The humble Address of the Mayor, Recorder, Sheriffs, Justices of the Peace, Burgesses, and Inhabitants of the Borough and Town of CARMARTHEN, whose names are hereunto subscribed.

We, your Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, impressed with a deep concern at the rebellious proceedings of our American fellow-subjects, beg leave to approach your sacred person with hearts filled with gratitude for the blessings we enjoy under your Majesty’s mild and equitable Government, and an utter abhorrence of measures tending to throw off a due dependance on our present happy Constitution. This we apprehend and dread is the real (though concealed) motive of the present disturbances fomented and carried on by them, in opposition to their Parent Country, and regardless of the many weighty obligations they owe to it. The melancholy consequences that may arise from their present illegal conduct, taken in every point of view, require us to express our wishes, that your Majesty’s Councils may form such plans as, by a proper exertion, may reduce to a just submission those deluded people now daring to appear in arms, to the great annoyance of the publick peace, and in defiance of the laws of this realm. We hereby promise and assure your Majesty of every effort in our power, that may be conducive to that great end, at the hazard of our lives and fortunes; praying that the Almighty may bless and prosper your Councils, and enable you speedily to restore tranquillity to every part of your Dominions.

Carmarthen, October 7, 1775.

London, October 23, 1775.

The late Address from Coventry, framed for the purpose of fomenting civil war, having been precipitately hurried through, as well as surreptitiously introduced, several of the principal inhabitants and manufacturers of that place thought it necessary to call a meeting, where the true sense of the people might be discovered.* Publick notice was given by the following advertisement:

“The publick are hereby most respectfully informed, that a meeting is intended to be held on Tuesday evening next, six o’clock, at the King’s Head, in order to consider of a dutiful, affectionate, and loyal address to His Majesty, upon the present alarming situation of affairs. As the business of this meeting will not be taken up on a partial, narrow, or contracted ground, but upon principles as generally extensive and important as its nature, therefore the attendance of every friend to His Majesty is most earnestly requested.

“Coventry, October 7, 1775.”

In consequence of this notice, a meeting was held on the 10th, which proved a very large one, where an humble Address and Petition were agreed to. It was signed by the worthy Lords Archer and Craven, and about four hundred other respectable freemen. Friday it was presented to His Majesty by Lord Craven, and most graciously received. The Marquis of Rockingham and the Duke of Portland were at Court. The Petition is as follows:

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty.

The humble Address and Petition of the principal Citizens, Inhabitants, Manufacturers, and Traders of the City of COVENTRY.

Most Gracious Sovereign:-

At a time when some parts of the Kingdom, and even a small number of our fellow-citizens, profess to hold principles so opposite to our own, when they are represented to your Majesty as the genuine and general sentiments of the people of England, and particularly of your loyal City of Coventry, (at all times distinguished for its zealous attachment to liberty and the illustrious House of Hanover,) we should be dead to every sense of feeling and honour, if we did not protest against such proceedings, and publickly avow our disapprobation of them.

In the present alarming crisis, to prostitute our consciences to hold the language of servile flattery and adulation would disgrace the characters of English freemen: we are called upon by the love of our Country, and by every tie of duty, to speak of things as they are; to carry truth to the foot of the throne.

When we look back upon the system of Colony administration within these few years adopted, when we observe the manner of its execution, we cannot attribute the resistance of America to the arts and designs of a few factious men, either at home or abroad; when we see a whole people, almost from north to south of that vast Continent, (which we claim,) firmly united in one mind, and determined to oppose a system which they think ruinous to their liberty, we are naturally led to believe that they act from principle, and in consequence of self-conviction.

If we look forward to the issue of this great contest, we see the fate of the British Empire determined. Our armies and our fleets (for what can withstand their valour?) may be triumphant; America may be laid low; but what laurels shall we reap by such a conquest? Either we shall have to govern a people submitting to temporary necessity, a distant Province watchful of an opportunity to throw off a galling yoke, or we shall completely triumph over and cut up by the root that gallant spirit of a free people, descendants of Britons, which has cherished them in their infancy, and, through the midst of dangers, brought them to their present state of manhood; that spirit, under which trade has flourished, and riches flowed in upon them and us. This, Sire, together with the alarming decline of our manufactures, and the starving condition of the poor, affords us the most melancholy prospect, and to your Majesty we fly for redress.

With great humility we supplicate your Majesty, in pity to your distressed and divided people, to interpose your wonted elemency, to stop the effusion of blood, to recommend to your Parliament to consider, with all due attention, the petition from America lately offered to be presented to the throne, which we firmly believe proposes the foundation of a temple of Concord, sacred to the mutual interests of Great Britain and America; interests which seem to have been joined together by the hand of Providence, and which no friend to your Majesty and this Country can wish to put asunder.

Coventry, October 10, 1775.

FINCASTLE (VIRGINIA) COMMITTEE.

At a Committee meeting held for Fincastle the 7th of October, 1775, present the following Members: Stephen Trigg, Chairman; William Preston, Thomas Madison, Arthur Campbell, William Campbell, William Russell, Walter Crockett, James McGavock, William Edmonston, Evan Shelby, and Daniel Smith.

The Committee being informed that Colonel William Christian hath accepted the appointment in the regular forces to be raised in this Colony, and of course hath vacated the several places he held in this County, it is therefore ordered, that the Chairman address him in the following terms:

“In justice to you, we declare that, as a Field-Officer in the Militia, our Representative in the honourable Convention, and Chairman of this Committee, you have justly obtained and deserved the esteem and confidence of the inhabitants of this County in general, and this Committee in particular; and, in each of these departments, you have, on all occasions, discovered the utmost impartiality and prudence; for which, together with the most exemplary zeal and attachment to the liberties of your Countiy, and your indefatigable industry in the service thereof, you merit and deserve our particular thanks. We therefore hope you will accept of this publick testimony of the grateful sense we entertain of your past services; and our warmest wishes that your future services may be attended with such success as will gain you the esteem of your Country in general, and this Colony in particular.”

The above was ordered to be transmitted to the publick printer, to be published.

STEPHEN TRIGG Chairman

* It is a little remarkable, that all the Addresses to the King, (of which there are many from the various dependants through the Kingdom,) to enforce the bloody measures against the Americans, are published in the Gazette, as news from St. James’s; but as for Petitions in favour of America, we see nothing of them from St. James’s. Such is the partiality of the bloody-minded British Court.— Md. Gaz.

*