Mr Speaker & Gentlemen of the Commons House of Assembly When I declined some time ago to comply with your request to adjourn, I too plainly foresaw the unhappy extremities to which many of the People in this Province were hast'ning; & had good grounds to apprehend I should want your advice, & assistance. ー Since that time I have been a Spectator of outrages I little expected ever to have seen in this place. I will confine myself to a very few. The Officers of the Crown have been call'd on to give reasons for not signing an Association, that was contrary to every tie of Duty & Allegiance. I now see the same Officers Summon'd in the like arbitrary, & illegal manner, to have an Oath tender'd to them equall incompatible with their Consciences, & honor. The barbarous outrage committed in the Streets of this Town on a poor, helpless, wretched, individual, with the particular circumstances of Cruelty, & Insult, I forbear to dwell on. In a word Gentlemen you well know the powers of Government are wrested out of my hands. I neither can protect, nor punish; therefore with the Advice of His Majys Council I apply to You, & desire that in this dreadful emergency You will aid me with all the assistance in Your power, in enforcing the Laws, & protecting His Majys Servants, & all other peaceable, & faithfull Subjects, in that quiet possession of their liberty, & property, which every Englishman boasts, it is his Birth Right to enjoy, or You must candidly acknowledge all Law, & Government is at an end. ー Sorry I am to add that Some particular Insults offer'd to myself, makes it necessary that I should be assured of the Safety of my own Family, & that its Peace is not in any danger of being invaded.
Charles Town, 15th August 1775
