The New Hampshire Gazette And Historical Chronicle

WILLIAMSburg. (in Virginia) May 26.

This House being deeply impressed with Apprehension of the great Dangers to be derived to British America from the hostile Invasion of the City of Boston, in our Sister Colony of the Massachusetts-Bay, whose Commerce and Harbour are on the first of June next, to be stopped by an armed Force, deem it highly necessary that the said first of June be set apart by the Members of this House as a Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, devoutly to implore the divine Interposition for averting the heavy Calamity which threatens Destruction to our civil Rights, & the Evils of civil War; to give us one Heart, and one Mind, firmly to oppose, by all just and proper Means, every Injury to American Rights; and that the Minds of his Majesty, and his Parliament, may be inspired from above with Wisdom, Moderation and Justice, to remove from the loyal People of America all Cause of Danger from a continued Pursuit of Measures pregnant with their Ruin.

Ordered, therefore, That the Members of this House do attend in their Places at the Hour of Ten in the Forenoon, on the 1st Day of June next, in Order to proceed with the Speaker and Mace to the Church in this City for the Purpose aforesaid; and that the Rev. Mr. Price be appointed to read Prayers, and the Rev. Mr. Gwatkin to preach a Sermon suitable to the Occasion.

Upon the Rev. Mr. Gwatkin's Petitioning to be excused from complying with the Appointment, the Rev. Mr. Price, Chaplain to the House, was directed to preach in his Stead.

Friday May 27. Yesterday, between three and four o'clock, P. M. the Right Honorable the Earl of Dunmore Sent a Message to the Honorable the House of Burgesses, by the Clerk of the Council, requiring their immediate Attendance in the Council-Chamber, when his Excellency spoke to them as follows:

Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses.

I have in my Hand a Paper, published by Order of your House, conceived in such Terms as reflect highly upon his Majesty and the Parliament of Great-Britain; which makes it necessary for me to dissolve you, and you are dissolved accordingly.

And this Day, at ten o'clock, the Honourable Members of the late House of Burgesses met, by Agreement, at the long Room in the Raleigh Tavern, in this City, called the Apollo, when the following was unanimously entered into by that patriotic Assembly, in support of the constitutional Liberties of AMERICA, against the late oppressive Act of the British Parliament, respecting the Town of Boston, which, in the End, must affect all the other Colonies.

WE his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the late Representatives of the good People of this Country, having been deprived by the sudden Interposition of the executive Part of this Government, from giving our Countrymen the Advice we wished to convey to them in a legislative Capacity, find ourselves under the hard necessity of adopting this, the only Method we have left, of pointing out to our Countrymen such measures as, in our Opinion, are best fitted to secure our dearest Rights and Liberties from Destruction, by the heavy Hand of Power now lifted against North-America. With much grief we find that our dutiful Applications to Great-Britain for the Security of our just, ancient, and constitutional Rights, have been not only disregarded, but that a determined System is formed and every, by subjecting them to the Payment of Taxes, imposed without the Consent of the People or their Representatives; and that in pursuit of this System, we find an Act of the British Parliament, lately passed for stopping the Harbour and Commerce of the Town of Boston. in our Sister Colony of the Massachusetts-Bay, until the People there, submit to the Payment of such unconstitutional Taxes, and which Act most violently and arbitrarily deprives them of their Property, in Wharves erected by private Persons, at their own great and proper Expence; which Act is, in our Opinion, a most dangerous Attempt to destroy the constitutional Liberty and Rights of all North-America. It is further our Opinion, that as TEA, on it's Importation into America, is charged with a Duty, imposed by Parliament for the purpose of raising a Revenue, without the Consent of the People. it ought not to be used by any Person who wishes well to the constitutional Rights and Liberty of British America. And whereas the India Company have ungenerously attempted the Ruin of America, by sending many Ships loaded with Tea into the Colonies, thereby intending to fix a Precedent in favour of arbitrary Taxation, we deem it highly proper, and do accordingly recommend it strongly to our Country, not to purchase or use any kind of East-India Commodity whatsoever, except Salt Petre & Spices, until the Grievances of America are redressed. We are further clearly of Opinion, that an Attack made on one of our Sister Colonies, to compel Submission to arbitrary Taxes, is an Attack made on all British America, and threatens Ruin to the Rights of us all, unless the united Wisdom of the whole World be applied. And for this Purpose it is recommended to the Committee of Correspondence, that they communicate with the several corresponding Committees, on the Expediency of appointing Deputies from the several Colonies of British-America. to meet in a general Congress, at such a Place annually as shall be thought most convenient; there to deliberate on those general Measures which the united Interest of America may from Time to Time require.

A tender Regard for the Interest of our fellow Subjects, the Merchants and Manufacturers of Great-Britain, prevents us from going further at this Time; most earnestly hoping, that the unconstitutional Principle of Taxing the Colonies without their Consent will not be persisted in, thereby to compel us, as their affectionate Friends the late Representatives of Virginia.