and happiness in the best manner they can, without that connection.

“The prosecution of the war may require some measures to be adopted which, beside the purposes more immediately intended to be produced by them, may have a tendency to weaken or even to dissolve the connection before-mentioned.

“To avoid the terrible consequences of anarchy; to prevent the best men from falling sacrifices to the factious and interested views of the worst, it will soon become, if it has not already become, necessary to advise, and to form such establishments as will be sufficient to protect the virtuous and restrain the vicious members of society. Those establishments may be construed to lead to a separation from Great Britain.

“The foregoing considerations induce us to petition this honourable House that the last Instructions which it gave to the Delegates of this Province in Congress, wherein they are enjoined not to consent to any step which may cause or lead to a separation from Great Britain, may be withdrawn.”

Ordered to lie on the table.

Upon motion, Resolved, That the Committee of Safety be directed to lay before this House, as soon as possible, an account of the preparations of every kind already made or now making by them for the defence of this Colony.

Ordered, That Michael Hillegas, Esq., Treasurer, lay before this House an account of the Money issued by the Resolves of the Assembly, which has been drawn out of his hands by orders from the Assembly and Committee of Safety, and what sum yet remains unexpended.

Resolved, That the sum of seventeen Shillings per week be allowed to each of the Officers in the pay of this Province for their subsistence in the Recruiting service from the date of their Instructions until the time of their arrival at their proper stations.

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

The House met pursuant to adjournment.

Resolved, That the pay of the Officers in the service of this Province commence from the date of their instructions for inlisting men.

Resolved, That John McGowan be appointed Adjutant to one of the Battalions in the Rifle Regiment of the forces in the pay of this Province.

The House, taking into consideration the several applications for the vacancy in the Rifle Regiment,

Resolved, That George Wert be appointed a First Lieutenant in the said Rifle Regiment, in the room of Jacob Young, who hath resigned.

Resolved, That Joseph Jacquet be appointed a Second Lieutenant in the said Regiment, in the room of George Wert, promoted.

Resolved, That Luke Broadhead be appointed a Third Lieutenant in the said Regiment, in the room of Joseph Jacquet, promoted.

The House, resuming the consideration of the Memorial of the Commiitee of Safety, presented in the morning,

Ordered, That, Mr. Potts, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Rodman, Mr. Wynkoop, Mr. Foulke, Mr. Chapman, Mr. Twyning, Mr. Brown, Mr. Jenks, Mr. Pearson, Mr. Humphreys, Mr. Pennock, Mr. Pyle, Mr. Porter, Mr. Galbreath, Mr. Ewing, Mr. Eddy, Mr. Rankin, Mr. Hodge, Mr. Whitehill, Mr. Chreist, Mr. Haller, Mr. Lesher, Mr. Kachlein, Mr. James Allen, Mr. Arndt, Mr. Potter, with the Speaker, be a Committee to inquire into the conduct of the Committee of Safety respecting the charge made against them by the Captains of the armed boats, and other matters relative to the engagement between the said armed boats and the King’s ships in the River Delaware.

Resolved, That Jacob Laverswyler, John Doye, and Frederick Molineux, be, and they are hereby, appointed Quartermasters to the three Battalions in the pay of this Province.

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

Wednesday, May 29, 1776.

The House met pursuant to adjournment.

John Proctor, Esq., this day appearing in the House the first time since his being chosen a Representative, took his seat accordingly.

The House, taking into consideration the Petitions from Northumberland and other Counties respecting the Moneys the Petitioners had taken out of the Loan Office on loan, for which they had given their mortgages, presented to the House at their last sitting,

Ordered, That Mr. Howell, Mr. Clymer, Mr. Wicocks, Mr. Reed, Mr. Ross, and Mr. Galbreath, be a Committee to prepare and report to the House a Resolution to indemnify the Trustees of the Loan Office in cases where the Mortgagors have been deficient in their annual payments, and the said Trustees have not proceeded against such defaulters as the laws of this Province direct.

Addresses, signed by a number of inhabitants of the City and County of Philadelphia, were presented to the House, and read, and are as they severally follow, viz:

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

“The Address and Remonstrance of the Inhabitants of the City and County of PHILADELPHIA:

“Whereas, to our great affliction, we find that a paper has been presented to the House, styled ‘the Protest of divers inhabitants of this Province, ’ said to be in ‘behalf of themselves and others;’ the purport of which is to subvert and change the Constitution of this Government, upon sundry allegations which we cannot conceive to be well founded; and whereas we think it an indispensable duty to ourselves and our posterity to claim and support our birthright in the Charter and wise laws of Pennsylvania, either consented to by ourselves or delivered down to us by our ancestors, as far as may be possible, without injury to the publick cause of America, during the present distressed situation of our affairs, —we do therefore remonstrate against the said Protest, for the following reasons:

“First: Because it holds up the Resolve of Congress of the 15th instant as an absolute injunction for the ‘taking up and establishing new Governments throughout all the United Colonies under the authority of the people;’ where as the said Resolve is only a conditional recommendation ‘ to the respective Assemblies and Conventions of the United Colonies where no Government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs has been established, to adopt such Governments 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 here it is obvious to remark, that, in this and every other resolve of Congress where Assemblies and Conventions are referred to, it must be intended (and the practice has been accordingly) that wherever Assemblies exist and can meet as the ancient constitutional bodies in their respective Colonies, the publick business is to be carried on by them, and by Conventions only in those urgent cases where arbitrary Governours, by prorogations and dissolutions, prevent the Representatives of the people from sitting to deliberate on their own affairs, or have subverted the Constitutions by abdicating their offices, and levying war against these Colonies; that the Assembly of this Province cannot be prorogued or dissolved; that they have been exceeded by no Province in their noble exertions in the common cause of liberty; that, by the Resolve of Congress, who have never interfered in the domestick police of the Colonies, the Representatives of the people are left as the sole judges whether their Governments be ‘sufficient for the exigencies of their affairs’ or not; and that our courts of law are open, justice has been administered with a due attention to our circumstances, and large sums of money issued, the credit of which might be shaken, and numberless confusions ensue from innovations hastily or unnecessarily made.

“Second: We remonstrate against the said Protest, as setting on foot a measure which tends to disunion, and must damp the zeal of multitudes of the good people of Pennsylvania in the common cause, who, having a high veneration for their civil and religious rights as secured by our Charter, never conceived, when they engaged, among other things, for the support of the Charter-rights of another Colony, that they would be called upon to make a sacrifice of their own Charter; nor can we now see anything in our situation