|
|
Lib. C. B.
No. 20
|
To His Excellency Horatio Sharpe Esqr Governor and Com-
mander in Chief in and over the Province of Maryland.
The Humble Address of the House of Delegates.
May it please your Excellency.
In Answer to your Excellency's Message of the 20th we must
observe, that if the Letter from the Speaker of the House of
Representatives of the Colony of Massachusets Bay addressed
to and Communicated by our Speaker to this House, be the
same with the Letter, a Copy of which you are pleased to
intimate, hath been communicated to the King's Ministers, it
is very alarming to find that, at a time when the People of
America think themselves aggrieved by the late Acts of Par-
liament, imposing Taxes on them for the Sole and express
Purpose of raising a Revenue, and in the most Dutiful Manner
are seeking Redress from the Throne, any endeavours to unite
in laying before their Sovereign what is apprehended to be
their just Complaint, should be look'd upon as a Measure of
most dangerous and factious Tendency, calculated to inflame
the Minds of His Majesty's good Subjects in the Colonies, to
promote an unwarrantable Combination, excite and encourage
an open Opposition and Denial of the Authority of Parliament,
and to Subvert the true Principles of the Constitution. We
cannot but view this as an Attempt in some of his Majesty's
Ministers to Suppress all Communication of Sentiments be-
tween the Colonies, and to prevent the united Supplication of
America from reaching the Royal Ear. We hope the Conduct
of this House will ever evince their Reverence and respect
for the Laws, and faithful Attachment to the Constitution;
but we cannot be brought to resent an Exertion of the most
undoubted constitutional Right of Petitioning the Throne, or
any endeavours to procure and preserve an Union of the Col-
onies, as an unjustifiable attempt to revive those Distractions,
which it is said have operated so fatally to the Prejudice of
both the Colonies and the Mother Country. We have the
Warmest and most affectionate Attachment to Our most Gra-
cious Sovereign, and shall ever pay the readiest and most re-
spectful Regard to the just and constitutional Power of the
British Parliament; But we shall not be intimidated, by a few
sounding Expressions, from doing what we think is Right.
The House of Representatives of the Colony of Massachu-
sets Bay, in their Letters to us, have intimated that they have
preferred an humble dutiful and loyal Petition to the King,
and expressed their Confidence that the United and Dutiful
Supplications of his distressed American Subjects, will meet
with his Royal and favourable Acceptance; and we think they
have asserted their Rights with a decent Respect to their Sov-
ereign, and a due Submission to the Authority of Parliament.
|
|
