A Message from his Honour the Lieutenant-Governour, by Mr. Bayard, Deputy Secretary:

MR. SPEAKER: His Honour the Lieutenant-Governour requires the immediate attendance of this House in the Council Chamber, in the City Hall.

Mr. Speaker left the Chair, and with the House, attended accordingly; and being returned, resumed the Chair, and reported that his Honour had been pleased to make a Speech to the House; of which, to prevent mistakes, he had obtained a copy; and the same being read, is as followeth, viz:

Gentlemen of the Council and General Assembly:

I think it unnecessary at this time, particularly to recommend to your attention the ordinary business of the Legislature. Whatever may be found conducive to the dignity of his Majesty's Government, or the happiness of his people in this Colony, I shall cheerfully promote

Gentlemen of the General Assembly:

The support of his Majesty's Government, and other allowances for his service, I doubt not you will readily provide for.

Gentlemen of the General Assembly:

We cannot sufficiently lament the present disordered state of the Colonies. The dispute between Great Britain and her American Dominions, is now brought to the most alarming crisis, and fills every humane breast with the deepest affliction. It is to you, gentlemen, in this anxious moment, that your country looks up for counsel; and on you, it in a great measure depends, to rescue her from evils of the most ruinous tendency. Exert yourselves, then, with the firm ness becoming your important office. If your constituents are discontented and apprehensive, examine their com plaints with calmness and deliberation, and determine upon them with an honest impartiality. If you find them to be well grounded, pursue the means of redress which the Constitution has pointed out. Supplicate the Throne, and our most gracious Sovereign will hear and relieve you with paternal tenderness. But I entreat you, as you regard the happiness of your country, to discountenance every mea sure which may increase our distress. And anxious for the re-establishment of harmony with that Power with which you are connected by the ties of blood, religion, interest, and duty, prove yourselves, by your conduct on this occasion, earnestly solicitous for a cordial and permanent reconciliation.

Gentlemen of the Council and General Assembly:

In the absence of our most worthy Governour-in-Chief, no less distinguished by his extensive abilities, than his zeal for the honour of the Crown, and his affection for the people of this Province, and at so critical a conjuncture, it gives me great consolation that I can repose the utmost confidence in your wisdom, your attachment to the Constitution, and your regard for the interest of the British Empire. And you may be assured, that my most strenuous efforts shall be exerted to cooperate with you in restoring that tranquillity, which must be the ardent desire of every wise, virtuous, and loyal subject.

CADWALLADER COLDEN.

Ordered, That his Honour's Speech be forthwith printed.

Resolved, That the same be taken into consideration immediately.

Resolved, That an humble Address be presented to his Honour, in answer to his Speech, and that a Committee be appointed to prepare the said Address; and a Committee was appointed accordingly.

Ordered, That the further consideration of his Honour's Speech be referred to a Committee of the Whole House, and that the said Committee take the same into consideration on Tuesday next.

Ordered, That the Votes and Proceedings of this House be printed from time to time, being first perused and signed by the Speaker; and that no other person but such as he shall appoint, do presume to print the same.*

The Committee appointed to correspond with Edmund Burke, Esquire, Agent of this Colony at the Court of Great Britain, laid before the House several Letters received from him during its recess, together with the copies of several Letters to him; and the same being read,

Ordered, That the said Letters and copies of Letters lie on the table, for the perusal of the Members.

Die Martis, 10 ho., A. M., the 17th January, 1775.

Mr. Speaker, in behalf of the Committee appointed by this House the last session, to obtain the most early and authentick intelligence of all such Acts and Resolutions of the British Parliament, or Proceedings of Administration, as do or may relate to or affect the liberties and privileges of his Majesty's subjects in the British Colonies in America, and to keep up and maintain a correspondence and communication with our sister Colonies, &C., laid before the House several Letters received by the said Committee since the last session, from several of the Speakers of the Houses of Assembly on this Continent, with sundry Resolutions entered into by them; also, several Acts of Parliament relating to, and affecting, the liberties and privileges of his Majesty's subjects in America, together with the copies of several Letters wrote by the said Committee, in answer to those received from the Speakers of the other Houses of Representatives on this Continent; and the same being severally read,

Ordered, That the said Letters, &c., be taken into further consideration by this House.

Resolved, That his Honour's Speech be taken into further consideration on Friday next.

ADDRESS OF THE COUNCIL, IN ANSWER TO THE GOVERNOUR'S SPEECH.

To the Honourable CADWALLADER COLDEN, Esquire, his Majesty's Lieutenant-Governour and Commander-in-Chief of the Province of NEW-YORK, and the Territories thereon depending in AMERICA.

The humble Address of his Majesty's Council for the Province of NEW-YORK.

May it please your Honour:

We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Council for the Province of New-York, return you our thanks for your Speech.

The utility and necessity of promoting his Majesty's ser vice, and the felicity of the Colony, are so apparent, that you may be assured of our ready concurrence in every measure friendly to those important and inseparable objects.

Attached, most affectionately and inviolably attached to the honour and interest of the King, zealously concerned for the prosperity and glory of Great Britain and her Dependencies, and impressed by a due sense of the innumerable benefits flowing from an harmonious connection between the several branches of the Empire, we cannot look at that awful precipice to Which the unnatural discords between the parent state and her Colonies are tending, without horrour and consternation.

In controversies turning upon principles of the deepest policy, and of such amazing magnitude, as to involve the Colonies in the most distressing perplexities, the glorious work of restoring the common tranquillity, and establishing an intimate and permanent union between all the parts of the Empire, must (under God,) ultimately depend upon the wisdom and benignity of the Crown, and the justice and magnanimity of the British Nation.

Gladly shall we seize every opportunity to effect a re conciliation between countries whose interests are so inseparable, that the true patriot of either, must be a real friend to both. And while the means to this desirable end employ the Councils of the Nation, our most vigorous efforts shall be steadily exerted to prevent the destructive consequences of anarchy and confusion.

It affords us great relief in this critical hour to find your Honour heartily disposed to promote the same salutary de signs; and it adds to our consolation, that in so alarming a conjuncture, this Colony has, in her Chief Governour, an advocate near the Throne, upon whose distinguished abilities, and active and generous benevolence, men of all ranks amongst us rely with the firmest confidence, for a true and faithful representation of our condition and character.

By order of the Council.

DANIEL HORSMANDEN, Speaker.

Council Chamber, January 18, 1775.

* By virtue of an Order of the General Assembly, I do appoint Hugh Gaine to print these Votes, and that no other person presume to print the same.

JOHN CRUGER, Speaker.