The Virginia Gazette

The SPEECH of His Excellency GABRIEL JOHNSTON, Esq; Governor, and Commander in Chief of the Province of North-Carolina, To the General Assembly: At the Opening of a Session begun and holden at Newbern, on Tuesday the Sixth Day of February, 1738-9.

Gentlemen of His Majesty's Council, and of the House of Burgesses,

HAVE called you together some Weeks sooner than I intended, because I found it the unanimous Desire of the Inhabitants of all Ranks; and I would willingly make the Inclinations of the People, the Rule of my Administration, whenever I can do it by Methods consistent with my Duty to the King, and my own Honour.

Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses

I HOPE you are met together with firm Resolutions to promote the Publick Good; to extinguish those Divisions and Animosties which have so long prevailed; and to relieve this unhappy Colony from those Calamities it has so long groaned under.

TO encourage you to set about this in the most effectual Manner, I shall inform you, that all those Disputes concerning the Rights and Revenues of the Crown, which have been carried on with so much Warmth for some Years past, and which engross'd the Attention of former Assemblies, are now fairly stated on both Sides, and laid before his Majesty; and I am well assured, will be speedily determined in such a Manner, as to render it impossible for any Persons whatsoever to revive them for the future: So that there is nothing now to prevent you from applying yourselves to redress those real, undisputed Grievances, which are of infinitely greater Consequence than any of those, about which so much Noise has been lately made.

THE Establishment of the Publick Worship of Almighty God, as it is the greatest Foundation of the Happiness of Society, and without which, you cannot expect his Protection, deserves your earliest Care. That in such a wide extended Province as this, inhabited by British Subjects, by Persons professing themselves Christians, there should be but Two Places where Divine Service is regularly performed, is really scandalous: It is a Reproach peculiar to this Part of His Majesty's Dominions, which you ought to remove without Loss of Time.

YOUR Laws, which are at present dispers'd in a few obscure, incorrect Copies, ought to be carefully Revised, and Printed, that the Magistrates may have a more plain and exact Notion of those Laws they are to execute, and the People you represent may be better acquainted with a Matter, on which their own and their Posterity's Lives and Fortunes so much depend.

YOUR Trade, Gentlemen, has always been in so languishing a Condition, that it is surprizing, no Attempts have ever yet been made to settle it on a right Bottom; and the poor Appearances of it we have still among us, seem every Year to decay. As Things stand at present, the People are impoverished, and yet the Merchant not enriched; the Planter gets but a Trifle for the Fruits of all his Labours, and the Trader not capable of making any Returns. It is highly incumbent on you, Gentlemen, to search this Evil to the Bottom, and not to suffer yourselves to be amus'd with superficial Remedies.

IF you do not think proper to give effectual Encouragement for raising some Produce that will bear a Price in a British Market, I am afraid all your other Endeavours will be to little Purpose.

YOUR Imports will always hold a Proportion to your Exports; and if nothing is sent abroad but what is a Drug in Foreign Markets, you can bring nothing Home but the Refuse of those Markets, and that at an extravagant Price too.

I SHOULD be glad, Gentlemen, if you would take these Subjects into your serious Confideration. You would soon find a very sensible and happy Alteration, both in Public Affairs, and your own private Fortunes, if the Assemblies of this Province would employ more of their Time in adjusting such important Points as Those, and not so much of it in Matters of less Moment, and which have hitherto produced nothing but a great deal of unprofitable Strife and Contention.

GABRIEL JOHNSTON.
The Assembly sat about Six Weeks, and made several useful Laws, particularly for settling the Manner of paying the Quit-Rents; for improving the Navigation, by Buoying out the difficult Places in the Sounds and Rivers; for encouraging the Settlement of Lands; for establishing the General Courts at Edenton, appointing Circuit Courts Half-yearly, and settling Salaries for the Chief-Justice, and the Attorney-General, for attending those Courts; for erecting the several Precincts into Counties, and ordering Sheriffs, instead of Marshals, to be recommended and appointed, as they are in Virginia, &c. They also appointed a Committee of both Houses, to collect and revise all their Laws, in order to be printed. These are the Effects of that Union and good Harmony, that subsisted between the Governor and both Houses of Assembly, which remarkably appeared in a much greater Degree than has been known for many Years; and affords a pleasing Prospect of their Welfare and Prosperity.