Hague, March 20, 1775.

Their High Mightinesses the States General have this day issued a Proclamation, of which the following is a translation:

PROCLAMATION.

The States General of the United Provinces, to all who shall see or hear these presents read, greeting:

Be it known, that we, for particular reasons thereunto moving, have thought fit absolutely to prohibit, and we hereby absolutely do prohibit all exportation of Ammunition, Gunpowder, Guns, and Shot, by Ships belonging to the Dominions of Great Britain, provisionally, for the term of six months, upon pain not only of confiscation of the Arms and Ammunition which shall be found there on board, but also of a fine of a Thousand Guilders over and above, at the charge of the Commander, whose Ship shall be answerable and liable to execution for the same.

That we have further thought fit to enact, and we do hereby enact, that during the above-said term of six months, no Gunpowder, Guns, Shot, or other Instruments of War, shall be embarked on board any other Ships, whether foreign or belonging to this Country, to be transported abroad, without consent or permission of the College of Admiralty, under whose jurisdiction the embarkation shall be made, upon pain of confiscation of the Arms, Gunpowder, Guns, Shot, or other Ammunition, which shall have been embarked without permission, and of the Commander incurring a fine of a Thousand Guilders, on board of whose Ship the said Arms and Ammunition shall have been embarked, and his Ship be answerable and liable to execution for the said fine.

And that no one may pretend ignorance hereof, we call upon and require the States, the Hereditary Stadtholder, the Committee of Council, and the deputations of the States of the respective Provinces, and all other Officers and Justices of these Countries, to cause this our Proclamation to be forthwith promulgated, published, and affixed, in all places where such publication is wont to be made. And we do further charge and command the Counsellors of the Admiralty, the Advocates General, together with all Admirals, Vice-Admirals, Captains, Officers, and Commanders, to pay obedience to this our Proclamation, proceeding and causing to be proceeded against the transgressors thereof, without favour, connivance, dissimulation, or composition. For such have we found meet.

Given at the Hague, under the seal of the States, signature of the President of our Assembly, and the counter signature of our Greffier, the 20th day of March, 1775.

G. VAN HARDENBROEK.

By order of the States General:

H. FAGEL.

ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Court of St. James’s, the 5th day of April, 1775: Present the King’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Whereas, the time limited by His Majesty’s Order in Council of the 19th of October last, for the prohibiting the exporting out of this Kingdom, or carrying coastwise, Gunpowder or any sorts of Arms or Ammunition, will expire upon the 19th of April: And whereas, it is judged expedient that the said prohibition should be continued for some time longer, His Majesty doth therefore, by and with the advice of his Privy Council, hereby command, that no person or persons whatsoever, (except the Master-General, Lieutenant-General, or principal officers of the Ordnance for His Majesty’s service) do, at any time during six months, to commence from the said 19th instant, presume to transport into any parts out of this Kingdom, or carry coastwise, any Gunpowder, or any sort of Arms or Ammunition, or ship or lade any Gunpowder, or any sort of Arms or Ammunition on board any Ship or Vessel, in order to transport the same into any parts beyond the Seas, of carrying the same coastwise, without leave or permission first obtained from His Majesty, or his Privy Council, upon pain of incurring and suffering the respective forfeitures and penalties inflicted by an Act passed in the 29th year of His late Majesty’s reign, entitled “An Act to empower His Majesty to prohibit the exportation of Saltpetre, &c., &c.”

THOMAS LIFE, AGENT FOR CONNECTICUT, TO GOVERNOUR TRUMBULL.

Basinghall Street, London, April 5, 1775.

SIR: I received the favour of your last packet, in which was enclosed a general state of the transactions relative to the Rev. Samuel Peters, of his applications to you, and what passed between you on that occasion, and another letter, dated the 4th January last, in which you mention the receipt of my letter of the 5th day of October last, enclosing a copy of Messrs. Penn’s Petition. On the 20th of last month, I attended Lord Dartmouth at his levee, and stated to him the facts from that general state, without delivering the state itself to his Lordship, who informed me that he had seen Mr. Peters but once, and did not seem to lay any part of the blame upon you; and whatever views Mr. Peters may have, I hope he will be disappointed. There was a flying report sometime ago, that the acts of some people in your Colony, in going down to Boston to oppose the King’s Troops, had subjected your Charter to be forfeited, but have not heard any thing lately about it. The Colony of Rhode-Island, it is said, is likewise in the same predicament for seizing the King’s powder. I received notice from the Board of Trade to attend them on the 20th of March last on Messrs. Penn’s Petition, which I accordingly did, and prayed two months’ time to be heard on behalf of your Colony by counsel. Mr. Baker, who married one of Mr. Penn’s daughters, appeared on behalf of the petitioners, and opposed me very strongly, and it was with the utmost difficulty I obtained time till the first of May next, and I must be prepared in all events by that time. Indeed Mr. Baker at first objected to my having any more time than a fortnight, or a month at most; but on my representing that that would fall out in or near Easter week, their Lordships gave me a fortnight further time. Since I wrote by the last packet, Mr. Nuthall is dead and is succeeded by Mr. Hoole, whom I mentioned in my former letters to be his partner. On application to this gentleman he attended with me at the Board of Trade in behalf of Colonel Dyer and the other Susquehannah proprietors, but their Lordships would not then hear him, as they were of opinion that it was not then the proper time.

I am, sir, with the greatest esteem and regard, your most obedient humble servant,

THOS. LIFE.

The Honourable Jonathan Trumbull, Governour of the Colony of Connecticut, at Lebanon in Connecticut.

MEETING OF THE LIVERY OF LONDON.

London, April 6, 1775.

Yesterday, at Guildhall, a few minutes after one o’clock, the Lord Mayor, and Aldermen Bull, Lewes and Newnham, with the two Sheriffs, proceeded to the Hustings; and the common Crier having made proclamation that the business on which the Livery were convened, was to consider of a “Remonstrance and Petition to the Throne, respecting the measures adopted with regard to America;” the Lord Mayor came forward and addressed the Citizens in the following speech:

Gentlemen of the Livery:

It would ill become me, on this important day, to take up much of your time. I very readily complied with the request of several respectable fellow-citizens to call this Common Hall, from every feeling of justice and humanity to our persecuted brethren in America, and the fatal consequences I foresee of the violent proceedings now carrying on, which must so deeply affect the prosperity, not only of this, the first commercial City in the world, But likewise the whole Kingdom. I will only, gentlemen, beg leave to read to you, from your own records on this subject, the words of a Petition from this Metropolis to both Houses of Parliament, long before the present unhappy contest between the Mother Country and her American Colonies began; so long ago as the year 1739.

“The citizens of London are too deeply interested in whatever affects the trade of this Nation, not to express the utmost anxiety for the welfare of that only source of our riches. The Petitioners apprehend that the trade from these (His Majesty’s Kingdoms) to his American Colonies, is of the utmost importance, and almost the only profitable trade this Nation now enjoys unrivalled by others.”

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