We profess the same passion for freedom, the same steady adherence to our just and legal rights, which is pretended to be the object in pursuit by the advocates for nominal liberty and real licentiousness; but we know not, nor expect any true liberty except under the guardianship of the laws; and we know not, and hope never to know, any other guardians of the laws than our Sovereign and his two Houses of Parliament.

That the deluded and unthinking many are (as is usual in such cases) misled and deceived by the designing and ambitious few, we are fully persuaded; and that the former may have their eyes opened, their errours removed, and (then) their faults forgiven, and the latter be brought to speedy repentance, or to their deserved punishment, we earnestly pray.

Our prayers and our hearts are, alas, all we have to offer to your Majesty; but these, because sincere, will by you, Sire, not be disdained.

May the present disturbance be the only one that shall ever disquiet your royal and benevolent mind. May it be short as the transient storm, and be succeeded by an unruffled calm, a long and glorious sunshine. May all your subjects, both at home and abroad, be duly sensible of the blessings we enjoy under your just and gentle rule; and may they express their grateful sense of those blessings by unfeigned piety towards their God, and undissembled loyalty to their King. May your Majesty’s enemies (who, if your subjects, are enemies to their Country) “be clothed with rebuke, with shame and dishonour; but upon your own royal head, and on those of your posterity, may your crown flourish till all human empire shall be no more.”

R. SODOR & MAN;
W. MYLREA, Archdeacon;
JA. WILKS, Vicar-General and Rector of Ballaugh;
JOH. MOORE, Vicar-General and Vicar of the Arbory;
TH. CUBBON, Official and Vicar of Kirk Maughold;
PHILIP MOORE, Rector of Kirk Bride;
EV.CHRISTIAN, Ep. Reg. and Vicar of Kirk Patrick;
WM. CLUCAS, Domestick Chaplain to Lord Bishop;
JOHN CHRISTIAN, Vicar of Kirk Marown;
CHARLES CREBBIN, Vicar of St. Anne’s;
ROBERT QUAYLE, Curate of Douglas;
THO. W. J. WOODS, Vicar of Kirk Braddan;
THOMAS QUAYLE, Vicar of Kirk Onchan;
SAMUEL GELL, Vicar of Louan;
THOS. CASTLEY, Chaplain to the Governour;

In the name of themselves and the rest of the Clergy of the Diocese.

Poelo-Town, Isle of Man, October 23, 1775.

ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF KEYS, REPRESENTING THE ISLE OF MAN.

Address of the House of Keys, representing the Isle of Man, transmitted to the Earl of Suffolk, one of His Majesty’s principal Secretaries of State, and presented to His Majesty.

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty.

Most Gracious Sovereign:

We, your Majesty’s most loyal subjects, the House of Keys, representing the Isle of Man, humbly beg leave to approach your Majesty’s throne with this our dutiful Address, sensible of the blessings we enjoy under your Majesty’s Government. We are desirous to express our loyalty and affection to your Majesty’s person, and our utter detestation of all traitorous conspiracies and rebellion, and especially at this critical juncture, when an unnatural rebellion has been raised in some of your Majesty’s Colonies, and encouraged and abetted by wicked and designing men.

We not only lament the delusion of those unhappy people, but think it our duty, as loyal subjects and well-wishers to our happy Constitution, openly to declare our abhorrence of such misdoings.

We trust in your Majesty’s wisdom, that every means will be used to bring them to a proper sense of the allegiance which they owe to your Majesty, and the power which has protected and preserved them; and we are confident your Majesty will exert that power with lenity. And we most fervently pray that Divine Providence may so prosper your Majesty’s benevolent intentions, that your mistaken and deluded subjects in America may see their errours, and become once more happily united under your Majesty’s constitutional Government; and that the blessings derived to us from your Majesty’s august family may continue, and be handed down to our latest posterity.

Dated at our House in Castletown, the 23d day of Ocber, 1775.

Tower of London, October 23, 1775.

This morning, between nine and ten, Mr. Stavely, of Half Moon Street, Piccadilly, and Mr. Mann, of Queen Anne Street, Westminster, (both King’s Messengers,) attended by a Constable, repaired to the house of Stephen Sayre, Esq., in Oxford Street. As an excuse to obtain an interview with Mr. Sayre, they said that a forged draft, for two hundred Pounds, had been issued by the bank of which Mr. Sayre is a proprietor. Mr. Sayre appeared, and they acquainted him that “they had an order, signed by Lord Rochford, one of the Secretaries of State, to take him into custody,on a charge of high treason; and to search for, seize, and carry with them, such of his papers as they might deem effectual for their purpose.”

Mr. Sayre heard the summons with composure, and obeyed. Conscious of his innocence, he smiled at the heinousness of the charge; and, in a perfect reliance on his own integrity, he permitted them to examine and to take such papers as they thought proper.

Mr. Sayre expressed his readiness to accompany them to Lord Rochford’s house, having previously despatched a servant to Mr. Reynolds, requiring his attendance with the utmost expedition. The King’s Messengers conducted Mr. Sayre to Lord Rochford, who had Sir John Fielding with him.

An information from one Richardson, an Adjutant of the Guards, was read. The charge contained in this information was to the following purport:

“That Stephen Sayre, Esq., had expressed to him, the said Richardson, an intention of seizing the King’s person, as His Majesty went, on Thursday, to the Parliament House; also, an intention of taking possession of the Tower, and of overturning the present Government.”

After this information had been read, Mr. Sayre replied, that, in the course of conversation with Mr. Richardson, he had expressed himself very freely concerning the .unhappy and destructive contest now depending in America, &c.; &c.; and that he concluded this conversation by saying, he feared there was not spirit enough in this Country to bring about a total change of men and measures; but that as to any plan or intention about seizing the person of the King, or any expression which could be construed into such intention, he totally and utterly denied.

Mr. Sayre then begged his Lordship’s leave to make an observation or two upon the matter. He observed, that had there been any such plan under consideration, Mr. Richardson should, if in his senses, have concealed his resolution of divulging it, until some further steps were taken; that by a little delay, Mr. Richardson, in case the design had been real, must have been furnished with a thousand corroborating circumstances. But, says Mr. Sayre, I perceive there is a dangerous disposition, which gives high encouragement to informers, and marks Government as unfavourable to liberty, whether their information proves well grounded or not.

His Lordship very fairly acquiesced in those sentiments, and made a very handsome apology that he should be under a necessity of giving attention to the business.

Mr.Sayre was about to enter more largely into the futility of the charge, when it was announced to Lord