The New Hampshire Gazette

Tuesday last in the Forenoon the Great and General Court or Assembly of His Majesty's Province of Massachusetts-Bay met at the Court House in this Town, being the Time to which they were prorogued, when His Excellency the Governor was pleased to make the following SPEECH to both Houses, viz.

Gentlemen of the Council and House of Representatives,

HIS Majesty having been graciously pleased to Confirm established in this Land. I can no other Way do my Duty than by faithfully following His Royal Example in a constant Attention to maintain publick Truth and Civil Liberty; and to promote Virtue, Order and Industry, the only Foundation of Happiness either Publick or Private.

In you, Gentlemen, I have the Pleasure to meet the Body of the good People of this Land: To you therefore let me express my high Reverence for the Power of Government as residing in the Magistrate, and for the Sacred Liberties that should ever inviolably remain with the People: As I shall always most faithfully maintain these Powers according to the Trust reposed in me, so shall I always religiously observe your ever valuable Charter-Rights and Privileges.

The Times in which I meet you are critical and perilous: There requires much good Wisdom to advise, and much true Spirit to actuate what is determin'd. The War is no longer about a Boundary, whether the French Usurpations shall extend to this or that Mountain, this or that River; but whether the French shall wrest from the British Hands the Power of Trade; Whether they shall drive us out of this Continent: And this War is now brought to a Crisis that must determine the future and perhaps the final Fates of the British or French Government: If our Colonies and Trade are ruin'd, where is our Naval Power? If our Fleets become inferior, where is our Dominion? And if our Naval Dominion is lost, Great-Britain is no more a free Government, and the British Colonies no more a People.

This Country was from the Beginning a Colony of Soldiers; and did not use to draw the Sword in vain. It has stood thus long; and thus gloriously: That it may not therefore, when it's Liberty and Life is attacked, nor draw the Sword in vain and become at last a Prey to the inveterate and abhorred Enemy, it is my Duty to recommend to you, and, I make no doubt, you will think it your Duty, to provide by an effectual Law;

That when it shall become necessary for the Country by it's SUPREME MAGISTRATE to call upon the Service of those, whose Service it has a Right to demand, it may be sure of a real and effectual Service.

That when an Enemy is in the Country and coming upon us, your Arm'd Force may go forth to meet and repel that Enemy, where such can be best opposed; and not wait till he comes to our own Door, and makes (which Heaven forbid!) this Province the Seat of War.

That when the Forces of the Country are call'd forth and form'd into an Army, it may be under such an Oeconomy, Order and Discipline, that the Defence of the Country and Protection of the People may be surely and safely intrusted in it's Hands.

Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,

WITH you, Gentlemen, as the Voice of the People, do originate those Supplies that must enable the Government to execute it's several Powers within it self: and to take such effectual Measures as may secure and protect it from without:

You will therefore be pleas'd, with a just Sense of the Dignity of this Government, with a tender Regard to the Abilities of the Province, and with a thoroughly convinc'd Conscience of the almost desperate Condition it's Safety and Being is brought into, Grant Such Supplies.

And it is with great Satisfaction I do here observe that true Spirit wherewith you do this Year, as in all Times past, support a great Armament, both by Land and Sea, employ'd in the Defence of His Majesty's Subjects and Dominions, the People and Provinces of this Land: It is a Spirit that ever did distinguish this Province, and must ever do it Honor in the Sight of its King and Country.

Gentlemen, I have, and hope I always shall have, a very tender Sense of the heavy Taxes that this long harrass'd Province labours under; but at this Crisis, and on this Occasion, as your mother Country, tho' under the Same heavy Burthen, tho' under impending Danger at her own Door, has Sent out hither a noble and powerful Armament; You will do your Part in Aid and Assistance to the Service; in Aid and Assistance to the Fleet and Army that are engag'd in it: What Assistance the Navy does at present require you will see in the Right Honourable Mr. Secretary PITT's Letter, and his Excellency Vice-Admiral HOLBOURN's Letter, Which I have ordered to be laid before you.

The very dangerous Circumstances I found this Country in upon my Arrival: The Aid and Assistance that His Majesty's Forces required: The unfortunate and alarming Events that have since happen'd; will appear to you from the Papers I have ordered to be laid before you; as also what Measures I did immediately take thereupon. The Protection of the People is the first, necessary, and supream Law of all States.

It becomes, in Cases of such immediate and imminent Danger, a Duty in the Governor, of absolute and indispensible Obligation, to take Care for the Safety and Preservation of the Country; I took the Advice of his Majesty's Council in every Measure; and I hope you will find nothing engag'd in, but what absolute Necessity required; and that you will provide for such accordingly; as also, that you will think of such further Means as shall enable me really and truly to do my Duty in the Defence of the Country.

By the Blessing of God in so just a Cause as our Arms are engag'd in, and by such prudent Measures as shall appear advisable to be taken, We may hope to command a Peace that will secure our Liberties; if we cannot, it little matters what we have, or what we save: We but save it for our Masters.

Gentlemen of the Council and House of Representatives.

As I have on this Occasion call'd upon you; I would hope that you conceive of me as determined, by my indispensible Duty, to engage, to the utmost of my Power and Abilities, in every Service wherein the Interest, Honour or Safety of the Province is concerned.

Council-Chamber, Aug. 16. 1757. A. M.

T. Pownall.

August 17. 1757.

To His Excellency THOMAS POWNALL, Esq; Captain-General and Governor in Chief, in and over His Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay in New-England.

The ADDRESS of His Majesty's Council for the aforesaid Province.

HIS MAJESTY

May it please your Excellency,

We most gratefully acknowledge the singular Instance of His Royal Favour in appointing to the chief Seat of Government, a Gentleman of your Excellency's Abilities and good Dispositions, and we most heartily congratulate your Excellency upon this Appointment, and your safe Arrival after a long and fatiguing Passage.

Your Excellency's Acquaintance with His Majesty's just Rights upon this Continent, Your Knowledge of the State of the Colonies in general, and of this Province in particular, Your Concern for the Defence and Support of His Majesty's Interest against an encroaching, and perfidious Enemy, evidenced by Your zealous and successful Solicitations for an additional Naval and Land Armament; and by Your active and vigorous Measures immediately after Your Arrival and Entry upon Government, these, together with that tender Regard which You have been pleas'd to express for the Liberties and Privileges of His Majesty's Subjects, all concur in giving us the Prospect of as great Happiness under Your Administration, as can consist with the involved and perplexed State of our Affairs.

We assure Your Excellency that we will make it our constant Endeavour to alleviate the great Weight and Burden, which must lye upon You in so critical and important a Conjuncture, by our faithful Counsel, whenever it shall be required of us, and by diligently applying ourselves to the Duties of our Station, for promoting His Majesty's Service and the Interest of the Province.

To which His Excellency was pleas'd to make the following ANSWER.

Gentlemen,

YOU do me great Honor in thinking me an Occasion for your grateful and dutiful Acknowledgements to His Majesty: And I thank you for your kind Congratulations.

IT is a great Pleasure to me, and what I shall esteem a Reward for my Services, that my Labours in my Duty are agreeable to the Interest of this Country, and so well received in your Opinion.

IT is not only my particular Happiness, but the Happiness of this Constitution that I have the Assistance of Gentlemen who have so well approved themselves to their Country, and are so well approved by it. I must depend much upon your Experience and Wisdom; and shall always think my Actions best founded when founded in your Opinion and Advice.

August 18. 1757.

To His Excellency THOMAS POWNALL, Esq; Captain-General and Governour in Chief in and over His Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England.

WE His Majesty's most loyal Subjects the Representatives of the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay,

WITH profound Respect and great Sincerity, congratulate your Excellency, on your happy Accesion to the Chair of Government.

We cannot, on this Occasion, omit expressing our Gratitude to the best of Kings for his Paternal Goodness, in delegating the Administration of this Colony, to a Gentleman whose superior Genius and Accomplishments, and whose Attention to the Affairs and Interests of the Plantations, conspire to demonstrate him, eminently qualified and disposed to promote the Welfare of the People committed to his Care.

With Pleasure we can assure your Excellency, that your Accesion to the Government, diffuses general Joy and Satisfaction: And that the People whom we represent, entertain with us, high Sentiments of your Merit, and form great Expectations from your Wisdom, Vigilance and Probity.

We hope Divine Providence, that has preserved this Province thro' all it's Dangers, and brought you to your Post, at a Juncture as critical and alarming as has been known, will so succeed your Administration as to free this People from their Calamities and impending Dangers, and make us once more a safe and flourishing Plantation.

And as we cannot doubt you will devote your Time and great Abilities to promote Virtue, Oeconomy and Publick Safety, so permit us to assure your Excellency, you will always find this House ready to contribute their Part, to all your salutary Measures; And that we, animated with your Example, shall do every Thing in our Power, to render the Administration easy to your Excellency, and happy to the People.

To which His Excellency was pleased to make the following Answer.

Gentlemen,

YOUR Address arising from a true and genuine Spirit of Loyalty to the King, and taking so truly proper a Direction in referring all Gratitude and Acknowledgements to His Majesty does me the greatest Honor here.

AND it must ever do me great Honour with my Royal Master, that His Dutiful People of this Colony, express so intire a Satisfaction in His Servant.

ACCEPT my Thanks for your kind Congratulations.

I THANK you most heartily for the Tender of your Aid and Support, which I shall never expect but while my Administration is just, and my Measures salutary.

I OUGHT to be, and I will be Proud of the high Sentiments and good Hopes, You, Gentlemen, and the Body of the People, are pleased to entertain of me: I will endeavour that this Pride worketh not Vanity, but hath it's solid Foundation in the Welfare of the Province, and the Happiness of the People.