think it advisable, that no soldier should be placed sentry over, or have any thing to do relative to the ammunition, but such as are known friends to the liberties of America.

I am, &c.

WM. H. DRAYTON,
Chairman of the Secret Committee.

To Colonel Moultrie.

In Provincial Congress, Charlestown, S.C., June 21, 1775.

Ordered, That the Honourable William Henry Drayton, the Honourable Captain Barnard Elliott, Colonel Charles Pinckney, Colonel James Parsons, Colonel Isaac Motte, Colonel Stephen Bull, Colonel William Moultrie, Major Owen Roberts, Captain Thomas Savage, Captain John Huger, Miles Brewton, Thomas Ferguson, and Gabriel Capres, Esquires, be a Deputation to present to his Excellency the Address of this Congress.

SOUTH-CAROLINA:

To His Excellency the Right Honourable Lord WILLIAM CAMPBELL, Governour and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Province aforesaid:

The humble Address and Declaration of the Provincial Congress:

We, His Majesty’s loyal subjects, the Representatives of the people of this Colony in Congress assembled, beg leave to disclose to your Excellency the true causes of our proceedings; not only that, upon your arrival among us, you may receive no unfavourable impression of our conduct, but that we may stand justified to the world.

When the ordinary modes of application for redress of grievances., and the usual means of defence against arbitrary impositions have failed, mankind generally have had recourse to those that are extraordinary. Hence the origin of the, Continental Congress, and hence the present representation of the people in this Colony.

It is unnecessary to enumerate the grievances of America; they have been so often represented, that your Excellency cannot be a stranger to them. Let it therefore suffice to say, that the hands of His Majesty’s Ministers, which have long lain heavy, now press us with intolerable weight. We declare, that no love of innovation, no desire of altering the Constitution of Government, no lust of independence, has had the least influence upon our councils. But, alarmed and roused by a long succession of arbitrary proceedings by wicked Administrations; impressed with the greatest apprehensions of instigated insurrections, and deeply affected by the commencement of hostilities by the British Troops against this Continent, solely for the preservation and defence of our lives, liberties, and properties, we have been impelled to associate and take up arms.

We sincerely deplore those slanderous informations and wicked counsels by which His Majesty has been led into measures: which, if persisted in, must inevitably involve America in all the calamities of civil war, and rend the British Empire. We only desire the secure enjoyment of our invaluable rights, and we wish for nothing more ardently than a speedy reconciliation with our Mother Country, upon constitutional principles.

Conscious of the justice of our cause, and the integrity of our views, we readily profess our loyal attachment to our Sovereign, his Crown and dignity; and trusting the event to Providence, we prefer death to slavery.

These things we have thought it our duty to declare, that your Excellency, and through you, our august Sovereign, our fellow-subjects, and the whole world, may clearly understand, that our taking up arms is the result of dire necessity, and in compliance with the first law of nature.

We entreat and trust, that your Excellency will make such a representation of the state of this Colony, and of our true motives, as to assure His Majesty that, in the midst of all our complicated distresses, he has no subjects in his wide dominions who more sincerely desire to testify their- loyalty and affection, or who would be more willing to devote their lives and fortunes in. his real service.

By order of the Provincial Congress at Charlestown:

HENRY LAURENS; President.

June 20, 1775.

The Deputation being returned, the Honourable Mr. Drayton reported, that they having delivered the Address to the Governour, his Excellency was pleased to make the following Answer:

GENTLEMEN: I know of no Representatives of the people of this Province, except those constitutionally convened in General Assembly, and am incompetent to judge of the disputes which at present unhappily subsist between Great Britain and the American Colonies.

It is impossible, during the short interval since my arrival, that I should have acquired such a knowledge of the slate of the Province as to be at present able to make any representation thereupon to His Majesty; but you may be assured, that no representations shall ever be made by me but what shall be consistent with truth, and with an earnest endeavour to promote the real happiness and prosperity of the Province.

WILLIAM CAMPBELL.

June 21, 1775.

Whereas, the inhabitants of Poole, a seaport in the English Channel, lost to all sense of honour, humanity, and gratitude, have, by their late Petition to Parliament, manifested themselves not only inimical to America, but desirous to add to the heavy oppressions under which the unfortunate and virtuous inhabitants of the four New-England Governments labour, in consequence of their laudable conduct in defence of the liberties of America, and of mankind: to testify our just resentment of so Base and cruel a conduct in the inhabitants of Poole, it is hereby

Resolved, That this Colony will not use or employ any shipping belonging to that Port, or owned by any inhabitant there, or carry on any transactions, or hold any communication with that people.

PETER TIMOTHY, Secretary.

FREDERICK COUNTY (MARYLAND) COMMITTEE.

At a meeting of the Committee of Observation of Frederick County, at the Court-House, on the twenty-first day of June, 1775,

JOHN HANSON, Esq., Chairman:

Resolved, That the Committee of Correspondence chosen by the people on the 24th day of January last, is the true and rightful Committee of Correspondence for Frederick County, and shall act as such until superseded by a new election.

That a Committee of Correspondence, conveniently situated, may be chosen for each District:

Resolved, That Messrs. Thomas Sprigg Wootten, Richard Thompson, John Murdock, Samuel William Magruder, and William Bailey, or any three of them, shall give notice to the people of the Lower District to meet at Mr. Charles Hungerford’s, on the 30th instant, to elect a Committee of Correspondence for said District, to consist of five members; that Messrs. John Hanson, Charles Beatty, Conrad Grosch, William Beatty, and Stephen Ramsburgh, or any three of them, shall give notice to the people of Frederick Town District to meet at the said Town on the 3d instant, to elect a Committee of Correspondence for the said District, to consist of five members; that Messrs. Samuel Beal, John Steele, Jacob Funk, Charles Swearingen, and William Beard, or any three of them, shall give notice to the people of Elizabeth Town District to meet at said Town, on the 1st instant, to elect a Committee of Correspondence for the said District, to consist of five members; that Messrs. Thomas Cresap, Thomas Warren, Moses Rawlings, Ezekiel Cox, and Thomas French, or any three of them, shall give notice to the people of Old Town District, to meet at the said Town on the 8th instant, to elect a Committee of Correspondence for the said District, to consist of five members; that returns of such elections shall be made at the next meeting of the Committee of Observation, and the gentlemen so to be. chosen shall be members of the Committee of Observation.

A Letter from the Delegates of Maryland, and a Resolve of the Congress enclosed therein, were read, requiring two Companies of expert Riflemen to be furnished by this County, to join the Army near Boston, to be there employed as Light-Infantry, under the command of the