I find nothing in them upon the present subject; nor do I know whether the liberty of wearing your sword was given or taken. But I flatter myself, that when you come to consider all circumstances, you will save me the trouble of giving any positive directions. You will easily conceive how much more grateful a compliance with the wishes of the people, among whom your residence may be longer than you expect, will appear, when it is the result of your prudence and good sense, rather than of a determination from me. I therefore should be unwilling to deprive you of an opportunity of cultivating their esteem by so small a concession as this must be.

As I suppose your several letters to me have been communicated to others, I cannot forbear considering your conduct in declaring, in a high tone, “that, had you joined your Regiment, you would have acted vigorously against this Country, and done all in your power to reduce it,” as a deviation from the line of propriety and prudence which I should have expected to distinguish the conduct of so old and experienced an officer. Your being so entirely in our power may extinguish the resentment which a generous and enlightened mind would otherwise feel. But I cannot commend the conduct which puts such a mind to the trial.

I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

GENERAL WASHINGTON TO BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOSEPH SPENCER.

Head Quarters, September 26, 1775.

SIR: I have perused and considered a petition, or rather a remonstrance, directed to you, and signed by several Captains and Subalterns, on the appointment of Mr. Huntington to the lieutenancy of Captain Chester’s Company.

The decent representation of officers, or even of common soldiers, through the channel of their Colonel, or other superiour officers, I shall always encourage and attend to; but I must declare my disapprobation of this mode of associating and combining, as subversive of all subordination, discipline, and order.

Should the proper officers refuse or neglect to receive their complaints, an immediate application to their general officer would be proper. Much as I disapprove the mode of opposition to this gentleman, I disapprove the opposition itself still more. To yield to it would be in effect to surrender the command of the Army to those whose duty it is, and whose honour it ought to be, to obey. Commissions should be ever the reward of merit, not of age; and I am determined never to put it out of the proper power to reward a deserving, active officer, whatsoever may be his standing in the Army, or the pretensions of those who have no other merit than that of having been born or enlisted before him.

In an army so young as ours, the claims arising from real service are very few, and the accidental circumstance of obtaining a commission a month or two sooner, can, with no reasonable person, claim any superiour regard, or make such a scrutiny of any consequence. This Army is supported by the whole Continent; the establishment is entirely new. All Provincial customs, therefore, which are different in different Provinces, must be laid out of the question. The power which has established, and which pays this Army, has alone the right to judge who shall command in it, from the General to the Ensign. To put it into any other hands would be a high breach of my trust, and would give birth to such factions and cabals as must soon end in the dissolution of the Army, and the ruin of our Country.

As no objections are made to Mr. Huntington’s character, nor any other reason assigned, than his not rising by gradation, I can make no alteration in his appointment. At the same time I declare, that 1 shall upon all occasions pay a proper respect to long service, and, as far as lies in my power, give it all the preference which is consistent with the welfare of the Army and the duties of my station. I make no doubt, therefore, when these and all other officers (who, in such cases, are both parties and judges) divest themselves of prejudice and partiality, they will cheerfully acquiesce in such appointments as are made, and manifest their sincere attachment to their Country, and the great cause in which we are engaged, by a ready and hearty obedience to all orders and rules judged necessary for the general interest.

I am Sir, &c.,

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

CONFESSION OF TYLER DIBBLE:

Stamford, September 26, 1775.

Whereas I, the subscriber, have given offence to the publick, by opposing in publick Town-Meeting the appointment of a Committee of Inspection and Observation in this Town, and also by drawing a paper calculated to disunite its inhabitants; and being sensible of my misconduct and inadvertency, I do, in this publick manner, humbly acknowledge my faults in so doing, and ask forgiveness of my bleeding Country, and all whom I have offended, and do solemnly promise and declare, that I will exert myself to the utmost in defence of my Country, in opposition to the Ministerial Troops sent into this Country to dragoon us into slavery; and, furthermore, do promise to yield a strict adherence to the Continental Association, or any farther recommendations coming from that honourable body.

In testimony of my sincerity, I hereunto set my hand, consenting to have the foregoing confession inserted in the publick papers.

TYLER DIBBLE.

ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Court at St. James’s, the 27th day of September, 1775—present:

The King’s Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

Whereas His Majesty was pleased, by his Order in Council of the 23d day of August last, to prohibit the exportation out of this Kingdom into any parts beyond the seas, or carrying coastwise, any Gunpowder, or any sort of Arms or Ammunition, for and during the space of three months from the date of the said Order. And whereas His Majesty judges it necessary that the exportation of Saltpetre, or carrying the same coastwise, should be likewise prohibited during the said time: His Majesty doth, therefore, with the advice of his Privy Council, hereby order, require, prohibit, and command, that no person or persons whatsoever (except the Master-General, Lieutenant-General, or principal officers of the Ordnance for His Majesty’s service) do, at any time during the term limited by His Majesty’s aforementioned Order in Council of the 23d of August last, presume to transport into any parts out of this Kingdom, or carry coastwise, any Saltpetre, of ship or lade any Saltpetre on board any ship or vessel, in order to transporting the same into any parts beyond the seas, or carrying the same coastwise, without leave or permission in that behalf first obtained from His Majesty, or his Privy Council, upon pain of incurring and suffering the forfeiture and penalty inflicted by an act passed in the twenty-ninth year of his late Majesty’s reign, intituled “An Act to empower His Majesty to prohibit the exportation of Saltpetre, and to enforce the law for empowering His Majesty to prohibit the exportation of Gunpowder, or any sort of Arms and Ammunition, and also to empower His Majesty to restrain the carrying coastwise of Saltpetre, Gunpowder, or any sort of Arms or Ammunition.” And the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury, the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral of Great Britain, the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the Master-General of the Ordnance, and His Majesty’s Secretary at War, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain,

STEPH. COTTRELL.

ADDRESS OF THE TOWN OF BEVERLEY.

Address of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Town of Beverley, in the County of York, in Common Council assembled, transmitted to the Earl of Dartmouth, one of His Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, and presented to His Majesty,

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty.

The humble Address of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the Town of BEVERLEY, in the County of YORK, in Common Council assembled.

We, your Majestyfs’s most loyal and faithful subjects, the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of Beverley, in the County