for the more effectual assistance and defence of any part of the country most exposed to danger; and they shall, moreover, have full power and authority to call forth into actual service any Detachments or Companies of Minute-Men, or any parts of the Militia from any District or County within this Colony, having regard to the convenience and vicinity of such District or County to the place of immediate danger, and also to the internal security of such District or County. And if any Companies of Minute-Men or Militia shall be called out, pursuant to the power given the chief Commanding Officer or other Officers, the said Committee shall and may judge and determine on the necessity or propriety of making such draughts, and give such orders, as to discharging or continuing them in service, as to the said Committee shall seem most expedient and necessary for the advantage and security of the publick.

And be it further ordained, That in case of any extraordinary exigency, the said Committee shall have power to call in any assistance that may be necessary, and can be procured, from either of the neighbouring Colonies; and, if required by such Colonies as may be exposed to danger, shall likewise have power to send them any assistance from this country that can be conveniently spared.

Provided, always, That the Militia at large of any County shall not be called into actual service, except in cases of the most urgent and imminent danger, nor continued, on any pretence whatever, longer on duty than their places can be supplied by Minute-Men, to be drawn from the most convenient Districts. And all chief and commanding officers, as well of the Regulars as of the Minute-Men and Militia, shall, and they are hereby required to pay strict obedience to such orders as they shall from time to time receive from the said Committee of Safety; and if any chief or other commanding officer shall refuse or neglect so to do, the said Committee shall make a full report of such misconduct to the next Convention.

And whereas, till the Forces are raised and embodied, it may be necessary, to the security of the Country, that the Militia and Volunteer Companies should be called into service, Be it further ordained, That the said Committee of Safety shall have full power and authority to call into service, in cases of danger, to be judged of by the said Committee, so many Volunteer Companies, and such parts of the Militia, as they may think necessary for the defence and security of any part of the Country, and shall appoint some fit and able person or persons to command the same, as need may require. And the said Volunteers and Militia shall be entitled to, and receive the same allowances as are appointed for the Militia in other cases.

And in order to obtain the most authentick intelligence in all matters of importance, and to avoid false alarms, Be it further ordained, That the Committee of Safety shall keep up a correspondence with the Committees of the several Counties and Corporations, the Commanding Officers, as well of the Regulars as the Minute-Men, and shall have full power to appoint a sufficient number of look-outs and advice boats, at proper stations, and to engage necessary expresses, in different parts of the Country, to be in constant readiness to set out on the shortest notice, and shall issue their warrants, from time to time, to the Treasurer, for paying the same.

And the said Committee of Safety shall cause all their proceedings and transactions to be fairly entered in a book or books, to be provided at the publick expense for that purpose, which shall be laid before the next Convention, to whom the said Committee shall be accountable for their conduct touching the premises, in every respect whatever. And each Member of the said Committee shall receive for his trouble and expenses in discharging the duties of his office, and the important trust hereby reposed in him, such reasonable allowance as may be thought fit by the General Convention.

And for the better security of the Publick Treasury and Publick Records in the different parts of the Country, Be it further ordained, by the authority aforesaid, That the Committee of Safety shall, in case of apparent danger, have full power to cause the said Treasury and Records to be removed, at the publick expense, to such place or places of safety as they shall think fit and necessary.

Whereas it is provided, by an Ordinance passed this Convention for raising a number of men for the protection of this Colony, that several Officers shall be appointed by District Committees, composed of Deputies from different Counties; and whereas, from the usual method of conducting the business of Committees, the Chairmen are not allowed to vote on any question, except in cases where the other Members are equally divided in opinion, which in this instance may be attended with inconvenience: Be it ordained, That in all appointments of officers by a District Committee, the Chairman of such Committee shall have equal right to vote in common with the other Members, though they should not be equally divided; and in case it should happen that the whole Committee, including the Chairman, is equally divided, the matter shall be fairly represented by the District Committee to the Committee of Safety, who shall have full power to determine the election in favour of such of the candidates as they may think fit, and grant their commission accordingly.

And be it further ordained, That the said Committee of Safety shall have power, and they are hereby desired, to collect together all the Arms lately taken away from the Publick Magazine, and all other Arms purchased at the publick expense, at some place most convenient for that purpose, and, that they repay the expense incurred by repairing the same; and also all such Ammunition and warlike Stores as are now the publick property in this Colony, or may hereafter be purchased on the publick account, and dispose of such Arms, Ammunition, and Stores, as they shall judge most conducive to the safety of this Colony, until the further order of this or some other Convention.

And be it further ordained, That any person who shall hereafter accept of any office of profit or pecuniary appointment under the Crown, shall be disqualified from sitting or voting in the Committee of Safety; and no Member of the Committee of Safety shall hold any military office whatever, after the end of the present session of the Convention. And that the said Committee of Safety shall continue in office, and exercise the powers hereby given them, until the sitting of the next General Convention, or for one year, in case the Convention should not meet within that time.

IV. An Ordinance for regulating the election of Delegates and ascertaining their allowances, and also for regulating the election of Committee-Men in the several Counties and Corporations within this Colony, and for other purposes therein mentioned.

Whereas, by the unhappy differences subsisting between Great Britain and this Colony, the usual meetings of the General Assembly, deliberations on the situation of the Country, and making provision for the exigencies of Government in a constitutional way, are altogether obstructed: for these reasons it is become indispensably necessary for the oppressed people of this Country, at a crisis so alarming, to adopt such other mode of consulting and providing for the general safety, as may seem most conducive to that great end:

2. Therefore, be it declared and ordained, by the Delegates of the several Counties and Corporations in the Colony of Virginia, assembled in General Convention, and it is hereby declared and ordained, That the Freeholders of every County within this Colony, who are by law properly qualified to vote for Burgesses, shall have the liberty and privilege of choosing annually two of the most fit and able men, being Freeholders of such County, respectively, to be present, and to act and vote in all General Conventions, which from time to time, and at any time thereafter, shall be held within this Dominion; and, also, that the Freeholders of the several and respective Corporations, and Town of James City, and others by law qualified to vote for a Citizen or Burgess, shall have the liberty of electing one Delegate, to be present, and to act and vote in the General Convention; and the Landholders of the District of West-Augusta shall be considered as a distinct County, and have the liberty of sending two Delegates to represent them in General Convention as aforesaid.

3. And for the more regular and proper electing the said Delegates, It is hereby declared and ordained, That the following rules and methods shall be observed, to wit; The elections of Delegates in the several Counties and Corporations, and the Town of James City, within this Colony, shall be in the month of April annually, on the several