City of BURLINGTON.— James Kinsey, Thomas P. Hewlings.

County of BURLINGTON.— Henry Paxon, Anthony Sykes.

GLOUCESTER.— John Hinchman, Robert F. Price.

SALEM.— Grant Gibbon, Benjamin Holme.

CAPE MAY.— Jonathan Hand, Eli Eldridge.

HUNTERDON.— Samuel Tucker, John Mehelm.

CUMBERLAND.— John Sheppard, Theophilus Elmer.

SUSSEX.— Nathaniel Pettit, Joseph Barton.

Burlington, Monday, May 15, 1775.

Pursuant to his Excellency’s several prorogations of the General Assembly from time to time till this day, the House met.

Azariah Dunham, Esq., being duly returned a Representative to serve in the General Assembly for the County of Middlesex, and now attending, was admitted into the House, and took the usual oaths, and made and subscribed the declaration by law appointed, before Cortland Skinner, Esq., thereto authorized by dedimus potestatem.

Ordered, That Mr. Dunham do take his seat in the House.

The House adjourned till three P. M.

The House met.

Ordered, That Mr. Fisher and Mr. Wetherill do wait upon his Excellency and acquaint him that a sufficient number of Members to constitute a House are met, and are ready to receive any thing he may please to lay before them.

Mr. Speaker laid before the House a Letter to him from William Bollan, Benjamin Franklin, and Arthur Lee, Esquires, dated London, December 24, 1774; which was read.

Mr. Speaker also laid before the House a Letter to him from the Honourable John Cruger, Esquire, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Province of New-York, enclosing their Petition to the King, the Memorial to the House of Lords, and a Representation to the House of Commons, a List of Grievances, and the Resolutions entered into by the General Assembly there, on the eighth of March last; all which were read.

Mr. Fisher reported that Mr. Wetherill and himself waited upon his Excellency with the message of the House according to order, and that his Excellency was pleased to say that the House should hear from him to-morrow morning.

The House adjourned till 9 o’clock to-morrow morning.

Tuesday, May 16, 1775.

The House met and adjourned till three P. M.

The House met.

A Message from his Excellency by Mr. Deputy Secretary Pettit:

Mr. SPEAKER: His Excellency is in the Council Chamber, and requires the immediate attendance of the House.

Whereupon Mr. Speaker left the Chair, and, with the House, went to wait upon his Excellency; and being returned, Mr. Speaker resumed the chair, and reported that the House had waited on his Excellency, who was pleased to make a Speech to the Council and House of Assembly, of which Mr. Speaker said he had, to prevent mistakes, obtained a copy. And the same, by order of the House, was read, and is as follows, viz:

Gentlemen of the Council, and Gentlemen of the Assembly:

The sole occasion of my calling you together at this time, is to lay before you a Resolution of the House of Commons, wisely and humanely calculated to open a door for the restoration of that harmony between Great Britain and her American Colonies, on which their mutual welfare and happiness so greatly depend.

This Resolution having already appeared in the publick papers, and a great variety of interpretations put upon it, mostly according to the different views and dispositions by which men are actuated, and scarcely any having seen it in its proper light, I think I cannot, at this critical juncture, better answer the gracious purposes of His Majesty, nor do my Country more essential service, than to lay before you as full an explanation of the occasion, purport, and intent of it, as is in my power. By this means you, and the good people you represent, will be enabled to judge for yourselves, how far you ought or ought not to acquiesce with the plan it contains, and what steps it will be prudent for you to take on this very important occasion.

You will see in the King’s answer to the joint Address of both Houses of Parliament on the seventh of February, how much attention His Majesty was graciously pleased to give to the assurance held out in that Address, of the readiness of Parliament to afford every just and reasonable indulgence to the Colonies, whenever they should make a proper application on the ground of any real grievance they might have to complain of. This Address was accordingly soon after followed by the Resolution of the House of Commons, now laid before you, a circumstance which afforded His Majesty great satisfaction, as it gave room to hope for a happy effect, and would, at all events, ever remain an evidence of their justice and moderation, and manifest the temper which has accompanied their deliberations upon that question, which has been the source of so much disquiet to the King’s subjects in America.

His Majesty, ardently wishing to see a reconciliation of the unhappy differences by every means through which it may be obtained, without prejudice to the just authority of Parliament, which His Majesty will never suffer to be violated, has approved the Resolution of his faithful Commons, and has commanded it to be transmitted to the Governours of his Colonies, not doubting that this happy disposition to comply with every just and reasonable wish of the King’s subjects in America, will meet with such a return of duty and affection on their part, as will lead to a happy issue of the present dispute, and to a reestablishment of the publick tranquillity on those grounds of equity, justice, and moderation, which this Resolution holds forth.

What has given the King the greater satisfaction in this Resolution, and the greater confidence in the good effects of it, is, his having seen that, amidst all the intemperance into which a people, jealous of their liberties, have been unfortunately misled, they have nevertheless avowed the justice, the equity, and the propriety of subjects of the same State contributing, according to their abilities and situation, to the publick burdens; and this Resolution, it is thought, holds no proposition beyond that.

It would probably be deemed unjust to suppose that any of the King’s subjects in the Colonies can so far forget the