PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 16
To the KING's Most Excellent MAJESTY:
Most gracious SOVEREIGN,
WE, your Majesty's faithful Subjects of the
Colonies of
Newhampshire,
Massachu-
setts-Bay,
Rhode-Island & Providence
Plantations,
Connecticut,
New-York,
New-Jersey,
Pennsylvania, the Counties of
New-
Castle,
Kent, and
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 Majesty's
gracious Attention to this our humble Petition.
The Union between our
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 rising to a Power
the
most extraordinary the World had ever known.
Her Rivals observing, that there was no pro-
bability of this happy Connection being broken
by Civil Dissensions, and apprehending its future
effects, if left any longer undisturbed, resolved to
prevent her receiving such continual and formi-
dable Accessions of Wealth and Strength, by
checking the growth of these 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
Extension immediately given to the Operations
of the Union hitherto experienced, by an Enlarge-
ment of the Dominions of the Crown, and the
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 Co-
lonists 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 in the
Blessings of Peace, and the Emoluments of Vic-
tory and Conquest.
While these recent and honorable Acknow-
ledgments of the Merits remained on Record
in the Journals and Acts of that august Legisla-
ture, the Parliament, undefaced by the Imputa-
tion 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 Danger
of a foreign Quarrel quickly succeeded by domes-
tic Dangers, in their Judgment, of a more dreadful
Kind.
Nor were these Anxieties alleviated by any
Tendency in this System to promote the Welfare
of their
Mother Country. For though its Effects
were more immediately felt by them, yet its In-
fluence appeared to be injurious to the Commerce
and Prosperity of
Great-Britain.
We shall decline the ungrateful Task of de-
scribing the irksome Variety of Artifices, practic-
ed by many of your Majesty's Ministers, the de-
lusive 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 tracing, through a Series
of Years past the Progress of the unhappy Differ-
ences between
Great-Britain and these
Colonies,
that have flowed from this fatal Source.
Your Majesty's Ministers, persevering in their
enforcing them, have compelled us to arm in
our own Defence, and have engaged us in a Con-
troversy so peculiarly abhorrent to the Affections
of your still faithful Colonists, that when we con-
sider 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 in-
curable Animosities, civil Discords are apt to ex-
asperate and inflame the contending Parties, we
think ourselves required by indispensable Obliga-
tions to Almighty GOD, to your
Majesty, to our
Fellow Subjects, and to ourselves, immediately to
use all the Means in our Power, not incompati-
ble with our Safety, for stopping the further Effu-
sion 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 proba-
bly to all your Dominions, we are earnestly de-
sirous of performing this Office, with the utmost
Deference for your Majesty; and we
therefore
pray, that your Majesty's royal Magnanimity and
Benevolence may make the most favourable Con-
struction of our Expressions on so uncommon an
Occasion. Could we represent in their full Force,
the Sentiments that agitates the Minds of us your
dutiful Subjects, we are persuaded your
Majesty
would ascribe any seeming Deviation from Re-
verence in our Language, and even in our Con-
duct, not to any reprehensible Intention, but to
the Impossibility of reconciling the usual Appear-
ances of Respect, with a just Attention to our own
Preservation against those awful and cruel Ene-
mies, who abuse your royal Confidence and Au-
thority, for the Purpose of effecting our De-
struction.
Attached to your Majesty's Person, Family, and
Government, with all Devotion that Principle
and Affection can inspire, connected with Great-
Britain by the strongest Ties that can unite
So-
cieties, and deploring every Event that tends in
any Degree to weaken them: We solemnly as-
sure 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 Dissensions, to succeeding Genera-
tions in both Countries, and to transmit your Ma-
jesty's Name to Posterity, adorned with that sig-
nal and lasting Glory, that has attended the Me-
mory of those Illustrious Personages, whose Vir-
tues and Abilities have extricated States from
dangerous Convulsions, and, by securing Happi-
ness to others, have erected the most noble and
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 Con-
troversy, 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
Welfare. These, related as we are to Her, Ho-
nor and Duty, as well as Inclination, induce us
to support and advance; and the apprehensions
that now oppress our Hearts with unspeakable
Grief, being once removed, your
Majesty will find
your faithful Subjects on this Continent ready and
willing at all times, as they ever have been, with
their Lives and Fortunes, to assert and maintain
the Rights and Interests of your
Majesty, and of
our Mother Country.
We therefore beseech your Majesty, that your
Royal Authority and Influence may be gracious-
ly interposed to procure us relief from our afflict-
ing Fears and Jealousies, occasioned by the Sys-
tem before-mentioned, and to settle Peace thro'
every Part of your Dominions, with all Humility
whether it may not be expedient for facilitating
those important Purposes, that your Majesty be
pleased to direct some Mode, by which the united
Applications of your faithful Colonists to the
Throne, in presence of their Common Councils,
may be improved into a happy and permanent
Reconciliation; and that, in the mean Time, mea-
sures may be taken for preventing the further
Destruction of the Lives of your Majesty's Sub-
jects; and that such Statutes as more immediate-
ly Distress any of your Majesty's Colonies may
be repealed.
For by such Arrangements as your Majesty's
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 So-
vereign and 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 duti-
ful Subjects, and the most affectionate Colonists.
That your Majesty may enjoy a
long and pros-
perous Reign, and that your Descendants may
govern your Dominions with Honor to them-
selves and Happiness to their Subjects, is our sin-
cere and fervent Prayer.