answer thereto, which I have taken the earliest opportunity to lay before the General Assembly of the Colony; and am now to return you their thanks for this communication.

It is, my Lord, with the deepest concern and anxiety, that we contemplate the unhappy dissensions which have taken place between the Colonies and Great Britain, which must be attended with the most fatal consequences to both, unless speedily terminated. We consider the interests of the two Countries as inseparable, and are shocked at the idea of any disunion between them. We wish for nothing so much as a speedy and happy settlement upon constitutional grounds, and cannot apprehend why it might not be effected, if proper steps were taken. It is certainly an object of that importance as to merit the attention of every wise and good man, and the accomplishment of it would add lustre to the first character upon earth.

The origin and progress of these unhappy disputes, we need not point out to you; they are perfectly known to your Lordship. From apprehensions on one side, and jealousies, fears, and distresses on the other, fomented and increased by the representations of artful and designing men, unfriendly to the liberties of America, they have risen to that alarming height at which we now see them, threatening the most essential prejudice, if not entire ruin, to the whole Empire. On the one hand, we do assure your Lordship that we do not wish to weaken or impair the authority of the British Parliament in any matters essential to the welfare and happiness of the whole Empire. On the other, it will be admitted that it is our duty, and that we should be even highly culpable, if we should not claim and maintain the constitutional rights and liberties derived to us as men and Englishmen; as the descendants of Britons, and members of an Empire whose fundamental principle is the liberty and security of the subject. British supremacy and American liberty are not incompatible with each other. They have been seen to exist and flourish together for more than a century. What now renders them inconsistent? Or, if any thing be further necessary to ascertain the one or limit the other, why may it not be amicably adjusted, every occasion and ground of future controversy be removed, and all that has unfortunately passed, be buried in perpetual oblivion?

The good people of this Colony, my Lord, are unfeignedly loyal, and firmly attached to His Majesty’s person, family, and Government. They are willing and ready, freely as they have formerly most cheerfully done upon every requisition made to them, to contribute to the utmost of their abilities to the support of His Majesty’s Government, and to devote their lives and fortunes to his service; and, in the last war, did actually expend in His Majesty’s service more than Four Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling beyond what they received any compensation for. But the unlimited powers lately claimed by the British Parliament drove them to the borders of despair. These powers, carried into execution, will deprive them of all property, and are incompatible with every idea of civil liberty. They must hold all that they possess at the will of others, and will have no property which they can, voluntarily and as freemen, lay at the foot of the Throne as a mark of their affection and devotion to His Majesty’s service.

Why, my Lord, should our fellow-subjects in Great Britain alone enjoy the high honour and satisfaction of presenting their free gifts to their Sovereign? Or, if this be a distinction in which they will permit none to participate with them; yet, in point of honour, it should be founded on the gift of their own property, and not of that of their fellow-subjects in the more distant parts of the Empire.

It is with particular concern and anxiety that we see the unhappy situation of our fellow-subjects in the Town of Boston, in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, where we behold many thousands of His Majesty’s virtuous and loyal subjects reduced to the utmost distress by the operation of the Port Act, and the whole Province thrown into a state of anarchy and confusion, by the Act for changing the Constitution of the Province, and depriving them of some of their Charter-rights. We are at a loss to conceive how the destruction of the East-India Company’s Tea could be a just or reasonable ground for punishing so severely thousands of innocent people who had no hand in that transaction, and that even without giving them any opportunity to be heard in their own defence.

[And we submit whether the conditions of their being restored to their former privileges, are not becoming impracticable under their present circumstances, since the Town is not, by law, authorized to tax the inhabitants for such a purpose; and the Province is not permitted the privilege of the Assembly; nor, they conceive, could they constitutionally hold one, until their Charter-rights are restored. Indeed, how can they constitutionally give His Majesty any security for their future good behaviour, but by their Representatives in General Assembly. Were the Acts for shutting up their Port and altering the Government of the Province, repealed; the armed force withdrawn from Boston, and the people put upon a footing to act freely and constitutionally, we cannot doubt but that as they have, upon all former occasions, shown themselves to be a generous, brave, and loyal people, they would comply with any reasonable requisition that should be made by his Majesty.]

Give us leave to recommend to your Lordship’s most serious and candid attention the unhappy case of that distressed people, and in effect of all the Colonies, whose fate seems to be involved in theirs, and who are therefore most anxiously distressed for them. Permit us to hope, that, by your Lordship’s kind and benevolent interposition, some wise and happy plan will be devised which may relieve us from our present anxieties, and restore that harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies, which we all most ardently wish for, and which alone can render us truly happy.

I am, my Lord, in behalf of the Governour and Company of Connecticut, my Lord, your Lordship’s most obedient and most humble servant,

GENERAL ASSEMBLY, New-Haven, March, 1775.

In the Upper House the foregoing draught for a Letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Dartmouth, one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, being read, is approved, and his Honour the Governour is desired to sign a transcript thereof, and transmit the same to his Lordship as soon as opportunity will permit.

Test:

GEORGE WYLLYS, Secretary.

In the Lower House, Mr. Strong, Mr. Deane, Colonel Talcott, Mr. Hosmer, Mr. Wales, and Mr. Sturgess, are appointed a Committee to confer with such gentlemen as the Honourable Upper House shall appoint to confer on the subject-matter of the foregoing Letter.

Test:

RICHARD LAW, Clerk

In the Upper House, William Samuel Johnson and Oliver Wolcott, Esquires, are appointed to confer with the Committee of the Lower House on the subject-matter of the foregoing Letters.

Test:

GEORGE WYLLYS, Secretary.”

[At the Conference of the Committees of the two Houses, it was agreed to amend the draught by striking out the paragraph between brackets, in which form it was adopted by the Lower House.]

GENERAL ASSEMBLY, New-Haven, March, 1775.

In the Lower House, the foregoing draught for a Letter to the Earl of Dartmouth, one of His Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, is read and approved, and his Honour the Governour is desired to sign a transcript thereof, and transmit the same to his Lordship as soon as opportunity will permit.

Test:

RICHARD LAW, Clerk.

Concurred in in the Upper House.

Test:

GEORGE WYLLYS, Secretary.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM CONNECTICUT TO MR. RIVINGTON, NEW-YORK, DATED MARCH 13, 1775.

Our Assembly met on the 2d of March, The two first days were chiefly employed in examination of the conduct of Captain Glover and the Representatives of Ridgfield, which Town had very freely declared against adopting the Congress’s measures. A Committee was appointed to superintend this business, and make a report at the next May session. The debates of a week’s duration upon the matters cost the Colony One Hundred and Seventy-Five Pounds. In the next place, many long and learned arguments