(after the exercise is over,) we will choose a proper person to instruct and preside over the Company; also a Clerk, and any other Officers that may be judged necessary.

3d. That we will pay obedience and strict attention to such as we shall appoint from time to time to instruct and command the Company.

Portsmouth, December 20, 1774.

April 6th, 1775.—The Company, taking into consideration the shortness of the evenings, and their numbers being so much increased that it is inconvenient to exercise any longer within doors; therefore,

Voted, That after the 10th day of April instant, we will meet on the parade, or some other convenient place, on Monday and Thursday mornings, precisely at sunrise.

Voted, That Dr. Hall Jackson, Messrs. James Sheafe, George Hart, George Gains, and Jeremiah Libby, be a Committee to wait on the Honourable Theodore Atkinson, Esquire, Colonel of the Regiment to which we belong, and request the favour of him to grant us liberty to beat a drum to call the Company together; and also to present to him a copy of our Rules and Regulations, that he may be convinced that we are not a Company detached from his regiment and command.

Attest:

J. LIBBY, Clerk.

Portsmouth, April 7, 1775.

SOUTHAMPTON (VIRGINIA) COMMITTEE.

At a Committee held at the Court-House for the County of Southampton, the eighth day of April, 1775, agreeable to the Eleventh Article of the Continental Congress, Present: Edwin Gray, Chairman, Thomas Williamson, Richard Kello, James Ridley, George Gurley, Clerk, Benjamin Ruffin, Peter Butts, Benjamin Clements, Jun., Joshua Nicholson, Thomas Edmunds, Benjamin Ruffin, Junior, and Thomas Blunt:

The Proceedings of the late Convention held at the Town of Richmond, on the 20th of March, were laid before the Committee, and being read and maturely considered,

Resolved unanimously, That this Committee doth entirely approve the Proceedings of the said Convention, and that they will use every opportunity to recommend, in the strongest manner, the several measures then adopted to the people of this County.

Resolved, That the several members of this Committee in their respective Districts (as laid off by a former Committee) endeavour to collect by subscription the sum of Ten Pounds, for encouraging Mr. Tait’s useful scheme for making Salt; and also Fifteen Pounds for the use of the Deputies to represent this Colony in Continental Congress; and that such Money as may be collected be immediately paid by the several collectors into the hands of Mr. Edwin Gray and Mr. Henry Taylor, to be by them transmitted to Robert Carter Nicholas, Esquire, for the purposes aforesaid.

Resolved, That Monday, the 17th of this instant, be appointed for the election of Delegates at the Court-House, to represent this County in Provincial Congress; and that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Clergymen of the different Parishes of this County, requesting them to publish the same in their respective Churches; and also that the Clerk of this Committee advertise the same at the Court-House door on the next court day.

Resolved, That Mr. Benjamin Clements, Junior, Mr. Benjamin Ruffin, Junior, and Mr. Joshua Nicholson, or any two of them, be appointed to conduct the election of the said Delegates.

Resolved, That the thanks of this Committee be given to Mr. Edwin Gray and Mr. Henry Taylor, our worthy and patriotick Delegates; at the same time assuring them that they have conducted themselves entirely to their satisfaction in the discharge of that important trust.

Resolved, That this Committee be adjourned to Thursday, the 13th day of this instant.

Thursday, April 13, 1775.

Present: Edwin Gray, Chairman, Henry Taylor, Richard Kello, Thomas Williamson, James Ridley, Benjamin Ruffin, Benjamin Clements, Junior, Benjamin Ruffin, Junior, Thomas Blunt, Thomas Edmunds, Joshua Nicholson, and John Thomas Blow.

This Committee taking under their consideration the necessity of providing the Militia of this County with Ammunition, and finding an improbability of collecting a sum sufficient for that purpose in so short a time as they deem necessary from the people of this County, do therefore Resolve, That each member will most cheerfully deposit the sum of Ten Pounds in the hands of Mr. Edwin Gray and Mr. Henry Taylor, or either of them, for the purpose aforesaid.

Resolved, That Mr. Edwin Gray and Mr. Henry Taylor inform the absent members of this Committee of the preceding Resolution, requesting them to contribute the sum of Ten Pounds each for the purpose therein mentioned.

Resolved, That Mr. Edwin Gray and Mr. Henry Taylor, or either of them, do, as soon as they have received the Money so subscribed, or any other sums that may be voluntarily advanced, make application to the Committee appointed by the late Convention for procuring Ammunition, &c., for as much Powder and Lead as the money they have received will amount to, in the proportion of one pound of powder to four pounds of lead.

Resolved, That the Powder and Lead, when procured, shall be stored in such convenient place or places as shall be agreed on by this Committee, and be liable to any directions of the same.

Silas Kirby, James Ingram, Josiah Kirby, and John Simmons, voluntarily appeared before this Committee, and acknowledged they had been guilty of violating the Eighth Article of the Association, by Gaming at the said Silas Kirby’s, and winning a small sum of money of a certain Benjamin O’Donnello, a few days before; that it was an errour they were unthinkingly led into, and are convinced of its evil tendency; that they are willing to refund every thing won by them; and they now assure this Committee of a more strict compliance for the future with the several Articles of the General Association.

This Committee therefore Resolve, That the said Silas Kirby, James Ingram, Josiah Kirby, and John Simmons, have been guilty of violating the Association; yet, in consideration of their candid behaviour before this Committee, and their ever conforming to the Association before this, their breach of it, hope the publick will join with them in considering the aforesaid persons as not inimical to American liberty.

Resolved, That the Clerk of this Committee transmit a copy of the proceedings thereof to Messrs. Dixon and Hunter, requesting them to publish the same.

TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA.

Prince William, April 8, 1775.

It is so true as to have become proverbial, that a drowning man will catch at a straw. On this principle it is that a despotick but almost despairing Ministry, having been compelled by the wisdom, virtue, and firmness of North America, to show a disposition to retract from their tyrannical system, are yet suspended in their determinations, and find their hopes kept alive by the corruption of some, by the folly and perverseness of others, on this side of the Atlantick. The most contemptible tales are magnified into importance when the mind wishes them to be true, and thus the lies of a Rivington, or the vanity of some heavy-headed Virginian, will swell trifles into proofs of disunion, and serve to persuade perseverance in measures hurtful indeed to America, but certainly ruinous to Great Britain. Among this tribe of mischief-working things may be classed a senseless paper lately published in the Norfolk Intelligencer, said to be “Instructions drawn up for the Delegates to the Convention at Richmond, the 20th of March, from a certain County in Virginia.” Was this curious production rejected by the sensible Printers in Williamsburgh, which occasioned it to pass through that common sewer of political falsehood, the Norfolk Intelligencer? Though the framer of these Instructions certainly wants sense, he may be allowed to possess some cunning, because he has so contrived that willingness of mind, or ignorance of fact, may both conclude a whole County in Virginia to have perfidiously opposed the general union— a union formed, both as to time and matter, on the unanimous