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It is under consideration to augment the Army at large; but an augmentation to the Regiments in America is actually determined upon.
ST. JOHN'S PARISH, GEORGIA.
On Thursday evening, the 23d February, 1775, Joseph Wood, Esq., Mr. Daniel Roberts, and Mr. Samuel Stevens, three members of the Committee for the Parish of St. John, in Georgia, arrived in Charlestown, South Carolina, deputed to wait on the General Committee there, with the following Letter and account of the Proceedings of the patriotick Inhabitants of the said Parish, in the present critical situation of American affairs, viz:
At a Meeting held in the Parish of St. John and Province of Georgia, on the 9th of February, 1775:
A Letter from this Committee to the Committee of Correspondence in Charlestown, South Carolina, was agreed on and written.
It was then moved and agreed that some person or persons of this Committee do wait on the Committee in Charlestown with the said Letter.
Accordingly, Messrs. Daniel Roberts and Samuel Stevens, and Joseph Wood, Esquire, were appointed and authorized to present the same, and transact such matters relative thereto as shall seem prudent and necessary.
Taken from the Minutes by order of the Chairman, and certified by
BENJAMIN BAKER, Clerk.
GENTLEMEN: We, the Committee of the Parish of St. John, take the earliest opportunity to lay before you the several steps taken by this Parish, to conform, as near as possible, to the Resolutions entered into by the other Provinces, and the measures now adopted for carrying into execution the Continental Association. As it was particularly recommended to us, we readily embraced those measures,* by subscribing an Agreement to accede to the General Association, on condition "that Trade and Commerce might be continued to us with the other Provinces," and we should immediately have sent it to you for your approbation, but were delayed by a summons to attend a Provincial Congress at Savannah, the 18th of January last, for the purpose, as we understood, of a General Association with the other Provinces, and for choosing Delegates to attend at the next Continental Congress, to be held at Philadelphia, in May next. We met at that time and place, and acquainted the Committees of the other Parishes then assembled, that the inhabitants of this Parish had acceded to the General Association on the above mentioned conditions, and earnestly recommended the same to them. They did enter into an Association, (a copy of which we transmit to you) but so different in our opinions from the Continental Association, that it appears to be a contravention of it, and exposes them to the censure of the fourteenth clause of the General Association.
First. They have extended the time limited for Exportations, beyond what is allowed by the Continental Congress, and thereby indulged a liberty of Exportation, to the prejudice of the other Provinces.
Secondly. For that, in their limited time of Importations, they have, contrary to the Continental Association, extended it in general to the 15th of March next, for Goods to be shipped in England, and for the Indian trade to a still greater latitude, under the cloak of which we have reason to believe may be introduced a large importation, equally adapted to the Whites as to the Indians; and, on the whole, such as we could not, consistent with our own Association, possibly join in.
Had they acceded fully to the General Association, even at so late a time as our Provincial Congress, we should have had no occasion to trouble you with this address; but, as they did not, we now apply to you to admit us, the subscribers of this Parish, to an alliance with you, requesting that you will allow trade and commerce to be continued to us, exclusive (if you think proper) of this Province in general; the same to be continued and conducted under such regulations and restrictions as shall be consistent with the Continental Association, and which, on our parts, we engage with all possible care to keep inviolate.
Our being a Parish of a non-associated Province, cannot, we presume, prevent our joining the other Provinces, as the restriction mentioned in the fourteenth clause of the General Association, must, as we apprehend, be considered as a general rule only, and respects this Province, considered in a mixed or promiscuous sense; but, as we of this Parish are a body detached from the rest, by our Resolutions and Association,* and sufficiently distinct by local situation, large enough for particular notice, and have been treated as such by a particular Address from the late Continental Congress; adjoining a sea-port, and in that respect capable of conforming to the General Association, (if connected with you,) with the same fidelity as a distant Parish of your own Province, therefore we must be considered as comprehended within the spirit and equitable meaning of the Continental Association; and we are assured you will not condemn the innocent with the guilty, especially when a due separation is made between them. We now wait your answer, and shall be glad of your advice.
Signed by order of the Committee,
LYMAN HALL, Chairman.
Midway, February 9, 1775.
To the Committee of Correspondence in Charlestown, South Carolina.
Extracts from the Minutes of the Proceedings of the Committee of the Parish of ST. JOHN, met at SAVANNAH, the 18th day of JANUARY, 1775.
Wednesday, January 18, 1775.—The Committee met, and Doctor Lyman Hall took the Chair.
The following Message was sent to the Committees of the several Parishes in Congress sitting:
GENTLEMEN: The Committee of the Parish of St. John, present the Committees of the other Parishes with a copy of the Letter received by them from the late Continental Congress, and, agreeably to the advice therein contained, the inhabitants of the Parish of St. John have acceded to the General Association entered into and recommended by the said Continental Congress. They hope you will adopt the same measures.
Thursday, January 19, 1775.—The Committee sat until six o'clock in the afternoon, in expectation that the Committees of the several Parishes in Congress sitting, would return an answer to the Message delivered to them yesterday, which not being received, the Committee adjourned.
Friday, January 20, 1775.—Another Message was sent to the Committees of the several Parishes in Congress met, in the following terms:
GENTLEMEN: On the first day of your meeting we presented you with a Message, acquainting you that the inhabitants of the Parish of St. John had acceded to the General Association entered into, and particularly recommended to them by the late Continental Congress. We have patiently waited your answer, and wish to impute your silence rather to inattention than design. We now assure you, that if you think proper to enter fully into the measures of the late Continental Congress, we will heartily join you in every thing that may tend to enforce them.
The Committees of the several Parishes met in Congress, sent the following Answer thereto:
GENTLEMEN: In answer to your Message of this morning, we beg leave to inform you of three determinations, from which, this Congress, we hope, will never recede.
First. That we shall be glad to have the Province upon this occasion, as fully represented as possible; and will therefore cheerfully receive the Delegates of St. John's Parish, as a part of us.
Secondly. That we apprehend every Delegate here, is accountable to his constituents and his own conscience, for the opinion he gives at this time; and therefore, ought not to let any other man, or set of men, judge for him.
Thirdly. That we trust no Member amongst us has any other object in view than the publick good.
Saturday, January 21, 1775.—The Committee met, and came to the following Resolutions:
Resolved, That the Committees of the several Parishes in Congress now sitting, are not or cannot be called a Pro-
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