Resolved unanimously, That a fair copy be drawn off and delivered to our Delegates as their instructions.

Ordered, That the foregoing proceedings be certified by the Clerk of this Committee, and published in the Virginia Gazette.

By order of the Committee.

JAMES BERWICK, Clerk.

DOCTOR FRANKLIN TO DOCTOR PRIESTLEY, IN LONDON.

Philadelphia, May 16, 1775.

DEAR FRIEND: You will have heard, before this reaches you, of a march stolen by the Regulars into the country by night, and of their expedition back again. They retreated twenty miles in six hours.

The Governour had called the Assembly to propose Lord North’s pacifick plan, but, before the time of their meeting, began cutting of throats. You know it was said he carried the sword in one hand, and the olive branch in the other; and it seems he chose to give them a taste of the sword first.

He is doubling his fortifications at Boston, and hopes to secure his Troops till succour arrives. The place, indeed, is naturally so defensible, that I think them in no danger.

All America is exasperated by his conduct, and more firmly united than ever. The breach between the two. Countries is grown wider, and in danger of becoming irreparable.

I had a passage of six weeks, the weather constantly so moderate that a London wherry might have accompanied us all the way. I got home in the evening, and the next morning was unanimously chosen by the Assembly of Pennsylvania a Delegate to the Congress now sitting.

In coming over, I made a valuable philosophical discovery, which I shall communicate to you when I can get a little time. At present am extremely hurried.

Yours, most affectionately,

B. FRANKLIN.

MEETING OF THE INHABITANTS OF WESTMORELAND, PENNSYLVANIA.

At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the County of Westmoreland, held at Hanna’s Town the 16th day of May, 1775, for taking into consideration the very alarming situation of this Country, occasioned by the dispute with Great Britain:

Resolved unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Britain, by several late Acts, have declared the inhabitants of the Massachusetts-Bay to be in rebellion, and the Ministry, by endeavouring to enforce those Acts, have attempted to reduce the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery than ever before existed in any state or country. Not content, with violating their constitutional and chartered privileges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity, exposing lives to the wanton and unpunishable sport of a licentious soldiery, and depriving them of the very means of subsistence.

Resolved unanimously, That there is no reason to doubt but the same system of tyranny and oppression will (should it meet with success in the Massachusetts-Bay ) be extended to every other part of America: it is therefore become the indispensable duty of every American, of every man who has any publick virtue or love for his Country, or any bowels for posterity, by every means which God has put in his power, to resist and oppose the execution of it; that for us we will be ready to oppose it with our lives and fortunes. And the better to enable us to accomplish it, we will immediately form ourselves into a military body, to consist of Companies, to be made up out of the several Townships under the following Association, which is declared to be the Association of Westmoreland County:

Possessed with the most unshaken loyalty and fidelity to His Majesty, King George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our lawful and rightful King, and who we wish may long be the beloved Sovereign of a free and happy people throughout the whole British Empire; we declare to the world, that we do not mean by this Association to deviate from that loyalty which we hold it our bounden duty to observe; but, animated with the love of liberty, it is no less our duty to maintain and defend our just rights (which, with sorrow, we have seen of late wantonly violated in many instances by a wicked Ministry and a corrupted Parliament) and transmit them entire to our posterity, for which purpose we do agree and associate together:

1st. To arm and form ourselves into a Regiment or Regiments, and choose officers to command us in such proportion as shall be thought necessary.

2d. We will, with alacrity, endeavour to make ourselves masters of the manual exercise, and such evolutions as may be necessary to enable us to act in a body with concert; and to that end we will meet at such times and places as shall be appointed either for the Companies or the Regiment, by the officers commanding each when chosen.

3d. That should our Country be invaded by a foreign enemy, or should Troops be sent from Great Britain to enforce the late arbitrary Acts of its Parliament, we will cheerfully submit to military discipline, and to the utmost of our power resist and oppose them, or either of them, and will coincide with any plan that may be formed for the defence of America in general, or Pennsylvania in particular.

4th. That we do not wish or desire any innovation, but only that things may be restored to, and go on in the same way as before the era of the Stamp Act, when Boston grew great, and America was happy. As a proof of this disposition, we will quietly submit to the laws by which we have been accustomed to be governed before that period, and will, in our several or associate capacities, be ready when called on to assist the civil magistrate in carrying the same into execution.

5th. That when the British Parliament shall have repealed their late obnoxious Statutes, and shall recede from their claim to tax us, and make laws for us in every instance, or when some general plan of union and reconciliation has been formed and accepted by America, this our Association shall be dissolved; but till then it shall remain in full force; and to the observation of it, we bind ourselves by every thing dear and sacred amongst men.

No licensed murder! no famine introduced by law!

Resolved, That on Wednesday, the twenty-fourth instant, the Township meet to accede to the said Association, and choose their officers.

PENNSYLVANIA COUNCIL,

At a Council held at Philadelphia on Tuesday, 16th May, 1775.

Present: The Honourable John Penn, Esq., Governour, James Tilghman, Andrew Allen, Esquires.

The Governour acquainted the Board that eight Cayuga Indians came to Town on Saturday last from Canasadego, on the Cayuga branch of Susquehannah, on some business with this Government, and that he now proposed to hear what they had to say.

Whereupon the Board agreed that they should be immediately sent for, and they were accordingly introduced.

The Governour then acquainting them that he was ready to hear them, . . . . ., addressing himself to the Governour, first went through some short usual ceremonies of clearing the throat and heart, and opening the ears, &c., and then producing a belt of wampum, spoke as follows, viz: That three of their company who were present as the nearest surviving relations of the old Seneca Sohaes, who lived for many years with his family and connexions on a tract of land within the manor of Conestogo, in Lancaster County; that the old man, with his family and relations, were several years ago murdered, there by some wicked men belonging to this Government; and that the said tract of land, containing about five hundred acres, now became the property of his three relatives present, one of whom is Sohaes’s brother; that they had come down at this time to see their brother Onas, and to make sale of the said land to him. That the land is very rich, and worth a great deal of money; but as their brother Onas was himself well acquainted with its value, they desired he would purchase it from them, for such a price as he thought reasonable, and they would be entirely satisfied.

He then delivered the belt of wampum to the Governour, and told him that he had finished what he had to say.

The Governour thereupon acquainted the Indians that