counties of this Province, expressive of the sense of the inhabitants of this District, with respect to the several Acts of Parliament lately made for the oppression of our sister Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, for having exerted itself in defence of the constitutional rights of America.

Resolved, That it will be highly expedient that the several counties of this Province should send Deputies to attend a general meeting at Johnston Court House, on the 20th day of August next, then and there to debate upon the present alarming state of British America, and in concert with the other Colonies, to adopt and prosecute such measures as will most effectually tend to avert the miseries that threaten us.

Resolved, That we are of opinion, in order to effect an uniform plan for the conduct of all North America, that it will be necessary that a general Congress be held, and that Deputies should there be present from the several Colonies, fully informed of the sentiments of those in whose behalf they appear, that such regulations may then be made as will tend most effectually to produce an alteration in the British policy, and to bring about a change honourable and beneficial to all America.

Resolved, That we have the most grateful sense of the spirited conduct of Maryland, Virginia, and all the other Northern Provinces, and also the Province of South Car olina, upon this interesting occasion, and will, with our purses and persons, concur with them in all legal measures that may be conceived by the Colonies in general as most expedient in order to bring about the end which we earnestly wish for.

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that Philadelphia will be the most proper place for holding the American Congress, and the 20th day of September the most suitable time; but in this we submit our own to the general convenience of the other Colonies.

Resolved, That we consider the cause of the town of Boston as the common cause of British America, and the inhabitants thereof as suffering in the defence of the rights of the Colonies in general; and that therefore we have, in pro portion to our abilities, sent a supply of provisions for the indigent inhabitants of that place, thereby to express our sympathy in their sufferings, and as an earnest of our sincere intentions to contribute, by every means in our power, to alienate their distress, and to induce them to maintain, with prudence and firmness, the glorious cause in which they are at present embarked.*

CIRCULAR LETTER FROM THE WILMINGTON COMMITTEE TO THE FREEHOLDERS OF THE SEVERAL COUNTIES OF THE PROVINCE OF NORTH CAROLINA.

GENTLEMEN: At this conjuncture of British politicks, when the liberty and property of North American subjects are at stake, when the schemes of a designing Minister are so far matured to action, that the port of Boston is shut up, that the charter of Massachusetts Bay is cruelly infringed, and its Government converted into one nearly military, to be silent would be insidious.

To avoid such an imputation to this part of the Province, we, the subscribers, appointed a Committee of Correspondence for the town and District of Wilmington, at a most respectable meeting of the freeholders of this district, by their express command, take this earliest opportunity of acquainting you with their resolutions, a copy of which we now enclose you, and request that you would send the Members, already by you elected, to represent you in General Assembly, or such other persons whom you shall approve of, to appear as your Deputies at the Court House of Johnston County, on the 20th day of August next, possessed of the sentiments of those in whose behalf they attend, and with full power to express it as obligatory on the future conduct of the inhabitants of this Province; and then and there to consult and determine what may be necessary to the general welfare of America, and of this Province. We at the same time take the liberty to inform you that there has been set on foot a subscription for the relief of the poor artizans and labourers of the town of Boston, precluded by one of forementioned measures of the British Minister from following their respective occupations, and we have reason to congratulate ourselves upon the generous contribution of the inhabitants, which has put it in our power to load a vessel with provisions, which will sail this week for the port of Salem.

We rely upon your sending an immediate answer to these our proposals, and wishing you success in all your efforts for the support of the constitutional liberties of America, permit us to subscribe ourselves, &c.

THE BRITISH AMERICAN, NO. VIII.

Williamsburg, Va., July 21, 1774.

Friends, Fellow-citizens, and Countrymen:

You are now to consider the Second Plan proposed: That you shall immediately stop all exports and imports to and from Great Britain and the West India Islands, till the Tea and Boston Acts are repealed. This plan is recommended to you by men who profess themselves resolutely determined to oppose the arbitrary proceedings of the British Parliament, but at the same time wish you to adopt moderate measures; and I am convinced they mean well, and are so heartily in earnest in their professions and their wishes, that if they can be convinced that the plan they propose will be the least effectual to avoid the jurisdiction claimed by the British Parliament, and the most violent and dangerous measure which can be adopted, I have no doubt but they will readily give it up. It will not only be justifiable but highly commendable in you to lessen your imports from Great Britain, by confining yourselves to such articles as are absolutely necessary, and which you cannot manufacture yourselves; because unless you use the utmost frugality, the great balance which you already owe to the British merchants will be constantly increasing till you become bankrupts; but to deny your selves the common necessaries or even the conveniences, of life, whilst you are able to pay for them, in order to break off all connections with, and to distress, Great Britain, is surely no moderate measure. That you have been cruelly treated is certain; but in resenting that treatment you ought to distinguish between your friends and your enemies, and not, drawcansir like, destroy all you meet. The manufacturers of Britain never injured you, and probably dislike the measures of Administration as much as you do. It will be cruel in you to endeavour to starve them and their families for an insult to which they were in no way accessary. But it is said that if this plan is adopt ed, the want of bread will lay them under the necessity of taking up arms, and of forcing a repeal of the Acts you complain of. Not to mention that a measure whose most distant prospect of success arises from forcing these innocent people into actual rebellion, and introducing all the horrours of a civil war in Britain, can never be deemed a moderate one, it would be highly dishonourable in you, instead of drawing your own swords, and facing your oppressors, like a brave people struggling for liberty, meanly (to take the advantage of their necessities) to force a number of starving wretches to expose themselves for your sakes to dangers you are afraid to encounter your selves; and your conduct would certainly be very inconsistent in daring to refuse submission to British nobles, whilst, conscious of your own degeneracy and cowardice, you meanly trusted the preservation of your liberty to the bravery of British Mechanicks, whose secret wishes to restrain your manufactures, whose honest contempt of your shameful conduct, and whose pressing necessities for bread, would more probably induce them to enlist as soldiers to enslave than protect you. But consider a little further how far this scheme is practicable; imagine your selves in the situation you shortly will be after you have adopted it. The want of salt will be a small inconvenience, but hickory ashes, though a poor substitute, may supply the place of it as well to you as it formerly did to the native Indians, and the live stock with which you will abound, when you no longer export provisions, will in a great measure render it unnecessary, by enabling you to kill fresh meat every day. Nails, without slitting mills, will be made with great difficulty, but logged cabins may be built without them; clothes for yourselves and negroes

* WILMINGTON, July 27—In a former paper we observed a subscription had been opened here in behalf of such people in Boston as are deprived, by the stoppage wantonly put to the trade of that place, of the usual means of subsisting themselves and families; we now observe, with particular pleasure, that several widow ladies of this town have contributed very liberally to that benevolent design.