Laws which we conceive fraught with so much injustice, have been attempted to be enforced by equal cruelty; and whenever we thought ourselves at the height of our troubles, your Majesty’s Ministers have stretched their unhappy ingenuity to find out new methods of distress; and it is believed methods have been more than thought of, too shocking to human nature to be even named in the list of grievances sufferfed under a British King.

The goodness of God hath made your Majesty the father of a very numerous issue, on whom we place the pleasing hopes of a Protestant succession; but your Majesty’s arms in America now every day make mothers childless, and children fatherless. The blood of your subjects has been shed with pleasure, rather than with pity. For an act which amounted to no more, even under the worst construction, than an irregular zeal for constitutional liberty, and without any step taken to find out the supposed guilty persons, the capital of your American Dominions has been blocked up, deprived of its trade, and its poor of subsistence. Thousands, confessedly innocent, have been starved, ruined, driven from, or kept like prisoners in their own habitations; their cries and blood, innocently shed, have undoubtedly, and daily do reach His ears who hateth injustice and oppression.

Believe us, great Sir, America is not divided: all men (Crown officers not excepted) speak of these acts and measures with disapprobation; and if there has been some difference of opinion as to the mode of relief, the rigorous experiments which your Ministry thought fit to try on the Americans, have been the most effectual means to convince these of the iniquitous designs of your Ministry, and to unite them all as in a common cause.

Your Majesty’s Ministers, after introducing the demon of discord into your Empire, and driving America to the brink of despair, place all their dignity in measures obstinately pursued, because they were once wantonly taken. They hearkened to no information, but what represented Americans as rebels or cowards. Time will every day make it clearer how much they were infatuated and mistaken.

Too long, we must lament, have these men imposed on your paternal affection. Deign now, most gracious Prince, in their room, to hearken to the cries of your loyal and affectionate subjects of this extensive Continent; let the goodness of your own heart interpose between weak or wicked Ministers and millions of loyal and affectionate subjects; no longer let the sword be stained with the blood of your own children; recall your troops and fleets; and if any misunderstanding remains, let the Americans be heard, and justice and equity take place; let us be ruled according to the known principles of our excellent Constitution, and command the last shilling of our property, and the last drop of our blood in your service.

Uncertain as to the event of this our humble representation, it affords us a relief that we may, unrestrained, apply to the great and merciful Sovereign of the whole earth, who will not despise the prayer of the oppressed; and to him we most ardently pray, that the wicked being removed from before the King, the King’s Throne may be established in righteousness.

By order of the Congress at Savannah, this 14th day of July.

ARCH. BULLOCK, President.

THE LAW OF LIBERTY: A SERMON ON AMERICAN AFFAIRS, PREACHED AT THE OPENING OF THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS OF GEORGIA, BY JOHN J. ZUBLY, D. D.

JAMES ii. 12.—So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

There was a time when there was no King in Israel, and every man did what was good in his own eyes. The consequence was a civil war in the nation, issuing in the ruin of one of the tribes, and a considerable loss to all the rest.

And there was a time when there was a King in Israel, and he also did what was right in his own eyes, a foolish son of a wise father; his own imprudence, the rashness of his young counsellors, his unwillingness to redress the grievances of the nation, and the harsh treatment he gave to those who applied for relief, also brought on a civil war, and issued in the separation of the ten tribes from the house of David. He sent his treasurer to gather an odious duty or tribute, but the children of Israel stoned him that he died. And when he gathered one hundred and fourscore thousand men, that he might bring again the kingdom unto Rehoboam, God sent him a message, “Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren; return every man to his house, for this thing is done of me.” God disapproved of the oppressive measures and ministry of Rehoboam, and that King’s army appears more ready to obey the command of their God, than slay their brethren by orders of a tyrant. “They obeyed the voice of the Lord, and returned from going against Jeroboam.”—2 Chron x. 18. xi. 4.

The things that happened before are written for our learning. By comparing past times and proceedings with these that are present, prudence will point out many salutary and religious lessons. The conduct of Rehoboam verifies the lamentation of his father, “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child.”—Eccles. x. 16. A very small degree of justice and moderation might have preserved his kingdom, but he thought weapons of war better than wisdom. He hearkened not, neither to the people, nor to some of his more faithful counsellors; and the consequence was, that instead of enslaving the ten tribes who stood up for their liberty, God gave Judah to be servants to the King of Egypt, that they might learn the difference between his service and the service of the kingdoms of the nations. A people that claim no more than their natural rights, in so doing, do nothing displeasing unto God; and the most powerful monarch that would deprive his subject of the liberties of man, whatever may be his success, he must not expect the approbation of God, and in due time will be the abhorrence of all men.

In a time of publick and general uneasiness, it behooves both superiours and inferiours to consider. It is easy to extinguish a spark; it is folly to blow up discontent into a blaze. The beginning of strife is like the letting out of waters, and no man may know where it will end. There is a rule given to magistrates and subjects, which, if carefully attended to, would secure the dignity arid safety of both, but which, if not duly regarded, is usually attended with the worst consequences. The present, my hearers, will easily be allowed, is a day of trouble, and surely in this, day of adversity we ought to consider. When a people think themselves oppressed and in danger, nothing can be more natural than that they should inquire into the real state of things, trace their grievances to their source, and endeavour to apply the remedies which are most likely to procure relief; this I take to be the design of the present meeting of persons deputed from every part of the country. And as they have thought proper to open and begin their deliberations with a solemn address unto God, and the consideration of his holy word, I most cheerfully comply with their request to officiate on this occasion, and shall endeavour, as I may be enabled, to point out such directions from the holy scriptures as may make us wise in the knowledge of time, and direct us how to carry ourselves worthy of the character of good subjects and Christians. Whatever may be necessary for this purpose, I take to be comprehended in the apostolical rule, which I have laid down as the subject of this discourse; “So speak, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.”

There are two things which properly come before us, viz:

First, That we are to be judged by the law of liberty; and

Second, The exhortation to act worthy, and under the influence of this important truth on every occasion.

A law is a rule of behaviour, made under proper authority, and with penalties annexed suitable to deter the transgressions. As all laws suppose man to be in a social state, so all laws ought to be made for the good of man. A law that is not made by such as have authority for so doing, is of no force; and if authority makes laws destructive in themselves, no authority can prevent things from finally taking their natural course.

Wherever there is society there must also be law; it is impossible that society should subsist without it. The will, minds, tempers, dispositions, views, and interests of men are so very different, and sometimes so opposite, that without law, which cements and binds all, every thing would be in endless disorder and confusion. All laws usually wear the complexion of those by whom they were made; but it cannot be denied that some bad men, from a sense

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