of the people shall be chosen agreeable thereto, and qualified to succeed this House. For which purpose, an application will be made to the Committee of Inspection and Observation of the City and Liberties (whose services, on all occasions, have been applied to the support of the rights of the people) for calling a Conference of Committees of the several Counties of this Province, agreeable to the powers it is already invested with for that purpose, which said Conference of Committees shall issue out summonses for electing by ballot a Provincial Convention, consisting of at least one hundred members, for the purpose of carrying the said Resolve of Congress into execution; as we are fully convinced that our safety and happiness, next to the immediate Providence of God, depend on our complying with and supporting firmly the said Resolve of Congress, that thereby the union of the Colonies may be preserved inviolate.

“Signed in behalf of and by the direction of the inhabitants of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, upon due notification met. Philadelphia, May 20, 1776.

“DANIEL ROBERDEAU, Chairman. ”

Ordered to lie on the table.

The House adjourned to three o’clock in the afternoon.

The House met pursuant to adjournment.

The honourable the Continental Congress having passed a Resolve the 15th instant, recommending to the respective Assemblies and Conventions of the United Colonies where no Government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs has been hitherto established, to adopt such Government as shall, in the opinion of the Representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general: And it appearing to this House that doubts have arisen concerning the true sense and meaning of the said Resolve, Therefore,

Upon motion, Resolved, That Mr. Andrew Allen, Mr. Clymer, Mr. Wilcocks, Mr. Pearson, and Mr. Ross, be a Committee to take into consideration the said Resolve of Congress, and the Preamble thereto; and to draw up a Memorial from this House, setting forth the different meanings that have been assigned to the said Resolve, and requesting an explanation, in such terms as will not admit of any doubt, whether the Assemblies and Conventions now subsisting in the several Colonies are or are not the bodies to whom the consideration of continuing the old, or adopting new Governments, is referred.

A Petition of Matthew Clarkson, Esq., praying to be appointed Clerk to the House, in the room of Charles Moore, Esq., who hath resigned, was presented to the House, and read.

Ordered to lie on the table.

A Petition of George Bryan, Esq., to be appointed the officer to superintend the Imports and Exports, and other Naval affairs, of the Port of Philadelphia, was presented to the House, and read.

Ordered to lie on the table.

A Petition of Jehu Jones, for the office of a Quartermaster to the Troops raising for the service of this Province, was presented to the House, and read.

Ordered to lie on the table.

The House being informed that Jacob Young, of Northampton County, a First Lieutenant in one of the Rifle Companies in the service of this Province, had resigned his commission, a Petition of Casper Weaver, of the same place, to be appointed in his stead, was presented to the House, and read.

Ordered to lie on the table.

A Petition of Andrew Boyd, to be appointed a Third Lieutenant in the Rifle service, was presented to the House, and read.

Ordered to lie on the table.

The House adjourned to ten o’clock to-morrow morning.

Thursday, May 23, 1776.

The House met pursuant to adjournment.

Upon motion, Resolved, That Mr. Wilcocks and Mr. James Allen be added to the Committee of Accounts.

The Petition of Jehu Jones was read a second time, and referred to further consideration.

An Address of the Committee of Inspection and Observation, for the County of Philadelphia, was presented to the House, and read, and follows in these words, viz:

“To the Honourable the Representatives of the Freemen of the Province of PENNSYLVANIA, in General Assembly met:

The Address of the Committee of Inspection and Observation for the County of PHILADELPHIA:

“We esteem ourselves in no small degree happy that we have the satisfaction, in this very critical conjuncture, of expressing our sentiments to the constitutional Representative body of this Proviuce.

“With the deepest concern we have lately observed that the ground on which our opposition to the arbitrary and oppressive measures of the British Ministry was first made, is so totally changed. Instead of our joining hand and heart in forwarding a reconciliation with our parent state, on constitutional principles, which is the object we ought ever to have kept in view, as the only termination of our disputes which can possibly give us happiness and security, a system has been adopted by some persons in the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, which tends immediately to the subversion of our Constitution. When we recollect the declaration of Congress, that they meant not to destroy the union which has so long ’ and happily subsisted, and which they sincerely wish to be restored;’ when we think of the known instructions given to the Delegates of several Colonies, as well as those of our own, —we are alarmed at the prospect of disunion which must attend the prosecution of a scheme that will, in the end, not only set Province against Province, but (more dreadful to think of) foment civil discords in each other.

“Should our inveterate enemies be so lost to all sense of justice and humanity as to persist in their infernal plan of despotism; should they drive us by their violence, to that last shift, a declaration of Independence, every one will then be convinced of the necessity of such a measure, and we shall be as one man, so united and strengthened by the conviction as to bid defiance to all their attempts.

“The inhabitants of this County, ‘in their own native land, in defence of the freedom which is their birthright, and which they have ever enjoyed until the late violation of it, for the protection of their property, acquired solely by the industry of their forefathers and themselves, against violence actually offered, first took up arms, and mean not to lay them down, until hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed.’

“They have, with the greatest alacrity, given a considerable part of their time to qualify themselves in military matters, and are well assured they will be behind none in their endeavours to put an end to the oppression of their country; but it was, at the same time, with a determined resolution to support and defend their Constitution against all oppressions and innovations whatsoever.

“These we know to be the sentiments of the people under whose authority we act, as well as our own; and as such we should be highly wanting in our duty to ourselves and our constituents were we to neglect laying them before you.

“We are not insensible of the difficulties which attend your situation; but trust you will proceed in the weighty affairs now under your consideration with unanimity and firmness, still looking forward to a happy, permanent termination of our calamities, in a constitutional reconciliation with our ancient friends.

To forget injuries, and to forgive those who have offended, is as conducive to happiness as conformable to the rules of virtue; and we make no doubt the most salutary events must result from measures formed and conducted on such principles.

“What we have to offer and advise is, that you will most religiously adhere to the Instructions given to our Delegates in Congress. We consider them our greatest security; and we do further most seriously entreat that you will, to the utmost of your power, oppose the changing or altering, in any the least part of our invaluable Constitution, under which we have experienced every happiness, and in support of which there is nothing just or reasonable which we would not willingly undertake.

“Signed by order of the Committee:

“WILLIAM HAMILTON, Chairman. ”