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family, and Government; that we contemplate with the highest veneration your many royal virtues; that we entertain a most grateful sense of the blessings we derive from your administration; and that we yield to none of our fellow-subjects in zeal for the laws, liberties, and Constitution of Great Britain. Satisfied as we are that the honour and safety of these your Kingdoms, and of every part of this great Empire, depend on a due subordination of the whole to the supreme legislative authority of Great Britain, constitutionally vested in your Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament, we are filled with astonishment and horrour to see a most audacious spirit of opposition to that supreme authority prevail among so many of our fellow-subjects in America. When we consider this unprovoked and unnatural rebellion as the effect of blind rage in a deluded multitude, seduced to their ruin by the falsehoods and sophistries of designing and desperate men, we cannot but pity their infatuation, and lament its consequences. But we should belie our own hearts, and be wanting in duty to our fellow subjects, as well as to the best of Sovereigns, if we did not declare, before the world, that we hold all such traitorous proceedings, and all their abetters, in utter abomination; that we do most heartily approve of those measures which your Majesty has been pleased to take for vindicating the authority of the laws, the honour of your crown, and the rights of your people; and that, reposing with full confidence on your royal wisdom and paternal care, we hope and earnestly pray that the steady prosecution of the same vigorous measures may soon restore peace to America, and diffuse prosperity and gladness through every part of the British Dominions. As we know that your Majesty has nothing so much at heart as the good of your subjects, and as nothing could make us so happy as to be instrumental in communicating any degree of pleasure to the father of his Country, we beg leave to inform your Majesty that turbulence and sedition are crimes unknown to this City and Province; that our trade and manufactures are flourishing; and that our people are industrious, peaceable, and loyal. It is our daily and earnest prayer, that the Divine Providence may bless your Majesty with length of days, and with all imaginable felicity, both here and hereafter; and that your descendants, ever ambitious to imitate your illustrious example, may sway the British sceptre to the latest generations. Signed in name, in presence, and by appointment of the Magistrates and Town Council of Aberdeen, in Council convened, at Aberdeen, the nineteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five. ADAM DUFF, Provost. ADDRESS OF THE BURGH OF AYR. Address of the Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council of the Burgh of Ayr, presented to His Majesty by the Right Honourable Sir George Macartney, Knight of the Bath, their Representative in Parliament. To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty. The humble Address of the Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council of your ancient Royal Burgh of AYR, in Common Council assembled. Most Gracious Sovereign: We, your Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, beg leave unanimously to express our sentiments of gratitude for the many blessings we have enjoyed under your mild Government, ever since your happy accession to the throne. Being thus sensible of our own happiness, it is with horrour and detestation that we behold the standard of Rebellion erected in so many of your American Provinces, and an unnatural war carried on by your subjects there, against their lawful Sovereign and Mother Country, after the greatest marks of lenity and condescension have been shown to them, by your Majesty and the Parliament of Great Britain. We sincerely lament the present situation of these unhappy and deluded people, who, instead of enjoying liberty, law, justice, and property, as formerly, are now governed by the mob and rabble, headed by mad enthusiasts and desperate Republicans, We beg leave to assure your Majesty, that we, and the inhabitants of this Burgh, whom we represent, are ready to support, with our lives and fortunes, all such measures as shall be judged necessary, by your Majesty and Parliament, to put a speedy end to this unnatural rebellion, and to disappoint the seditious practices of a discontented faction at home, who appear to us to have greatly encouraged and instigated the rebellion of the Americans. That Almighty God may bless your Majesty’s councils, give success to your arms; that a speedy peace and reconciliation may take place among all your subjects, and the further effusion of human blood be prevented; that you may have a long and prosperous reign, over a free and happy people—is our sincere prayer. Signed in name and by appointment of the Magistrates and Town Council of the Burgh of Ayr, in Common Council assembled, this nineteenth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy five. JAMES HUTCHISON, Provost. ADDRESS OF THE FREEHOLDERS OF THE COUNTY OF LINLITHGOW. Address of the Noblemen, Gentlemen, Freeholders, and others, of the County of Linlithgow, presented to His Majesty by Sir William Augustus Cunynghame, Baronet, their Representative in Parliament. To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty. The humble Address of the County of Linlithgow. Most Gracious Sovereign: We, your most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Noblemen, Gentlemen, Freeholders, and others, of the County of Linlithgow, most humbly beg leave to lament the unhappy disturbances occasioned by the Rebellion raised by some of your Majesty’s subjects in America; to declare our detestation and abhorrence of these and all other attempts against your Government; our entire confidence in such measures as to your Majesty’s wisdom, and that of your Parliament, shall appear most prudent to quell the insurgents, restore peace to your dominions, and to maintain the necessary constitutional dependance of all your Colonies on the Mother Country; and that we are ready cheerfully to contribute all in our power to these desirable ends. Permit us to assure your Majesty of our inviolable attachment to your sacred person, family, and Government, and to offer our prayers for the long continuance of your auspicious reign, under which, by the blessing of Divine Providence, we enjoy every advantage derivable from our happy Constitution. In presence and by appointment of the meeting. Linlithgow, October 19, 1775. ROSEBERY. VIRGINIA COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. Williamsburgh, October 19, 1775. As the circumstances of the present times make it prudent to guard against the consequence of intelligence to the enemies of America, by means of certain evil disposed persons, who may travel through the Country for that purpose, the Committee of Safety do therefore earnestly recommend it to all Magistrates and other officers, civil and military, the members of the several Committees, and all others within this Colony, to be vigilant in examining all strangers and suspected persons whom they may find passing, and to stop such as do not give a proper account of their journey and employment. As Saltpetre is an article much wanted in America, the Committee of Safety earnestly recommend it to the planters of tobacco in this Colony to cut down and preserve all their tobacco suckers; and also to preserve the trash, stalks, and sweepings of their tobacco houses, which are found to be exceedingly useful in the production of that necessary article. By order of the Committee; JOHN PENDLETON, JUN., Clerk.
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