Bladensburgh, August 1, 1775.

GENTLEMEN: It is with unspeakable grief that I think of my hasty inconsiderateness, in writing what I ought not to have wrote, on the 18th of June, to two young men of my acquaintance, and am especially uneasy to find, from my letter, that I have used expressions which might affect others, when, in truth, I intended no such thing. My apprenticeship being out in this country, I intended, according to my father’s inclination, to have gone to Britain, after assisting Mr. Henderson through the purchase, and I thought of nothing less than mustering in this country; but seeing him fond of it, and that it was generally done, I went into the company, but intended to go to my parents; and having no property to fight for here, I never had the least notion of enlisting to fight, because that would have obliged me to stay here, contrary to my father’s inclination. I am induced to address this letter to you, because I have observed that an acknowledgment in writing is always required by the Committees from people who are guilty of such imprudence as I have been guilty of. My serious sentiments are not against the rights of the country: and I truly believe, that if the people in general in Great Britain were allowed to consider coolly the reasons set forth by the Congress, and were well informed of the oppressions of the Ministry, they would not be against America. I cannot now show my serious sentiments, having so inconsiderately got the ill will of my best friends by a letter which I never read over, nor kept a copy of, unless by carrying home with me the arguments of the Congress, and doing my poor endeavours to have them more generally understood at home than they seem to be by the people in general there. Upon the whole, I commit myself to you, and entreat you to meet immediately, not doubting but you will make charitable allowances for the inconsiderateness of youth; and am, gentlemen, your very humble servant,

GEORGE MUNRO.

To the Gentlemen of the Committee of Bladensburgh.

Resolved, That this Committee do adjourn to Monday, the 7th day of this instant.

RICHARD HENDERSON TO COLONEL JOSHUA BEALL.

Bladensburgh, August 2, 1775.

SIR: The letters which Mr. Johnson, the Adjutant, brought, were read at the head of the Company on Monday, according to your orders; and the question being put on Tuesday, for every man who would risk his life in defence of American liberty to repair to the colours, every man present made up to them.

Mr. Munro was put under arrest on Monday, because none of the Company would agree to see him forthcoming, as I was greatly provoked on reading a letter from one of my family, containing sentiments so different from mine; but I was prevailed on afterwards to become answerable for his appearance before the Committee, who were to meet the next day.

When I was employed with the Company on Tuesday, a great body of people came into the Town with loaded arms, and expressed a resolution to tar and feather him, whatever might be the determination of the Committee; and a lean horse was also brought, upon which he was to be set and drummed through the Town. This so frightened the young man that, he got one of the horses belonging to the store, and rode off in such haste that he carried away the key of the money drawer. As soon as it was known that he had gone off, two gentlemen were immediately appointed by the people out of doors to ride after him and bring him back, who were supplied with money and horses at my expense.

The question then with the people out of doors arose, what was to be done with me; and with great difficulty, after I had offered to do every thing that I could possibly do, they consented that the Committee should allow me till Monday next to get Mr. Munro back.

I am sure, Colonel Beall, no person who knows me can harbour the smallest suspicion that I am an enemy to America, where I have so many children and all my property. My sentiments I never concealed, they have invariably been the same, and ever friendly to America.

On Monday next our Committee are again to meet. I have every reason to expect that a great concourse of people will assemble on the occasion. Mr. Munro’s return is uncertain, and I, an innocent man, may be a victim of their resentment. In these times of general distress, it will, I hope, appear to the Convention to be necessary to prescribe some certain rules to be observed by the people, who ought, surely, for the sake of order, to be directed by the Committees, as the Committees at the same time ought to be by the Convention.

I flatter myself that my conduct hath ever been such that I have the general esteem of most in the circle of my acquaintance; yet I know I am not without enemies. As this matter of Mr. Munro’s will spread far over the country, and many may hear that I am answerable for him, nay, perhaps, that I am myself guilty of some enmity to America, I think it incumbent upon me to have this letter printed, and also the copy of a letter which I wrote to Mr. Corbett, who had been my assistant, dated July 30th, 1774, and which Mr. Charles Wallace, of Annapolis, saw at my house, and approved of last winter, in order that the publick in general, as well as my friends and acquaintances, may be satisfied with regard to my conduct concerning the present unnatural and unhappy dispute between the Mother Country and her Colonies.

The immediate necessity of the Convention’s coming to some determination relative to the present case, I hope will appear evident to the gentlemen there. Their determinations, and the opinions of the Committees, together with the rules of the Congress, I hold it my indispensable duty, as a friend to the cause of America, strictly to observe, without either falling short of, or going beyond those rules.

I am, Sir, your very humble servant,

RICHARD HENDERSON.

To Colonel Joshua Beall.

RICHARD HENDERSON TO CUNNINGHAM CORBETT.

Bladensburgh, July 30, 1774.

DEAR SIR: I wrote you what I thought would be the consequence of the act for blockading Boston; and now since the second act, destroying the Charter of Massachusetts-Bay, and the third, giving new powers in favour of the military, there is an amazing union of sentiment, from South-Carolina to New-England, as to the principle; but the means of obtaining relief are to be settled by a Congress of the first patriots, deputed from all the Colonies, to meet early in September, at which I should not be surprised to see all commercial intercourse with Britain stopped. Importation from Britain will assuredly be stopped, either wholly or very nearly so; but every honest heart is shocked at the ruin which a non-importation would bring on individual traders in Britain, who have put faith in us. Yet even this measure has many publick advocates, and I believe many more private ones, and it will assuredly take place, as the dernier resort, before the Americans will yield their rights. You know something of the disposition that rules the people here. As you go Northward, they are not less zealous, but more steady. And it is to be wished that those who attempt to give law to this Country, had correspondents among that set of men whom we call the country gentlemen of America, to correct the advices which they receive from other quarters. These men have ideas of liberty resembling the old English ideas. They have always hitherto been, as King Alfred said the English ought to be, free as their own thoughts. Indeed, even our commonalty have never been used to stand in awe of rank and station. They are a well-informed, reasoning commonalty too, perhaps the most of any on earth, because of the free intercourse between man and man that prevails in America. Their free access to courts, of law, as parties and jurors, where they hear the rights of the subject nobly debated; their frequent and free elections, which give occasion for candidates to scan each other’s principles and conduct before the tribunal of the people, together with the freedom and general circulation of newspapers, and the eagerness and leisure of the people to read them, or to listen to those who do. In such a country it is plain that the sentiments of the ablest patriots soon become the general sentiments. Our ancestors, say they, with a view of enlarging, not of diminishing the rights of their posterity, emigrated to a waste country, then useless, stipulating allegiance to the Crown, and coincidence of laws with those

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