Dandridge, Mr. Banister, and Mr. Francis Lightfoot Lee, and they are to withdraw immediately.

Ordered, That the said written Message be referred to the said Committee.

Mr. Treasurer reported from the Committee that they had drawn up an Address accordingly, which they had directed him to report to the House; and he read the same in his place, and afterwards delivered it in at the Clerk’s table, where the same was read, and is as followeth, viz:

MY LORD: We, His Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the Council and the Burgesses of Virginia, assure your Excellency, that it is with the greatest concern we find that your Lordship, by your messages to them, entertains any suspicions of the personal security of yourself or family, as we can by no means suppose any of His Majesty’s subjects in this Colony would meditate a crime so horrid and atrocious as your Lordship seems to apprehend. We are fearful the step your Lordship hath taken, in removing from the Seat of Government, may conduce to a continuance of great uneasiness, which hath of late so unhappily prevailed in this Country. We cannot but express our concern that your Lordship did not think proper to communicate the ground of your uneasiness to us, as from our zeal and attachment to the preservation of order and good government, we should have judged it our indispensable duty to have endeavoured to remove every cause of disquietude. In proof of the great respect we shall ever pay to the representative of our most gracious Sovereign, and to remove, to the utmost of our power, your Lordship’s apprehensions, we assure your Lordship that we will cheerfully concur in any measure that may be proposed proper for the security of yourself and family. It is with much anxiety we consider the very disagreeable situation of your Lordship’s most amiable lady and family, and should think ourselves happy in being able to restore their perfect tranquillity, by removing all their fears.

We cannot, my Lord, but approve your intention of not giving the least interruption to the important affairs on which we are now assembled; and it is with much pleasure we receive your Lordship’s assurance of your disposition to establish that harmony, so essential to the repose and comfort of every individual; but we must beg leave to observe to your Lordship how impracticable it will be to carry on the business of the session, with any tolerable degree of propriety, or with that despatch the advanced season of the year requires, whilst your Lordship is so far removed from us, and so inconveniently situated. We therefore earnestly entreat your Lordship, that you will be pleased to return with your lady and family to the Palace, which we are persuaded will give the greatest satisfaction, and be the most likely means of quieting the minds of the people.

The said Address being read a second time,

Resolved, That the House doth agree with the Committee in the said Address to be presented to the Governour.

Ordered, That the gentlemen who drew up the said Address do go to, the Council, and acquaint them that this House have agreed to an Address to the Governour, to which they desire the concurrence of the Council.

A Message from the Council by Mr. Blair:

MR. SPEAKER: The Council have agreed to join with this House in their Address to the Governour; and, in consequence thereof, have made the necessary amendments, and have appointed two of their Members, to join with such of the Members of this House as may be appointed, to present the same to his Excellency.

Ordered, That the said Address be presented to his Excellency by Mr. Cary, Mr. Wood, Mr. Attorney General, and Mr. Braxton.

Friday, June 9, 15 Geo. III, 1775.

The Order of the Day being read, for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House, to take into their further consideration the Governour’s Speech,

The House 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 made a further progress in the matters referred to them, and that the Committee had directed him to move that they may have leave to sit again.

Resolved, That this House will to-morrow resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House, to take into their further consideration the Governour’s Speech.

Mr. Cary reported that two of His Majesty’s Council and the Members appointed by this House had, pursuant to the order of yesterday, presented to his Excellency the Governour on board His Majesty’s ship the Fowey, the Address of the Council and this House; and that he was pleased to say that, as the subject of their Address was of the utmost importance to the Colony, and to himself and his family, he would take time to consider of it, and would return an answer in writing after he had maturely deliberated upon its contents.

Saturday, June 10, 15 Geo. III, 1775.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House, to take into their further consideration the Governour’s Speech.

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 gone through the matter to them referred, and had come to a Resolution, which they had directed him to report when the House will please to receive the same.

Ordered, That the Report be now received.

Mr. Cary accordingly reported from the said Committee 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, to inform him that we have taken into our consideration the joint Address of the two Houses of Parliament, His Majesty’s Answer, and the Resolution of the Commons, which his Lordship has been pleased to lay before us. That wishing nothing so sincerely as the perpetual continuance of that brotherly love which we bear to our fellowsubjects of Great Britain, and still continuing to hope and believe that they do not approve the measures which have so long oppressed their brethren in America, we were pleased to receive his Lordship’s notification that a benevolent tender had at length been made by the British House of Commons towards bringing to a good end our unhappy disputes with the Mother Country; that next to the possession of liberty, we should consider such reconciliation the greatest of all human blessings. With these dispositions we entered into consideration of that Resolution; we examined it minutely; we viewed it in every point of light in which we were able to place it; and, with pain and disappointment, we must ultimately declare it only changes the form of oppression, without lightening its burden. That we cannot close with the terms of that Resolution for these reasons:

Because the British Parliament has no right to intermeddle with the support of Civil Government in the Colonies. For us, not for them, has Government been instituted here. Agreeable to our ideas, provision has been made for such officers as we think necessary for the administration of publick affairs; and we cannot conceive that any other legislature has a right to prescribe either the number or pecuniary appointments of our offices. As a proof that the claim of Parliament to interfere in the necessary provision for the support of civil government is novel and of a late date, we take leave to refer to an act of our Assembly, passed so long since as the thirty-second year of the reign of King Charles the Second, intituled “An Act for raising a publick revenue, and for better support of the Government of this His Majesty’s Colony of Virginia.” This act was brought over by Lord Culpepper, then Governour, under the great seal of England, and was enacted in, the name of the “King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the consent of the General Assembly.”

Because, to render perpetual our exemption from an unjust taxation, we must saddle ourselves with a perpetual tax, adequate to the expectations, and subject to the disposal of Parliament alone: whereas, we have a right to