pleased to direct the Clerk of the Crown to issue a writ for electing a Member for the said Town, to sit and vote in this present Assembly.

JOHN HARVEY, Speaker.

Sent by Mr. Hatch and Mr. Coor.

The House being informed that the Returning Officer of Guilford County had neglected to make due return of the Writ of Election for the said County, whereby one of the Members is deprived of a seat in this House,

On motion, Ordered, That the said Officer be sent for and brought in custody to the Bar of this House, to answer for such his conduct.

The Order of the Day being read, Resolved, The House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House to-morrow morning, to take under consideration His Excellency the Governour’s Speech.

Then the House adjourned till to-morrow morning 10 o’clock.

Thursday, 6th April, 1775.

The House met according to adjournment.

On motion, Ordered, That Mr. Ashe, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Thos. Rutherford, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Sheppard, Mr. McCulloch, Mr. Caswell, Mr. Hewes, Mr. Hill, Mr. Thomas Jones, and Mr. Gregory, be a Committee of Privileges and Elections, and that they have power to send for persons, papers, and records, as the case may require.

On motion, Ordered, That Mr. Harnett, Mr. Hewes, Mr. Knox, Mr. Cray, Mr. Samuel Johnston, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Jarvis, Mr. Howe, Mr. John Campbell, Mr. Macknight, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Macnair, and Mr. Long, be a Committee of Public Accounts; and that Mr. Ashe, Mr. Oldham, Mr. John Johnston, Mr. Allen Jones, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Thomas Jones, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Farquard Campbell, Mr. Benbury, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Gregory, Mr. Edward Salter, Mr. Fraser, Mr. William Person, and Mr. Jarvis, be a Committee of Public Claims, in conjunction with such of the Members of His Majesty’s honoarable Council as They shall think fit to appoint, and that the following Message be sent to the Council, to wit:

Gentlemen of His Majesty’s Honourable Council:

This House have appointed Mr. Harnett, Mr. Hewes, Mr. Knox, Mr. Gray, Mr. Samuel Johnston, Mr. Hunt, Mr. Jarvis, Mr. John Campbell, Mr. Macknight, Mr. Hooper, Mr. Macnair, and Mr. Long, on the Public Accounts; and Mr. Ashe, Mr. Oldham, Mr. John Johnston, Mr. Allen Jones, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Thomas Jones, Mr. Simpson, Mr. Farquard Campbell, Mr. Benbury, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Gregory, Mr. Edward Salter, Mr. Fraser, Mr. William Person, and Mr. Jarvis, be a Committee of this House to settle and allow Public Claims, in conjunction with such of your Honours as you shall think fit to appoint.

JOHN HARVEY, Speaker.

Sent by Mr. McCulloch and Mr. Gregory.

On motion, Ordered, That Mr. William Salter, Mr. William Person, Mr. Howe, Mr. Stanley, Mr. Coor, Mr. Sheppard, Mr. Poyner, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Farquard Campbell, Mr. Caswell, Mr. Thomas Person, Mr. Wynns, Mr. Long, Mr. Ashe, Mr. Atherton, Mr. Francis Nash, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Knox, Mr. Joseph Jones, Mr. Edward Salter, Mr. Griffith Rutherford, Mr. Fraser, Mr. Hewes, and Mr. Harnett, be a Committee of Propositions and Grievances.

The Order of the Day being read, for taking into consideration his Excellency’s Speech,

On motion, Resolved, The House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House accordingly, and chose Mr. Andrew Knox Chairman, and after some time spent therein, came to several Resolutions.

Then Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair, and Mr. Chairman reported that the Committee had taken under consideration his Excellency the Governour’s Speech, and came to several Resolutions thereon, to wit:

Resolved, That the Committee to be appointed to prepare an Address, in answer to the Governour’s Speech, be instructed to express that the Assembly of North-Carolina have the highest sense of the allegiance due to the King; the oath so repeatedly taken by them to that purpose, made it unnecessary for them to be reminded of it. That it has always been their pleasure to express, and will ever be so to testify by their actions, that allegiance which, however, they profess to owe to His Majesty as; their Sovereign, who was by the same Constitution which established that allegiance and enjoined that oath (happily for his subjects) solemnly bound to protect them in all their just rights and privileges, by which a reciprocal duty became incumbent upon both.

That it is the undoubted right of His Majesty’s subjects to petition for a redress of grievances, and to remonstrate against them either in separate or collective capacity, and that in order to agree upon such petition or remonstrance, they have a right to collect themselves together; and while they conduct themselves in a peaceable and orderly manner, they deserve not to be called an illegal meeting, or to have the imputation of sedition cast upon them. The Assembly, therefore, can never deem the meeting of the present Convention at Newbern, in order to appoint Delegates to petition for a redress of grievances, an illegal meeting, nor conceive it derogatory to the power and authority of the Assembly, or wounding to its dignity; and that though the Assembly are the legal Representatives, and perhaps adequate to every purpose of the people, yet the frequent unexpected prorogations, some of them proclaimed so late that many of the Members did not receive information thereof till their arrival in Town, gave the people no reason to expect that the Assembly would be permitted to meet till it was too late to send Delegates to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia; a measure which America in general, and this Province in particular, thought absolutely necessary, and which, as it is the full sense of our constituents, we, as their Representatives, highly approve.

That the Assembly are entirely ignorant of, and do not believe that any base arts have been practised upon the people of this Colony, in order to lead them from their duty; but that the steps they have taken have resulted from a full conviction that the Parliament of Great Britain had, by a variety of oppressive and unconstitutional proceedings, made the measures they pursued absolutely necessary. That therefore his Excellency’s asserting that such measures have been owing to base arts practised upon them by wicked and designing men, is not only an injustice done to the people, but manifestly tends to weaken the influence which the united petitions of His Majesty’s American subjects might otherwise have upon their Sovereign for a redress of those grievances of which they have such a right to complain, and that therefore the Committee be directed, in the strongest terms, to refute such assertion.

That the House would feel inexpressible concern at the information given them by his Excellency of his being authorized to say that the appointing Delegates to attend the Congress now in agitation would be highly offensive to the King, had they not recently received undoubted information that His Majesty has been pleased to receive, very graciously, the united Petitions of his American subjects, addressed to him by the Continental Delegates lately convened at Philadelphia; and that, therefore, they can never suppose that a similar application to the Throne will give offence to His Majesty, or prevent his receiving any petition for redress of grievances which his subjects have a right to prefer, either separately or unitedly.

That the Committee appointed by the people in the several Counties and Towns in this Colony, in consequence of the Resolutions of the Continental Congress held at Philadelphia, were the result of necessity, not choice, as the only means left them to prevent, as far as in them lay, the operation of those oppressive and unconstitutional Acts of Parliament, endeavoured to be imposed upon America by Great Britain; and that the Assembly have not been informed of any steps taken by those Committees but such as they were compelled to take from that necessity, and for the salutary purpose aforesaid.

That the Assembly would be glad to receive information of any marks of loyalty to the King, given his Excellency by the Inhabitants of this Colony, had not the manner in which that information was conveyed seemed to be intended to establish a belief that a great number of the people of this Province were disaffected to their Sovereign. That, therefore, the House instruct their Committee to do justice

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