acts of any man or set of men. Resort not, then, to the standard which Lord Dunmore has set up; and if any of you have been so far mistaken in your duty as to join him, fly from his camp, as an infected place, and speedily rejoin your virtuous suffering countrymen; for be ye well assured that the time will come when these invaders of the rights of human kind will suffer the punishment due to their crimes, and when the insulted and oppressed Americans will, if they preserve their virtue, triumph over all their enemies.

The second class of people, for whose sake a few remarks upon this Proclamation seem necessary, is the Negroes. They have been flattered with their freedom, if they be able to bear arms, and will speedily join Lord Dunmore’s troops. To none, then, is freedom promised, but to such as are able to do Lord Dunmore service. The aged, the infirm, the women and children, are still to remain the property of their masters—of masters who will be provoked to severity, should part of their slaves desert them. Lord Dunmore’s declaration, therefore, is a cruel declaration to the Negroes. He does not pretend to make it out of any tenderness to them, but solely upon his own account; and should it meet with success, it leaves by far the greater number at the mercy of an enraged and injured people. But should there be any amongst the Negroes weak enough to believe that Lord Dunmore intends to do them a kindness, and wicked enough to provoke the fury of the Americans against their defenceless fathers and mothers, their wives, their women, and children, let them only consider the difficulty of effecting their escape, and what they must expect to suffer if they fall into the hands of the Americans. Let them further consider what must be their fate should the English prove conquerors. If we can judge of the future from the past, it will not be much mended. Long have the Americans, moved by compassion and actuated by sound policy, endeavoured to stop the progress of slavery. Our Assemblies have repeatedly passed acts, laying heavy duties upon imported Negroes, by which they meant altogether to prevent the horrid traffick; but their humane intentions have been as often frustrated by the cruelty and covetousness of a set of English merchants, who prevailed upon the King to repeal our kind and merciful acts, little, indeed, to the credit of his humanity. Can it then be supposed that the Negroes will be better used by the English, who have always encouraged and upheld this slavery, than by their present masters, who pity their condition, who wish, in general, to make it as easy and comfortable as possible, and who would, were it in their power, or were they permitted, not only prevent any more Negroes from losing their freedom, but restore it to such as have already unhappily lost it? No; the ends of Lord Dunmore and his party being answered, they will either give up the offending Negroes to the rigour of the laws they have broken, or sell them in the West-Indies, where every year they sell many thousands of their miserable brethren, to perish either by the inclemency of weather or the cruelty of barbarous masters. Be not then, ye Negroes, tempted by this Proclamation to ruin yourselves. I have given you a faithful view of what you are to expect, and declare, before God, in doing it, I have considered your welfare, as well as that of the Country. Whether you will profit by my advice I cannot tell; but this I know, that whether we suffer or not, if you desert us you most certainly will.

Williamsburgh, November 30, 1775.

Let no man be dismayed at being proclaimed a Rebel; let every such person know, that Lord Dunmore has no, right to declare any man so who has not been legally convicted, and that he himself may be sued and indicted for such proceedings. Whoever considers well the meaning of the word Rebel, will discover that the author of the Proclamation is now himself in actual rebellion, having armed our slaves against us, and having excited them to an insurrection; for which, by the laws of the land, they forfeit their lives. And let it be remembered, that there is a treason against the State, for which such men as Lord Dunmore, and even Kings, have lost their heads. Let it be remembered, that the King and his Governours are bound by the laws, as much as his subjects; and that no man can be condemned or punished who is not found guilty by a jury of his Country, nor legally prosecuted for disobeying the arbitrary mandates of a tyrant. We have taken up arms, it is true; but this we have an undoubted right to do, in defence of the British Constitution—of that very Constitution which the present royal family was brought in to support, and on the principles of the glorious Revolution, those very principles which alone could give our King a right to the throne of England. We are therefore contending, not only for our privileges as freemen, but for the support of the British Constitution; and if we are supporting that, we are supporting our King, and on the only sure ground on which he can be supported.

The present Ministry are rebels and traitors to their Prince; they are endeavouring to make him forfeit his crown. The Earl of Dunmore, late Governour, may be called a genuine rebel. His father was in two rebellions, strictly and properly so called; and he is now himself engaged in one of a more artful and dangerous nature; and he has the effrontery to shift the odious charge on us. If there are loyal subjects in the world, they are in America—they are in Virginia. But enough of this. Independent of these arguments, my countrymen, we may urge, that we have a right to take up arms in self-defence, since we have been threatened with an invasion of savages and an insurrection of slaves, and have had our Negroes and stocks piratically taken from us. The laws of God and nature, and the principles of the Constitution, justify it; and, at present, all the feelings of humanity, every suggestion of policy, and the cries of our insulted and imprisoned countrymen, loudly call you to arm.

MECKLENBURGH COUNTY (VIRGINIA) COMMITTEE.

At a Committee held for the County of Mecklenburgh, on the second Monday in November, 1775:

This Committee, for themselves and their constituents, present their compliments to their suffering brethren residing in the lower parts of this Country, and assure them, in case they should be reduced to the necessity of abandoning their habitations, that they will meet with a cordial reception from the inhabitants of this County, and every accommodation that their situation and circumstances will admit. By order of the Committee:

JOHN SWEPSON, Clerk.

PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE.

In Committee, November 7, 1775.

Information was given that Messrs. Owen Jones, Jonathan Zane, and Joshua Fisher & Sons, had refused to receive the Continental Bills in the course of their business, and on inquiry it appeared that Mr. Jones had not considered himself at liberty to receive said Bills as Provincial Treasurer, in which character he had only refused them, until he had advised thereon with the Members of Assembly. Mr. Zane having been long confined to his house by indisposition,

Resolved, That Messrs. Matlack and Benezet wait on him, and inquire his reasons for said refusal.

November 14.—The Committee being informed that Mr. Joseph Richardson, silversmith, has refused to take the Continental Currency,

Resolved, That he be desired to attend this Committee immediately.

Mr. Richardson attended, and acknowledged that he had refused to receive the Continental Bills in the course of his business, and alleged as his motive, a conscientious scruple, as said currency was emitted for the purpose of war.

The Committee considering it of the utmost importance to the general weal that no discouragement should be given to the currency of the Bills issued by the Continental Congress, and that it is their duty to take some measure to prevent any such discouragement,

Resolved, That Messrs. McKean, Smith, Matlack, Wilcocks, and Milligan, be a Committee to consider and report what steps this Committee ought to take in this case.

November 21.—The Committee appointed to consider what measures ought to be taken in the case of persons who may refuse to receive, in the course of their business,