able place, I should mention this, as it is near to Nova-Scotia. I should be more at a loss for a proper person to conduct the enterprise. I know of fitter persons than my self, in many respects, but they are strangers to the Province and people. But I have dwelt there for years, and have a personal acquaintance with almost all the principal men, and know the country well. I should rejoice, therefore, in the appointment to this necessary business; and, if your Excellency, together with those only who must necessarily be acquainted with the appointment, (for I choose none but they should know any thing of the matter,) in your great wisdom should see fit to appoint me, I will conduct the expedition with the utmost secrecy, and (Deo adj.) will add to the dominions of the Continental Congress another Province, before our enemies are able to defend it. All I require is sufficient authority to collect as many troops as I see fit in this Eastern country, not exceeding one thousand men, and vessels to convey them to the place of action, and blank commissions for the necessary officers of a thousand more, to be filled up as I shall find expedient, in Nova-Scotia, where the men are to be raised, put into the Continental pay, and left there to defend the country when taken. And further, that a sufficient quantity of provisions, ammunition, arms, &c, be sent here about the middle of March

Your Excellency may inquire about me as much as you please, of Benjamin Foster, Esq., Captain Stephen Smith, Captain O'Brian, and Mr. Shannon, for these gentlemen I should choose to have as companions, but do not choose that they, or any other persons living, should know any thing of the design (if this petition is granted) until it is time to embark, except those persons only who have authority to appoint. The above mentioned gentlemen know nothing of this application.

The reduction of Nova-Scotia is a matter of great importance, and lies near my heart, on account of my many suffering friends in that Province, and on account of the many advantages that would arise from it to this Colony, and to this place in particular. But, should the Government appoint another person to conduct the expedition, I shall cordially acquiesce, and pray for his success, as I ever do that God may smile on all the American arms, till all our enemies are subdued before us.

Your Excellency will not take amiss what my zeal for the honour and safety of my country constrained me to write

I am, most respectfully, your Excellency's very humble and obedient servant,

JAMES LYON.

His Excellency George Washington, Esq., Commander-in-chief of the Army of the United Colonies.

ADVICES FROM AMERICA.

(London Gazette,) Secretary of State's Office, Whitehall,

December 26, 1775.

By the last advices received from Quebeck, of the 26th of October, it appears that General Carleton, who was then at Montreal, and formed a considerable corps of Canadians and English, that he and Lieut. Colonel Maclean, who commanded another corps on Sorel river, were pre-paring to proceed, by separate routes, to the relief of St. John's, which had been for some time invested by the Rebels, without their being able to make an impression upon it; and that there was the greatest probability that the country would be soon cleared of those invaders, whose force was considerably diminished by sickness and desertion, and in great want of necessary supplies.

There are no advices from Boston later than the 12th of October, when General Gage left it, invested, as before, by the Rebel army, which had, however, attempted nothing since the affair of Bunker's Hill.

The Earl of Dunmore, Governour of Virginia, acquaints the Secretary of State, in a letter dated the 22d of October, on board the ship William, off Norfolk, that on the 15th, his Lordship had landed with a party of between seventy and eighty men, in the neighbourhood of the town of Norfolk, and destroyed seventeen pieces of ordnance, and brought off two more, which had been carried away from that town by the Rebels, and concealed in the country; that on the 17th he had landed again, at about eight miles from the town, and marched between two and three miles into the country, where about two hundred Shirt-men were collected to oppose him, but who fled into the woods upon the appearance of the party, leaving behind them some small-arms and ammunition, which his Lord ship carried off. That on the 19th he had again landed, and destroyed ten guns, and brought off six, at a distance of two miles from the coast; and on the 20th brought off six more. And on the 21st, the day before his Lordship's letter is dated, he had landed again, and brought off ten guns and two cohorns, and about sixty small-arms, and a great quantity of ball of different sizes; and his Lordship imagines there are not any military stores remaining in the possession of the Rebels in that part of the Province.

In these several landings, his Lordship made seven prisoners, among whom is one Robinson, a Deputy to the Provincial Convention, and one Mathews, a captain of the Minute-Men.

CHESTER COUNTY, (PENNSYLVANIA,) COMMITTEE.

In Committee, December 26, 1775.

Extract from the Votes of Assembly.—"All Battalions now formed, as well as those hereafter to be formed, are desired to make the necessary returns of their officers, with their respective ranks, to the Committee of their County; and the Committees are desired to certify such returns, with their respective ranks, to the Committee of their County; and the Committees are desired, to certify such returns, with the respective rank of each Battalion in their County, to the Committee of Safety, that commissions may be issued immediately for every officer, in conformity with these Rules."—[Article 24.]

This Committee, taking the foregoing Regulation into consideration,

Resolved, That the respective Colonels of the Militia of this County be, and they are, hereby requested to make the necessary Returns of their Officers, with their respective ranks, to Colonel Anthony Wayne, Chairman of this Committee; and he is hereby empowered and desired to certify such Returns, with the respective Rank of each Battalion in this County, to the Committee of Safety, by the 20th day of January next. And it is further recommended, that each Township, or sufficient number of Associators to form a Company, (after the Companies already formed are full,) that hath not already chosen their Officers, do immediately proceed to elect them, that Returns, maybe made as above directed. And it is further earnestly recommended to the Associators of this County, to acquiesce under, and subscribe their names to, the Rules and Regulations for the better government of the Military Associators, as formed by the honourable House of Assembly of this Province, unltil there may be an opportunity of an amendment. And they are desired, to pay a strict regard and attention to the 23d Article, which is in these words: "No Commissioned, Non-commissioned, Officer, or Private, shall withdraw himself from the Company to which he belongs, without a discharge from the Commanding Officer of the Battalion; nor shall such person be received in any other Company without such discharge"

Resolved, That Anthony Wayne, James Moore, Francis Johnston, Esquires, Doctor Samuel Kennedy, Caleb Davis, William Montgomery, Persifor Frazer, and Richard Thomas, gentlemen, or any five, or more, of them, be appointed, and they are hereby appointed, to represent this County (if occasion be) in Provincial Convention for the ensuing year.—[Extract from the Minutes.]

By order of the Committee:

FRANCIS JOHNSTON, Secretary.

BUCKS COUNTY, (PENNSYLVANIA,) COMMITTEE.

In Committee, Bucks County, December 26, 1775.

This Committee, desirous as much as possible to prevent every species of imposition and extortion, which designing person, prompted by a sordid attachment to self-interest, and the present scarcity of sundry articles of goods, may be tempted to commit, have directed the republication of the Ninth Article of the Continental Association; and all shop keepers, and other retailers of goods, are requested to be particularly attentive thereto, as a wilful violation thereof will necessarily incur the penalties recommended in this and the Eleventh Article of said Association.