so, if possible, they may be subjected to the punishment and contempt which they justly deserve; for which purpose the following Depositions, relative to the aforesaid abuse, are here presented to the world, viz:

Wilmington Borough, ss.

Personally appeared before me, John McKinley, Esq., Chief Burgess of said Borough, Nathan Wood, who, being solemnly affirmed, doth declare and say, that he was lately a passenger on board George Taylor’s Shallop, at the time when, on her passage from this Borough to Philadelphia, she was brought to by a party belonging to the King’s armed Schooner Diana, Captain Graves commander; that on coming on board the Shallop, an Officer asked what was on board, and being answered by Taylor, only Rum and Limes, and the Officer demanding proper papers, Taylor immediately produced them. The hatch was then opened, and the hogsheads counted and compared, which agreeing with the papers, the Officer asked further, whether Taylor had not something more on board, or in the cabin, and in a very scoffing manner inquired whether he had not some Teas; Taylor replied, he was welcome to go into the cabin and see himself, assuring him at the same time that nothing was on board besides the Rum and Limes. Then the Officer and two Sailors went into the cabin and stayed some time, on which Taylor went to the cabin door and looked in; the Officer asked what he wanted; Taylor replied, I did not know there was any body in the cabin but you. The Officer then got into a violent rage, cursing and swearing in the most dreadful manner, and coming upon deck used many horrid imprecations and threats against Taylor, that he would kick him overboard, &c., for suspecting the King’s men, and still vaunting that he was a King’s Officer, at the same lime striking and wounding Taylor, so that the deck was prodigiously besmeared with his blood. And this affirmant farther saith, that Taylor gave not the least provocation, but, on the contrary, both in his words and behaviour, showed the greatest respect and submission, and never resisted or attempted to touch the Officer. The Shallop coming abreast the Schooner, the Officer told Captain Graves, who was walking on the quarter-deck of the Schooner, that “this fellow has Limes and Rum on board;” whereupon the Captain immediately got into the boat with several sailors, came on board the Shallop, and, without any examination, highly approved of the conduct of the Officer in beating Taylor, (who, at that time, was leaning bleeding violently in the cockpit,) and said that if be had been on board be would have given him twice as much, and threatened to kick his teeth down his throat, and to take him on board the Schooner, and there to tie him up and whip him. The Captain then ordered four men into the boat to tow the Shallop along-side the Schooner, which had then drifted a small distance astern, but finding they could not tow her against the wind and tide, the anchor was ordered out; and the Captain asking for the papers, they were handed to him, and he having examined and found them authentick, ordered Taylor to go about his business, after having been detained nearly an hour and a half. And further this affirmant saith not.

NATHAN WOOD.

Affirmed this 1st day of April, 1775, before

JOHN MCKINLEY.

Likewise, William Carter, Mary Johnston, and Daniel Nicholson, being solemnly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, do severally depose and say, that they, respectively, were on board George Taylor’s Shallop at the time afore-mentioned, and were particularly attentive to the transactions afore-related, and that what Nathan Wood, the above affirmant, hath declared in his examination, is just and true, and particularly that George Taylor gave not the least provocation, but on the contrary behaved in the most respectful and submissive manner.

Sworn this 1st day of April, 1775, before

JOHN MCKINLEY.

Now if conduct of this kind is permitted with impunity, let us no longer exclaim against the piratical States of Barbary for committing outrages upon the subjects of George the Third, since we see British barbarians, subjects of George the Third, under his commission, sanction, and authority, commit such audacious outrages upon the persons and property of his subjects. From what hath been heretofore offered against the present cause of complaint, some may perhaps have been ready to treat it as a fiction; but since the matter is here so amply confirmed, may we not with confidence look to the King, and call aloud upon him, or those who represent him in cases of this nature, strictly to examine into this conduct of his servants, so that justice, which is the boasted glory of the English Nation, may take place, and that they may thereby, in some measure, redeem the honour and dignity of the Crown from the obloquy and contempt to which such conduct has too justly subjected it.

TO THE PRINTERS OF THE PENNSYLVANIA GAZETTE.

Philadelphia, March 8, 1775.

RESPECTED FRIENDS: Observing that, in your Paper of the week before last, you published a piece styled “The Testimony of the Representatives of the people called Quakers,” signed James Pemberton, but as there was a piece published in Bradford’s Journal, signed B. L., which, as it is esteemed necessary towards elucidating several expressions not properly comprehended by those who are unacquainted with Friends’ writings, I therefore hope, as you have favoured the publick with one, you’ll do them the justice to publish the other.

AMICUS VERITATIS.

To the Printers of the PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL:

It is a duty incumbent on societies or individuals, to vindicate or explain any publick transaction which excites general disgust or uneasiness, be the ground ever so slight. I have therefore preferred your Paper, as being more generally read by those calling themselves the Sons of Liberty, in order to remove those suspicions and misapprehensions which a late publication, as from the Society of Friends, I find has produced. Those who suppose this Testimony to be pointed against the measures thought necessary for the publick interest, have not attended to its language, or the conduct of that Society, since our unhappy dispute with the Mother Country commenced. A due regard to these will shew, that it is intended to preserve the general cause from being sullied by the violence or caprice of rash and turbulent minds. The Society hath ever been distinguished for its loyalty to the King, and obedience to his Government. This is therefore recommended in the strongest terms, but by no means implies a loyalty to Parliament, or a Government of fellow-subjects over fellow-subjects, the impropriety and injustice of which must be obvious to the meanest capacity. A due submission to the King and his Government most evidently means such a Government as an English King rightfully has over English subjects; a Government bounded and limited by law, and founded upon the two great principles of the English Constitution, which entitle the governed to dispose of their own property, and to partake in legislation. This is the Government for which America is contending, in which our duty to our King and our own rights are so happily blended.

A due caution is also given against riots, routs, illegal combinations, and assemblies, which, by a strange and forced inference of some weak or prejudiced minds, has been supposed to allude to the Congress, Committees, &c., bodies to which such terms are by no means applicable, and which are certainly not meant in the publication in question, for the following plain reasons:—

First. The peaceable meeting of persons, and discussion of publick affairs, let it be called by what name it will, is so far from being condemned by any law, that it is the best security of our happy Constitution that it is lawful.

Secondly. It cannot be supposed that any English subject, possessing the smallest portion of virtue and knowledge in the English Constitution, would, by such an imputation, condemn the three noblest assemblies who dignify the page of that history: The Barons who obtained Magna Charta from King John; the Assembly which restored Charles the Second and Monarchy; and the Convention at the Revolution, which placed King William on the Throne,