ADDRESS OF THE CITY OF OXFORD.

Address of the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the City of Oxford, in the County of Oxford, presented to His Majesty by the Right Honourable Lord Robert Spencer, one of their Representatives in Parliament.

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty.

We, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Commonalty of the City of Oxford, in the County of Oxford, in Common Council assembled, should think ourselves failing in that duty which we owe to your Majesty, if, at a time when the greatest part of your BritishDominions have declared their loyalty to. your sacred person, we should remain in silence, without giving your Majesty the same assurances of our affection towards you, the same promises of supporting your just rights, and the same expressions of that indignation which we feel at the unnatural and rebellious spirit which now pervades the Continent of America.

We have observed, with the most sincere and heartfelt pleasure, that your Majesty has not been tempted to endanger the Constitution of Great Britain, by accepting the alluring offers of an unconstitutional increase of your prerogative.

We have observed, too, with the same satisfaction, that your Majesty has made every possible effort to put a stop to the effusion of blood, and to bring back your American subjects to their former obedience, without tainting the dignity of your crown, or hurting the safety of your realm. That part of your Majesty’s gracious speech, by which we are given to understand that your commissions, sent to America, contain in them a power of granting special or general pardons, and of receiving the submission of whole Provinces, confirms our ideas of your Majesty’s earnest desire of a reconciliation with your deluded Colonies.

We thought that America had reason to complain of the unconditional, unlimited right of taxation claimed by the Parliament of Great Britain, but as the grievance was, in our apprehension, redressed by a measure taken in the last session of Parliament, and as America has contemptuously rejected that redress, absolutely, even without making it a ground of treaty, we cannot but think that she entertains views totally inconsistent with the subordination which she, by every principle of right and sound policy, owes to the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain.

Confiding in your Majesty’s good intentions, in the firm resolution of your Ministers, in the steady support of your two Houses of Parliament, in the loyalty of your faithful subjects, and in that high spirit of this Nation, which in a just cause has always enabled her to surmount the greatest difficulties, we offer to your Majesty our most hearty assurances of supporting the rights of your crown, and of maintaining the legislative authority of your Parliament, in every part of your extended Dominions.

Given under our common seal, at our Council Chamber, in the City of Oxford, the sixth day of November, in the sixteenth year of your Majesty’s reign.

HENRICO COUNTY (VIRGINIA) COMMITTEE.

At a meeting of the Freeholders of Henrico County, on Monday, the 6th of November, 1775, for the purpose of electing a Committee, agreeable to ordinance of Convention, upon closing the ballot, a majority of votes appeared for the following gentlemen, viz: Peter Winston, Nathaniel Wilkinson, Turner Southall, Martin Burton, Samuel Price, Richard Adams, Joshua Storrs, Joseph Lewis, Daniel Price, John Hales, Thomas Pleasants, Reverend Miles Selden, Daniel Lawrence Hylton, Samuel Duval, Thomas Prosser, Abraham Cowley, David Bowles, Julius Allen, Richard Randolph, Doctor John Powell, and Isaac Younghusband, who are accordingly appointed a Committee as aforesaid. After which, fifteen members being present, formed a meeting.

Resolved, unanimously, That the Rev. Miles Selden be appointed Chairman to this Committee.

Resolved, That John Beckleybe appointed Clerk.

Resolved, unanimously, That no Provision, Fuel, or Naval Stores, be allowed to be water-borne, from this County, without the permission of the honourable Committee of Safety first had and obtained for that purpose.

Zachariah Rowland, who stood bound with Samuel Duval, gent., his security, in the penalty of one hundred Pounds, payable to the members of the last Committee, and their successors, upon condition of his complying with a resolution of the Committee made the 14th of October last, to prohibit his exporting a quantity of provision and fuel, shipped on board a vessel, of which he is part owner, from this County to Norfolk, or lower down James River than Jamestown, without the permission of the honourable Committee of Safety, this day appeared, and prayed an inquiry into his conduct upon that occasion, and that this Committee would bear testimony of the guilt or innocence thereof to the publick. He then produced an extract from the proceedings of the honourable Committee of Safety; also, a certificate under the hand of Colonel Patrick Henry; from which, and the testimony of Captain John Kerr, a witness who was sworn and examined, it appears that the said Zachariah Rowland waited upon the honourable Committee of Safety, to know their determination respecting his vessel; and that, upon finding they were of opinion that she ought not to proceed to Norfolk, with the said provisions and fuel, he sent different written messages to his partner, John Leonard, then on board the said vessel, at the mouth of Archer’s Hope Creek, apprizing him of the determination of that honourable body, and of their common danger, in case of a non-compliance therewith. It also appears, that all the said written messages reached the hands of the said John Leonard; and that, notwithstanding the same, and all the diligence and precaution the said Zachariah Rowland could make use of to prevent it, the vessel actually proceeded in the night time, with the said provision and fuel on board, to Norfolk, of which Mr. Rowland immediately gave information to the honourable Committee of Safety. It further appears, that, in a short time after, two tenders from the Navy came up to the mouth of Archer’s Hope Creekand seized two other vessels, which were in the same predicament with Mr. Rowland’s. Upon consideration of which, this Committee are unanimously of opinion, that the procedure of the said vessel as above-mentioned, contrary to the determination of the honourable Committee of Safety, was not done with the privity, knowledge, or consent, of the said Zachariah Rowland; but that he has done every thing in his power to comply therewith, and throughout the whole of his conduct upon that occasion manifested himself a real friend to the rights and liberties of his Country. And the said Zachariah Rowland, and Samuel Duval, his security, are discharged from their recognizance abovementioned, which is hereby declared to be void.

By order of the Committee:

JOHN BECKLEY, Clerk.

VOLKERT P. DOUW TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS

[Road November 11, 1775.]

Albany, November 6, 1775.

SIR: This is to inform you that Mr. Deane (who was sent by the Commissioners to the Six Nations, to recapitulate to them what was said to them at the treaty here in Albany) is returned, and informs me that the Cayuga, Mohawk, and Senecas, who went with Colonel Johnson, are returned from Canada, and informed their brethren that they had taken up the hatchet against the Colonies, ’at the request of Colonel Johnson, in Canada, which their brethren, who had been on the treaty here, were much displeased with, and insisted that they should bring said hatchet to the Commissioners at Albany, to be buried; others were that they should bring back to Colonel Johnson. The majority were for its being brought to Albany, to the Commissioners; and they have let me know that, the latter end of the month, sixty or seventy of the chiefs will be here for that purpose, which will be attended with a considerable expense. And as I have no orders from the honourable Congress to lay out any money for their travelling expenses to and fro, I should be glad to have any directions from the honourable Board how to act, whether I am to lay out at my discretion, and to be accountable to the honourable Congress, or be limited to a certain sum; of which I shall be glad to be informed per bearer.

As the Commissioners, at the treaty here, recommended to the honourable Congress to send two blacksmiths in the