The Virginia gazette — Williamsburg, Va., 1776-10-04 00:00:00, page 2

! the!], by expresi, forward to Congress
your lordship's letter, and the papera
which ac'compani'ed it. The result will be
communicated as soon as poflible. ] am
sorry to have detained your lordship so
long, but the unavoidable necessity must
be my apology. I am, my lord, your lord
ship'a most obedient and very humble ser
vant, G. WASHlNG'l'ON.
Lord DIUMMOND.
My Lord,
ITAKE the liberty of sending enclosed
. the sketch of propositions referred to in
11) late conversation with your lordship,
which propositioni, I hasixe understood,
dle coloniel were disposed, not many
)lssooths ago, to make the basis of a re
ss ' lation with Great Britain. I have
-- si,,honourtobe, with great respect, your
' '_l mst obedient humble servant,
ssct-si si RUMMOND.
' a lord 'HZSZ'E.
. si Potix, . ", 1776.
' .ssShtch ofproposi/sittiom communicated to lord
. - How: on the lzth of Aug. 1776.
.'- ]. 'l"HAT it shall be ascertained, as
- — far as can be determined by
ulcnhtiou, what supply towards the ge
ssaeral exigentzI of the state each separate
.Mlony can rnish, consistent with its
- :. When such supply is thus ascertain
.. ed, that each colony shall, by acts of its
'wn Assembly, impose such taxes as they
' all find expedient for the raising of the
faidsngply. si.
nsie'nn
30 In conllutrduuu of 1": uuutuatulg
shtesiof all young countries, that such tax—
' ed may not, in their o erations, become
par'j'siflly or' accidental y burthensome on
' '"theone hand, nor on the other hand gra
,' dull! become deficient in procuring the
Mct intended by the colonies towards the
_ eral exigency of the state, such articles
' all be chosen, as the object: of impositi
on, as they shall deem most likely to keep
' Me with the growth or decline of the
' eolonies.
ss ". That these taxes, so imposed, shall,
10 In the custom, be levied by officers of
the appointment of the king; and that the
' etual grant, us the produce of these
(del, shall be made by the respective
' Assemhlies to the crown of Great Britain,
;. As the direct means of removing the
fatal ground; of this contention, by esta
hlishing a sectirity against the apprehended
Invasion os leroperty by parliament, a for—
' mnl relinqutshment shall be made, on the
part of.Great Britain, of all future claim
to taxation over these her colonies.
". si"; 6. Toremove all future suspicionssrom
isi'rthe mind: of the colonists, that, under the
' Ippearanceosre ulating commerce,duties
; my he imgose for the future purposes of
" meime, :: application of the produce of
ill duties imposed on articles of trade by
MBt-itish legtflature shall be made towards
desk: in the expenses of collection, and
,the grpfussel in each colony to be paid
into their separate treasuries, and to be
' subject to the disposal of the respective
- Houses of Assembly.
DRUMMOND.
EAcL:,offStaten 1/Iand. Aug. 15, 1776.
, ' my Lora, .
ss'ct HAVE received the honour of your
! lordshi 's letter of the lzch, enclosmg a
etch o the propositions mentioned in
our late conversation, which ] return
rewith.
As I think they contain matter that,
upon a conference, and cool discufflon,
might be wrought into a plan of tPerma
hent union, [shall, with great satis action,
embrace the first opportunity that may
be offered, upon those grounds, to pro
mote so desirable an evcnt. ] have the
honour to be, my lord, your Iordship's
" most obedient servant, HOW E.
Right lion. the lord Dummoxn .
The fillowing is the purpofl of the meffage
sent from lord Howe to Congre/Zr by gene
ral Sullivan.
THAT though he could not at present
treat with Congress as such, yet he
was very desirous of having a conference
with so e of the members, whom he
would consider for the present only as pri
vate gentlemen, and meet them himself
as such, at such place as they should ap
point.
That he, in conjunction with general
Howe, had full powers to compromise the
dispute between Great Britain and Ameri
ca, upon terms advantageous to both; the
obtainin of which delayed him near two
mouths m England, and prevented his
arrival at this place before the declaration
of independency took place.
That he wished a compact might be
settled at this time, when no decisive blow
was struck, and neither party could say
that they were compelled to enter into such
agreement.
That in case Congress were disposed to
treat, many thin s, which they had not
as yet asked, unght and ought to be
granted them; and that if' , upon the con
erence, they found any probable ground
of an accommodation, the authority of
Congress must be afterwards acknowledg
ed, otherwise the compact could not be
complete.
Extract fi'm the minutu,
Cnctssntn Tnompsou. secretary.
In CONG RESS, Sept. ;, 1776.
ESOLVED, that general Sullivan be
requcsted to inform lord Howe, that
this Congress, being- the representativea of
the free and independent states ok'America,
cannot, with propriety, send any of its
members to cooker with hislordship in their
private characters; but that, ever desirous
of establishin peace onsireasonable terms,
they will sen a committee of their body,
to know whether he has any authority to
' treat with persono authorised by Co rest
for that purposein behalf of Americ' sian
what that authorit is, and to hear s
propositions as he shall think fit to make
refpecting the same.
Rosolved, that to-morrow be assigned
for electing the committee.
SLP-runu 6, 1776.
Resolved, that the committee to he sent
" to know whether lord Howe has any
authority to treat with person: authorised
by Congrefis for that purpose in behalf of
America, and what that authority is. and
to hear such propositions as he shall think
fit to make respecting the same," consist
ossithree.
'l'he members chosen, mr. Franklin,
mr. ]ohn Adams, and mr. E- Rntlodge.
Extruct fi-om the minutes,
Cuctuuctns Tnomrsow, secretary.
Me committce who were appointed to wait
on lord Howe, having returned to Con—
grq/sr, made their report in the following
word: :
N obedience to the order of Congress,
we have had a meeting with lord Howe.
It was on VVednesdav last, upon Staten
island, opposite to Ambny, where his lord
ship received and entertained us with the
utmost'politeness .
[m wruuup openeu lnc convcrlauon,
, by acquaincing us, that though he could
not treat with us as a committcc of Con
gresi, yet as hisct powers enabled him to
confcr and consult with any private gen—
tlemen of influence in the coloniel on the
means of restoring peace between the two
countries, he was glad of this opportuni:
of confessing with us on that subject, us
we thought ourselves at liberty to enter
into : conference with him in that charac
ter. We observed to his lordship, that.
as our business was to hear, he might
consider us in what light he pleased, and
communicate to us any prcpusitions he
might be authorised to make for the pur
pole mentioned ; but that we cuuhi cup
sider ourselves in no other character that:
that in which we were placed by thc—ordqx .
of Ccngrcss. llis hmxship thcsin entercd_
into a discoursc os coliliderablc length, -*
which contained no explicic proposition of
peace except one, viz. that the colonicsi
should return to their allegiance and ubedi.
ence to the siovemment of Great lf-tixctin.
The rest conhsted principally osussurunccs,
that there was an exceeding good (}ii'pusi.
tion in the king and his ministers to make
that government easy to us ; wit h intima
tions, that, in case of onrss/ubnctssictsslsw, then
wquld cause the offensive acts of parliament.
to be reviscd, and the instructfi—nf: to go
vemours to bc reconlidercd, that lb, if
any just causes of complaint were found
in the acts, or any errours in government
were perceived to have crept into the in
structions, they might be amended or
withdrawn. '
We gave it as our opinion to his lord:
ship, that a retumto the domination of
Great Britain was not now to be expected."
We mentioned the repeated humble peti
tions of the colonies to the kin and par
liament, which had been creates with conp
tempt, and answered only by additiona]
injuries; the unexampled patience we had
shewn under their tyrannica] governmenn
and that it was not till the last act of par
liament which denounced war against it:,
and put us out of the king's protection,
that wedeclared om- independence. That
this declaratipn had been called for by the
people of the colonies in general; that
every colony had approved of it when
made, and all now considered themsizlves
as independent states, and were settling,
or had settled, their governments accord-.
ingly, so that it was not in the power of
the Congress to agree for them that they
should return to their former de endent
state. That there was no doubt o theirin
clination to peace, and their willingnefis to
enter into a treaty with Britain, that might
be advanta eous to bothcountries. That
though his ssrdship had at present no pow
er to treat with them as independent (lates,
he (hight, if there was the same good dis
position in Britain, much suoner obtain
fresh power: from thence for that purpose
than powers could be obtained by Cong'res
from the several colonies to consent to :
submislion. His lordship then, fayingthat
he was sorry to find that no accommoda—
tion was like to take place, put an end to
the conference. ct
Upon the whole, it did not appear to
your committee that his lordship's com—
miflion containkd any other authority of
importance than what is expressed in the
act of parliament, vi'z. that of granting
pardon: with filth :xceptiom a: the commi/si
[inner; shall think proper to make, and of
declaring America, or am- part of it, to be
in the king's peace upon ficbmrffion; for as
to the power osinquiring into the state 0!
America, which his lordship mentioned to
us, and of confessing- and consulting with
any person: the commisiioners might think
proper. and representing the result of such
conversations to the ministry, who (pro
vided thceolonies would subjectthemselw es)
might, after all, or might not, at their
pleasure, make any alterations in the for
merinstructions to governours, or propose
in parliament uny amendment of the acts
complainul of, we apprehend si'my expec
tation from the effect of such :! power
would have been too uncertain and preca
rious to be relicd on by America, had she
still continued in her state of dcpeudence.
Scpt. 18. Yesterdny arrived the conti
ncntal brig Andrcw Doria, cnpt. Bichc,
from a cruisc, in which he took fix vessels,
viz. ship Molly, Brigder Goodrich
late belonging to mr. Jonathnn Hudscn of
Marylctmd, and brig chgy, (look, both
prizcs of lord Duumorc's, bannd iron!