FEDERATE DELEGATION. 53

being one of the wisest and most patriotic coun-
cils that ever was convened, to promote the
welfare of men. Their proceedings were read
throughout America with enthusiastic admira-
tion. Their recommendations were revered
as revelation, and obeyed as laws of the high-
est obligation.

A meeting of the deputies appointed by the
several counties of the province of Maryland,
for the purpose of choosing delegates to the
congress, recommended for the ensuing year,
was convened at Annapolis, on the 8th Decem-
ber, 1774; and continued by adjournment
from day to day, until the 12th of the same
month, when it was,

Resolved unanimously, That the honorable
Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, junior,
Robert Goldsborough, William Paca, Samuel
Chase, John Hall, and Thomas Stone, esqts. or
any three or more of them, be delegates to rep-
resent this province, in the next continental
congress; and that they, or any three or mure of
them, have full and ample power to consent and
agree to all measures, which such congress
shall deem necessary and effectual to obtain a
redress of American grievances, and this prov-
ince bind themselves to execute, to the utmost
of their power, all resolutions which the said
congress may adopt. And further, if the said
congress shall think necessary to adjourn, we
5*