by your Lordship's authority; but, if otherwise, which I cannot suppose to be the case, such steps may be taken as the King's dignity and justice shall dictate.

I am, &c.,

DARTMOUTH.

Earl of Dunmore.

Williamsburg, Virginia, September 8, 1774.

The Delegates from the counties, at the late Convention, having signified their opinion that the officers fees, since the expiration of the Act for regulating and collecting them, cannot be legally taxed, it seems none of the County Courts will proceed to do business until there be a session of the General Assembly and the gentlemen of the General Court Bar, doubting the return of two of their body, who are appointed as Deputies for this Colony at the Congress, time enough to prepare for the approaching General Court, and convinced, if that honourable Court should then proceed to business, it would add much to the uneasiness of the present times, have thought it most ad-advisable (all these circumstances considered) now to countermand the attendance of such witnesses as may have been summoned, in order to save a great, and, probably, a fruitless expense to their clients. It is, therefore, presumable there will be no trial at the next General Court, except in criminal cases; in which all the Justices in the Colony are determined to proceed, for preserving that good order so necessary at this critical period.

Boston, September 8, 1774.

Last Monday, the 5th instant, the Selectmen of this town waited on his Excellency Governour Gage, to acquaint him that the inhabitants were much alarmed to find that he had ordered the breaking up the ground near the fortification on the Neck; and requested of his Excellency that he would explain to them his design in that extraordinary movement, that they might, thereby, have it in their power to quiet the minds of the people when his Excellency replied to the following purpose: That he had no intention of stopping up the avenue to the town, or of obstructing the inhabitants, or any of the country people, corning in or going out of town as usual; that he had taken his measures, and that he was to protect his Majesty's subjects, and his Majesty's troops in this town and that he had no intention of any thing hostile against the inhabitants.

Boston, September 9, 1774.

This day, the Selectmen of Boston, waited on his Excellency General Gage, with the following Address:

May it please your Excellency:

The Selectmen of Boston, at the earnest desire of a number of gentlemen of the town and country, again wait on your Excellency to acquaint you that since our late application, the apprehensions of the people, not only of this, but of the neighbouring towns, are greatly increased by observing the designs of erecting a fortress at the entrance of the town; and of reducing the metropolis, in other respects, to the state of a garrison. This, with complaints lately made of abuse from some of the guards, posted in that quarter, assaulting and forcibly detaining several persons who were peaceably passing in and out of the town, may discourage, the market people from coming in with their provisions, as usual, and oblige the inhabitants to abandon the town. This event we greatly deprecate, as it will produce miseries which may hurry the Province into acts of desperation. We should, therefore, think ourselves happy if we could satisfy the people that your Excellency would suspend your present design, and not add to the distresses of the inhabitants, occasioned by the Port Bill, that of garrisoning the town.

JOHN SCOLLY, Chairman of the Committee.

TO WHICH HIS EXCELLENCY WAS PLEASED TO RETURN THE FOLLOWING ANSWER:

GENTLEMEN: When you lately applied to me respecting my ordering some cannon to be placed at the entrance of this town, which you term the erecting a fortress, I so fully expressed my sentiments, that I thought you were Satisfied the people had nothing to fear from that measure, as no use would be made thereof unless their hostile proceedings should make it necessary; but as you have this day acquainted me that their fears are rather increased, I have thought proper to assure you that I have no intention to prevent the free egress and ingress of any person to and from the town, or reducing it to the state of a garrison; neither shall I suffer any under my command to injure the person or property of any of his Majesty's subjects; but as it is my duty, so it shall be my endeavour, to preserve the peace and promote the happiness of every individual and I earnestly recommend to you, and every inhabitant, to cultivate the same spirit; and I heartily wish they may live quietly and happily in the town.

THOMAS GAGE.

To the Gentlemen Selectmen of the town of Boston.

SUFFOLK COUNTY (MASSACHUSETTS) RESOLUTIONS.

At a Meeting of the Delegates of every Town and District of the County of Suffolk, on Tuesday, the 6th of September, at the house of Mr. Bichard Woodward, of Dedham; and by adjournment at the house of Mr. Vose, of Milton, on Friday, the 9th instant,

JOSEPH PALMER, Esquire, being chosen Moderator, and WILLIAM THOMPSON, Esquire, Clerk,

A Committee was chosen to bring in a Report to the Convention and the following, being several times read, and put, paragraph by paragraph, was unanimously voted, viz:

Whereas the power, but not the justice, the vengeance, but not the wisdom, of Great Britain, which of old persecuted, scourged, and excited our fugitive parents from their native shores, now pursues us, their guiltless children, with unrelenting severity. And whereas, this then savage and uncultivated desert, was purchased by the toil and treasure, or acquired by the blood and valour of those our venerable progenitors; to us they bequeathed the dear-bought inheritance; to our care and protection they consigned it; and the most sacred obligations are upon us to transmit the glorious purchase, unfettered by power, unclogged with shackles, to our innocent and beloved offspring. On the fortitude, on the wisdom, and on the exertions of this important day, is suspended the fate of this new world, and of unborn millions. If a boundless extent of Continent, swarming with millions, will tamely submit to live, move, and have their being at the arbitrary will of a licentious Minister, they basely yield to voluntary slavery, and future generations will load their memories with incessant execrations. On the other hand, if we arrest the hand which would ransack our pockets if we disarm the parricide which points the dagger to our bosoms; if we nobly defeat that fatal edict which proclaims a power to frame laws for us in all cases whatsoever, thereby entailing the endless and numberless curses of slavery upon us, our heirs, and their heirs forever if we successfully resist that unparalleled usurpation of unconstitutional power, whereby our capital is robbed of the means of life; whereby the streets of Boston are thronged with military executioners whereby our costs are lined and harbours crowded with ships of war whereby the Charter of the Colony, that sacred barrier against the encroachments of tyranny is mutilated, and, in effect, annihilated; whereby a murderous law is framed to shelter villians from the hand of justice; whereby that unalienable and inestimable inheritance which we derived from nature, the Constitution of Britain, and the privileges warranted to us in the Charter of the Province, is totally wrecked, annulled, and vacated, posterity will acknowledge that virtue which preserved them free and happy; and while we enjoy the rewards and blessings of the faithful, the torrents of panegyrists will roll our reputations to the latest period, when the streams of time shall be absorbed in the abyss of eternity.—Therefore we have resolved, and do resolve,

1. That whereas his Majesty King George the Third, is the rightful successor to the Throne of Great Britain, and justly entitled to the allegiance of the British Realm, and agreeable to compact of the English Colonies in America; therefore, we the heirs and successors of the first planters of this Colony do cheerfully acknowledge the said George the Third to be our rightful Sovereign; and that