)*
M mr. Benjam'mct prshn derk.
Kq/alved unammozg/gy, that as the ussum-gct
ing to ourselves unlimited power: in our'
proceeding-s may be in the end dangerous";
to, and subverslve of, the just rights and
privileges of our electors, that we will
therefore confine ourselves literally withi
the line of duty marked out to us by this,
Continental Coxgresis, and the Coloniali'
Canvention; whole laws we will endeavo
to make the rtle of our conduct, and,_
which to fulfil,so far as we can effect, -
we will exert on" most ardent efforts. 1
This commitee finding that there is no-.
great prospectos a reconciliation shortly?
between Greathritain and her Antericatssx'
colonies, from any thing that has as yet,!
transpired, to_;heir knowledge, and tak—i
ing under theil most serious consideration
the miserable and pitiable state of the ss
people in the itteriour parts of the colony,. ss
obli ed as they are, by the infernal and? ;
impffixcable say of lord Dunmore, to sor—ct' -
sake their holes and habitations, and fly '
sswith precipitaion for safety to places more ct
remote si'omlls inhuman aim, do there-;,
fore, in comniseration of their unhap ss'
sufferings, hreby be leave to (Presen
their respectsiul compiments to uch o
their dillresid fellow creatures; at ' the
same time ash'ing them, that should they '
in those time of peril and distress, sin
themselves uprovided with a more con
venient and omsortable situation, that in
such case, Zumanity, and the law;: of
hospitality, 'eadily incline them to offer
to their servce a reasonable part of their
'property, ad they are hereby cosidially
invited to apzmicipntion thereof. "
Rctest-lvud uanimou/Zy, that the sith-com--ss .
mittees be vsigilant and active, within thcin -
respective jt'isilictions, in discovering nmlsisi
detccctting alinimicnl or disafiected ])ersonq
to the Amectican cause, and make inlor-'
mation thews, as speedily as may be o. ssss
the ch.1irmn of'this coxmnittee. "(si-)
Rq/ulvedzhat mr. Pnrdie be sur lmith -
fumished vdh a Cup)" hereof, who is dC-f
sired, to prlzlilh the same in his Gan-sitte.
1
.] ,; a!" ,; 'I?" s ,
OllN pA H chni man () tcmwre.
T a ccfimiltee held for the county of
D'mw le, on NVeduelIlzxy the ijth
day of Noisimber 1775, present 28 mem
bers. ss
Rc/blvedfiihat no provisinns osam' kind ,
or fewe], ( hereafter ulloweol to he cur
ricd from tis county, by l.md or water, .
without :! grmicsrom the lion. Commir
tee of Salsissv, or the committce of this
coumy. " i
By oler of the commiuee.
jOf V josius, cl
Assay
72.//a,' fish")