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and if it is served with constancy and fidelity, it cannot fail of success. We promise you our best support, and we will heartily join in such measures as a majority of our countrymen shall adopt for securing the publick liberty.
Resolved, That the above Address be transmitted to the Printers, to be published in the Gazettes.
WILLIAM POLLARD, Clerk.
STAFFORD COUNTY (VIRGINIA) RESOLUTIONS.
At a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the County of Stafford, the following Address was agreed to be presented:
To JOHN ALEXANDER and CHARLES CARTER, Esqrs.:
GENTLEMEN: You are chosen to convey the sentiments of the freeholders and inhabitants of this County to a meeting of the agents from every county in the Colony, to be held in Williamsburg on the first day of August. Permit us on the occasion to recommend to you a conduct decent, though spirited; animated, yet prudent.
You will declare us unanimously determined to preserve inviolate every privilege and immunity transmitted by our ancestors; that we reject, with a disdain becoming the descendants of Englishmen, every mode of taxation, but by our Representatives; that we are united In our prayers and wishes for a speedy restoration of that harmony which formerly subsisted between Great Britain and her Colonies; but, alas! we can but deem the prospect distant while Parliament continues to enslave us; while the port of Boston, in our sister Colony the Massachusetts Bay, is now actually blocked up with an aimed force, for having, with a becoming fortitude and resolution withstood the fixure of a most unconstitutional tax. Can we behold this attempt upon Boston but as a prelude to what every other Colony, as well as ourselves, are to expect? Do not the inhabitants of that city, the first sufferers in the cause of American liberty, demand every assistance from our united counsels and resolutions? We approve, we willingly accede to the Association of our late Assembly after their dissolution. It must affect the East India Company, whose concurrence with Administration in their attempts on our liberties, ought for ever to render them odious and detestable to every American. But while we testify our approbation of those measures, we declare, at the same time, that we conceive them in our opinion to be inadequate to our purpose, and totally insufficient to procure a removal of our com plaints. They are not calculated to alarm the merchant trading to America, nor will they serve to arouse the manufacturers, from whose interest, joined to that of those worthy personages who are friends to our liberties, from principle, we are solely to expect redress. Let us make it their interest, on the present occasion, to serve us. This, we conceive, may be easily effected by a general stoppage of all exports and imports to and from Great Britain and the West India Islands, an occlusion of the Courts of Justice, but in criminal cases, breaches of the peace, and matters of record. These matters we request you to recommend to the meeting, as well by your votes, as every other method in your power.
| JOHN WASHINGTON, | SAMUEL SELDEN, |
| TOWNSHEND DADE, | YELVERTON PEYTON, |
| RICHARD FOWKE, | WILLIAM GARRARD, |
| W. G. STEWART, | WILLIAM BRENT, |
| WILLIAM MOUNTJOY, | ROBERT STITH, |
| TRAVERSE DANIEL, | THOMAS MOUNTJOY. |
| JOHN JAMES, |
Resolved, That an exemption from Parliamentary taxation is the clear and undoubted right of the American Colonies; that this right hath been uniformly claimed and allowed by the King and Parliament of Great Britain, from the first settlement of America, and that an attempt to deprive them of this right is both contrary to the laws and Constitution of England, and would reduce the Americans to a slavery the most deplorable and ignominious.
Resolved, That to surrender the inestimable and un questioned right which the people of America have to be taxed by their Representatives only, would be a total departure from the dignity of human nature, and would argue such a baseness of soul, as must render them un worthy of the name of British subjects.
Resolved, That though the members of this meeting do most ardently wish to see restored the good old system of tenderness and protection on the part of the mother country, and love and respect on the part of the Colonies, they are, nevertheless, firmly and seriously resolved to do whatever shall be necessary for the support of the just and equitable claim of a distinct legislation in the Colonies.
Resolved, That every encroachment made by British Parliament on the rights of any one of his Majesty's Colonies or Plantations in America, ought to be looked upon as an infringement upon the just rights and inherent privileges of the whole.
Resolved, That the only sure and effectual measure to preserve America, and disarm the hand of oppression, will be to put an entire and immediate stop to all intercourse of trade with Great Britain and the West Indies, and also to the exportation of wheat, flour, provisions, and lumber, to any part of Europe.
Resolved, That the people of this Colony ought not to have any communication in the way of trade, or otherwise, with any Colony or Island in North America, who refuse to unite with them in stopping all trade with Great Britain and the West Indies, as mentioned above.
Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the Courts of Justice in this Colony ought to decline trying any civil causes until the grievances of America are redressed.
Resolved, That it is the unanimous opinion of this meeting, and is now earnestly recommended to the late Representatives, that they will, when the sense of the counties can be collected, appoint a meeting at the Falls of James River, or some other convenient place, to fix upon a plan for carrying into execution the measures proposed by the people; and it is hoped that Deputies from the merchants will attend.
Resolved, That a Committee be appointed of the following persons:
| John Alexander, | Thos. Bunbury, Jun., | Allin Waller, |
| Charles Carter, | Housin Hooe, | John Waller, |
| John Washington, | Chandler Fowke, | Yelverton Peyton, |
| Townshend Dade, | Richard Fowke, | John Browne, |
| William Hooe, | Thomas Massey, | Rev. Clement Brooke, |
| Robert Washington, | Robert Yates, | Elijah Thrailkill, |
| Henry Fitzhugh, | Charles Massey, | George Brent, |
| Francis Thornton, | Peter Hansborough, | William Brent, |
| Gerrard Hooe, | Seymour Hooe, | Robert Brent, |
| Nath. Washington, | Nehemiah Mason, | John Moncure, |
| Robert Stith, | Sigismund Massey, | John Bronaugh, |
| Henry Fitzhugh, Jun., | Samuel Selden, | Baily Washington, |
| Lawrence Washington | Gowry Waugh, | John James, |
| L. Washington, Jun., | John Fitzhugh, | William Adie, |
| William Fitzhugh, | Thomas Fitzhugh, | Richard Hewette, |
| John Stuart, | Henry Filzhugh, Jun., | Elias Hoar, |
| Alvin Moxly, | William Garrard, | John Rails, |
| Andrew Grant, | William Mountjoy, | Thomas Ludwell Lee, |
| Rev. William Stuart, | Peter Daniel, | Robert Knox, |
| Wm. Gibbon Stuart, | Traverse Daniel, | John Grigg, |
| John Wadrop, | Thomas Mountjoy, | John Withers, |
| Baldwin Dade, | Wm. Mountjoy,Jun., | James Withers, |
| Thomas Bunbury, | John Mountjoy, | John Murray. |
Resolved, That ten of the Committee, with the Moderator, be sufficient for transacting business.
Resolved, That it is the duty of this Colony to contribute as far as their power extends to the relief of the inhabitants of Boston, who are now, by the hard hand of oppression, marked out as the victims of Ministerial wrath, for their spirited exertions in the great cause of American freedom, and that subscriptions be immediately set on foot for their relief, under the conduct of the Committee.
Resolved, That John Alexander and Charles Carter, gentlemen, be chosen to attend the General Meeting in Williamsburg, on the first day of August, to transact business for the inhabitants of Stafford County.
WILLIAM GARRARD, Clerk.
WILMINGTON (NORTH CAROLINA) RESOLUTIONS.
At a General Meeting of the Inhabitants of the District of Wilmington, in the Province of North Carolina, held at the town of Wilmington, July 21, 1774:
WILLIAM HOOPER, Esq., Chairman.
Resolved, That Colonel James Moore, John Ancrum, Frederick Jones, Samuel Ashe, Robert Howe, Robert Hogg, Francis Clayton, and Archibald Machine, Esqrs., be a Committee to prepare a Circular Letter to the several
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