The Virginia gazette (Williamsburg [Va.]), 1774-07-21 00:00:00

VIRGINIA GAZETTE.
With the freest ADVICES,
FOREIGN and DOMESTICK.
IN CIVITATE LIBERA LINGUAM MENTEMQUE
LIBERAS ESSE DEBERE. — Suet. in Tib. S. 28.
Printed by ALEX. PURDIE, and JOHN DIXON, at the POST OFFICE.
WILLIAMSBURG, July 12, 1774.
As the Partnership between the Subscribers will expire at the End of this present Year, they most earnestly request the Favour of all Persons indebted to them to make immediate Payment...
ALEX: PURDIE. JOHN DIXON.
LETTER III.
To the INHABITANTS of the BRITISH COLONIES in AMERICA.
BRETHREN,
THESE are the Words of the declaratory Act, mentioned in the last Letter: "Whereas several of the Houses of Representatives in his Majesty's Colonies and Plantations in America have of late, against Law, claimed to themselves, or to the General Assemblies of the same, the sole and exclusive Right of imposing Duties and Taxes upon his Majesty's Subjects in the said Colonies and Plantations, and have, in Pursuance of such Claim, passed certain Votes, Resolutions, and Orders, derogatory to the legislative Authority of Parliament, and inconsistent with the Dependency of the said Colonies and Plantations, &c. Therefore, be it declared, &c. that the said Colonies and Plantations in America have been, are, and of Right ought to be, subordinate unto, and dependent upon, the Imperial Crown and Parliament of Great Britain; and that the King's Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, had, hath, and of Right ought to have, full Power and Authority to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to bind the Colonies and People of America, Subjects of the Crown of Great Britain, in all Cases whatsoever."
From the Crowd of Objects, each pressing for Attention, that present themselves to the Mind of a British American on reading this Act, I beg Leave to select and particularly mention only two.
The Resolutions, &c. mentioned in this Act, were those caused by the Stamp Act. These principal Points are firmly asserted in them, the exclusive Right of Taxation, and the Right of Trial by Jury. The Parliament, well knowing how harsh and jarring it would sound in English Ears to say that the Right of Trial by Jury was "derogatory to the legislative Authority of Parliament, and inconsistent with the Dependency of the Colonies, planted their most direct Battery against the Right of Taxation; common Sense, and the Experience of all Nations, as not a single Instance occurs to the contrary, convincing them, that if that gave Way, a general Ruin would soon ensue, and all the rest would follow in the Train of the Chief, like captive Nobles attending their conquered Prince."
However, not quite satisfied with the slow Work of exterminating them in Detail, but improving upon an impartial Hint, it was judged fittest, upon the Whole, so to consolidate them, that, as if the British Americans had but "one Neck," a single Stroke might despatch Millions; by subjecting us, at once, to the Decrees of Parliament in all Cases whatsoever.
Widely different was the Act of the 6th of George I. Chapter 5th, "For the better securing the Dependency of the Kingdom of Ireland, &c." By that Act, Ireland was declared "to be subordinate unto, and dependent upon, the Imperial Crown of Great Britain." These Words, "and Parliament," are not in it. It is said, indeed, that "the King, with the Advice and Consent of the Lords and Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, had, and of Right ought to have, Power and Authority to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to bind the Kingdom and People of Ireland."
Compare the Act, and you will find the Act for America copied from that of Ireland; but, in the last mentioned, the annihilating Words, "in all Cases whatsoever," are not to be found. The People of Ireland have been, for several Centuries, bound by English Statutes for regulating their Trade, and for other Purposes; and this Statute, therefore, only asserted the usual Authority over them. Their Vital, the exclusive Right of Taxation, and the Right of Trial by Jury, have been preserved. If it was the Intention of the British Parliament to exercise a "Power and Authority" over that Kingdom destructive of these Rights, it is not expressed, it is not implied. Why were the unlimited Words omitted in that Act? Or, why, when the Lords and Commons were copying a Pattern which their Fathers set them, did they deform the Transcript by such Eastern Flourishes.
The Truth is, the Fathers too much revered the English Principles, for which they had been upon the Point of shedding their Blood in placing their Sovereign on his Throne, so flagrantly to violate them; or, if their Conduct was not directed by Justice, they dared not thus to provoke the brave generous Inhabitants of that ancient Kingdom.
"Are there yet the Treasures of Wickedness in the House, and the scant Measure, that is abominable? The rich Men thereof are full of Violence." MICAH, Chapter 6th.
To P. P. Author of the "LETTERS to the INHABITANTS of the BRITISH COLONIES in AMERICA."
SIR,
THE declaratory Act, passed by the Parliament at the Time they repealed the Stamp Act, was such a Violation of the Constitution, such an Assumption of new Powers, so subversive of Liberty, and so destructive of Property, that it deserves particular Observation. That it has hitherto passed unnoticed, is owing to the Gratitude and Joy with which America received the Repeal of the Stamp Act. For the same Reason, the Principle on which the Repeal was founded was suffered to pass without Annadversion; and the People, who claimed the Repeal as a Point of Equity and Right, received it with Gratitude, as a free Gift.
The English Constitution, whose Object is Liberty, has, for the preserving that Liberty, and for the Security of Property, vested peculiar Powers in the different Branches of the Legislature, which are to be exercised for the Good and Safety of the Subject. Salus Populi suprema Lex esto. The Abuse of these Powers, or the Attempt of one Branch of the Legislature to extend its peculiar Powers, so as to abridge those of the others, has been the Foundation of many civil Wars and Struggles in Britain.
From the earliest Period of the English Constitution, it has ever been deemed the Prerogative of the Crown to grant Charters to the Subjects, and Terms of Capitulation to conquered Countries who were taken under the Dominion of the Crown. And the Statute of Quo Warranto, 18th of Edward I. expressly declares, that "Illi qui habent Chartas regales secundum Chartas istas et earundem Plenitudinem judicentur;" on which
"A Tax granted by the Parliament of England shall not bind those of Ireland, because they are not summoned to our Parliament." And again, "Ireland hath a Parliament of its own, and maketh and altereth Laws, and our Statutes do not bind them, because they do not send Knights to our Parliament; but their Persons are the King's Subjects, like as the Inhabitants of Calais, Gascony, and Guienne, while they continued under the King's Subjection." Blackstone, Volume 1st, Page 102, from the Year Books.
Statute Lord Coke observes, in the first Place, that as it was enacted, ex speciali Gratia Domini Regis, "it binds the King," and consequently in binding the King must also bind his Parliament. In the second Place, from the Words carundem Plenitudinem, that this Statute is to be construed "as fully and beneficially for the Charters, as the Law was taken at the Time when the Charters were granted." In the third Place, says he, "certainly this ancient Statute was a Direction to the Sages of the Law, for their Constitution of the King's Charters, as it appeareth in our Books."
On this Foundation rests the declaratory Act respecting Ireland. When Henry II. conquered Ireland he granted the Irish Peace, and annexed them to his Crown on this Condition, "that the Kingdom and People of Ireland should for ever be governed by the same mild Laws as England was governed;" and the Statute in the 31st of Edward III. confirms and renews this Charter, by declaring that his Majesty's Subjects in Ireland, being either Natives of that Kingdom, or English born Subjects only resident there, "sint veri Angli, et sub eisdem degant Domino et Regimine, ac eisdem Legibus utantur." And hence the Act of the 6th of George I. Chapter 5th, assumes no new Power, lays no new Restrictions upon his Majesty's good Subjects of Ireland, nor claims any new Right; but simply declares, "that the King's Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, hath full Power and Authority to make Laws of sufficient Force and Validity to bind the Kingdom and People of Ireland."
Here is no Charter violated, no Claim of Power to deprive them of Property, or to levy Taxes on them without their Consent. Their Parliament, their Right of Trial by Jury, and of granting Supplies to their King in their own Way for the Support of Government, Administration of Justice, and Defence of the Kingdom, remain untouched; but the declaratory Act passed against America, 5th of George III. in Violation of their Charters, declares that the Claim of the Houses of Representatives in his Majesty's Colonies and Plantation in America, to the sole and exclusive Right of imposing Duties and Taxes upon his Majesty's Subjects in the said Colonies and Plantations, is against Law; that the Votes, Resolutions, and Orders, passed in Pursuance of such Claim, are derogatory to the legislative Authority of Parliament; that the said Colonies and Plantations in America have been, are, and of Right ought to be, subordinate unto, and dependent upon, the Imperial Crown and Parliament of Great Britain; and that the King's Majesty, by and with the Advice, &c. hath, and of Right ought to have, full Power and Authority to make Laws and Statutes of sufficient Force and Validity to bind the Colonies and People of America, Subjects of the Crown of Great Britain, in all Cases whatsoever. What is this, but, with the high Hand of Power, to break down the Barriers of the Constitution, and make us Tenants at Will of our Lives, Liberty, and Property?
There was a Time when the Crown held Lands in England, sacra Patrimonia Coronae; the annual Rent of which, if now resumed, would amount to near four Millions Sterling. These have been conveyed to Subjects, and are now held by Virtue of Charters from the Crown. If the Charter regales, or chartered Rights of the Colonies, can be violated and annulled by Parliament, what Security can the Possessors of those Lands have for the Estates they enjoy? Let the Parliament try the Experiment on their Fellow Subjects in Great Britain, and judge of the Temper and Disposition of the Colonies by the Effect such a Step will produce among themselves.
I am Sir,
A. B.
BOSTON, June 23.
ONE would think that the poor Cows of the Town of Boston suffer enough, by being deprived of the Grass with which Nature has so plentifully stored our Common this Year, without being haggled to Pieces with Cutlasses and Bayonets. A shameful Degradation of the Arms of Great Britain, Heaven knows, to have them turned upon dumb and inoffensive Cattle!
The Number of Governor Hutchinson's Addressees, consisting of Merchants, Shopkeepers, Pedlars, Pettifoggers, &c. amounted to 140; and it is said great Pains were taken throughout Boston, and many other Towns, to procure that Number, which must certainly appear very contemptible, when it is considered that there are full 400,000 Inhabitants in the Province.
The solemn League and Covenant for a Non-consumption of British Merchandise is an Axe to the Root of the Tree; by coming into it we establish our own Manufactures, save our Money, and finally our Country from the Destruction that threatens it.
The late Town Meeting was as full and respectable as ever was known; their Unanimity and Firmness was never exceeded. Not one, though often called upon, had any Thing to offer in Favour of paying for the Tea, in Compliance with the Boston Port Bill. All appeared disposed to stand the utmost Efforts of Tyranny, rather than make a free Surrender of the Rights of America. The Speeches made on the State of American Affairs would do Honour to any Assembly.
A Merchant in one of our Seaports, who has good Sterling in London, which was to have been remitted to him in British Manufactures, has now ordered the same to be sent him in Money; many others are now doing the same. The Boston Port Bill is certainly as anti-commercial as it is anti-charteral and inhuman.
Last Evening the Committee of Correspondence received a very kind and affectionate Letter, covering the Proceedings and Resolves of the respectable Town of Farmington, in Connecticut, passed in a very full Meeting held there on the 16th Instant; the first of which imports, that the Act of Parliament for blocking up the Port of Boston is an Invasion of the Rights and Privileges of every American, and as such they are determined to oppose the same, together with all other such arbitrary and tyrannical Acts, in every suitable Way and Manner that may be adopted in general Congress. The last Vote respects the Distress this Town must be reduced to by Means of the Port Bill, and concludes with raising a Committee to take in Subscriptions of Wheat, Rye, Indian Corn, and other Provisions, of the Inhabitants of that Town, and to collect and transport the same to the Town of Boston; there to be delivered to the Selectmen of said Town, to be by them distributed at their Discretion, to those who are incapacitated to procure a necessary Subsistence, in Consequence of the late oppressive Measures of Administration.
Last Tuesday Evening the Committee of Correspondence received the following Subscription from our sympathizing Brethren of Marblehead, signed by 25 principal Merchants and Traders in that Port.
"We the Subscribers, Merchants and Traders of Marblehead, do hereby offer to our oppressed, but much respected Brethren of Boston, and other neighbouring Towns thereof, during the Operation of the Act of Parliament called the Port Bill, the free Use of our Stores in this Town, reserving only sufficient Room for our own Goods and Merchandise. We likewise assure them of our Readiness in seeing to the lading or unlading of their Goods in this Town, and shall consider ourselves obliged to them for every Opportunity of thus saving them Expense, and showing how much we sympathize with and respect them. We confidently depend on their Patience and Resolution, the known Characteristics of Bostonians and their Neighbours; and hope soon to see them relieved from their Distress, and the Liberties of America founded on a permanent Basis, by an indissoluble Union of the Colonies."
* Our Brethren will take Notice that the Overseers of the Poor are the legal Receivers of all Donations for the Relief of Boston.
N. B. Such of us as have Wharfs, do likewise heartily and freely give the Use of them to our Brethren aforesaid, for landing their Goods and Merchandise in this Place."
Extract of a Letter from Philadelphia, June 6. "It is urged by some, that Boston ought to pay for the Tea destroyed there. This is to give my Reasons why they should not pay for it. 1. Dutied Tea was prohibited by general Consent of all North America, for certainly nothing can make Goods more perfectly prohibited than a general Protest against their Importation. If this should want Force of Law, it surely has all the Substance of Reason that can be necessary to constitute the most absolute Prohibition; and if any Merchant sends prohibited Goods to any Port, he consents to risk the Loss of them. His Folly only is to be pitied. 2. I consider that Importation of Tea not as a mercantile Concern of the India Company, but as a political Medium, agreed upon by that Company and the Ministry together, to force the Tea Duty upon America, against their Consent; and therefore the Destruction of it was not in the least Degree a malicious Design of the Bostonians to injure the India Company, but a virtuous Effort to preserve their own Liberties. If a Man draws his Sword on me to deprive me of Life or Liberty, and I break his Sword, ought I to pay for the Sword? If a Man shuts me in his House, to deprive me of my Liberty, and I break his Door, ought I to pay for the Door? If I lie at Anchor in a Ship, and One sends a Fire-ship down on me to burn me, and I sink the Fire-ship, ought I to pay for it? 3. But here is Property destroyed, which ought to be paid for. Then, say I, let those sustain the Damage who were the blameable Causes of it, and not by any Means those who acted from a virtuous Necessity, from which they could not be excused, without Breach of that Duty they owed to their Country, to themselves, and their Posterity. 4. An Action cannot be good, or advisable, from which bad Consequences only, and no good Ones, will necessarily flow upon a whole Country. Paying for the Tea will be deemed Repentance, a Submission, a Retraction of that Virtue by which the Liberties of America were asserted and saved, and the grand Scheme to destroy them rendered abortive. Virtue relinquished, repented of, and given up with Shame, becomes a Butt of Ridicule for an Enemy, and argues a Baseness of Soul, which even a Friend must view with Contempt."
"I beg to be free enough to mention another Thing, which astonishes me and all your Friends, viz. That a Number of reputable People of Boston (some say forty, some sixty) have humbly addressed Governor Hutchinson, to implore the Mercy of the Ministry on poor Boston. I would deny this with great Bitterness, but I fear I cannot. I should have thought the late Proceedings of Parliament had dumb-founded every Tory in America, but could not have imagined that a single one in Boston could have remained unconverted. That Sort of poor-spirited Animals must have wagged their Tails, and licked the Feet of their Defeats, so long as to have lost the Spirit of an ordinary Cur, or they could never do this. To kiss the Rod is a Submission that can never be due to any but a righteous Chastiser. Implored Mercy is always a Confession of Guilt, and to do this without a Conviction of Guilt is the most abject Conduct conceivable. And in the Case in Point, to be really and sincerely convicted of Guilt, is worse; it is, in Principle, to give up all the Liberties of America. Can a Bostonian compliment a Man of Mr. Hutchinson's Conduct, whom all America believes to be the great Instrument of your Calamities? Can a Bostonian implore his Intercession with your Oppressors, Oppressors who have violated the Laws of God to wrong you; who have deprived you of the Wharfs, Landing Places, and Harbour, which the God of Nature, the Obligation of civil Contract, and the Law of the Land, will conspire to seal to you as your Property and Right; who have vacated the Obligations of personal Covenants, such as are contained in Bills of Lading, Charter Parties, &c. and which the Laws of Heaven will oblige the Conscience of every honest Man to fulfil; I say, can the Virtue, can the Pride of a Bostonian submit to implore the Mercy of such Oppressors, and that too by soliciting the Mediation of their capital Tool of Oppression? I always had an exalted Opinion of the Virtue of the Bostonians. I indeed knew they might suffer, but never once suspected they could lose their Dignity in suffering. Excuse my warm Sentiments. If they give Wounds, they are the Wounds of a Friend. But I lament to tell you, this Conduct of a few with you weakens the Hands of your Friends, and furnishes Occasion to some, not over-friendly, to say the Bostonians themselves are melting away. Our Support can never save them whilst they want Firmness themselves, and whilst they themselves acknowledge that they suffer for their own Faults, and not for the Cause of American Liberty. Depend on it, it is the Design of the Southern Colonies to support Boston with their united Strength, to make their Cause a common one; but at the same Time, they greatly rely on your Firmness, your Prudence, your Virtue, and Example in the Struggle."
LIFE and LIBERTY never shall be parted.
THIS is the Motto of the Country, and we are unalterably determined never to part with our Liberties, let the Expense of defending them be what it may. We are told that the Ministry of Britain talk of taking away our Charter! Enemies to God and Man! do they think we will submit to Tyranny in our own Land? The Country which our Fathers purchased with their Blood, we will defend with our Blood.
A COUNTRYMAN.
To the FARMERS in AMERICA.
INCREASE your SHEEP, and raise WOOL, as far as possible; that you may, from this Time, wear LIBERTY CLOTH. FREEDOM.
NEW YORK, June 30.
A BILL for the Regulation of all the American Colonies is to be brought into the House of Commons in the present Session. This Intimation was received by the last Vessels arrived at Marblehead from London.
A Committee of Gentlemen, Inhabitants of this Province, will in a few Days be appointed to meet the Representatives of the other Colonies, at the ensuing grand continental Congress, to be held on the 1st Day of September next, at a Place that shall in the Interim be fixed on, agreeable to the Measures lately concerted by the Honourable House of Representatives of the Massachusetts Bay.
By Accounts from Jamaica, we are informed that the Inhabitants of Kingston have, after thirty Years Attention to it, completed an Herculean Labour, and brought Hope River from the Mountains to pass through the Town of Kingston; which is now, to the unspeakable Joy of every Inhabitant, incomparably well watered, and the Place rendered more healthy than at any Time since it was constructed. The wild Negroes, who had threatened to be very troublesome, are at length satisfied, and returned to a State of Order and Tranquility.
Yesterday arrived in Town from Charleston, South Carolina, David Douglass, Esq. Manager of the American Company of Comedians. Mrs. Douglass, several of the Performers, and all the necessary Apparatus for performing in this City during the ensuing Winter.
His Excellency the Commander in Chief having given Orders for Transports to sail for New York, and there to take on Board his Majesty's Royal Regiment of Welch Fusiliers, we hear the Vessels are already failed, and Preparations are making here for their Embarkation as soon as they arrive.
The Boston Post last Night brought an Account of the Arrival at Marblehead of one of the Fleet of Transports with Troops from Ireland; that the 14th of July was fixed upon for a publick Fast, and the Message recommended from the Honourable House of Assembly to the Ministry.

to be by them proposed to their several Congregations throughout the Province. His Excellency the Governor had not thought proper to issue a Proclamation in Consequence of the Address of this Province from the General Assembly; that an Association was carrying on through that Province for a Non-consumption of Goods, Wares, and Merchandises, which may arrive from England after the first Day of August next, the Subscribers to be bound to an Observance of it by an Oath, and it is to subsist till the Port Act, &c. may be repealed.
PHILADELPHIA, June 29.
W E hear his Honour the Governor has ordered Writs to be issued for summoning the General Assembly of this Province to meet on Monday the 18th of July, on the present State of Indian Affairs.
Extract of a Letter from Charles Town, South Carolina, June 14. "The Inhabitants are much alarmed at the arbitrary Proceedings of the British Ministry, and our Committee have met in Consequence of the Letters received from the Northern Colonies, and are resolved to co-operate with them in any prudent Measures which may be thought likely to remedy the Grievance. I believe whatever New York and your City may conclude on (we place so much Confidence in your Moderation and Firmness) that our Town will readily join with. Our Tea remains here entirely unopened; if the Duty is not taken off the present Session of Parliament, we shall probably have Orders to send it home, which must be a mortifying Circumstance, as well to my Lord North as to the India Company. We value ourselves much on having given our Sister Colonies so striking an Instance of our Virtue, and Opposition to ministerial Schemes; if it is not sent for soon, it will be good for nothing. I could with the Town of Boston had taken this legal Way of destroying theirs, as it is equally effectual; besides giving a Proof to all the World that we are so much attached to the Cause of Liberty, that there are not even Individuals among us who would purchase the baneful Herb."
Extract of a Letter from Captain John Connolly, Commandant at Fort Pitt, to his Friend in Philadelphia, June 27.
"The Inhabitants in general are fled from this Place, and the Country is in great Confusion. I understand a Party of Shawanese Warriors were about to set out to annoy our Settlements towards Redstone, and I have detached 100 active Militia, under the Command of good Officers, to fall in with them if possible, and expect to hear of a Skirmish between them, every Hour. I have sent down the Appraisements of the King's Boats, which I was obliged to tear up in the hurry to lash the Picquets. You will observe the Necessity of keeping some of the Royal Irish here, in Order to protect so valuable a Part of his Majesty's Property."
The following Extract from Dr. Ruth's Oration, delivered on the 14th Day of February 1774, before the American Philosophical Society, "On the natural History of Medicine among the Indians, and a comparative View of their Diseases and Remedies with those of civilized Nations," we hope will not be improper at this present Juncture.
T HE Danger of many Diseases is not proportioned to their Violence, but to their Duration. America has advanced but a few Steps in Luxury and Effeminacy. There is yet Strength enough in her Vitas to give Life to those Parts which are decayed. She may recall her Steps. For this Purpose.
 1. Let our Children be educated in a Manner more agreeable to Nature.  2. Let the common People (who constitute the Wealth and Strength of our Country) be preserved from the Effects of Intemperance. The Increase of the Price of spirituous Liquors, for this Purpose, is a Remedy as unequal to the Design as it is destructive to Liberty and Commerce. Sir William Temple tells us, that in Spain no Man can be admitted as an Evidence in Court who has once been convicted of Drunkenness. I do not call for so severe a Law in this Country. Let us first try the Force of severe Manners. Lycurgus governed more by these than by his Laws. Bonae Mores, non bonae Leges, according to Tacitus, were the Bulwarks of Virtue among the ancient Germans.  3. I despair of being able to call the Votaries of Bacchus from their Bottle, and shall therefore leave them to be routed by the more eloquent Twinges of the Gout.  4. I pass over likewise the Ravages which it is making upon the Health and Populousness of our Country. Had I double Portion of all that Eloquence which has been employed in describing the political Evils which lately accompanied this East India Herb, it would be too little to set forth the numerous and complicated Diseases which it has introduced among us. To encounter this Hydra requires an Arm, accustomed, like that of Hercules, to vanquish Monsters. 
The Population of a Country is not to be accomplished by Rewards and Punishments; and it is happy for America that the universal Prevalence of the Protestant Religion, the Checks lately given to Negro Slavery, the general Unwillingness among us to acknowledge the Usurpations of Primogeniture, the Addition of Canada to the British Empire, the universal Practice of Inoculation for the Smallpox, and the Absence of the Plague, render the Interposition of Government for that Purpose unnecessary.
These Advantages can only be secured to our Country by AGRICULTURE . This is the true Basis of national Health, Riches, and Populousness. Nations, like Individuals, never rise higher than when they are ignorant whether they are tending. It is impossible to tell from History what will be the Effects of Agriculture, Industry, Temperance, and Commerce, urged on by the Competition of Colonies, united in the same general Pursuits; in a Country which for Extent, Variety of Soil, Climate, and Number of navigable Rivers, has never been equalled in any Quarter of the Globe. America is the Theatre where human Nature will probably receive her last and principal literary, civil, and military Honours.
ANNAPOLIS, June 27.
At a Meeting of the Committee appointed by the several Counties of the Province of Maryland, at the City of Annapolis, the 22nd Day of June 1774, and continued by Adjournment, from Day to Day, till the 25th of the same Month, present 92 Members, MATTHEW TILGHMAN, Esq; in the Chair.
I T being moved from the Chair to ascertain the Manner of dividing upon Questions, it was agreed that on any Division each County have one Vote, and that all Questions be determined by a Majority of Counties.
The Letter and Vote of the Town of Boston, several Letters and Papers from Philadelphia and Virginia, the Act of Parliament for blocking up the Port and Harbour of Boston, the Bill depending in Parliament subversive of the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay, and that enabling the Governor to send supposed Offenders from thence to another Colony, or England, for Trial, were read; and, after mature Deliberation the con.
I. Resolved, that the said Act of Parliament, and Bills, if passed into Acts, are cruel and oppressive Invasions of the natural Rights of the People of the Massachusetts Bay, as Men, and of their constitutional Rights, as English Subjects; and that the said Act, if not repealed, and the said Bills, if passed into Acts, will lay a Foundation for the utter Destruction of British America: And, therefore, that the Town of Boston, and Province of Massachusetts, are now suffering in the common Cause of America.
II. Resolved, that is the Duty of every Colony in America to unite in the most speedy and effectual Means to obtain a Repeal of the said Act, and also of the said Bills, if passed into Acts.
III. Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Committee that if the Colonies come into a joint Resolution to stop all Importations from and Exportations to Great Britain, until the said Acts, or Bills (if passed into Acts) be repealed, the same will be the most speedy and effectual Means to obtain a Repeal of the said Act, or Acts, and preserve North America and her Liberties.
IV. Resolved, notwithstanding the People of this Province will have many Inconveniences and Difficulties to encounter, by breaking off their commercial Intercourse with the Mother Country, and are deeply affected at the Distress which will be thereby necessarily brought on many of their Fellow Subjects in Great Britain, yet their Affection and Regard to an injured and oppressed Sister Colony, their Duty to themselves, their Posterity, and their Country, demand the Sacrifice; and therefore that this Province will join in an Association with the other principal and neighbouring Colonies to stop all Exportations to and Importations from Great Britain, until the said Act, and Bills (if passed into Acts) be repealed. The Non-importation and Non-exportation to take Place on such future Day as may be agreed on by a general Congress of Deputies from the Colonies, the Non-export of Tobacco to depend, and take Place, only, on a similar Agreement by Virginia and North Carolina, and to commence at such Time as may be agreed on by the Deputies for this Province and the said Colonies of Virginia and North Carolina.
V. Resolved, that the Deputies from this Province are authorised to agree to any Restrictions upon Exports to the West Indies, which may be deemed necessary by a Majority of the Colonies at the general Congress.
VI. Resolved, that the Deputies from this Province are authorised, in Case the Majority of the Colonies should think the Importation of particular Articles from Great Britain to be indispensably necessary for their respective Colonies, to admit and provide for this Province such Articles as our Circumstances shall necessarily require.
VII. Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Committee that the Merchants and others, Venders of Goods and Merchandises within this Province, ought not to take Advantage of the above Resolve for Non-importation, but that they ought to sell their Goods and Merchandises that they now have, or may hereafter import, at the same Rates they have been accustomed to do within one Year last past; and that if any Person shall sell any Goods which he now has, or hereafter may have, or may import, on any other Terms than above expressed, no Inhabitant of this Province ought, at any Time thereafter, to deal with any such Person, his Agent, Manager, Factor, or Storekeeper, for any Commodity whatever.
VIII. Resolved unanimously , that a Subscription be opened in the several Counties of this Province, for an immediate Collection for the Relief of the distressed Inhabitants of Boston, now cruelly deprived of the Means of procuring Subsistence for themselves and Families, by the Operation of the said Act for blocking up their Harbour; and that the same be collected by the Committees of the respective Counties, and shipped by them in such Provisions as may be thought most useful.
IX. Unanimously resolved, that this Committee embrace this publick Opportunity to testify their Gratitude and most cordial Thanks to the Patrons and Friends of Liberty in Great Britain, for their patriotick Efforts to prevent the present Calamity of America.
X. Resolved, that Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, Junior, Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, and Samuel Chase, Esquires, or any two or more of them, be Deputies for this Province, to attend a general Congress of Deputies from the Colonies, at such Time and Place as may be agreed on, to effect one general Plan of Conduct, operating on the commercial Connexion of the Colonies with the Mother Country, for the Relief of Boston and Preservation of American Liberty; and that the Deputies of this Province immediately correspond with Virginia and Pennsylvania, and through them with the other Colonies, to obtain a Meeting of the general Congress, and to communicate, as the Opinion of this Committee, that the 20th Day of September next will be the most convenient Time, and the City of Philadelphia the most convenient Place, for a Meeting; which Time and Place, to prevent Delay, they are directed to propose.
XI. Resolved unanimously , that this Province will break off all Trade and Dealings with that Colony, Province, or Town, which shall decline or refuse to come into the general Plan, which may be adopted by the Colonies.
XII. Resolved, that the Deputies for this Province, upon their Return, call together the Committees of the several Counties, and lay before them the Measures adopted by the general Congress.
Ordered, that Copies of these Resolutions be transmitted to the Committees of Correspondence for the several Colonies, and be also published in the Maryland Gazette. By Order.
JOHN DUCKETT, Clerk of the Committee.
To Mess. PURDIE & DIXON.
GENTLEMEN, T HE Subject of American Grievances hath been so fully discussed, and the true Principles on which our legal and constitutional Rights and Privileges ought to be fixed and established have been so clearly elucidated, that it is far from my present Purpose to trouble you or the Publick with a Repetition of those Arguments, which have been sufficiently enforced by such a Variety of able and respectable Pens; but finding that America is represented, by some, as having been deficient in those dutiful and respectful Applications which ought first to have been made to our most gracious Sovereign and his Parliament, I take the Liberty to desire the Favour of you to republish some of the Proceedings of our COUNCIL and HOUSE OF BURGESSES in their Session of 1768, together with a material Extract of a Letter written in 1773 by the two Houses of Assembly of Massachusetts Bay to the Lord Dartmouth, his MAJESTY's principal Secretary of State for the American Department. These, as I am persuaded America still retains the same Sentiments, will abundantly show how very unjustly we are accused of wishing to destroy our Connexions with and Dependence on Great Britain, and at the same Time hold out a Caution to us against attempting too extensive a Retrospect, and thereby draw into Question what we have already acquiesced in with so much Deliberation, and in so solemn a Manner. Should we affect that Line which we have professed our Willingness to abide by, it is greatly to be feared that the Weight of our just Claims will be much lessened, and that we shall, with too much Reason, be considered, by the whole World, as unsteady and fickle in our publick Deliberations. I have no Apprehensions that the Concessions we have made can ever operate as a dangerous Precedent against us, since it is evident that the several Acts of Parliament made previous to the Conclusion of the last War are allowed to derive their Efficacy merely from the Acquiescence of America, and her Concessions to have been made purely on the Principles of Convenience and mutual Advantage. Before this Period, we lived a free and happy People; and I must own it is my most ardent Wish to see Things return to their old Channel. Without farther Preface. I shall subjoin what I have alluded to; and am, Gentlemen, your most obedient Servant,
A SINCERE LOVER OF MY COUNTRY.
THE PETITION to his MAJESTY. To the KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
Most gracious Sovereign, Y OUR Majesty's most loyal and dutiful Subjects, the Council and the Burgesses of Virginia, now met in General Assembly, not discouraged by a too well grounded Apprehension that their Conduct has been unfavourably represented to your Royal Ear, but relying, with the most implicit Confidence, on your Majesty's known Justice, and most gracious Disposition towards all your loving Subjects, how far soever removed, humbly beg Leave to approach your Royal Presence with the warmest Assurances of their most cordial and inviolable Attachment to your sacred Person and Government.
They do, with the highest Sense of Gratitude, acknowledge the many great and signal Benefits they have reaped from their Parent Kingdom, under the glorious and auspicious Reigns of your Majesty and your Royal Ancestors; and, with all Humility, submit to your princely Consideration the Tenour of their whole Conduct, and that of their Forefathers, as the most lively Evidence of their Duty and Affection.
They humbly embrace this Occasion to reiterate their unfeigned Thanks to your Majesty for your gracious and ready Assent to the Repeal of the late oppressive Stamp Act; but, at the same Time, they cannot sufficiently lament the Shortness of that Interval of Happiness they have enjoyed between so agreeable and pleasing an Event, and the enacting several late Acts of the British Parliament, equally burthensome to your Majesty's Colonies in general, and, as they most humbly conceive, equally derogatory to the constitutional Privileges and Immunities which they, the Heirs and Descendants of free born Britons, have ever esteemed their unquestionable and inalienable Birthrights.
They, therefore, prostrating themselves at the Foot of your Throne, most humbly implore your fatherly Goodness, and Protection of this and all their Sister Colonies in the Enjoyment of their ancient and inestimable Right of being governed by such Laws only, respecting their internal Polity and Taxation, as are derived from their own Consent, with the Approbation of their Sovereign, a Right which, as Freemen, founding their Claim upon the vital Principles of the British Constitution, they have exercised without Interruption, and which, as they humbly conceive, has been frequently recognised and confirmed to them. And they do assure your Majesty, with that Truth and Sincerity which Duty, Gratitude, and Affection, to the best of Kings, ought ever to inspire, that they will, at all Times, exert their best Endeavours, even at the Expense of their Lives and Fortunes, to promote the Glory of your Majesty's Reign, and the Prosperity of Great Britain; upon which, they are convinced, their own Security and Happiness essentially depend.
That your Majesty may long and gloriously reign, in the Hearts of a free and happy People, is the most ardent Prayer of your Majesty's most faithful and dutiful Subjects,
THE COUNCIL and the BURGESSES and REPRESENTATIVES of the PEOPLE of VIRGINIA.
TO THE MEMORIAL to the HOUSE OF LORDS. To the Right Honourable the LORDS SPIRITUAL and TEMPORAL in Parliament assembled.
The Memorial of his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects the COUNCIL and the BURGESSES and REPRESENTATIVES of the PEOPLE of VIRGINIA, now met in General Assembly, Humbly Represents,
T HAT your Memorialists are so truly sensible of the Happiness and Security they derive from their Connexions with and Dependence upon Great Britain, the Parent Kingdom of this and all his Majesty's other Colonies in America, that they cannot but be impressed with the deepest Concern that any unlucky Incident should ever have interrupted that salutary and pleasing Harmony which they with ever to subsist. They acknowledge the Wisdom and Justice of Parliament in repealing
the late oppressive Stamp Act, though they must consider several recent Acts of the British Legislature as equally subversive of those constitutional Principles of Liberty and Freedom which they and their Ancestors have ever esteemed their inalienable Birthrights, as the immediate Heirs and Descendants of free born Britons.
Your Memorialists cannot sufficiently lament that the Remoteness of their Situation from the Seat of his Majesty's Empire too often exposes them to such Misrepresentations as are apt to involve them in Censures of Disloyalty to their most gracious Sovereign, and the Want of a proper Respect and Deference to the British Parliament; whereas they have ever indulged themselves in the agreeable Persuasion that they had entitled themselves to be considered as inferior to none of their Fellow Subjects, in any Parts of his Majesty's Dominions, for Duty or Affection. They therefore humbly hope that an Application to your Lordships, the fixed and hereditary Guardians of British Liberty, upon so important an Occasion, will not be thought improper, but that the Grievances of a whole People will be regarded as Objects worthy your most serious Attention.
They presume not to claim any other than the natural Rights of British Subjects. The fundamental and vital Principles of their happy Government, so universally admired, is known to consist in this, that no Power on Earth has a Right to impose Taxes upon the People, or to take the smallest Portion of their Property, without their Consent, given by their Representatives in Parliament. This has ever been esteemed the chief Pillar of their Constitution, the very Palladium of their Liberties. If this Principle is suffered to decay, the Constitution must expire with it; as no Man can enjoy even the Shadow of Freedom, if his Property, acquired by his own Industry, and the Sweat of his Brow, may be wrested from him at the Will of another, without his own Consent.
This Truth is so well established that it is unnecessary to attempt a Demonstration of it to Englishmen, who feel the Principle firmly implanted in them, diffusing through their whole Frame Complacency and Cheerfulness.
In this happy Situation lived the Ancestors of your Memorialists, when they first undertook, with the Approbation of their Sovereigns, but at the Expense of their Blood and their own Treasure, to explore and settle these new Regions. The natural and constitutional Rights and Privileges which they had enjoyed in their native Country, your Memorialists humbly conceive, could not be lost or forfeited by their Migration to America; but were brought over by them entire, and transmitted to their Descendants inviolate.
Let not your Memorialists, My Lords, be misunderstood; they affect not, they do not with, an Independence of their Parent Kingdom, but rejoice in their reciprocal Connexions, which they know are essential to the Happiness of both. They have been cherished, they have been protected by their Mother Country, and acknowledge themselves bound, by every Tie of Gratitude and Affection, to embrace all Opportunities of promoting the Prosperity of Great Britain, to the utmost of their Abilities. They cheerfully acquiesce in the Authority of Parliament to make Laws for preserving this necessary Dependence, yet they cannot conceive, and humbly insist that it is not essential to this Purpose, or to support a proper Relation between a Mother Country and Colonies transplanted from her, that she should have a Right to raise Money upon them without their Consent.
The Trade of the Colonies, almost as soon as it became an Object worthy the national Attention, was laid under such Restrictions as were thought necessary to secure their Dependence, and promote the Interest of the whole extended Empire. The natural Rights, and first Principles, of the English Constitution, were very early ingrafted into the Constitutions of the Colonies. Hence a legislative Authority, ever essential in all free States, was derived and assimilated as nearly as might be to that in England, the Crown referring to itself the executive Authority of Government, and the Power of assenting and dissenting to all Laws; but the Privilege of choosing their own Representatives was continued in the People, and confirmed to them by repeated and express Stipulations. The Constitution and Government of this Colony being thus fixed and established, your Memorialists, and their Ancestors, enjoyed the Fruits of their own Labour, with a Security which Liberty only can impart. Upon pressing and emergent Occasions, not within their own Powers of Redress, they frequently applied to their King and common Father, and repeatedly, they own it with Gratitude, have received seasonable Reliefs from their Mother Country. On the other Hand, when his Majesty has had Occasion for the Assistance of his dutiful Subjects in America, Requisitions have been constantly made from the Crown, by the King's Governors, to the Representatives of the People; who have complied with them, to the utmost Extent of their Abilities. The ample and adequate Provision made by the Assemblies of this Colony in the Reign of King Charles II. and upon his Requisition, for the Support of the civil Government, by an Impost of 2s. Sterling per Hoghead upon all our Tobacco exported, 1s. 3d. per Tun upon Ships and Vessels, and 6d. per Poll upon all Persons imported, except Mariners; the many and large Supplies voted during the Course of the last War, upon Requisitions from his Majesty, and his Royal Grandfather; afford both early and recent Instances of the Disposition of the Assemblies of this Colony to do every Thing that could reasonably be asked or expected from them, and are at the same Time incontestable Proofs that the Parliament of Great Britain never, until very lately, assumed a Power of imposing Taxes on the People of the Colonies, for the Purposes of raising a Revenue, or supporting the Contingencies of Government.
To say that the Parliament of Great Britain has a constitutional Authority and Right to impose internal Taxes on the Inhabitants of this Continent, who are not, and, from the Nature of their Situation, cannot be represented in the House of Commons, is, in a Word, as your Memorialists most humbly conceive, to command them to bid adieu to their natural and civil Liberties, and prepare for a State of Slavery. The Commons of Great Britain can impose no Tax on the People there without burthening themselves, in some Proportion. If their Taxes should be disagreeable and grievous to their Constituents, the Constitution has not left the People without a Remedy. But what, My Lords, must be the Situation of the Colonists if an Authority and Right to tax them should be established in the British Parliament? Unrepresented as they are, and for ever must be, their Grievances cannot be fairly and properly explained. They have it not in their Power, if they are to be taxed, to point out the Mode least burthensome to themselves. The Parliament bears no Share of the Taxes imposed on the Colonies; and their Doom will generally be determined before they receive the least Intelligence that a Subject had been agitated in Parliament, whereby they, or their Interests, might be affected. The Notion of a virtual Representation has been so often and clearly refuted that your Memorialists decline troubling your Lordships with any Observations on that Head.
The Stamp Act, so often and justly complained of, confessedly imposed internal Taxes on the Colonies; and several late Acts of Parliament plainly, as your Memorialists conceive, tend to the same Point. That the Parliament may make Laws for regulating the Trade of the Colonies has been granted. Sometimes, Duties have been imposed to restrain the Commerce of one Part of the Empire that was like to prove injurious to another; and, by this Means, the general Welfare of the Whole may have been promoted. But a Tax imposed upon such of the British Exports as are Necessaries of Life, to be paid by the Colonists upon Importation, and this not with the most distant View to the Interests of Commerce, but merely to raise a Revenue, or, in plainer Words, to compel the Colonists to part with their Money against their Inclinations, your Memorialists conceive to be a Tax internal, to all Intents and Purposes.
Of this Sort, your Memorialists cannot but consider the late Act of Parliament granting certain Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America. The Preamble of the Act plainly speaks the Design of it; and can it, My Lords, be thought just or reasonable that the Colonists, restricted as they are in their Trade of every Kind, should be compelled to pay Duties on the Articles enumerated in this Act? They have long been restrained from purchasing many of the Necessaries of Life at any other than the British Market; they are confined in their Exports also, and now are told that they shall not have such Necessaries without paying a Duty for them. The Stamp Act imposed a Duty upon certain Instruments of Writing, and by the late Act the Colonies are to be compelled to pay a Duty upon every Slip of Paper they use in the most ordinary Occurrences of Life.
The Purposes of Government, which are said to be the chief Objects of this Act, your Memorialists have shown were long since provided for in this Colony. This is again remarked, not that your Memorialists would claim any particular exclusive Merit from it, but to show how easily our internal Concerns may be mistaken at the Distance of 3000 Miles; for, had this been attended to, your Memorialists are unwilling to suppose that the Parliament would have imposed Taxes on a Colony for Purposes amply provided for in that Colony. The Manner also in which this Act is to be executed, your Memorialists are apprehensive may, in Time, prove destructive to the Liberties of the People.
The Act suspending the legislative Power of the Province of New York your Memorialists cannot but consider as still more alarming to the Colonies in general, though it has that single Province in View as its immediate Object. If the Parliament have a Right to compel the Colonies to furnish a single Article for the Troops sent over to America, by the same

Rule they may oblige them to furnish Clothes, Arms, and every other Thing, even the Pay of the Officers and Soldiers; a Doctrine replete with every Kind of Mischief, and utterly subversive of every Thing dear and valuable to us: For what Advantage could the People of the Colonies derive from their Right of choosing their own Representatives, if those Representatives, when chosen, not permitted to exercise their own Judgments, were under a Necessity (on Pain of being deprived of their legislative Authority) of enforcing the Mandates of a British Parliament, though ever so injurious to the Interests of the Colony they represent! Your Memorialists could enlarge upon this disagreeable Subject, but fear they have already trespassed too far upon your Lordships Time and Patience. They have communicated to your Lordships, and it is hoped with the greatest Decency and Respect, the Sentiments of a free and loyal People. It only remains for them to beseech your Lordships, with that Earnestness which the Importance of the Subject inspires, to use your Parliamentary Power and Influence in procuring a Repeal of the above recited Acts of Parliament, and in securing to us, his Majesty's most dutiful, though distant Subjects, the full Enjoyment of all our natural and constitutional Rights and Privileges.
In the same Session the Council and Burgesses joined in a Remonstrance to the House of Commons, nearly of the same Import as the Memorial to the Lords. This Remonstrance concluded in the following Manner.
THUS have the Remonstrants expressed, and they trust with decent Firmness, the Sentiments of a free and loyal People. It is hoped that the Honourable House of Commons will no longer prosecute Measures which they who are designed to suffer under them must ever consider as much fitter for Exiles driven from their native Country, after having ignominiously forfeited their Favours and Protection, than for the Posterity of Britons, who have been at all Times anxious and solicitous to demonstrate their Respect and Affection for their Mother Kingdom, by embracing every Occasion to promote her Prosperity and Glory; but that British Patriots will never consent to the Exercise of anti-constitutional Powers, which, even in these remote Corners, may in Time prove dangerous in their Example to the interior Parts of the British Empire. Should the Remonstrants be disappointed in these Hopes, the necessary Result will be, that the Colonists, reduced to extreme Poverty, will be compelled to contract themselves within their little Spheres, and obliged to content themselves with their Home-spun Manufactures.
Extract of a Letter written by the two Houses of the Assembly of Massachusetts Bay to the Lord Dartmouth, dated June the 29th 1773, containing the most sensible Strictures on the ever memorable Speech of Governor Hutchinson delivered to them at the Opening of their last Session, which seems to have been calculated to revive the unhappy Disputes between Great Britain and the Colonies, and probably laid the Foundation of their present Misfortunes, which all good Men must greatly lament.
If your Lordship should condescend to ask, what are the Means of restoring the Harmony so much desired? We should answer, in a Word, that we are humbly of Opinion, if Things were brought to the general State in which they stood at the Conclusion of the late War, it would restore the happy Harmony which at that Time subsisted. [See Publick Ledger, March 14th 1774.]
ROBERT BRUCE, WATCH MAKER,
At the House above Mr. ANDERSON's Tavern, MAKES and REPAIRS all Sorts of WATCHES and CLOCKS, and will be much obliged to those who please to employ him. He returns his most grateful Thanks to his former Customers, and begs a Continuance of their Favours. (||)
** WATCHES sent from the COUNTRY shall be done with Expedition, and returned with Care.
WILLIAMSBURG, July 19, 1774. JAMES SLATE, TAILOR from London, begs Leave to inform the Publick that he has just opened Shop the second Door below Mr. Anderson's Tavern, where he carries on his Business in all its Branches, and will be much obliged to those who may please to favour him with their Custom. (||)
FOR SALE, MILLSTONES, Dutch FANS, RIDDLES for FANS, WOVE WIRE for ROLLING SCREENS, LOOKING GLASSES of every Kind, BRASS CHARIOT BOXES, BRASS CHAIR NAILS, BAR IRON, Madeira WINE, Demerara and Jamaica SPIRITS, and a strong Top CHAISE quite new. (tf) JOHN SYME. NEWCASTLE, July 14, 1774.
FOR SALE, TWO THOUSAND Acres of LAND, lying on the River Shenando, in the County of Frederick, eight Miles above Abby's Gap. One Third of the Purchase Money to be paid on the Day of Sale, and an extensive Credit will be given for the Remainder. Mr. James Brown will show the Land to any Person inclined to purchase, and I shall be on the Premises the last Week in September next. (tf) NATHANIEL BURWELL. ISLE OF WIGHT, July 19, 1774.
To be LET to the lowest Bidder (pursuant to an Order of Vestry of St. Paul's Parish) at Hanover Town, on Friday the 29th Instant (July) THE Building of a large commodious BRICK CHURCH, in the lower Part of the said Parish, to be 80 Feet in Length, and 35 Feet wide, with a Cross projecting 20 Feet on each Side, and 35 Feet wide, according to a Plan to be produced that Day. A considerable Sum of Money will be paid down, and the future Payments made known at the Day of Letting. Bond and approved Security will be required of the Undertaker, for his faithful Performance in building the same. BENJAMIN ANDERSON, } Churchwardens. THOMAS GARLAND, }
FOR SALE, A VALUABLE Tract of LAND in Surry County, beautifully situated on James River, a little above Swan's Point, containing about 1300 Acres, well timbered with Pine and White Oak, and a Stream with a Dam across it sufficient to carry a Saw Mill runs through the Middle of the Land. Any Person inclined to purchase may know the Terms by applying to Captain James Belfches at Cabin Point, Colonel Herbert Calhorne in King William, or the Subscriber at Huntingdon. CHARLES HARRISON.
For CHARTER, to any Part of EUROPE, THE Ship Anne, Thomas Wilson Master, Burthen 520 Hlds. or 14,000 Bushels. For Terms apply to me in Norfolk. JOHN WALKER. ** Who has for Sale a Quantity of exceeding good coarse SALT, on reasonable Terms.
YORK TOWN, July 18, 1774. I INTEND to leave the Colony immediately, and shall return in a few Months. WILLIAM GOOSLEY.
RUN away from the Schooner Marigold, lying at Hobbs's Hole, the 6th of July, a young Negro Man named DAVID, a very good Sailor, about 22 Years old, and very knapper-kneed; had on, when he went away, a Pair of long Trousers, and a blue Jump Waistcoat, his other Clothing I do not remember. He is five Feet six or seven Inches high, and pretty black. Whoever apprehends the said Fellow, and delivers him to the Subscriber, in Northumberland County, or confines him so that I get him again, shall have 40 s. Reward, besides what the Law allows; and as I imagine he will endeavour to get on Board some Vessel, I hereby forewarn all Masters of such from harbouring or carrying him away. (a||) GEORGE DAMERON.
Pursuant to a Decree of the Honourable General Court, and by Letter of Attorney from Colonel George Mercer of Virginia, now in London, will be sold at publick Auction,
ABOUT 3500 ACRES of LAND in the County of Loudoun, near West's Ordinary, about twelve Miles from Leesburg, forty from Alexandria, and thirty five from Dumfries, on Potomack. This Land is well known, by the Description of Bull Run Mountains, and is very fertile. Also 6500 Acres on Shenando River, in the County of Frederick, opposite to Snicker's Ordinary, and binding on the River about seven Miles. As this Tract is Part of a Survey one of the first in that Part of the Colony, its good Quality cannot be questioned, it is well watered, will admit of two Mills on Land Streams, and others on the River; there are now on it six Plantations well improved for Cropping, 110 Slaves, and very large and choice Stocks of Horses (some of the Dry Breed) black Cattle, Hogs, and Sheep; which, together with the Crops of Corn and Wheat now growing (expected to be upwards of 2000 Barrels and 5000 Bushels) will be sold on the Premises, on the 24th Day of November next, or next fair Day. The Loudoun Lands will be sold at West's Ordinary, on the 21st Day of the same Month. Both Tracts will be laid off in Lots to suit every Kind of Purchaser, who may see them by applying to Mr. Francis Peyton, near the Loudoun Land, and Mr. William Dawson, who resides on the Shenando Tract. Among the Slaves are two good Blacksmiths, two Carpenters, and an exceeding trusty and skillful Wagoner. The aged black Cattle, and grown Hogs, will be fattened for Slaughter. Purchasers above 25 l. will be allowed twelve Months Credit, on giving Bond and Security to the Subscribers, who will be prepared to make Conveyances. (20) JOHN TAYLOR. GEORGE WASHINGTON.
RUN away from the Subscriber, in Isle of Wight, near Milner's Warehouse, on the 13th of June, a Mulatto Man named SAM, about 35 Years of Age, five Feet four or five Inches high, of a pleasant Countenance, a remarkable Scar on one of his little Fingers, and has lost some of his fore Teeth; had on, and carried with him, a Pair of brown Rolls Trousers, an Osnaburg Shirt, and an old Negro Cotton Jacket. I have heard he is making for Norfolk, in Order to get on Board some Vessel, and it is probable he may try to pass for a Freeman; all Masters of Vessels are therefore forewarned from harbouring or carrying him off, at their Peril. I will give 3 l. Reward to any Person who will deliver him to me, or secure him so that I may get him again. (||) MATTHEW JORDAN.
TAKEN up, in Bedford, a Negro Man named FRANK, five Feet seven or eight Inches high, about 35 Years of Age, his left Thumb has a Cut on the Joint that he cannot move it, is a little bow-legged, and has been a good Deal whipped, as appears by his Back; had on, a Check Shirt, and a Pair of Pompadour coloured Breeches. He says he was imported about twelve Years ago by Colonel Tabb, and lived at his Home Plantation for some Time, but, for twelve Months past, he lived with one William Bofdale, in Prince Edward, who he will not agree is his Master. The Owner is desired to take him away, and pay Charges. (||) SAMUEL FARR.
COMMITTED to Bedford Jail, a Servant Man who says his Name is JOHN FORBES, and that he belongs to John Hook, in North Carolina, a thick well made Fellow, of a reddish Complexion, five Feet six or seven Inches high, and about fifty Years of Age. The Owner is desired to take him away, and pay Charges. (||) SAMUEL FARR.
COMMITTED to Bedford Jail, a Servant Man named THOMAS FLINN, who says he belongs to Thomas Badget, near the Rocky Ridge. He is about five Feet six or seven Inches high, well made, and appears to be about eighteen Years of Age. The Owner is desired to pay Charges, and take him away. (||) SAMUEL FARR.
TAKEN up, in Dinwiddie, a small RED COW about four Years old, with Part of her Tail off, marked with a smooth Crop and Slit in her right Ear, and a Half Moon in the left. She has since had a Calf. Pofed, and appraised to 55 s. (||) JOHN JONES.
TAKEN up, in Dinwiddie, a small BAY HORSE about four Feet seven Inches high, appears to be ten Years old, a Star in his Forehead, and a Snip on his Nose. Pofed, and appraised to 7 l. (||) THOMAS WELCH.
TAKEN up, in Bedford, a BRIGHT BAY HORSE about three Years old, four Feet seven Inches high, has a small white Spot on his left Cheek, dockt, but not branded. Pofed, and appraised to 7 l. (||) ROBERT EWING.
TAKEN up, in Chesterfield, a BRIGHT BAY HORSE COLT two Years old, four Feet two Inches high, a Star in his Forehead, and a Snip on his Nose. Pofed, and appraised to 5 l. (||) JOHN AMONET.
TAKEN up, in Buckingham, a DARK BAY HORSE with several Saddle Spots, appears to be Hipshotten, has a few gray Hairs at the Root of his Tail, had on a Bell with a Patch at the Edge, and branded on the near Shoulder M. Pofed, and appraised to 55 s. (||) JOHN PHELPS.
TAKEN up, in Spottsylvania, a BRIGHT BAY HORSE about four Feet seven Inches high, a Star in his Forehead, shod before, and branded on the near Shoulder and Buttock C. Pofed, and appraised to 9 l. (||) JOHN TRUE.
TAKEN up, in Goochland, a large DARK BROWN STEER about five Years old, marked in the right Ear with a Crop and Under-keel, and branded on the left Horn HM in a Piece. Pofed, and appraised to 3 l. (||) JOHN LEE.
TAKEN up, in Chesterfield, a YELLOW BAY MARE about twelve Years old, thirteen Hands and a Half high, a Star in her Forehead, several Saddle Spots, and branded on the near Buttock H. Also a GRAY FILLY belonging to the Mare, about six Months old, with a Snip on its Nose. Pofed, and appraised to 5 l. (||) JOHN AMONET.
JULY 5, 1774. THE Fredericksburg Jockey Club are desired to meet on Friday the 29th Instant, at which Time some Matters of Consequence relative to their October Meeting will be laid before them to settle. It is necessary therefore that a pretty full Club, for which Reason it is expected those who can possible make it convenient will attend. (2) GEORGE WEEDON, Secretary.
KING WILLIAM, July 10, 1774. THE Sale of the deceased Colonel James Quarles's NEGROES, advertised to be at Aylett's Warehouse, on the 13th Instant, is, by Consent of Parties, deferred till the 10th of August, at which Time they will most certainly be sold, agreeable to the former Advertisement. GOODRICH CRUMP.
NORFOLK, July 10, 1774. JOURNEYMEN WEAVERS, who come well recommended, will have good Encouragement on applying to me, in the Manufactory of Linen, Diaper, Damask, Manx-weaver Stuffs, Gauzes, figured Cotton Counterpanes, &c. And I will give good Prices for SPUN COTTON, agreeable to the Fineness; or RAW COTTON, clear of Seed. GARDINER FLEMING.
WEST POINT, July 11, 1774. WE INTEND to leave the Colony. ALLEN CAMMERON. JAMES WALLACE. (2||)
AS the Members of the late House of Burgess have referred the Consideration of the important Matters recommended to them by some of the Northern Colonies to the first Day of August next, it is expected the Members who may be chosen at the ensuing Election will not fail to meet at the Time appointed. There is no Necessity to represent to the Publick what an Appearance it would have to keep them longer in Suspence about our Determinations. The MODERATOR.
JAMES CRAIG, AT THE GOLDEN BALL,
WILLIAMSBURG, BEGS Leave to inform the Publick that he has just got an Eminent Hand, in the WATCH and CLOCK MAKING BUSINESS, who served a regular Apprenticeship to the same in Great Britain, and will be much obliged to those who favour him with their Commands. He makes, and repairs, REPEATING, HORIZONTAL, and STOP WATCHES, in the neatest and best Manner. JEWELLERY, GOLD, and SILVER WORK, as usual, made in the neatest Manner, and on reasonable Terms, for ready Money only, at the above Shop.
WANTED, a COOK who can be well recommended. Apply to the Printer.
To be SOLD, THE Sloop PROVIDENCE, Burthen about 45 Tons, only nine Months old, very well built, neatly finished off, completely found, has large Accommodations, and falls remarkably fast. For Terms apply to Captain Charles Thomas at Norfolk, or to (tf) BENJAMIN HARRISON, Junior.
RUN away from the Subscriber, who is removed from Boyd's Hole, on Potomack River, to Buckkin Creek on Nottoway River, Dinwiddie County, on Saturday the 2d of July, a likely well made Mulatto Fellow, named HARRY, about 22 or 23 Years of Age, five Feet ten or eleven Inches high, some Scars may be seen on his Arms and Back if stripped, has remarkable high Infteps, speaks fair, and is very subtle and insinuating, is very fond of Dress, and cannot bear to go barefoot; had on, when he went away, a dark brown Cloth Livery Coat turned up with Green, Waistcoat of the same, striped Velveteen Breeches, a white Shirt, Shoes and Stockings, all his Clothes a little ragged, and I do not doubt his having a Variety of them. He is very well known in many Parts of Virginia and Maryland, having constantly travelled with me. As he was bred in Fairfax County, it is probable he will make there to his Mother, an old Negro Woman formerly the Property of the late Parson Green of said County, but has, I believe, been set free some Years. All Masters of Ships, and other Persons, are hereby forewarned from harbouring or conveying him out of the Colony, and I will give 50 s. Reward, besides what the Law allows, to any Person that will deliver the said Slave to me, or secure him in any Jail so that I may get him again. (4) THEODORICK BEAND.
COMMITTED to Nansemond County Jail, a Negro Man named LIVELY (Jesse, Jeff, or Jeffery) who says he belongs to Mr. Robert Mitchell in Richmond Town, James River. The Owner is desired to take him away, and pay Charges. WILLIAM WHITFIELD, Jailer.
To be SOLD at Hanover Courthouse, on Thursday the 4th of August, being Court Day, FIFTEEN likely Virginia born SLAVES, belonging to the Estate of Doctor John Walker, deceased. Credit will be allowed until the 25th of December, the Purchasers giving Bond with approved Security to THOMAS SIMPSON, Administrator.
*** Those concerned are desired to take Notice, that I have fully empowered Mr. George Lumsden to transact the Business of the above Estate. The distressed Situation of the Estate puts it out of my Power to grant any Indulgence to its Debtors; and, as I intend to close my Administration as soon as possible, I request the Favour of those who have any Claims against the said Estate to bring them in, either to Mr. Lumsden or myself, properly attested, by the 1st of October at farthest.
To be SOLD by publick Vendue, at Stanton, on Tuesday the 16th of August, being Augusta Court Day,
TWO TRACTS of LAND belonging to Captain Matthew Harrison, lying in Hampshire, viz. One Tract of 317 Acres on the Drains of Left River, joining James Bryan; the other Tract contains 100 Acres, on the Drains of said River, joining John Price and Jacob Crisman. Plots of the said Land to be seen on the Day of Sale, in the Hands of Gabriel Jones, Esquire. Credit will be given for one Half of the Purchase Money till the 1st of April next, and for the other Half till the 16th of August 1775, upon giving Bond with approved Security to (||) GEORGE MITCHELL.
Just IMPORTED from London, by Alexander G. Strachan and Co. a large Assortment of DRUGS and MEDICINES, and to be sold cheap for Cash, or Tobacco, at their Shop in Petersburg,
ALSO Keyser's Pills, Norris's Drops, Balsam of Honey, Radcliffe's Purging Elixir, Daffy's and Squire's Elixirs, Walker's Jesuits Drops, Bateman's Do. Doctor James's Fever Powders, Turlington's Balsam of Life, British Rock Oil, Anderson's and Lockyer's Pills, Greenough's Tincture for the Gums, Freeman's and Godfrey's Cordials, Essence of Water Dock, Tincture of Golden Rod, Beaume de Vie, Pike's Ointment for the Itch, Hooper's Female Pills, Eau de Luce for the Headach, Eaton's Styptick, Hungary, Honey, Lavender, and Orange Flower Waters, White and Brown Sugar Candies, Barley Sugar, Comfits, Orange Chips, Preserved Ginger, Citron, Almonds, Raisins, Currants, Figs, Prunes, Cinnamon, Cloves, Mace, Nutmegs, Ginger, Pimenta, Black and Long Pepper, Ginseng, Hawthorn Shavings, Sago, Salop, Vermicelli, French and Pearl Barley, Smelling Bottles, Nourishers, Ivory Boxes for Lip Salve, Court Plaister, Teeth and Flesh Brushes, Nipple Glasses, Breast Pipes, Common and Bed Lancets with Cases, Surgeons Pocket Instruments, Tooth Instruments, Ivory and Pewter Syringes, Marble and Glass Mortars, Glass Funnels, Bolus Knives, Tile's Vitriolick Ether, Alum, Antimony, Brimstone, Bluestone, Borax, Saltpetre, Cobalt, Arsenick, Rotten Stone, Scuttlefish Bone, Birdlime, Potash, Venice and Castile Soap, Spirit of Turpentine, Crucibles, Black Lead Pots, White and Red Skins, Brown Paper, Blue, Whited Brown, and Filtering Do. Corkwood, Pill Boxes, Vial and Bottle Corks, Tow, Lint, Vials, Gallipots, Fine Hair Pencils, Gold and Silver Leaf, Canary, Mountain, and Rhenish Wines, Anchovies, Capers, Olives, East India Mangoes, Pickled Walnuts, Florence Oil, &c.
Likewise the following Paints and Dyes, viz. Vermilion, Drop Lake, Dutch and Rose Pink, Prussian Blue, White and Red Lead, Verdigris, Ormiment, Yellow Ochre, Lampblack, Spanish Brown, and Linseed Oil for Painting.
Dyes. Logwood, Redwood, Madder, Ground Do. Alkane, Cochineal, Fustick Galls, Copperas, Wine Stone, White Tartar, &c. JAMES McCARTY.
LUNENBURG, at WINNENHAME's, June 16, 1774. THE Subscriber having occasion to leave the Colony for a few Months, the Store here will, in the Meantime, be continued under the Care of James Murrell; and Alexander Burt will reside here with the Books, and collect the Debts of the Store in Charlotte, lately kept by me, for Buchanan, Hefie, and Co. (2) JOHN LINDSAY.
FOR SALE, A FINE PLANTATION on the south Side of James River, a little above the Seven Islands, containing 1600 Acres. It will be shown by Mr. Anthony Murray, or Mr. Thomas Balow, living in the Neighbourhood, and the Terms may be known of ROBERT BOLLING, Junior.

POETS CORNER.
ON AIR.
THOU wert, ere Time brought with it sickly Care; Before all Nature thou wert sure somewhere, For all the World grew from a Breath of Air. From thee is sprung whatever here we find, External Riches, Riches of the Mind; For Wits and Beauties, boasted such, are Wind. The great Man's Pomp, with all his Show and Glare, The Lover's Vows, and the fine Lady's Prayer, Are nothing else than Emptytines and Air. The Courtier's Promise, or his Lordship's Smile, Is quite an airy nothing-meaning Style, That, as we grasp it, flies away the While. Our Nobles Heads are much in Debt to thee; This was, it is, and till Time cease shall be, As if Fate said, it is my great Decree. The philosophick Sage, when crown'd with Years, Owns his past Labour, owns with many Tears, Just like an empty Bubble, disappears. What Lawyers plead, what Judges do decree, How much would Men be, Air, oblig'd to thee, Cou'dst thou but clear it from Dishonesty. The Parson's Preaching, and his Form of Prayer, Are nothing else, all Practice does declare, Than just a gentle Breeze of pleasing Air. Our modern Poets, fraught with thee, 'tis said, Compose dull Verses to be dully read, And work, poor Devils! for their daily Bread. The Rich and Poor are full alike of Air; Be Paper ere so fine, or Print so fair, The great Man's Verse has not the smaller Share. Our Merchants Traffick, our Stockjobbers Schemes, Our Ladies Virtues, and our Poets Themes, Are nought but idle Fantasies and Dreams. The Wit's Bon Mots, the Coxcomb's Vanity, The Spleen of Cynicks, Students Pedantry, Must all at last take Refuge, Air, in thee. From thee Beasts, Fishes, Birds, successive were; The Breath that made them sent them Lord knows where, And Man's frail Life is but a Breath of Air.
WE the Subscribers, having for some Time past experienced very great inconvenience arising from the Uncertainty of the Time of our Meeting in Williamsburg , have now resolved, and are determined, for the future, to meet there every 25th Day of October and April ; of which we give this publick Notice, that those who have Business to transact with us may know when to attend.
  JAMES LYLE.  NEIL JAMIESON.    ARCHIBALD RITCHIE.  JAMES GLASSFORD.    DANIEL MCCALLUM.  WILLS COWPER.    ROBERT DONALD.  MATTHEW PHRIFF.    JAMES FARLIE.  JOHN HAMILTON.    JAMES DONALD.  THOMAS SIMPSON.    ALEXANDER BAINE.  JOHN GILMOUR.    JOHN FISHER.  CHARLES GILMOUR.    WILLIAM MITCHELL.  JOHN HAY, & Co.    RICHARD ADAMS.  BENJAMIN BAILEY, & Co.    ALEXANDER BUCHANAN.  ANTHONY WARWICK.    ANDREW CHALMER.  INGLIS & LONG.    EDWARD JOHNSON.  FIELDING LEWIS.    NINIAN MINZIES.  ARCHIBALD CUNISON.    THOMAS MAIN.  HENRY MITCHELL.    ROBERT RUTHERFORD.  JAMES ROBINSON.    ARCHIBALD MCCALL.  JAMES SOMERVELL.    M'CALL & SNEEDEN.  WILLIAM HENDERSON.    ADAM FLEMING.  JOHN GLASSFORD.    THOMAS RUSSELL.  ANDREW CRAWFORD.    HECTOR ROSS.  RICHARD HANSON.    NEIL MCCOULL.  JAMES INGRAM.    JOHN LINDSAY.  WILLIAM HARRISON.    JAMES GIBSON, & Co.  EDMUND PENDLETON, Jun.    JOHN JOHNSON.  JOHN BAIRD.    ROBERT BURTON.  THOMAS SHORE.    ARCHIBALD BRYCE.  PATRICK COUTTS.    ARCHIBALD GOVAN.  MOSS ARMISTEAD.    ANDREW JOHNSTON, Jun.  ELLBECK, ROSS, & Co.    EDWARD BRISBANE.  JOHN TABB.    WILLIAM JOHNSON.  CORNELIUS CALVERT.    THOMAS YOUNGER.  ROBERT PLEASANTS, & Co.    SIMON FRASER.  THOMAS EVANS.    THOMAS HODGE.  EDWARD STABLER.    JAMES McDOWALL.  DAVID RUSSELL.    DAVID COCHRAN.  GEORGE PURDIE.  
WILLIAMSBURG, July 4, 1774.
I HAVE for Sale, for ready Money, the following Articles, viz. MATRASSES, made of the best English curled Hair, without any Addition of Tow or Wool; HAIR SEATING for Chairs; BOXES of TYPES for marking Linen, Bocks, &c. PAPER HANGINGS, of the best Kinds, and most fashionable Patterns. I have likewise to dispose of, the Remainder of the Time of an indentured young Woman from Ireland , who was bred up as a Spinner in one of the first Linen Manufactures in that Kingdom; and the sole Reason of my parting with her is, my not having Employ for her, and her own Desire to pursue that Employment.
BENJAMIN BUCKTROUT.
PORTSMOUTH, July 5, 1774.
A PURSE of 100 GUINEAS to be run for by any Horse, Mare, or Gelding, over the Two-Mile Course at this Place, the best two Heats in three, on Tuesday the 20th of September , carrying Weight for Age, agreeable to the Articles of the said Purse, which are to be seen in the Hands of Mr. Richard Nestor , Merchant there, with whom all Horses starting for the said Purse are to be entered, the Day before the Race at farthest. The Money to be paid to the Winner immediately after the Race. It is also proposed to have two more Races, one on the Wednesday following, for 50l. the other on Thursday for 30l. which will be advertised particularly, as soon as the Subscriptions are full.
CUMBERLAND, June 28, 1774.
RUN away from the Ship Brilliant , on the 24th and 25th Instant, two Sailor Lads, one named CHARLES DAMES , a Seaman, but acted as Steward, supposed to be gone to his Uncle John Dames , at Old Point Comfort , as I have a Letter to prove he has enticed him from the Ship, and will certainly put the Law in Force against him. The other is a Boy named JOHN SWANSON , an Apprentice, about eighteen Years of Age, much pitted with the Smallpox, a burnt Scar on his Breast, and speaks very broad Yorkshire . I forewarn all Persons from harbouring or employing them, as I will put the Law in Force against such as do. I will give 20s. to any One that will have them apprehended and secured in any of his Majesty's Jails, so that I can get them.
JAMES MILLER.
TAKEN up, in Buckingham, a BRIGHT BAY MARE about fifteen Years old, four Feet ten Inches and a Half high, a Star in her Forehead, several Saddle Spots, a small white Spot near the Footlock of her left fore Foot, her Mane hangs on both Sides, a long Switch Tail, shod before, has a Bell on, branded on one Side W. H. made with Dots, and on the Staple W. D. fastened on with a Saddle Strap buckled and tied in several Knots, branded on the near Shoulder and Buttock B. Potted, and appraised to 12l. 10s. (||) NICHOLAS CONNER.
To be LET to the lowest Bidder, on Thursday the 28th Instant (July) at the Town of Manchester, in Chesterfield County,
THE Clearing of the Falls of James River , from Westham to the Mouth of Reedy Creek . It will be let in several Divisions. Bond and Security will be required for the Performance in Time, and agreeable to the Directions then given. A considerable Sum is subscribed towards carrying the Work into Execution. Half the Money to be paid the Undertakers in October next, and the other Half the October following. They will not have the Trouble of collecting the Money from the Subscribers, as they will oblige themselves to pay the Sums agreed upon at the Times stipulated.
THE TRUSTEES.
PETERSBURG, June 26, 1774.
STRAYED, or STOLEN, from the Sub- scriber, about the first Instant, a BRIGHT BAY HORSE above fourteen Hands high, from six to eight Years old, remarkably well set, paces, trots, and gallops, is short docked, his Mane and Tail remarkably black, has a Hole in one of his fore Hoofs occasioned by Gravel, but his Brand, if any, forgot. He was bred in Surry by Mr. Brown , but has been used in Lunenburg all last Winter and Spring. As he was missing a few Days after I had him, I have some Reason to think he was carried off by a runaway Negro Boy of this Town, who was seen at Williamsburg the last Meeting. I will give 3l. to any Person who will bring him to me. (tf) HENRY LOCHHEAD.
HALIFAX, June 16, 1774.
AS I have given over Trade in this County, I beg the Favour of all those who have Accounts unsettled on my Books to come and settle them immediately, by Bond or other Sureties. Such as fail may depend that Suits will be commenced against them, without Respect of Persons. Those whose Account are settled, and have been long due, I hope will pay proper Regard to this Advertisement, as longer Indulgence neither can or will be given. I would willingly rent my Storehouses, which are very convenient to Trade, and situated in the Centre where four Stores formerly were occupied that are now broke up, viz.  Buchanan and Hassie's , in Charlotte , Ditto in Halifax , Donald and Company , and this here. Those who have seen it declare it to be one of the most pleasant Situations in the back Country, and the Houses are built after the best Manner. Any Man in Trade, who may incline to rent, could either board with me or keep House himself, as there are all Manner of Conveniencies for that Purpose. I likewise could be of Service to any One who might be a Stranger in Trade here, as my Acquaintance is extensive in those Parts.
WALTER ROBERTSON.
TAKEN up, in Amberst , a BALD EAGLE COLOURED HORSE thirteen or fourteen Years old, four Feet three or four Inches high, has some Marks of a Collar upon the near Shoulder, and branded on the near Buttock H in a Piece. Potted, and appraised to 4l. (||) JOHN PHILIPS.
TAKEN up, in Buckingham , a DARK BAY HORSE about four Feet six Inches high, five Years old, a few white Hairs in his Forehead, his near fore Foot and both his hind Feet white, a small white Spot on his right Cheek, Part of his Mane has been trimmed to a Roach, the other Part long, with a Switch Tail; had on a small Bell with a Leather Collar and Buckle tied with a Hempen String, and branded on the near Buttock S. L. Also a BLACK MARE about four Feet four Inches high, eight Years old, hanging Mane and Switch Tail, a Star in her Forehead, a Snip on her Nose, a small white Spot on her near Hip, appears to have had a Fistula, branded on the near Shoulder L. and on the near Buttock S. Potted, and appraised, the Horse to 9l. and the Mare to 7l. WILLIAM JONES.
TAKEN up, in Buckingham , a YELLOWISH BAY MARE about eighteen or nineteen Years old, four Feet eight or nine Inches high, shod before, appears to have had a Fistula, and branded on the near Shoulder and Buttock, but the Brand cannot be made out. Potted, and appraised to 3l. RICHARD BANKS.
TAKEN up, in Louisiana , a RED BRINDLED STEER about three Years old, marked with a Crop and Slit in the left Ear, and an Underkel in the right. Potted, and appraised to 30s. (||) JOHN BOSWELL.
TAKEN up, in Prince Edward , a BLACK MARE about four Feet five Inches high, seven or eight Years old, a small Star in her Forehead, some Saddle Spots, a Roach Mane and Switch Tail, paces, trots, and gallops, no Brand perceivable, and had on an old Bell with some Pewter round the Staple. Potted, and appraised to 6l. (||) GEORGE WALTON.
TAKEN up, in Bedford , a BLACK HORSE about four Feet eight Inches high, five Years old, three white Spots under his Belly, a small Bell on, paces, trots, and gallops, and branded on the near Shoulder S. Potted, and appraised to 12l. 10s. (||) WILLIAM DUDLEY.
TAKEN up, in Buckingham , a BLACK HORSE, supposed to be very old, his left Eye out, has many Saddle Spots on each Side of his Back, and branded on the near Buttock T. Potted, and appraised to 45s. RICHARD BANKS.
TAKEN up, in Brunswick , FIVE HOGS,  viz. three spayed Sows and two Barrows, marked with a Crop and Half Crop in the right Ear, and a Swallowfork in the left. Potted, and appraised to 5l. HENSLEY GRUBBS.
TAKEN up, in Buckingham , a SORREL GELDING about two Years old, four Feet five Inches high, neither dockt nor branded, has several small white Spots about him, one on his Back, his off hind Foot white, a small Star in his Forehead, several white Hairs in his Mane, and is very gentle. Potted, and appraised to 10l. WILLIAM JONES.
For SALE.
THE noted and well accustomed TAVERN in James City County , about fifteen Miles from Williamsburg , on the main Road leading to New Kent Courthouse and Ruffin's Ferry , with about 500 ACRES of LAND in good Order for Cropping, having six Fields under good Fencing. The Time of Payment will be made very easy to a Purchaser, and the Land, &c. shown by applying to the Subscriber, on the Premises. (4) THOMAS DONCASTLE.
For LIVERPOOL.
THE Ship GREENWOOD , Mackey Reed Master, loads at Norfolk , has two Thirds of her Cargo already engaged, can take in 200 Hds. of Tobacco on Liberty of Consignment. Any Gentlemen inclining to ship by her will please to send their Orders to Mr. Richard Taylor of Petersburg , Mr. Richard Squire Taylor in King William County , or to us at Norfolk . (tf) GREENWOOD, RITSON, & MARSH.
To be RENTED, from Year to Year, or for a Term of Years,
BELVOIR , the beautiful Seat of the Honourable George William Fairfax , Esq; lying upon Potomack River in Fairfax County , about fourteen Miles below Alexandria . The Mansion House is of Brick, two Stories high, with four convenient Rooms and a large Passage on the lower Floor, five Rooms and a Passage on the second, and a Servants Hall and Cellars below, convenient Offices, Stables, and Coach House adjoining, as also a large and well furnished Garden, stored with a great Variety of valuable Fruits, in good Order. Appertaining to the Tract on which these Houses stand, and which contains near 2000 Acres (surrounded in a Manner by navigable Water) are several valuable Fisheries, and a good Deal of cleared Land in different Parts, which may be let altogether, or separately, as shall be found most convenient. The Terms may be known of Colonel Washington , who lives near the Premises, or of me in Berkeley County . (tf) FRANCIS WILLIS, Junior.
NORFOLK County. At a Court held the 22d Day of APRIL, 1774. William and John Brown, Merchants and Partners, Plaintiffs, against John Knight, Ship Master, and George Kelly, Vendue Master, Defendants, In Chancery.
THIS Day came, as well the Plaintiffs, by James Holt , Gentleman, their Council, as the Defendant, George Kelly , in his proper Person, who filed his Answer. And the Defendant, John Knight , being beyond Sea, on the Motion of the Plaintiffs, by their Council aforesaid, it is ordered that the said Defendant George , who hath confessed Effects of the said John Knight in his Hands, do not pay, convey away, or secrete such Effects, until the farther Order or Decree of this Court concerning the same; that the said Defendant, John Knight , do appear here the third Thursday in October next, to answer the Plaintiffs Bill; and that a Copy of this Order be, within fifteen Days, inserted in the Virginia Gazette for two Months successively, and published on some Lord's Day, immediately after Divine Service, in the Church of the Parish of Elizabeth River , in the County aforesaid, and be also posted up at the Door of the Courthouse of the said County. SAMUEL BOUSH, C. C.
A valuable Sale of LANDS.
TO be sold, a TRACT of LAND in Berkeley and Frederick Counties , containing 12,076 Acres; it lies seven Miles on each Side of Shenandoah River , the Quantity on the east Side, being only a Slip of low Ground, is inconsiderable; the Quality of the Land is remarkably good, and the Conveniencies attending it great. There are two plentiful Streams of Water running through Marishes three Miles in Length, some of which are already reclaimed Meadows, and the rest, at a very small Expense, might soon be reduced to the like State. On each Side of the Streams Mills might be erected and Furnaces, the Land affording Stone, Lime, Iron, and Lead Ore. On one of the Streams I have already erected a complete Merchant Mill, with a Pair of the best French Burrs for grinding of Wheat, and a Pair of common Stones for grinding of Indian Corn ; besides this, there is near the Dwelling-House a Tub Mill, and on the other Stream there is a valuable Saw Mill. There are five settled and improved Plantations; on one of them is a good Stone House, two Stories high, with two Rooms on a Floor, a Kitchen, Dairy, and all other convenient Outhouses; on another Plantation, where Michael Pike lived, there is a good Stone House; and at the other Plantations there are Overseers Houses, Negro Quarters, Barns, Stables, Tobacco Houses, &c. The above Tract shall be either partitioned off in Lots of 1000 or 500 Acres, or sold bodily to one Purchaser. Belonging to this Estate there are 112 Negroes to be disposed of, together with all the Stocks of Cattle, equal to any in the Colony, Horses, Mares, Colts, Hogs, &c. likewise all the necessary Implements for the Planter or Farmer. Any Person or Persons inclining to purchase are desired to make their Proposals to me at Roselill , on Rappahannock River , or to leave them with the Overseer, who lives at the House Plantation, and will show the Land. In November I shall be on the Premises, and may then be personally treated with, Part of this Land, and some of the Negroes, belong to my eldest Son, who leaves to me the Disposition thereof, and will confirm any Engagement I enter into on his Part. (6) RALPH WORMELEY.
To be SOLD, on Thursday the 10th of November, at the Rocky Ridge,
ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY choice SLAVES, late the Property of John Wayles , Esq; deceased. Twelve Months Credit will be allowed, the Purchasers giving Bond, with approved Security, to FRANCIS EPPES.
(6)
HENRY SKIPWITH.
Five per Cent. Discount for ready Money.
NORFOLK, April 28, 1774.
NOTICE is hereby given, that a Number of Vessels will be wanted this Summer to bring about 6000 Tons of STONE from Mr. Brooke's Quarry on Rappahannock , and land the same on Cape Henry , for the Lighthouse. Any Person, or Persons, inclining to engage in such Work, are desired to treat with Matthew Priripp , Paul Loyall , and Thomas Newton , Esqrs. The Directors of the Lighthouse will also be glad to purchase one or two FLAT BOTTOMED VESSELS, from 80 to 120 Tons Burthen. (tf) BASSETT MOSELEY.
NEABSCO FURNACE, April 1, 1774.
RUN away from the Neabsco Furnace , on the 16th of last Month, a light coloured Mulatto Man named BILLY or WILL , the Property of the Honourable John Taylor , Esquire. When I tell the Publick that he is the same Boy, who, for many Years, used to wait on me in my Travels through this and the neighbouring Province, and, by his Pertness, or rather Impudence, was well known to almost all my Acquaintances, there is the less Occasion for a particular Description of him. However, as he is now grown to the Size of a Man, and has not attended me for some Time past, I think it not amiss to say that he is a very likely young Fellow, about twenty Years old, five Feet nine Inches high, stout and strong made, has a remarkable Swing in his Walk, but is much more so by a surprising Knack he has of gaining the good Graces of almost every Body who will listen to his bewitching and deceitful Tongue, which seldom or ever speaks the Truth; has a small Scar on the right Side of his Forehead, and the little Finger of his right Hand is quite straight by a Hurt he got when a Child. He had on when he went away a blue Fearnought and an under Jacket of green Baize, Cotton Breeches, Osnaburg Shirt, a mixed blue Pair of Stockings, a Pair of Country made Shoes, and yellow Buckles. From his Ingenuity, he is capable of doing almost any Sort of Business, and for some Years past has been chiefly employed as a Founder, a Stone Mason, and a Miller, as Occasion required; one of which Trades, I imagine, he will, in the Character of a Freeman, profess. I have some Reason to suspect his travelling towards James River , under the Pretence of being sent by me on Business. Whoever apprehends the said Mulatto Slave, and brings him to me, or to his Master, the Honourable John Taylor of Mount Airy , or secures him so as to be had again, shall have double what the Law allows, and all reasonable Charges paid by
(tf)
THOMAS LAWSON.
FOR SALE.
A TRACT of LAND in Amelia County , containing 500 Acres, about four Miles below the Courthouse, it is remarkable fine Land for Grain, and will bring good Tobacco. The Plantation is in good Order for Cropping, sufficient to work six or eight Hands, with all necessary Houses. Any Person inclining to purchase may depend on having a Bargain, and know the Terms by applying to
(tf)
WILLIAM MARSHALL.
For SALE.
ABOUT twelve Thousand Acres of exceeding rich TOBACCO LAND, in Amberst County , whereon are several Plantations and Improvements sufficient to work forty or fifty Hands. There is on the said Land for Sale a very valuable GRIST MILL, lately built, with a Stone Dam and a Pair of good Cologne Millstones , which Mill has for two Years past got upwards of 100 Barrels of Toll Corn, and is situated on a never failing Stream. The Land will be shown by William Womack , who lives at one of the Plantations, and the Prices of the Land made known by him. One or two Years Credit will be allowed, interest being paid for the second Year, and also for the first, if the Money is not paid agreeable to Contract. The Land is to be laid off and surveyed by Colonel William Cabell , at the Expense of the Purchaser. Deeds will be made upon Bond and approved Security being given, either to Colonel William Cabell , or the Subscriber. Six per Cent. Discount will be allowed for ready Money, or good Merchants Notes. If any Person will choose to exchange Lands in the lower Part of the Country, on or near some navigable River, that are good, it is more than probable we should agree. (tf) CARTER BRAXTON.
ALL Persons may be supplied with this PAPER at 12/. 6d. a Year, and have ADVERTISEMENTS (of a moderate Length) inserted in it for 3/. the first Week, and 2/. each Week after. All Sorts of PRINTING WORK done at this Office in the neatest Manner, with Care and Expedition.

VIRGINIA.
On Monday the 18th of July the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of York County met according to publick Notice at the Courthouse in York, to consider what was to be done in the present distressed and alarming Situation of Affairs throughout the British Colonies in America. THOMAS NELSON, Junior, Esquire, being unanimously chosen Moderator, opened the Business of the Meeting with the following Address to the People:
FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN, We are met to-Day upon one of the most important Matters that can engage the Attention of Men. You are all well acquainted with the Attacks which have been lately made by the British Parliament upon, what is dearer to Americans than their Lives, their Liberties. You have heard of the Acts of Oppression which have passed against a Sister Colony, under which it is now actually groaning, and you must be sensible that this is only a Prelude to the Designs of Parliament upon every other Part of this wide-extended Continent. In this Light did our late truly patriotick and Honourable House of Burgesses regard it, and I am not now to inform you what has been the Consequence. Our Assembly has been dissolved, our Country left without Laws for its Government, and without Means of defending itself against an invading Enemy. In this melancholy Situation of Things, many of our late worthy Representatives convened in Williamsburg, and there agreed, after they should collect the Sentiments of the People throughout the Colony, to meet again on the first Day of August next, and concert such Measures as would be most likely to procure us a speedy Redress of our Grievances, and Security against them for the Time to come. You are now called together to deliberate upon these Matters, to choose who shall represent you in the approaching important Meeting, and to furnish them with your Sentiments upon those Things which are to come before them. I need not observe how much you are concerned in the Event of their Proceedings. You all know what it is to be FREEMEN; you know the blessed Privilege of doing what you will with your own, and you can guess at the Misery of those who are deprived of this Right. Which of these will be your Case depends upon your present Conduct. We have found already that Petitions and Remonstrances are ineffectual, and it is now Time that we try other Expedients. We must make those who are endeavouring to oppress us feel the Effects of their mistaken, of their arbitrary Policy; for not till then can we expect Justice from them. From the publick Papers we learn the Sentiments of many of the Counties of Virginia, and it appears that they think it necessary for the accomplishing of their Purposes to drop, till they are redressed, all commercial Intercourse with Great Britain. Whether consistently with Justice, as a People in Debt, we can stop our Exports, is a Point which seems doubtful; but that Imports ought to be prohibited Necessity demands, and no Virtue forbids. It is not supposed that we can do this without subjecting ourselves to many Inconveniences; but Inconveniences, when opposed to a Loss of Freedom, are surely to be disregarded. Besides, I am told, by Men acquainted with these Things, that the Goods already in the Country, and those expected in the Fall, will be sufficient to supply the Wants of all Virginia for two Years. In the Meantime, we must, if our Grievances be not redressed, turn our Attention to the breeding of Sheep, the raising of Flax, Hemp, and Cotton, and to Manufactures. It is true, we must resign the Hope of making Fortunes; but to what End should we make Fortunes, when they may be taken from us at the Pleasure of others? I hope you will take these Matters into your most serious Consideration. Weigh them with that Attention which Matters of such Moment merit. Determine with Wisdom and Moderation; and, once determined, let no Difficulties or Dangers shake your Resolutions.
IT was then unanimously resolved, that as the constitutional Assemblies of Virginia have been prevented from exercising their Right of providing for the Security of the Liberties of the People, that Right again reverts to the People, as the Fountain from whence all Power and Legislation flow; a Right coeval with human Nature, and which they claim from the eternal and immutable Laws of Nature's God.
Resolved also, that DUDLEY DIGGES and THOMAS NELSON, Junior, Esquires, do attend at the City of Williamsburg on the first Day of August next, in a general Convention from the other Counties of Virginia, there to exert their utmost Abilities to put a Stop to that growing System of ministerial Despotism which has so long threatened the Destruction of America.
And that you, our Delegates, may be made acquainted with the Sentiments of the People of this County,
It is their Opinion that you proceed to choose proper Persons to represent the Colony of Virginia in a general Congress of America, to meet at such Time and Place as may hereafter be agreed on.
That these Representatives be instructed to form a Declaration of American Rights, setting forth that British America, and all the Inhabitants thereof, shall be and remain in due Subjection to the Crown of England, and to the illustrious Family on the Throne; submitting by their own voluntary Act, and enjoying all the Freedoms and Privileges of the free People of England: That it is the first Law of Legislation, and of the British Constitution, that no Man shall be taxed but by his own Consent, expressed either by himself or his Representative: That the Americans cannot be represented in the British Parliament; and therefore, that every Act of the British Parliament imposing any Tax or Custom, Duty, or Impostion whatsoever, on the People of America, without their Consent, is illegal, and subversive of the first Principles of the British Constitution, and of the natural Rights of Men: That it is the undoubted Right and true Interest of the Sovereign, as supreme Ruler of the whole Empire, to provide for the Welfare of his Subjects within the Realm at the Head of the British Parliament, and of those in America at the Head of his American Assemblies, by Laws adapted to their local Situation, and suited to the Exigence of each; and, by that Negative with which he is invested by the Constitution, to restrain the different States of his extensive Dominion from enacting Laws to destroy the Freedom and prejudice the Interests of one another: That the King, in his British Parliament, shall have a Supremacy for regulating the Trade of America, with this reasonable Reserve, that all the British Colonies enjoy a free Trade with each other; and that no Tax, Duty, or Impostion whatsoever, be laid by the British Parliament on any Article which the American Colonies are obliged to import from Great Britain only: And that this Right of Supremacy be deemed or expressed a Resignation by our own voluntary Act, flowing from a just Sense of the Protection we have hitherto received from Great Britain.
And farther, the People of this County are of Opinion that the Act of the British Parliament laying a Duty on Tea, for the Purpose of raising a Revenue, to be collected in America without her Consent, is an illegal Tax.
That the Act which blocks up the Port of Boston, destroys her Trade, and subjects her Inhabitants to the worst of Inconveniences and Hardships, is oppressive and unconstitutional; that the People of Boston incurred the Displeasure of Parliament by a just Defence of their Liberties and Properties, and that the Cause for which they suffer is the general Cause of every British Colony in America.
That the Bill, commonly called the Murdering Bill, if passed into an Act, is not only unconstitutional, but shocking to human Nature; that its evident Design is to privilege the Soldiers to commit with Impunity the most cruel Outrages even against the Lives of Americans, whilst it cuts off from an accused American every Hope of being acquitted.
That the most effectual Means of obtaining a speedy Redress of American Grievances is to put a Stop to Imports from Great Britain, with as few Exceptions as possible, until the said oppressive Acts be repealed, and American Rights established; and that what relates to Exports be left to the Determination of the Convention in August.
That Industry and Frugality be adopted, in their largest Extent, throughout this Colony; and that Horse-racing, and every other Species of expensive Amusement, be laid aside, as unsuitable to the Situation of the Country, and unbecoming Men who feel for its Distresses.
That the first Day of September next, or the Time of the General Congress, be set apart as a Day of Prayer and Supplication to the Almighty Disposer of human Events, to direct the Counsels of the Americans, and so to dispose the Heart of our Sovereign that a general Harmony may be restored to the British Empire.
That a Subscription be immediately opened for the Relief of the Inhabitants of Boston, under the Direction of the Deputies for this County, who are desired to promote and encourage the same.
That the above Resolves and Opinions be published in the Virginia Gazette.
WILLIAM RUSSELL, Clerk. Business being finished, the Deputies were invited to a genteel Entertainment provided for them by the Inhabitants of York County, as a Testimony of their entire Approbation of the Conduct of these Gentlemen.
AT a general Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County of New Kent, at the Courthouse of the said County, on Tuesday the 12th of July 1774, Thomas Adams, Esquire, being first chosen Moderator, and William Clayton, Esquire, Clerk, the present State of America being seriously and duly considered, the following Resolutions were proposed and agreed to, as an Instruction to our Deputies hereafter named:
Resolved, that our Sovereign Lord King George III. is lawful and rightful King of Great Britain and all his Dominions in America, to whose Royal Person and Government we profess all due Subjection, Obedience, and Fidelity; and that we will, at all Times, defend and protect the just Rights of his Majesty with our Lives and Fortunes.
Resolved, that the Inhabitants of the British Colonies in America are entitled to all the Rights, Liberties, and Privileges, of free born English Subjects.
Resolved, that the Right to impose Taxes or Duties to be paid by the Inhabitants of this Dominion, for any Purpose whatever, is peculiar and essential to the General Assembly, in whom the legislative Authority of the Colony is vested, and that Taxation and Representation are inseparable.
Resolved, that the Trial by a Jury of the Vicinage is the Glory of the English Law, and the best Security for the Life, Liberty, and Property of the Subject, and is the undoubted Birthright of all his Majesty's free born American Subjects.
Resolved, that the several Acts and Resolutions of the Parliament of Great Britain made during his present Majesty's Reign, imposing Taxes or Duties on the Inhabitants of America, for the express Purpose of raising a Revenue, and for altering the Nature or Punishment of Offences committed in America, or the Method of Trial of such Offences, are unconstitutional, arbitrary, and unjust, and destructive of the Rights of America, and that we are not bound to yield Obedience to any such Acts.
Resolved, that the late cruel, unjust, and sanguinary Acts of Parliament, to be executed by military Force and Ships of War upon our Sister Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, and Town of Boston, is a strong Evidence of the corrupt Influence obtained by the British Ministry in Parliament, and a convincing Proof of their fixed Intention to deprive the Colonies of their constitutional Rights and Liberties.
Resolved, that the Cause of the Town of Boston is the common Cause of all the American Colonies.
Resolved, that it is the Duty and Interest of all the American Colonies firmly to unite in an indissoluble Union and Association, to oppose, by every just and proper Means, the Infringements of their Rights and Liberties.
Resolved, that we do heartily approve of the Resolutions and Proceedings of our several late Assemblies for asserting and supporting the just Rights and Liberties of America, from their patriotick Resolves in 1765 to this Time.
Resolved, that we will most firmly unite with the other Counties in this Colony, in such Measures as shall be approved of by a Majority as the best and most proper Means of preserving our Rights and Liberties, and opposing the said unconstitutional Acts of Parliament.
Resolved, that the most effectual Method of opposing the said several Acts of Parliament will be to break off all commercial Intercourse with Great Britain, until the said Acts shall be repealed.
Resolved, that the several Counties within this Colony ought to nominate and appoint, for every County, proper Deputies to meet upon the first Day of August next, in the City of Williamsburg, then and there to consult and agree upon the best and most proper Means for carrying into Execution these or any other Resolutions which shall be best calculated to answer the Purposes aforesaid.
Resolved, that it be earnestly recommended to the Deputies at the said general Convention to nominate and appoint fit and proper Persons, on Behalf of this Colony, to meet such Deputies as shall be appointed by the other Colonies in General Congress, to consult and agree upon a firm and indissoluble Union and Association, for preserving, by the best and most proper Means, their common Rights and Liberties.
Resolved, that BURNELL BASSETT and BARTHOLOMEW DANBRIDGE, Esquires, our late and present worthy Representatives, be, and they are hereby nominated and appointed Deputies, on the Part and Behalf of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of this County, to meet such Deputies as shall be appointed by the other Counties within this Colony, in the City of Williamsburg, on the first Day of August next, or at any other Time or Place, for the Purpose aforesaid.
Resolved farther, that our said Deputies agree to join in any proper Means that shall be adopted for the immediate Relief of the present Necessities of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston.
Resolved, that the Clerk transmit the foregoing Resolutions and Instructions to the Printers, to be published.
WILLIAM CLAYTON, Clerk of the Meeting.
AT a general Meeting of the Inhabitants of the County of Dinwiddie, at the Courthouse, on Friday the 15th of July, in Consequence of previous Notice from their late Representatives, and an Intimation of their Desire to be advised and instructed relative to the Difference now unhappily subsisting between Great Britain and her Colonies, after mature Deliberation on this most interesting Subject, they unanimously came to the following Declaration of their Sentiments, which are intended to manifest to the World the Principles by which they are actuated in a Dispute so important, as that, they conceive, on its Decision, depends the political Existence of all America,
We the Inhabitants of the County of Dinwiddie do entertain the most cordial and unfeigned Affection and Loyalty for his Majesty's Person and Government, which, together with his Right to the Crown of Great Britain and all its Dependencies, we will at all Times defend and support at the Risk of our Lives and Fortunes; and, under so true a Conviction of the firmest Allegiance, we think ourselves entitled, as a constitutional Right, to Protection from that Sovereign to whom we have been ever attached, by the strongest Ties of Duty and Inclination.
But however happy we may consider ourselves under the Auspices of the supreme Magistrate, we cannot help being apprehensive of the ill Effects which may flow from some recent and dangerous Innovations, imagined and contrived in the House of Commons against those Rights to which the Americans have a just and constitutional Claim in common with his Majesty's Subjects of Great Britain.
Amongst these Instances of Oppression we cannot omit the Parliament's Retention of a Duty on Tea, accompanied by an Act declaratory of their Right, in the fullest Manner, to tax America; thereby asserting, in other Terms, their Claim to whatever Property the Americans may by their Labour acquire: Which, submitted to, would reduce us to a Degree of Servility unexampled but in a State of Despotism. And yet, inconsistent as this Plan of substituting Power for Right may appear with the noble and liberal Spirit of the British Government, it has been adopted for some Time by Administration, and pursued with a Perseverance that becomes truly alarming; a late and striking Proof of which we have to lament in unprecedented Acts of Parliament for cutting off the People of Boston from every Privilege valued by Freemen, and subjecting them to Hardships unknown but in arbitrary Governments: In Pursuance of which Acts, their Town and Harbour are blocked up, all Commerce interdicted, and Articles merely essential to Life only imported; and as a Matter of Favour, and an Inducement to Submission, a Part of their Property may be held at the King's Pleasure, on the humiliating Condition of their living in Obedience to such Laws. To aggravate these Evils, should the most atrocious Murder be committed in enforcing the Execution of any of these Acts, the Civil Power is forbid to punish, but the Criminal is to be sent for Trial to Great Britain, or to any Colony, at the Will of the Governor. If to the former, the Distance will operate to his Acquittal, for Want of Testimony; if the latter Method is adopted, it is equally a Subversion of the legal Form of Trial. This proves in what Estimation our Lives are with a British Parliament, as the first Law shows in what Light they consider our Property.
Upon these distressful Circumstances, we sincerely sympathize with our Fellow Subjects of Boston, and will concur with them, and the rest of the Colonies, in any Measures that may be conducive to a Repeal of Laws so destructive to our common Rights and Liberty.
And though we do not pretend to justify the Outrage committed by the People of Boston in destroying the private Property of the East India Company, to which they might have been impelled by an apparent
Intention in the Parliament of fixing on them a Precedent of arbitrary Taxation, yet we cannot see the good Policy or right Reason that could dictate the depriving a whole People of their Rights for a Trespass committed by a few, where the civil Laws of the Community were amply provided of Redress for the Injury.
The Result of our Opinion upon these violent Measures is, that we do protest against every Law or Act of the British Legislature that shall authorise the Importation of Teas on the Americans, without their Consent; which cannot be had in Parliament, as they have no Representation, nor ought not to have, in that Body, from local Circumstances, and other Considerations; and because it is the proper exclusive and indefeasible Right of every free State, especially under the British Form of Government, to be taxed only by themselves, or their Representatives.
We farther declare, that upon all Occasions when Requisitions shall be made to us by the Crown for Aids, in Support of his Majesty's just Rights, or those of Government, we will most cheerfully comply with them, to the utmost of our Ability; but we cannot think a British Parliament sit Judges of the Mode by which, or the Degree in which, we ought to be taxed.
And whereas a Convention of the late Representatives of this Colony was judged expedient, and was appointed after their Dissolution to be held the first Day of August next at Williamsburg, then to consult upon the most plausible Means of avoiding the dangerous Precedents of Acts of Power now intended to be established against us; to promote, on our Part, this laudable Design, we do appoint our late Representatives, ROBERT BOLLING and JOHN BANISTER, Esquires, Deputies to act for us on this important Occasion, recommending it to them to concert with the Deputies from the other Colonies a firm and prudent Plan of Opposition to every Invasion of our Rights, and particularly to those Acts of Parliament we have pointed out. Confiding in their Vigilance and Attention, we with them in their Endeavours the Success that so good a Cause merits.
AT a Meeting of the Freeholders, and others, Inhabitants of the County of Chesterfield, at the Courthouse of the said County, on Thursday the 14th of July 1774, to take into Consideration the present very alarming Situation of this Colony, the Reverend Archibald M c Robert being unanimously chosen Moderator,
Resolved, nem. con. that we are ready and willing, at the Expense of our Lives and Fortunes, to defend and maintain his Majesty's Right and Title to the Crown of Great Britain, and his American Dominions, against all his Enemies; and we do profess all just Obedience and Fidelity to his sacred Person and Government.
Resolved, that the sole Right of making Laws for the Government of this his Majesty's ancient Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and for raising and levying Taxes on the Inhabitants thereof, ought to be, and is, vested in the General Assembly of the said Colony, and cannot be executed by any other Power, without Danger to our Liberties; subject nevertheless, as of Custom has been, to his sacred Majesty's Approbation.
Resolved, that every other of his Majesty's Dominions in America ought to be, and of Right is, entitled to the same Privileges as this Colony.
Resolved, that the present Demand of Money as a Duty upon Tea imported into this or any other Colony in America, under the Authority of the British Parliament, "for the sole Purpose of raising a Revenue in America," without the Consent of our Representatives, is arbitrary and unjust, a Subversion of the ancient and constitutional Mode of levying Money upon British Subjects, and evidently calculated to fix a Precedent for future Demands of the same Nature, and by that Means to reduce the Colonies to a State of Slavery; and that all Persons aiding in the Execution of such Laws be considered as Enemies to the Freedom of British Subjects.
Resolved, that the Act of the British Parliament for depriving the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, of their lawful Trade, as also the Bills brought into the House of Commons of Great Britain (one of which Bills is entitled "a Bill for the impartial Administration of Justice in the Cases of Persons questioned for any Act done by them in the Execution of the Law, or for the Suppression of Riots or Tumults in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England") are unjust, arbitrary, and unconstitutional; and although levelled particularly against one of our Sister Colonies, yet ought to be resented with the same Indignation, by this and every other Colony, as if all of them were included in the said Act and Bills.
Resolved, that an extensive Association ought to be entered into, and that no Goods or Commodities of any Kind whatsoever ought to be imported from Great Britain into this Colony after the first Day of August next, "except Medicines, Paper, Books, Needles, Cotton, Wool and Clothiers Cards, Steel, Gunpowder, German Osnabrugs, Hemp Rolls, Negro Cotton and Plains, Dutch Blankets, Saltpetre, and Implements necessary for the manufacturing of Woolens and Linens;" and that all and every Person who has sent Orders to Great Britain for any Articles (except such as are already excepted) ought to embrace the first Opportunity to countermand such Orders.
Resolved, that any Inhabitant of this Colony who shall import any Article not allowed by this Association, or purchase from any other Person who shall import such Article, except already ordered, shall be deemed a Betrayer of the Liberties of his Country; and that we will not hold Friendship, or have any Connexion, with such offending Person.
Resolved, that every Kind of Luxury, Extravagance, and Dissipation, should now, and at all Times, be carefully discouraged; and that an extensive Plan of establishing Manufactories amongst the Inhabitants of this and the other Colonies in North America should immediately be adopted, as the only possible Means of avoiding that dependent commercial Connexion which hath hitherto subsisted between the Colonies and Great Britain, which hath induced an arbitrary and designing Administration to attempt the total Destruction of our Rights and Liberties; and that, to carry the same more effectually into Execution, Subscriptions be opened for that Purpose, under proper Regulations.
Resolved, that to dissolve the General Assembly of the Colony, sitting for the Despatch of publick Business, "because they enter into a Consideration of the Grievances under which they labour, and nobly assert their Right to Freedom," is arbitrary and oppressive, a manifest Proof of a fixed Intention to destroy the ancient, constitutional, legislative Authority in the Colony, and directly contrary to the Spirit of the Acknowledgments made in Favour of the Rights of a British People.
Resolved, that this Colony ought not to hold any commercial Intercourse with any of the Colonies in North America that shall refuse to adopt proper Measures for procuring Redress to our Grievances.
Resolved, that the Town of Boston is now suffering in the Cause of American Liberty; that her Safety and Protection is, and ought to be, the common Cause of the other Colonies; and that her Relief ought to be attempted, by all proper and constitutional Ways and Means in our Power.
Resolved, that we do most heartily concur with the late Representatives of this Colony in their Sentiments delivered at the Meeting held in Williamsburg after the Dissolution of the last Assembly. We return them our warmest Thanks for their spirited Conduct on that and every other Occasion, and entreat their steady and determined Attention to the same Principles at the Meeting to be held on the first Day of August next, in the City of Williamsburg.
Resolved, that ARCHIBALD CARY and BENJAMIN WATKINS, Esquires, our late worthy Representatives (together with the Representatives to be chosen for this County in the next Assembly) be, and they are hereby appointed Deputies, on the Part of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of this County, to meet such Deputies as shall be appointed by the other Counties and Corporations in this Colony, in the City of Williamsburg, on the first Day of August next, to take under their Consideration the several Grievances under which this and the other American Colonies are at present labouring, to concert and deliberate upon proper Ways and Means to procure Redress of those Grievances, and that they (together with such Deputies as shall be then and there assembled) do nominate proper Persons, on the Part of this Colony, to meet such Deputies as shall be appointed upon the Part of the other continental Colonies in a general Congress, to consult and agree upon a firm and indissoluble Union and Association, for preserving, by the best and most proper Means, their common Rights and Liberties.
Resolved, that the Clerk of this Meeting transmit to the Printers of both Gazettes Copies of these Resolutions, with the earnest Request of this County that the other Counties and Corporations within the Colony will appoint Deputies to meet at the Time and Place and for the Purposes aforesaid.
GERMAN BAKER, Clerk to the Meeting.

A T a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the County of Essex, at the Courthouse of the said County, on Saturday the 9th of July 1774, seriously to consider the present Danger which threatens Ruin to American Liberty, Mr. John Upham being chosen Moderator, the following RESOLUTIONS were proposed, and unanimously agreed to:
Resolved, that we will, at all Times, and upon all Occasions, bear true and faithful Allegiance to his Majesty King George III. and that, as Freemen, we always have been, and ever shall be, willing, constitutionally, to give and grant liberally our Property for the Support of his Crown and Dignity, and the Preservation of our Parent State; but that we never can consent to part with it on any other Terms.
Resolved, that the Legislature of this Colony, for the Purpose of internal Taxation, is distinct from that of Great Britain, founded upon the Principles of the British Constitution, and equal, in all Respects, to the Purposes of Legislation and Taxation within this Colony.
Resolved, that the People of this Colony in particular, and of America in general, have a clear and absolute Right to dispose of their Property by their own Consent, expressed by themselves or by their Representatives in Assembly; and any Attempt to tax, or take their Money from them, in any other Manner, and all other Acts tending to enforce Submission to them, is an Exertion of Power, contrary to natural Justice, subversive of the English Constitution, destructive of our Charter, and oppressive.
Resolved, that the Town of Boston, in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, is now suffering in the common Cause of North America, for their just Opposition to such Acts; and it is indispensably necessary that all the Colonies should firmly unite in Defence of our common Rights.
Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that an Agreement to stop all Exports to and Imports from Great Britain and the West Indies, firmly entered into, and religiously complied with, will, at all Times, prove a safe and infallible Means of securing us against the Evils of any unconstitutional and tyrannical Act of Parliament, and may be adopted upon the Principles of Self Preservation, the great Law of Nature.
Resolved, that the Inhabitants of this County will firmly join with the other Counties in this Colony, and the other Colonies on this Continent, or a Majority of them, to stop all Exports to and Imports from Great Britain and the West Indies, and all other Parts of the World, except the Colonies of North America, if such a Measure shall be deemed expedient by the Deputies at the General Congress; and that whatever Agreement the Congress shall come to for the Advantage of the common Cause of North America, relating to Exports, Imports, or otherwise, ought to be considered as binding as any Act of Legislature; and that we will use our utmost Endeavour to support and maintain such general Agreement, at the Expense of our Lives and Fortunes.
Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that the several Courts in this Colony ought not to proceed to the forwarding or Trial of civil Causes, until our Exports are opened.
Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that the East India Company, having a Design to monopolize a great Part of the American Trade, to the Injury of the other Merchants of Britain trading to America, and knowing well the fatal Consequences that must have resulted from their fixing a Precedent for future Taxes by importing Tea into the Colonies, became the willing Instruments of the Ministry to destroy American Liberty, and deserve the Loss they have sustained.
Resolved, that we do most heartily concur with our late worthy Representatives in their Resolve for the Disuse of Tea, and that we will not hereafter purchase any East India Commodities whatsoever.
Resolved, that the spirited Conduct of the Town of Boston hath been serviceable to the Cause of Freedom, all other Methods having failed; and that no Reparation ought to be made to the East India Company, or their Agents, for any Injury they have sustained, unless it be the express Condition on which all our Grievances shall be removed.
Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that any general Censure upon the Conduct of the Town of Boston respecting the Tea, without allowing to them the Motives of Resistance upon the Principles of publick Virtue and Necessity, is inimical to American Liberty; and we are persuaded that none but ministerial Hirelings, and professed Enemies of American Freedom, will adopt a Language so impolitic, which manifestly tends to create a Diffusion of Sentiments at this Time fatal to America.
Resolved, that the Parliament have no Right to pass an Act to remove our Persons to Great Britain, or any other Place whatever, to be tried for any Offence; and that we are determined not to submit to it.
Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that no Merchant in this, or any other Colony on this Continent, shall advance the Goods now on Hand higher than they at present are, or have been for some Time, and that the Merchants in the several Counties sign an Agreement to that Effect.
Resolved, that a Subscription be set on Foot for the raising Provision for the Relief of the Poor of Boston, who now suffer by the blocking up their Ports; and that ROBERT BEVERLY, JOHN LEE, and MUSCOE GARNETT, in St. Anne's Parish, and ARCHIBALD RITCHIE and JOHN UPHAM, in the upper End of South Farnham Parish, and MERIWETHER SMITH and JAMES EDMONDSON, in the lower Part thereof, take in Subscriptions for that Purpose, who are to consign what may be raised to some proper Person to be distributed; and the before mentioned Gentlemen are empowered to charter a Vessel to carry it to Boston.
Resolved, that this Meeting have the deepest Sense of the Injuries in which the Merchants and Manufacturers of Great Britain must necessarily be involved by a Non exportation Resolution, they having placed an almost unlimited Confidence in us, for a Series of Years, and by that Means have the greatest Part of their Fortunes lodged in our Hands, and that nothing but the Desire of preserving our Rights and Liberties could induce us to adopt a Measure big with such melancholy Consequences.
Resolved, that JAMES EDMONDSON and WILLIAM ROANE, Esquires, the late Representatives of this County, be, and they are hereby appointed Deputies to represent us at the general Meeting of Deputies for the several Counties in this Colony, on the first Day of August next, in Williamsburg; and we desire that they will exert their best Abilities for the Security of our constitutional Rights and Liberties, and to appoint Deputies to meet at the General Congress the Deputies of the other Colonies on this Continent.
Resolved, that the Clerk transmit the foregoing Proceedings to the Printers, to be published in their Gazettes.
WILLIAM YOUNG, Clerk to the Meeting.
MIDDLESEX, July 15.
A FTER the Freeholders had proceeded in the most decent and orderly Manner to the Election of Representatives for the County, they were summoned to meet at the Courthouse, to take into their Consideration the present State of the Colony, and America in general; and upon mature Deliberation, many of the most respectable of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County being present, they entered into the following Resolutions:
Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that all Allegiance is due to the Person and Character of the King of Great Britain, and that we acknowledge a constitutional Dependence on the Parliament, conceiving it not incompatible with the Condition of Colonists to submit to commercial Regulations, in Consequence of the Protection that is given to our Trade by the Superintendence of the Mother Country; but we apprehend there is a clear Distinction between Regulations of Trade and Taxation, and in no Degree admit the latter under the colourable Denomination of the former, well knowing that the Nature of Things is not alterable by the Change of Terms.
Resolved, that Representation and Taxation are inseparably connected, by the essential Principles of the British Constitution; and that every Attempt of superior Power to levy Money on the British Americans, otherwise than by the Consent of their Representatives, delivered in Assembly, is an Infringement of that Constitution, a Violation of the Rights of Freemen, and a Subversion of Property.
Resolved, that the Act imposing a Duty on Tea, for the avowed Purpose of Revenue, is a Tax, and that every Opposition should be expressed that may move to the Repeal of the said Act, or that may render its Operation inefficacious.
Resolved, that the late Act of Parliament, suspending the Trade and shutting up the Port of the Town of Boston, is an alarming Circumstance to the Colonies in general, in as much as it marks out a settled Plan in the British Parliament to enforce Submission to their Power of Taxation.
Resolved, that we do not approve of the Conduct of the People of Boston in destroying the Tea belonging to the East India Company; and notwithstanding the Tax on Tea must be esteemed a violent Infringement of one of the fundamental Privileges of loyal and true Subjects, yet no apparent Violence cannot justify Violence. Reason and Policy demand against it. A Defiance from the Consumption of Tea, and a Contempt in the Virtue of our Countrymen, whose Sense of the Spirit of the Law will no Doubt induce a total Disuse of it, are much more eligible and prudent Means, and more probably will work a Repeal of the Act, than Disorders, Outrages, and Tumults.
Resolved, as the Records and reiterated Resolutions of the House of Burgesses will testify to Posterity our Idea on this long agitated and contested Question of the Supremacy of Parliament to tax the Colonies, that it is the Opinion of this Meeting that our Representatives should oppose, and they are hereby instructed to oppose, all Measures that will bring on an abrupt Dissolution, whereby the Business of the Country will be impeded. A savage Enemy ravaging our Frontiers, the publick Creditors unpaid, a Stagnation of Justice by Reason of the Lapse of the Fee Bill, the Courts of Law occluded, every Thing that is held sacred in civil Society confounded, the just Creditor deprived of Property, and the dishonest Debtor triumphant, these are the bitter Fruits of the late Dissolution.
Resolved, that an unlimited Non-exportation and Non-importation Scheme is impracticable, and, were it not so, would be irreconcilable with every Principle of Justice and Honesty, injurious to the Commerce, and fatal to the Credit, of this Colony.
Resolved, that an Association be forwarded to prohibit the Importation of all unnecessary and luxurious Articles of British Manufacture, and (except Saltpetre and Spices) all Kinds of East India Commodities.
A T a Meeting of a respectable Body of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the County of Surry, on due Notice, at the Courthouse of the said County, the 16th of July 1774, ALLEN COOKE, Esq; Moderator, the Proceedings and Resolutions of the late Members of the House of Burgesses, since their Dissolution, respecting the alarming Situation of North America, were seriously deliberated upon, and the following Resolutions unanimously agreed to.
Resolved, that we acknowledge all due Allegiance to his present Majesty, and will defend him with our Lives and Fortunes.
Resolved, that as British Subjects, who know the invaluable Blessings of their Birthright, we will not submit to the Imposition of any Taxes or Duties to be paid by the Inhabitants within this Dominion by any other Power than the General Assembly, duly elected; and that in them, and them only, is the constitutional Right of Taxation vested.
Resolved, that we will cheerfully join with our suffering Brethren of America in the firmest Bonds of Union against exporting or importing any Commodities to or from Great Britain, till our just and legal Rights are restored.
Resolved, that the Cause of the Town of Boston is the common Cause of all British America.
Resolved, that as the Population of this Colony with Freemen, and other useful Manufacturers, is greatly obstructed by the Importation of Slaves and Convict Servants, we will not purchase any such Slaves or Servants hereafter to be imported.
Resolved, that Subscriptions be opened in this County for the Relief of our suffering Brethren in the Town of Boston.
Resolved, that ALLEN COOKE and NICHOLAS FAULCON, Junior, Esquires, our late Representatives, be, and they are hereby nominated and appointed to attend the general Meeting of Deputies of the other Counties and Corporations within this Colony, in the City of Williamsburg, on the first Day of August next, there to concert such Measures as may be found expedient for the general Good of the Colonies.
Resolved, that the Clerk of this Meeting do transmit the Proceedings of this Day to the Printers of both Gazettes, and request them to publish the same without Delay.
JAMES KEE, Clerk of the Meeting.
To Mr. PURDIE.
SIR, HAVING seen Governor Gage's Proclamation in the Northern Papers against the solemn League and Covenant at Boston (which we more modestly call only Associations) I have sent you the following Extract of a Letter from a Merchant at London to his Friend at Boston, which may serve as a Comment upon it; and though it has been published before, some Time ago, yet if you think fit to republish it you will not only thereby show your Impartiality, but also thereby oblige, Sir, your humble Servant, AN ENGLISHMAN.
"The great End of Government is to unite all its Subjects in one Interest, to make every Part of the Empire, and every Individual of it, contribute to the Welfare of the Whole, and to apply the Force of the Whole to the Protection of every Individual."
"Combinations, therefore, entered into by the Subjects of one Part of the Empire, against those of another, are a Kind of Treason to the Whole, are in their Nature contradictory to all the Principles of good Government, and ought never to be permitted in a well ordered Empire."
The SUBLIME JUSTICE, or the present State of JUSTICE in England.
T HE Barnet Stage returning from the Races there with a Cargo of Bucks, Bloods, &c. and being met on the Road by a Pheton with two of the same Sort of Gentry, rolling Boldly over the King's Highway for that Mart of Gambling, who were not very skilful at driving, the Stage and Pheton soon boarded each other. The Force and Weight of the former drove the Whiskey back with very little Damage, but in the Reencounter, through some unlucky Hit, the left Eye of the fore Horse of the Stage was knocked fairly out.
The Coachman knew his Cue too well not to turn this Jostling to the best Advantage. Seeing our Bucks of a very promising Appearance, he applied to them for 40 l. Damages, and in Case of Refusal threatened to carry them before a Justice. They did refuse, and the Coachman kept his Word.
The Justice lived but a short Way off. He was a Man of profound Importance and of profound Ignorance, and was impressed with a due Sense of his own Dignity. When the Culprits were brought before him, he assumed all his native Consequence, and placed himself in the great Chair. The Coachman opened the Cause, and told the whole Story his own Way ; the Case was therefore plain, and could not be controverted.
"Here, you two young Gemmen (said the Worshipful Justice) that must drive in your Phetons, with a Pox t'ye; come forward to this here Table ."
"We obey your Worship's Will."
"Pray, you Mr. What d'ye call 'em, what Business had you to knock over the Eye of this here Horse!"
"It was a Mare, Sir."
"Horse and Mare's all one; and so, d—n you, Sir, down with your Yellow Boys. You tell me it was a Mare! you d—n'd Rogue; by G—d you shall pay for that, if it was no more; and so, d—n you, down with your Duff."
"But will your Worship be pleased to hear?"
"No, d—n me, I won't hear nothing about it. Knock a poor Ma— Horse's Daylights out! you might as well pink him at once; and so, d—n you, down with your forty Guineas to poor Whip here, and ros. to my Clerk, and then you may go and be d—n'd."
This Command was omnipotent, and there was no resisting it. They paid down the Mulcts therefore, and proceeded to Barnet, ruminating all the Way on the present State of Justice in England.
WILLIAMSBURG, July 21.
W E have just received the following Proclamation from Boston, dated the 29th ult. the Title of which is, "For discouraging certain illegal Combinations." Whereas certain Persons, calling themselves a Committee of Correspondence for the Town of Boston, have lately presumed to make, or cause to be made, a certain unlawful Instrument, purporting to be a solemn League and Covenant , intended to be signed by the Inhabitants of this Province, whereby they are most solemnly to covenant and engage to suspend all commercial Intercourse with the Island of Great Britain, until certain Acts of the British Parliament shall be repealed; and whereas printed Copies of the said unlawful printed Instrument have been transmitted by the aforesaid Committee of Correspondence, so called, to the several Towns in this Province, accompanied with a scandalous, traitorous, and seditious Letter, calculated to disturb them with ill grounded Fears and Jealousies, and to excite them to enter into an unwarrantable, hostile, and traitorous Combination to distress the British Nation, by interrupting, obstructing, and destroying her Trade with the Colonies, contrary to their Allegiance due to the King, and to the Form and Effect of divers Statutes made for securing, encouraging, protecting, and regulating the said Trade, and destructive of the lawful Authority of the British Parliament, and of the Peace, good Order, and Safety, of the Community; and whereas the Inhabitants of this Province, not duly considering the Criminality and dangerous Consequence to themselves of such alarming and unprecedented Combinations, may incautiously be tempted to join in the aforesaid unlawful League and Covenant, and thereby expose themselves to the fatal Consequences of being considered as the declared and open Enemies of the King, Parliament, and Kingdom of Great Britain; In Observeance therefore of my Duty to the King, in Tenderness to the Inhabitants of this Province, and to the End that none who may hereafter engage in such dangerous Combinations may plead, in Excuse of their Conduct, that they were ignorant of the Crime in which they were involving themselves, I have thought fit to issue this Proclamation, hereby earnestly cautioning all
Persons whatever within this Province against signing the aforesaid or a similar Covenant, or in any Manner entering into or being concerned in such unlawful, hostile, and traitorous Combinations, as they would avoid the Pains and Penalties due to such aggravated and dangerous Offences. And I do hereby strictly enjoin and command all Magistrates, and other Officers, within the several Counties in this Province, that they take effectual Care to apprehend, and secure for Trial, all and every Person who may hereafter presume to publish, or offer to others to be signed, or shall themselves sign, the aforesaid or a similar Covenant, or be in any Wise aiding or assisting therein. And the respective Sheriffs of the several Counties within this Province are hereby requested to cause this Proclamation forthwith to be posted up, in some publick Place in each Town within their respective District. Given at Salem, &c.
Account of ELECTIONS since our last, viz. For Nansemond, LEHUEL REDDICK and WILLIS REDDICK, Esquires. For Middlesex, EDMUND BERKELEY and JAMES MONTAGUE, Esquires. For Essex, JAMES EDMONDSON and MERIWETHER SMITH, Esquires. For Dinwiddie, JOHN BANISTER and ROBERT BOLLING, Esquires. For William and Mary College, JOHN RANDOLPH, Esq; Attorney General. For Gloucester, THOMAS WHITING and LEWIS BURWELL, Esquires. For Henrico, RICHARD ADAMS and SAMUEL DUVAL, Esquires.
By the Warwick, M c Vey, from Genoa, we have authentick Intelligence of the Demise of the French King, which it is probable will materially affect the present political System of Europe.
Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in London, to his Friend in New York, dated April 25.
"The present great Topic, and universal Inquiry, is, what will the Americans do now? It is generally answered, they must submit, they cannot possibly do otherwise. The Boston Port Bill will speedily and effectually execute itself. Taking away the Trade, ruins every Man of Property in the Place. This Idea will strike such a Panic as must render it easy for Mr. Gage to obtain not only ample Indemnification for the East India Company, but Submission on the Part of the Bostonians, and Acknowledgment of the Parliament's Right to tax them; and should the Port Bill fail in effecting all this, a Corps de Reserve is at Hand, a Bill ready for the Royal Assent, now modelling their Constitution and Government, which will put such a Rein in the Minister's Hand as may enable him to pull them which Way he pleases, or tear their Jaws. Boston, say they, must submit, and the same Measure will produce the same Effect, in every refractory Colony. An Idea has been held up by some of fixing a proportionate Quota to America, of the Expense of the Navy and Army, to be levied by your own Assemblies; some liked, while others derided, the Scheme. These last say, that Ministers of State scorn Quotas or Proportions, every Penny the People can bear is their only Rule in Taxation; and when the Americans submit, they will find it so. The present Exertions of Government are considered as irresistible, by you; yet an Embargo, and restraining your Remittances, is not a little dreaded, and their only Confidence in that Respect is, that the Military will suppress your Mobs, who alone can effect either of these. The Cloud, indeed, seems thick at present; sed post nubila Phabus ."
Extract of another Letter, dated April 28.
"The Nation, as well as Government, are now impatiently waiting to hear how General Gage, and the Port Bill for Boston, will be received in America. That Bill is considered as a trite Measure, and what the Consequences of it may be God knows. It is generally thought this will be the last coercive Exertion on the Part of Great Britain. If she fails in this, she must strike in with you on your own Terms, or give you up altogether. It is not imagined the other Colonies will take up the Matter, or consider it as a general Cause, but leave Boston to fight for herself, and then the rest of Course must follow, and bow down with her to every Mode of Taxation."
FREDERICKSBURG, July 17. His Excellency the Earl of Dunmore arrived here in perfect Health on Friday Evening, and this Morning, at eight o'Clock, set out on his Way to the back Country. His Lordship's Care for the poor Inhabitants that are settled in the Frontier Counties, which are now exposed to the Horrors of an Indian War, partly induces him to take this Journey; hoping that he may, after getting acquainted with the Situation of Affairs in that Country, be able to give such Directions as will in some Measure secure them and their Families from the Cruelties of the Savages, who have already done a good Deal of Mischief. The skulking Parties that have hitherto been discovered do not consist of many in a Body, and it is thought they intend some grand Stroke soon, as they have been seen pretty low down in the Settlements, in small Parties of five and six, and sometimes not more than three and four together, without doing any Mischief; from which, it is judged, their Business was to make themselves acquainted with the Country, and find out the Settlements, so that they may, at any Time, bring in a Party sufficient to destroy them at once, and retreat before any Body of Men could be collected to go against them. The Crops of Wheat in this Neighbourhood will far exceed all Expectation, after receiving so severe a Shock as the Frost on the 4th of May gave it. Harvest is now nearly got in, and the Farmers think they shall make two Thirds, if not three Fourths, of a Crop.
A C A R D.
A VIRGINIAN presents his Compliments to the Jockey Clubs of Fredericksburg and Portsmouth, and begs that they will suppress their Sporting Spirit, till the Circumstances of America can permit it with more Decency. He also begs Leave to recommend to the most serious Consideration of these Clubs, whether their Purse, applied to the Relief of the distressed Bostonians, would not afford them more real Pleasure than all that can arise from viewing a painful Contest between two or three Animals.
Advertisements.
WILLIAMSBURG, July 22, 1774.
WHEREAS some Time yesterday I had a MILCH COW most barbarously cut and mangled, by some Person or Persons unknown, I hereby offer a Reward of FIVE POUNDS to any One that can or will make Discovery thereof.—N. B. I bought her of Mr. Matthew Moody, Senior, at the Capital Landing , which Place she has frequented ever since she was my Property.
ALEX: PURDIE.
To be SOLD, to the highest Bidder, on Monday the 1st of August, at the Subscriber's Plantation in King George, opposite to Port Royal.
TWENTY very likely Virginia born SLAVES, consisting of Men, Women, Boys, and Girls. Good Merchants Notes will be received, payable at the October General Court, and a Discount of five per Cent. allowed for ready Money.
T. TURNER.
PORT ROYAL, June 22, 1774.
RUN away from the Subscriber, a Mulatto Man named GILBERT, five Feet five or six Inches high, by Trade a Shoemaker, has had the Smallpox very bad, the Top of his Head is shaved, and he combs it back like a Woman; he carried off a good many Clothes, so that I cannot describe his Dress. The same Night he absented there went an Eastern Shore Vessel down the River, which I expect he got on Board of. It is probable he will change his Name to Gilbert Morris , pass for a Freeman, and if possible will try to get out of the Colony. He is a Baptist, and I expect will show a little of it in Company. Any Person that will bring the said Slave to me, near Port Royal , shall have 50 s. Reward, besides what the Law allows; and I hereby forewarn all Masters of Vessels from carrying him off, at their Peril.
(2ll) JOHN EVANS, Senior.
RUN away from the Subscriber, in Buckingham a Negro Woman named BESS; had on, and carried with her, a green Calimanco Petticoat, a stiped Holland Waistcoat, a Negro Cotton Petticoat, a Virginia Cloth one striped with Copperas and filled in with blue Yarn, two Osnaburg Shifts, one new, the other old. Whoever brings the said Negro to me, at Buckingham Courthouse , shall have 5 l. Reward if taken in Carolina , and 40 s. if in Virginia , besides what the Law allows.
ARCHELAUS AUSTIN.
RUN away from the Subscriber, in Albemarle , a Convict Servant Man named EDWARD BUTLER, by Trade a Tailor, well made, five Feet ten Inches high, about 27 Years of Age, and wears his Hair, which is remarkably black. I have been informed that he has changed his Name to Robert Donald . Whoever brings him to me, or secures him in any of his Majesty's Jails, shall have 15 l. Reward.
(1ll) BENJAMIN COLVARD.