Rind's Virginia Gazette

BOSTON, June 12.

Saturday last the following ADDRESS was presented to his Excellency the Governor.

To His Excellency FRANCIS BERNARD, Esq; Governor in Chief of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay.

The ADDRESS of his Majesty's Council in Answer to his Excellency's Speech, at the Opening of the General Court and to his Speech of the Third of this Instant.

May it please your Excellency,

The Board having taken into Consideration your two Speeches, beg Leave to return our warmest Congratulations on the Repeal of the Stamp-Act—An Event that has created the greatest and most universal Joy that was ever felt on the Continent of America, and which promises the most happy Fruits to Great-Britain from the growing Prospect and grateful Affection of her Colonies.—Not insensible of the Difficulties that have attended this important Affair, and the Dangers which not only this Province but all America have escaped, we assure your Excellency that nothing shall be wanting on our Part may contribute towards a proper Improvement of this happy Event, and the promoting so desirable an Object as domestic Peace.—From such a Disposition we cannot but take Notice with Regret of any Thing which threatens to draw the least Cloud over the present general Joy.—It is with Pain we express our Apprehensions that your Excellency's Speech may tend to lead some who are not acquainted with the State of the Province, to entertain such an Opinion of the Government, or the People, or both, as they do not deserve.—When your Excellency is pleased to mention Inflammations, Distractions, Infatuations, and the Fury of the People, you seem to refer to some Enormities committed by unknown and abandoned Persons in a Time of universal Uneasiness and Distress.—But your Excellency cannot mean to impute those Enormities, justly abhorred by all Ranks among us, to the Body of this People or any Branch of the Government. Detestable as they are, they can never stain the Reputation of this Province, nor doth it need a Veil on this Occasion.—Villains are to be found in the best Communities upon Earth. And whatever Excess may have happened in America, under our late Distressing Apprehensions, the Relief kindly granted us demonstrates that our most gracious Sovereign and the British Parliament, knew how to distinguish the Complaints and dutiful Remonstrances of loyal Subjects, who thought themselves aggrieved, from the Violences of a profligate Rabble. Notwithstanding the Intimations unhappily dropped from your Excellency, we are sure no ill Temper generally prevails among us—nothing that can lead the Parliament to repent its Indulgence to us—nothing that can afford just Matter of Triumph to those who were for maintaining the Stamp-Act, nor of Sorrow and Concern to those who procured its Repeal.

Your Excellency is pleased further to say, "When the Government is attacked in Form, when there is a professed Intention to deprive it of its best and most able Servants, whose only Crime is their Fidelity to the Crown, I cannot be indifferent, but find myself obliged to exercise every legal and constitutional Power to maintain the King's Authority against this ill-judged and ill-timed Oppugnation of it."—Whatever might have been your Excellency's Intention, this is, according to the more obvious Meaning of your Expressions, an heavy Charge, in which no particular Persons or any Order of Men are specified, delivered in a Speech to both Houses of Assembly, and which the World is left to place where it pleases.

Your Excellency expressly says, there has been an Attack upon Government in Form, and an ill-judged and ill-timed Oppugnation of the King's Authority. A Regard to our own Character, to Truth and Justice, and the Reputation of the Province in which we have the Honour to serve his Majesty, oblige us to speak upon this Point with a Freedom in which we are far from meaning the least Disrespect to your Excellency.—Silence upon such an Occasion would merit the Imputation which some may be ready from your Manner of Expression to lay upon us, and would prove us equally unworthy of the Choice that has been made of us, and your Excellency's Approbation.—Have then the People of this Province been guilty of an Attack upon Government in Form, or of any Oppugnation of the King's Authority—We declare to your Excellency we know of no such Thing—the People ever loyal to the best of Sovereigns, and sensible of their Felicity in Connection with and Subordination to the Mother Country, have given new and unaffected Testimony that these happy Dispositions have increased in all Orders upon the late Indulgence granted to them—they have rejoiced with the highest Marks of Honour and Gratitude to the King, to both Houses of Parliament, and to our Friends and Patrons in Great-Britain—they continually demonstrate a natural and warm Affection to the Country from which they derive and by which they have been protected and cherished. It has been no small Addition to the Joy of the wise and sober upon the late great Occasion, that quite through the Province good Order and Decorum have happily been preserved, and it is to the Honour of that gracious Prince under whose Government all Ranks among us account themselves happy—And we think it of peculiar Importance at the present Season to the People of this Province that they be viewed in this Light.—Your Excellency will therefore allow us to bear this public Testimony—a Testimony which may perhaps appear the more disinterested as it comes from those who are not their immediate Representatives.

In the above-cited Passage, and in a great Part of your Speech, if your Excellency had a particular Reference to the Transaction of both Houses in the late Election of Councellors, we beg Leave to assure your Excellency that we know of nothing done by the General Assembly on that Day, that can, with any Shadow of Propriety, be deem'd an Attack upon Government or an Oppugnation of the King's Authority: Every Part of the Legislature has acted in its proper Place, and exerted those Powers only with which they were intrusted by Charter; no Branch has usurped or interfered with the Rights of another. Diversity of Sentiment respecting Men and Measures, and Collisions of Parties, are common in all free Governments.

Some Elections have been made which your Excellency has signified your Disapprobation of, and it has had its Effect; no one having called in Question your Right to negative such Elections, or opposed you in the Exercise of this Branch of your Authority.

It would be improper to deliver our Opinion concerning the Expediency of any Instances in which your Excellency, and the two Houses of Assembly, have exerted the several Powers that respectively belonged unto each; but we are obliged to assert, that nothing has taken Place but what has been constitutional and according to the Charter: And we are persuaded your Excellency, upon Reflection, will not think that an Election duly made, though disagreeable to the Chair, deserves to be called a formal Attack upon Government, or an Oppugnation of the King's Authority: And should any Thing like this be ever attempted, your Excellency would find this Board zealous to defend our Sovereign's Honour, and the constitutional Power of His Representative.

We beg Leave to assure your Excellency, that we shall heartily join with you in healing Divisions and burying Animosities, should they arise; and that we shall cheerfully contribute all in our Power to the Peace and Honour of your Administration.

May it please your Excellency,

The Letter from the Right Honourable Mr. Secretary Conway to your Excellency, accompanying your second Speech from the Chair, affords us a most agreeable Occasion of repeatedly declaring the strong Sentiments of Respect and Gratitude, with which we regard the Lenity and Tenderness already so remarkably manifested on the part of his Majesty and the Parliament, to the American Colonies, and the Prospect given us of some additional Indulgences; for all which it will be our Pleasure as it must be our Glory, to make the most dutiful and affectionate Returns—These are the Dispositions which have uniformly influenced this Board before we saw this Letter so happily adapted to confirm us in them.—And we beg Leave to assure your Excellency that from these Dispositions we shall continue to act

There are several Paragraphs in your Excellency's Speeches that have been construed to bear hard on the Gentlemen who now constitute the Board: But your Explanation of them in Council, and your repeated Declaration that you had no such Intention, have given Satisfaction to the Board.

We again beg Leave to assure your Excellency, that our best Abilities shall faithfully be employed, in promoting His Majesty's Honor and Interest, and in making every Part of your Administration easy and happy: And such Testimonials of your Conduct as are contained in Mr. Secretary Conway's Letter, will not suffer us to conclude without recognizing your Excellency in the united Character of a true Friend to the Province and a faithful Servant to the Crown.

To which ADDRESS His Excellency was pleased to return the following ANSWER.

Gentlemen,

I THANK you for your Congratulations on the Repeal of the Stamp Act, and for your Assurances that nothing shall be wanting on your Part that may contribute towards a proper Improvement of this happy Event.

Your Zeal and Concern for the Reputation of your Province is very commendable: I must approve of the Motives of it at this Time, altho' I cannot concur with you in the Means. But I hope the Time will come when I shall join with you in representing this Province to as great Advantage, as I have heretofore been used to do. For when I consider the natural Disposition and the innate Loyalty of this People, I cannot think that the Influence, under which their Credit and Interest now labour, will be of long Continuance.

I shall not enter into an Explanation of any Expressions I have used in my Speeches: It may be sufficient to say, that an Application of them to their true Meaning, will produce a Justification of them, whenever I shall find it necessary to enter upon so disagreeable a Task. I persuade myself that no Reflection proceeding from them can be applied to your Honourable Board, whose general Conduct I have so often had, and still have, great Cause to approve.

If I had not been used to see the Meaning of what is said for particular Purposes, I should have been surprised that any one could have thought of picking out of a Speech of mine, Matters derogatory to your Honourable Board. Whoever propagated such an Insinuation, must surely be unacquainted with the good Understanding which I have constantly cultivated with your Board, since I first took the Chair, and the frequent Declarations I have made, especially of late, of my entire Satisfaction with, and Confidence in, the Conduct of His Majesty's Council. However, I am very glad to find that those Reports have not had the Effect for which they were calculated, which I believe, were not well intended either to you or to me.

I am much obliged to you for your Assurances, that your best Abilities shall be faithfully employed in promoting his Majesty's Honour and Interest, and in making every Part of my Administration easy and happy; and for your kind Recognition of me, in the united Character of a true Friend to the Province and a faithful Servant to the Crown. I have been very desirous to maintain both those Characters; but perhaps my Earnestness in endeavouring to preserve the former rather by real Services than by ostentatious Professions, and a strict Attention to the Duties of the latter, have been the chief Causes why the one has not been as fully confirmed to me as the other. However, I doubt not but that with your Assistance, I shall soon see this Government restored to its Peace and Honour, and the Character of every Person concerned in it brought to its true Estimation.

FRANCIS BERNARD.