A Message from the Governour by Mr. Blair:

MR. SPEAKER: I am commanded by the Governour to lay before this House his Excellency’s written Message in answer to your Address of this day. And he presented the same at the bar; and the said Message was read, and is as followeth, viz:

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses:

In answer to your address of this day, I assure the House, that my message, to which it alluded, was intended for proper information only, which I thought necessary; because as I would by no means infringe any rule of, or omit any ceremony due to your House, I could not expect but to be treated with the same attention; and to give you a proof of my desire to avoid every kind of controversy, I have ordered the keys of the Magazine to be delivered to the Committee appointed by your order of Monday.

DUNMORE.

Mr. Treasurer reported to the House that the Governour having been waited on, pursuant to the order of Monday last, to know his pleasure when he would be attended by this House, had been pleased to appoint to be attended tomorrow, at one of the clock in the afternoon, in the Council Chamber.

Mr. Treasurer reported to the House that their Address to the Governour of Monday last, desiring that he will be pleased to direct the proper officer to lay before this House the amount of tonnage of one shilling and three pence sterling, imposed on ships and vessels trading to this Colony from the year 1762, had been presented to his Excellency, and that he had directed him to acquaint the House that he would send an answer thereto by a messenger.

A Petition of William Fleming, of the County of Botetourt, was presented to the House and read, setting forth that, in the year 1755, the petitioner entered into the service of this Colony, and continued therein until the end of the war, in 1763, when the Virginia Regiment was disbanded; after which he supported himself and his family by the practice of surgery, until he was called out on duty the last year, under the command of Col. Andrew Lewis, Lieutenant of the said County, and marched, with the Troops there raised, against the Indian enemy on the frontiers where, in an engagement the tenth day of October, the Petitioner was wounded in the breast and left arm, so that he is unable to exercise his profession of a Surgeon; therefore praying the House to take his case into consideration and grant Him relief.

Ordered, That the said Petition be referred to the consideration of the Committee of Publick Claims, and that they do examine the matter thereof, and report the same, with their opinion thereupon, to the House.

Thursday, June 8, 15 Geo. III, 1775.

Mr. Cary reported from the Committee of Publick Claims, to whom the Petition of Abram Field, a soldier wounded in the late engagement with the Indians, was referred, that the Committee had examined the matter of the said Petition, and had come to a Resolution thereupon, which they had directed him to report to the House; and he read the Report in his place, and afterwards delivered it in at the Clerk’s table, where the Resolution of the Committee was read, and is as followeth, viz:

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee that the said Petition is reasonable, and that the Petitioner ought to be allowed the sum of Twenty Pounds for his present relief, and the further sum of Ten Pounds per annum during his life, as a recompense for the wound he received in the defence of this Colony.

The said Resolution being read a second time, was, upon the question put thereupon, agreed to by the House.

Resolved, That the sum of Twenty Pounds be paid to Abram Field, a Soldier wounded in the late Indian expedition, and that the sum of Ten Pounds per annum be paid to him during his life.

Ordered, That Mr. Cary do carry the Resolution to the Council, and desire their concurrence.

The Order of the Day being read,

Resolved, That this House will, to-morrow, take into their further consideration the Governour’s Speech.

A Message from the Council by Mr. Blair:

MR. SPEAKER: 1 am commanded by the Council to deliver to your House a written Message from his Excellency the Governour, which was by him communicated to the Council, to be by them sent to you; and he presented the same at the bar.

And then the Messenger withdrew.

The written Message from his Excellency was read, and is as followeth, viz:

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses:

Being now fully persuaded that my person and those of my family likewise, are in constant danger of falling sacrifices to the blind and unmeasurable fury which has so unaccountably seized upon the winds and understanding of great numbers of the people, and apprehending that at length some among them may work themselves up to that pitch of daringness and atrociousness as to fall upon me in the defenceless state in which they know I am in the City of Williamsburgh, and perpetrate acts that would plunge this Country into the most horrid calamities, and render the breach with the Mother Country irreparable, I have thought it prudent for myself, and serviceable for the Country, that I remove to a place of safety; conformable to which I have fixed my residence for the present on board His Majesty’s Ship the Fowey, lying at York.

It is not my intention to give the least interruption to the sitting of the Assembly, but I hope they will proceed in the great business which they have before; them with diligence and effect. I shall take care to make the access to me so easy and safe, that the necessary communication between me and the House may be attended with the least inconvenience possible; and I thought it would be more agreeable to the House to send to me, from time to time, some of their members, as occasion shall require, than to put all to the trouble of moving, to be near me.

I hope the House will see my proceedings on this occasion as they were really meant; and I beg them to be assured that I shall now be as ready to attend to all the duties of my office as I was before, and that I am perfectly disposed to contribute all in my power, if opportunity be given me, to restore that harmony, the interruption of which is likely to cost so dear to the repose, as well as to the comforts of every individual.

DUNMORE.

Ordered, That the said Message be referred to the consideration of a Committee of the whole House.

Resolved, That this House will now resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to consider of the said Message.

The House accordingly resolved itself into the said Committee.

Mr. Speaker left the chair.

Mr. Cary took the chair of the Committee.

Mr. Speaker resumed the chair.

Mr. Cary reported from the Committee that they had come to a Resolution, which they had directed him to report to the House when the House will please to receive the same.

Ordered, That the Report be now received.

Mr. Cary accordingly reported the Resolution which the Committee had directed him to report to the House; which he read in his place, and afterwards delivered in at the Clerk’s table, where the same was read, and is as followeth, viz:

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this Committee that an Address be presented to his Excellency the Governour, in answer to his written Message of this day, to represent to his Lordship the probable tendency of his removal from the Palace, and the propriety of his return: to assure his Excellency that we view with horrour every design that may be meditated against the person of his Lordship, his very amiable lady or family; promising one cheerful concurrence in any proper measure for their future safety.

The said Resolution being read a second time, was, upon the question put thereupon, agreed to by the House.

Ordered, That a Committee be appointed to draw up an Address to be presented to the Governour upon the said Resolution.

And a Committee was appointed of Mr. Treasurer, Mr. Mercer, Mr. Jones, Mr. Munford, Mr. Henry Lee, Mr.