liberal a hand poured forth her blood and treasure, to rear them up to their present state of power and opulence.

With still greater indignation, if possible, we behold this rebellious disposition, which so fatally obtains on the other side the Atlantick, fomented and cherished by a set of men in Great Britain, who, under the mask of patriotism, sow sedition and discord among their fellow-subjects, that, by involving every thing in confusion, they may accomplish their private views, by which they seem to be actuated.

We heartily wish our untoward brethren, your Majesty’s deluded children, may quickly return to their duty, without further bloodshed, and upon terms as mild and gentle as are consistent with the dignity of our King, and a just subordination and submission to the supreme Legislature of Great Britain. But if they shall persist in their unnatural and unprovoked rebellion, we hope your Majesty will direct such vigorous, speedy, and effectual measures to be pursued, as may bring thorn to a due sense of their errour; in which we are persuaded your Majesty will be cheerfully supported by all your faithful subjects of Great Britain and Ireland, however a few (and we trust they are but few) factious and turbulent spirits may have entered into an unnatural confederacy to encourage ingratitude, stubbornness, and rebellion, among their fellow-subjects.

May peace, harmony, and due subordination, every where prevail in your Majesty’s extensive Dominions, to the last period of a long and happy reign; and under the auspices of your royal progeny, copying the glorious pattern, may every constitutional blessing, bitherto inviolated by the best of Kings, be perpetuated to generations yet unborn.

Signed in name and authority of the Magistrates, Town Council, and all the principal Inhabitants of the Burgh of Fortrose.

HECTOR MUNRO, Provost.

ADDRESS OF THE CORPORATION OF BEWDLEY.

Address of the Corporation of Bewdley, in the County of Worcester, presented to His Majesty by Charles Henry Lyttelton, Esq., their Representative in Parliament, accompanied by the Right Honourable Lord Lyttelton, High Steward of the Corporation, and Charles Baldwyn, Esq., the Recorder.

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty.

Most Gracious Sovereign:

We, your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Corporation of Bewdley, in the County of Worcester, in Common Council assembled, most humbly beg leave, at this very important crisis, to approach your Majesty, with hearts full of zeal for the maintenance of those rights which are inseparably attached to your Majesty’s imperial crown, and abhorrence of those unconstitutional doctrines and practices which have plunged so large a part of your Majesty’s American subjects into open rebellion against the supreme legislative authority of your Majesty, in your High Court of Parliament.

As Englishmen, we hold ourselves bound to concur with alacrity in such measures as, in the wisdom of your Majesty and the Great Council of the Nation, shall be found necessary to assert and confirm the ancient unalienable power and jurisdiction of the three estates of this Realm, over every part of the British Dominions, in all cases whatsoever; and as men, whose welfare is more immediately dependant on trade, and who know the importance of the objects in dispute, we earnestly supplicate your Majesty to persevere in such courses as may most effectually subdue that treasonable and ungrateful spirit in the American Provinces, which manifestly tends to throw off every restraint, commercial and political, which, as Colonies that owe their existence to the support and protection of this Country, law, reason, and justice, have subjected them to.

Permit us, Sir, to conclude with our fervent prayers to Almighty God, that our deluded fellow-subjects may soon return to a just sense of their duty; and that your Majesty may long live and reign the father of a happy and undivided people.

Given under our common seal, at the Guildhall in Bewdley, this eighth day of November, 1775.

JAMES PRATTINTON, Bailiff.
W. A. ROBERTS, Town Clerk.

ADDRESS OF THE BOROUGH OF PLYMOUTH.

Address of the Mayor, Recorder, Justices, Aldermen, Common Council, Freemen, and Inhabitants of the Borough of Plymouth, presented to His Majesty by the Right Honourable Lord Barrington and Sir Charles Hardy, Knight, their Representatives in Parliament.

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty.

The humble Address of the Mayor, Recorder, Justices, Aldermen, Common Council, Freemen, and Inhabitants of the Borough of PLYMOUTH.

Most Gracious Sovereign:

We, your Majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the Mayor, Recorder, Justices, Aldermen, Common Council, Freemen, and Inhabitants of the Borough of Plymouth, beg leave to assure your Majesty of our steady attachment to your person and family, in these times of publick commotion. We reflect with gratitude on the many blessings dispensed to us by your Majesty’s goodness, and observe with the deepest concern the calamitous effects of that spirit of discontent which prevails among your subjects in America, and is increased to such a degree as to produce all the evils of a civil war in that quarter of your Dominions. Arduous questions of Government, of which we are incompetent to judge, we do not affect to decide; we leave them to your Majesty, assisted by the Great Council of the Nation, in confidence that the powers vested in you by the laws of your Kingdom will ever be directed towards the attainment of the great end of their institution—the good of your people. And we persuade ourselves that, under the influence of measures concerted with wisdom and executed with firmness and moderation, the Colonists will be brought to a just sense of their duty, that good order will be re-established among them, and that peace and harmony will take place throughout the British Empire.

Permit us further to assure you, Sir, that we contemplate with abhorrence every proposition that is inconsistent with the idea of your Majesty’s perfect security on the throne of these Kingdoms, because we look up to your Majesty as the faithful guardian of those liberties which were recovered by the Revolution, have been protected by your illustrious family, and which, we trust, will be preserved entire to us and our descendants.

EARL OF DARTMOUTH TO MAJOR-GENERAL HOWE.

Whitehall, November 8, 1775.

SIR: Since my letter to you of the 22d of October, triplicate of which I enclose, the plan, the object, and the probable effect of the intended expedition to the Southern Provinces, have been maturely considered, and the King has thought fit that the force should be augmented by an addition of the Twenty-Eighth and Forty-Sixth Regiments; so that the whole will consist of seven Regiments.

It has been found, upon examination, that Cape Fear River will not admit ships of a large draught of water, on account of its bar; so large a body of troops, therefore, cannot receive from the fleet that is to accompany them that protection and assistance which is necessary in their disembarkation, and consequently there is much doubt whether the object of sending a force there can be accomplished.

As my letter to you, however, directs that the General Officer who is to have the command should repair to Cape Fear, the Regiments from hence will be directed to proceed thither, and the Commander-in-Chief will be instructed to confer with Governour Martin, and consider whether it will be practicable to effect any essential service in North-Carolina, with such a part of the Army as can be conveniently landed.

Should that be the case, he will proceed with the rest of the troops, or otherwise with the whole of them, to South-Carolina, and after advising with the Governour upon the best means of executing the service he is sent upon, according to the instructions he will receive from me, he will either land the troops at Charlestown, or proceed to Port-Royal harbour.

The enclosed copies of my letters of yesterday’s date, to Governour Martin and Lord William Campbell, will not only point out to you the orders I have given to them respecting this expedition, but will also explain to you our