or the laws of society. We are greatly alarmed at the resolution to suspend our commercial intercourse with Great Britain. To stop her imports must be fatal to her; but to retain from her our exports, by which alone we can be enabled to discharge the heavy debt we owe her, by which the balance of trade might in a few years preponderate in our favour, by which alone we can be kept in peace, or armed for war, is a measure not to be justified by the laws of morality or the rights of policy. We, therefore, especially require of you to procure this resolution of the Congress to be rescinded. It is a duty you owe us, to obtain a proper representation of the Tobacco planters in this Colony, for we must deem a license to any of the inhabitants in America to export Wheat, Rice, or any other commodity a partial exemption in their favour, and a sacrifice of our interest to a general cause, which should only be affected in an equal degree with all other object of commercial intercourse. You need not interfere with the Quebeck Bill; a law respecting that conquered Country is without our policy, and beyond our ideas. We hear daily of personal insults, and invasions upon private property, from those little Democracies erected in every precinct through this extensive Continent. Reduce these men, we pray you, to the rank of citizens, and let them lord it over their fellows no longer!

Pursue, gentlemen, with prudence and fortitude the cause of your Country, and you may always depend upon the protection of your constituents.

VIRGINIA CONVENTION.

At a Convention of Delegates for the Counties and Corporations in the Colony of Virginia, at the Town of Richmond, in the County of Henrico, on Monday, the 20th of March. 1775. Present:

CITY OF WILLIAMSBURGH.—The Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esquire.

ACCOMACK COUNTY.—Isaac Smith, Esquire.

ALBEMARLE.—Thomas Jefferson and John Walker, Esquires.

AMELIA.—John Tabb and John Winn, Esquires.

AMHERST.—William Cabell, Junior, and Joseph Cabell, Esquires.

AUGUSTA.—Thomas Lewis, Samuel McDowell, and John Harvie, Esquires.

BEDFORD.—John Talbot and Charles Lynch, Esquires.

BOTETOURT.—Andrew Lewis and John Bowyer, Esquires.

BRUNSWICK.—Frederick Maclin and Henry Tazewell, Esquires.

BUCKINGHAM.—John Nicholas and Anthony Winston, Esquires.

BERKELEY.—Robert Rutherford and Adam Stephen, Esquires.

CAROLINE.—Edmund Pendleton and James Taylor, Esq’rs.

CHARLES CITY.—Benjamin Harrison and William Acrill, Esquires.

CHARLOTTE.—Paul Carrington and Isaac Read, Esquires.

CHESTERFIELD.—Archibald Cary and Benjamin Watkins, Esquires.

CULPEPPER.—Henry Pendleton and Henry Field, Junior, Esquires.

CUMBERLAND.—William Fleming and John Mayo, Esquires.

DINWIDDIE.—John Bannister and William Watkins, Esquires.

DUNMORE.—Jonathan Clarke, Esquire, and Peter Muhlenburg, Clerk.

ELIZABETH CITY.—Henry King and Wolrich Westwood, Esquires.

ESSEX.—James Edmondson and Meriwether Smith, Esquires.

FAIRFAX.—George Washington and Charles Broadwater, Esquires.

FAUQUIER.—Thomas Marshall and James Scott, Esquires.

FREDERICK.—Isaac Zane, Esquire, and Charles Minn Thruston, Clerk.

FINCASTLE.—William Christian, Esquire.

GLOUCESTER.—Thomas Whiting and Lewis Burwell, Esquires.

GOOCHLAND.—John Woodson and Thomas Mann Randolph, Esquires.

HALIFAX.—Nathaniel Terry and Micajah Watkins, Esquires.

HAMPSHIRE.—James Mercer, Esquire.

HANOVER.—Patrick Henry, Junior, and John Syme, Esquires.

HENRICO.—Richard Adams and Samuel Du-Val, Esquires.

JAMES CITY.—Robert C. Nicholas and William Norvell, Esquires.

ISLE OF WIGHT.—John S. Wills and Josiah Parker, Esquires.

KING GEORGE.—Joseph Jones and William Fitzhugh, Esquires.

KING AND QUEEN.—George Brooke and George Lyne, Esquires.

KING WILLIAM.—Carter Braxton, and William Aylett, Esquires.

LANCASTER.—James Selden and Charles Carter, Esquires.

LOUDOUN.—Francis Peyton and Josiah Clapham, Esquires.

LOUISA.—Thomas Johnson and Thomas Walker, Esquires.

LUNENBURGH.—Richard Claiborne and David Garland, Esquires.

MIDDLESEX.—Edmund Berkeley, Esquire.

MECKLENBURGH.—Robert Burton and Bennett Goode, Esquires.

NANSEMOND.—Lemuel Riddick and Willis Riddick, Esquires.

NEW-KENT.—Burwell Bassett and Bartholomew Dandridge, Esquires.

NORFOLK COUNTY.—Thomas Newton, Junior, and James Holt, Esquires.

NORTHAMPTON.—John Burton, Esquire.

NORTHUMBERLAND.—Rodham Kenner and Thomas Jones, Esquires.

ORANGE.—Thomas Barbour and James Taylor, Esquires.

PITTSYLVANIA.—Peter Perkins and Benjamin Lankford, Esquires.

PRINCE EDWARD.—Robert Lawson and John Nash, Esquires.

PRINCE GEORGE.—Richard Bland and Peter Poythress, Esquires.

PRINCESS ANNE.—William Robinson and Christopher Wright, Esquires.

PRINCE WILLIAM.—Henry Lee and Thomas Blackburn, Esquires.

RICHMOND.—Robert Wormeley Carter and Francis Lightfoot Lee, Esquires.

SOUTHAMPTON.—Edwin Gray and Henry Taylor, Esquires.

SPOTTSYLVANIA.—George Stubblefield and Mann Page, Junior, Esquires.

STAFFORD.—John Alexander and Charles Carter, Esquires.

SURRY.—Allen Cocke and Nicholas Faulcon, Junior, Esquires.

SUSSEX.—David Mason and Henry Gee, Esquires.

WARWICK.—William Langhorne, Esquire.

WESTMORELAND.—Richard Henry Lee and Richard Lee, Esquires.

YORK.—Dudley Digges and Thomas Nelson, Junior, Esquires.

JAMESTOWN.—Champion Travis, Esquire.

NORFOLK BOROUGH.—Joseph Hutchings, Esquire.

The Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, was unanimously elected President of this Convention, and Mr. John Tazewell, Clerk thereof.

The President then recommended it to the Convention to proceed in the deliberation and discussion of the several important matters which should come before them, with that prudence, decency, and order which had distinguished their conduct on all former occasions; and laid before the Convention the proceedings of the Continental Congress, together with a letter from Benjamin Franklin, William Bollan, and Arthur Lee, Esquires, advising that the Petition to His Majesty had been presented and graciously received.

Ordered, That the consideration of the Proceedings of the Continental Congress be postponed till to-morrow.

Resolved, That the Reverend Mr. Selden be desired to read prayers to the Convention, every morning, at nine o’clock.