The Virginia Gazette

WILLIAMSBURG, May 18.

YESTERDAY, at 12 o'clock, his Excellency the Governour went to the Capitol, and having sent a message by Mr. Walthoe to the Hon. the Speaker and House of Burgesses, commanding their immediate attendance in the Council Chamber, which they instantly obeyed, he spoke to them as follows:

Mr. SPEAKER, and Gentlemen of the HOUSE of BURGESSES,

I HAVE heard of your resolves, and augur ill of their effects. You have made it my duty to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly.

The late representatives of the people then judging it necessary that some measures should be taken, in their distressed situation, for preserving the true and essential interests of the colony, resolved upon a meeting for that very salutary purpose; and therefore immediately, with the greatest order and decorum, repaired to the house of Mr. Anthony Hay, in this city, where being assembled it was first proposed, for the more decent and regular discussion of such important matters as might be taken into consideration, that a Moderator should be appointed, and on the question being put, Peyton Randolph, Esq; late Speaker of the House of Burgesses, was unanimously elected.

The true state of the colony being then opened, and fully explained, and it being proposed that a regular association should be formed, a committee was appointed to prepare the necessary and most proper regulations for that purpose, and they were ordered to make their report to the general meeting, the next day, at ten o'clock,

At a farther meeting, according to adjournment, the committee appointed the day before made their report, which being read, seriously considered, and approved, was signed by a great number of the principal Gentlemen of the colony then present. [The association (not to import many different species of goods) being pretty long, not yet come to hand, and being desirous that the resolves of the House of Burgesses, with their address to his Majesty, might get into the country as soon as possible, we must postpone the publication of it until next week.]

After signing of the ASSOCIATION the following loyal and patriotick TOASTS were drank, viz.

The KING.—The QUEEN and ROYAL FAMILY.—His Excellency Lord BOTETOURT, and prosperity to VIRGINIA.

—A speedy and lasting union between GREAT BRITAIN and her COLONIES.—The CONSTITUTIONAL BRITISH LIBERTY in AMERICA, and all TRUE PATRIOTS the supporters thereof.—The Duke of RICHMOND.—The Earl of SHELBURNE.—Colonel BARRE.—The late SPEAKER.

—The TREASURER of the Colony.—The FARMER and MONITOR.

The following are the Resolves of the late House of Burgesses of this colony, as they stand upon their journals of the 16th instant.

RESOLVED, nemine contradicente, THAT the sole right of imposing taxes on the inhabitants of this his Majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia is now, and ever hath been, legally and constitutionally vested in the House of Burgesses, lawfully convened, according to the ancient and established practice, with the consent of the Council and of his Majesty the King of Britain, or his Governor for the time being.

RESOLVED, nemine contradicente, THAT it is the undoubted privilege of the inhabitants of this colony to petition their sovereign for redress of grievances, and that it is lawful and expedient to procure the concurrence of his Majesty's other colonies in dutiful addresses praying the Royal interposition in favour of the violated rights of America.

RESOLVED, nemine contradicente, THAT all trial for treason, misprision of treason, or for any felony or crime whatsoever committed and done in this his Majesty's said colony and dominion, by any person or persons residing therein, ought of right to be had and conducted in and before his Majesty's courts held within his said colony, according to the fixed and known course of proceeding; and that the seizing any person or persons residing in this colony suspected of any crime whatsoever committed therein, and sending such person or persons to places beyond the sea to be tried, is highly derogatory of the rights of British subjects, as thereby the inestimable privilege of being tried by a jury from the vicinage, as well as the liberty of summoning and producing witnesses in such trial, will be taken away from the party accused.

RESOLVED, nemine contradicente, THAT an humble, dutiful, and loyal address, be presented to his Majesty, to assure him of our inviolable attachment to his sacred person and government, and to beseech his Royal interposition, as the father of all his people, however remote from the seat of his empire, to quiet the minds of his loyal subjects of this colony, and to avert from them those dangers and miseries which will ensue from the seizing and carrying beyond sea any person residing in America, suspected of any crime whatsoever, to be tried in any other manner than by the ancient and long established course of proceeding.

The following Order is likewise in their journal of that date.

ORDERED, that the Speaker of this House do transmit without delay, to the Speakers of the several Houses of Assembly on this continent, a copy of the resolutions now agreed to by this House, requesting their concurrence therein.

The following is an Address to his Majesty, in their journal of the day after:

To the King's Most Excellent Majesty,

The humble ADDRESS of his dutiful and loyal subjects the House of Burgesses of his Majesty's ancient colony of Virginia, met in General Assembly.

May it please your Majesty,

WE your Majesty's most loyal, dutiful, and affectionate subjects, the House of Burgesses of this your Majesty's ancient colony of Virginia, now met in General Assembly, beg leave, in the humblest manner, to assure your Majesty that your faithful subjects of this colony, ever distinguished by their loyalty and firm attachment to your Majesty and your Royal ancestors, far from countenancing traitors, treasons, or misprisions of treason are ready, at any time, to sacrifice our lives and fortunes in defence of your Majesty's sacred person and government.

It is with the deepest concern and most heart-felt grief that your Majesty's dutiful subjects of this colony find that their loyalty hath been traduced, and that those measures which a just regard for the British constitution (dearer to them than life) made necessary have been misrepresented as rebellious attacks upon your Majesty's government.

When we consider that by the established laws and constitution of this colony the most ample provision is made for apprehending and punishing all those who shall dare to engage in any treasonable practices against your Majesty, or disturb the tranquillity of government, we cannot without horror think of the new, unusual, and permit us, with all humility, to add, unconstitutional and illegal mode, recommended to your Majesty, of seizing and carrying beyond sea the inhabitants of America suspected of any crime, and of trying such persons in any other manner than by the ancient and long established course of proceeding; for how truly deplorable must be the case of a wretched American, who, having incurred the displeasure of any one in power, is dragged from his native home and his dearest domestick connections, thrown into a prison, not to await his trial before a court, jury, or judges, from a knowledge of whom he is encouraged to hope for speedy justice, but to exchange his imprisonment in his own country for fetters among strangers: Conveyed to a distant land where no friend, no relation, will alleviate his distresses or minister to his necessities, and where no witness can be found to testify his innocence, shunned by the reputable and honest, and consigned to the society and converse of the wretched and the abandoned, he can only pray that he may soon end his misery with his life.

Truly alarmed at the fatal tendency of these pernicious counsels, and with hearts filled with anguish by such dangerous invasions of our dearest privileges, we presume to prostrate ourselves at the foot of your Royal throne, beseeching your Majesty, as our King and father, to avert from your faithful and loyal subjects of America those miseries which must necessarily be the consequence of such measures.

After expressing our firm confidence in your Royal wisdom and goodness, permit us to assure your Majesty that the most fervent prayers of your people of this colony are daily addressed to the Almighty that your Majesty's reign may be long and prosperous over Great Britain and all your dominions; and that after death your Majesty may taste the fullest fruition of eternal bliss, and that a descendant of your illustrious House may reign over the extended British empire until time shall be no more.

The following Order follows the Address :

ORDERED, that Mr. Speaker do transmit the said address to the agent for this colony, with directions to cause the same to be presented to his Most Excellent Majesty, and afterwards to be printed and published in the English papers.