city. I thought to lay before you Sir, so much of this affair, and to take leave to refer you, if needful, to my letter to your delegates of the congress. I would avoid any solicitation of the honor of representing the interests of New Hampshire, but if fit opportunity offer, and my poor abilities may be in any degree usefully imployed, as their specific agent, or more liberally in the higher concerns of conciliating the interest of America with that of Great Britain, on the constitutional ground and safety which I trust is the wish of both parties most readily shall I endeavour to shew my Zeal in so great a cause. I have the honor to be Honorable Sir your most obedient and very humble servant [Rules and Regulations of a Portsmouth Militia Company.] [Belknap Papers, Vol. II., p. 301.] We the Subscribers being Desirous of Attaining the Military Art, Do Agree on the Following Rules & Regulations Viz' I st That we will meet at some Place that shall be agreed on by the Company every Monday & Thursday Evening for the Purpose aforesaid 2dly That on the First Monday Evening in every Month (After the Exercize is over) we will choose a Proper Person to Instruct and Preside over the Company also a Clerk and any Other Officers that may be Judged Necessary 3dly That we will Pay obedience and Strict Attention to such as we shall Appoint from Time to Time to Instruct & Command the Company - Portsmouth Decem' 20th 1774 April 6th 1775 The Company taking into Consideration the Shortness of the Evenings and their Numbers being so much Increased. that it is inconvenient to Exercize any longer within Doors Therefore Voted That after the 10th Day of April Instant we will meet on the Parade or some other Convenient Place on Monday and Thursday Mornings Precisely at Sunrise Voted that Doct' Hall Jackson Mess's James Sheafe Geo Hart Geo Gains & Jeremiah Libbey be a committee to wait on the Honble Theodore Atkinson Esq' Coll of the Regiment to which we belong and Request the favour of him to grant us liberty to beat a Drum to call the Company together, and Also to Present to him a Copy of our rules and Regulations that he may be convinced that we are not a Company detach'd from his Regiment and Command — Portsmouth April 7th 1775 a True Copy attest [6-59] J. Libbey C1 [Address to the King, from the Provincial Congress, May, 1775.] To the Kings most excellent Majesty Most gracious Sovereign We your Majesty's faithful subjects of the colonies of New hampshire, Massachusetts bay & Rhode island and Providence Plantations, Connecticutt, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the Counties of New Castle, Kent & Sussex on delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, in behalf of ourselves and the inhabitants of these colonies, who have deputed Us to represent them in general Congress, entreat your Majestys gracious attention to this our humble petition. The Union between the Mother Country and these colonies, and the energy of Mild and just government produced benefits so remarkably important, and afforded such an assurance of their Permanency and increase that the Wonder and envy of other Nations were excited while they beheld Great Britain riseing to a power the most extraordi nary the World had ever known. Her rivals observing that there was no probability of this happy connection being broken by civil dissentions and apprehending its future effects if left any longer undisturbed resolved to prevent her receiving such continual and formidable accessions of wealth and strength by checking the growth of those settlements from which they were to be derived. In the prosecution of this attempt events so unfavourable to the design took place, that every friend to the interests of Great Britain and these Colonies entertained pleasing and reasonable expectations of seeing an additional force and extention immediately given to the operations of the Union hitherto experienced, by an enlargement of the dominions of the crown, and a removal of ancient and warlike enemies to a greater distance. At the conclusion therefore of the late War, the most glorious and advantageous that ever had been carried on by British Arms, your loyal colonists having contributed to its success, by such repeated and strenuous exertions, as frequently procured them the distinguished approbation of your Majesty, of the late King, and of parliament, doubted not but that they should be permitted with the rest of the empire to share the blessings of peace and the emoluments of Victory and conquests-While these recent and honourable acknowledgments of their merits remained on record in the journals and acts of that august legislature the Parliament, undefaced by the imputation or even the suspicion of any offence, they Were alarmed by a New system of statutes and regulations adopted for the administration of the Colonies, that filled their minds with the Most painful fears and Jealousies; and to their inexpressible astonishment, perceived the dangers of a foreign quarrel quickly succeeded by domestick dangers, in their judgment of a more dreadful kind. Nor were their anxieties alleviated by any tendency in this system to promote the Welfare of their Mother Country. For tho' its effects. were more immediately felt by them, yet its influence appeared to be injurious to the commerce & prosperity of Great Britain. We shall decline the ungrateful task of describing the irksome Variety of artifices practiced by many of your Majestys Ministers, the delusive pretences, fruitless terrors, and unavailing severities, that have from time to time been dealt out by them, in their attempts to execute this impolitic plan, or of traceing thro' a series of years past the progress of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and these colonies, that have flowed from this fatal source. Your Majestys Ministers persevering in their Measures and proceeding to open hostilities for enforcing them, have compelled us to arm in our own defence, and have engaged us in a controversy so peculiarly abhorrent to the affections of your still faithful colonists, that when we consider whom we must oppose in this contest, and if it continues what may be the consequences our own particular misfortunes are accounted by us, only as parts of our distress. Knowing, to what violent resentments and incurable animosities, civil discords are apt to exasperate & inflame the contending parties, we think ourselves required by indispensable obligations to Almighty God, to your Majesty, to our fellow subjects and to ourselves immediately to use all the means in our power not incompatible with our safety, for stopping the further effusion of blood, and for averting the impending calamities that threaten the British Empire Thus called upon to address your Majesty on affairs of such Moment to America and probably to all your dominions, We are earnestly desirous of performing this office with the utmost deference for your Majesty and we therefore pray, that your royal Magnanimity and benevolence may make the most favourable construction of our expressions on so uncommon an occasion. Could we represent in their full force the sentiments that agitate the minds of us you, dutiful subjects, we are persuaded, your Majesty would ascribe any seeming deviation from reverence, in our language and even in our conduct, not to any reprehensible intention, but to the impossibility of reconciling the usual appearances of respect with a just attention to our own preservation against those artful and cruel enemies, who abuse your royal confidence & authority for the purpose of effecting our destruction. Attached to your Majestys person, family and government with all the devotion that principle & affection can inspire, connected with Great Britain by the strongest ties that can unite societies, and deploring every event that tends in any degree to weaken them, We solemnly assure your Majesty that we not only most ardently desire the former harmony between her and these colonies may be restored, but that a concord may be established between them upon so firm a basis, as to perpetuate its blessings uninterrupted by any future dissentions to succeeding generations in both countries, and to transmit your Majestys name to posterity adorned wth that signal and lasting glory that has attended the memory of those illustrious personages, whose Virtues and abilities have extricated states from dangerous convulsions, and by securing happiness to others have erected the most noble & durable monuments to their own fame. We beg leave further to assure your Majesty, that notwithstanding the sufferings of your loyal colonists during the course of the present controversy, our breasts retain too tender a regard for the kingdom from which we derive our origin to request such a reconciliation, as might in any manner be inconsistent with her dignity or her welfareThese related as we are to her, honour and duty as well as inclination induce us to support and advance; and the apprehensions that now oppress our hearts with unspeakable grief once removed, your Majesty will find your faithful subjects on this continent, ready and willing at all times, as they have ever been, with their lives and fortunes to assert and maintain the rights and interests of your Majesty & of our Mother country. We therefore beseech your Majesty that your royal authority and influence may be graciously interposed to procure us releif from our afflicting fears & jealousies occasioned by the system before mentioned, & to settle peace through every part of your dominions, with all humility submitting to your Majestys wise consideration, whether it may not be expedient for facilitating those important purposes that your Majesty may be pleased to direct some mode by which the United applications of your faithful colonists to the throne, in pursuance of their common councils may be improved into a happy and permanent reconciliation; and that in the mean time measures be taken for preventing the further destruction of the lives of your Majesty's subjects; and that such statutes as more immediately distress any of your Majestys colonies be repealed: For by such arrangements as your Majestys Wisdom can form, for collecting the United sense of your American people, we are convinced, your Majesty would receive such satisfactory proofs of the disposition of the colonists towards their sovereign and the parent state, that the wished for opportunity would soon be restored to them, of evincing the sincerity of their professions by every testimony of devotion becoming the most dutiful subjects and the most affectionate colonists. That your Majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign and that your descendants may govern your dominions with honor to themselves & happiness to their subjects is our sincere and fervent prayer [6-60] [Deposition of William Pearn and Jacob Sheafe, Jr.] The Deposition of William Pearn & Jacob Sheafe Jun of Portsmouth, Merchants, who testify, and say that when Capt John Conklin was last at Portsmouth being about three Weeks past, the Deponents agreed with said Conklin to take a Quantity of Provisions, which said Conklin, then engaged to bring into this port as soon as he Could. The Reason of the Deponents then engaging said Provisions was the great Want of them in this Town, and further saith not Portsmouth 29th May. 1775Willm Pearn Jacob Sheafe jun' Rockingham ss Portsm° May 29th 1775. Then the abovenamed Wm Pearn and Jacob Sheafe jr personally appearing made Solemn Oath to the Truth of the above Deposition by them Subscribed Before Sam' Penhallow J Peace [6-61] [Minutes of Council, May 29, 1775.] At a Council held at Portsmouth the 29th Day of May 1775. Present The Governor Jonathan Warner Daniel Rindge George Jaffrey John Sherburne Esqrs His Excellency having acquainted the Council that the Secretary & depy Secretary were out of Town nominated John Fisher Secretary pro hac vice to which the Council did advise and consent and the Oaths of office |