to reimburse the owners the value, and then to be publicly burned and destroyed; and if the same is not paid for and destroyed as aforesaid, that it remain in the custody of the said committees, at the risk of the owners, until the act of Parliament imposing a duty upon tea, for raising a revenue in America, be repealed; and immediately afterwards be delivered unto the several proprietors thereof, their agents, or attorneys.

12. Resolved, That nothing will so much contribute to defeat the pernicious designs of the common enemies of Great Britain and her colonies, as a firm union of the latter, who ought to regard every act of violence or oppression inflicted upon any one of them, as aimed at all; and to effect this desirable purpose, that a Congress should be appointed, to consist of deputies from all the colonies, to concert a general and uniform plan for the defence and preservation of our common rights, and continuing the connexion and dependence of the said colonies upon Great Britain, under a just, lenient, permanent, and constitutional form of government.

13. Resolved, That our most sincere and cordial thanks be given to the patrons and friends of liberty in Great Britain, for their spirited and patriotic conduct, in support of our constitutional rights and privileges, and their generous efforts to prevent the distress and calamity of America.

14. Resolved, That every little jarring interest and dispute, which has ever happened between these colonies, should be buried in eternal oblivion; that all manner of luxury and extravagance ought immediately to be laid aside, as totally inconsistent with the threatening and gloomy prospect before us; that it is the indispensable duty of all the gentlemen and men of fortune to set examples of temperance, fortitude, frugality, and industry, and give every encouragement in their power, particularly by subscriptions and premiums, to the improvement of arts and manufactures in America; that great care and attention should be had to the cultivation of flax, cotton, and other materials for manufactures; and we recommend it to such of the inhabitants, as have large stocks of sheep, to sell to their neighbors at a moderate price, as the most certain means of speedily increasing our breed of sheep, and quantity of wool.

15. Resolved, That until American grievances be redressed, by

restoration of our just rights and privileges, no goods or merchandise whatsoever ought to be imported into this colony, which shall be shipped from Great Britain or Ireland after the 1st day of September next, except linens not exceeding fifteen pence per yard, coarse woolen cloth, not exceeding two shillings sterling per yard, nails, wire and wire cards, needles and pins, paper, saltpetre, and medicines, which may be imported until the 1st day of September, 1775; and if any goods or merchandise, other than these hereby excepted, should be shipped from Great Britain, after the time aforesaid, to this colony, that the same immediately upon their arrival, should either be sent back again, by the owners, their agents or attorneys, or stored and deposited in some warehouse, to be appointed by the committee for each respective county, and there kept at the risk and charge of the owners, to be delivered to them, when a free importation of goods hither shall again take place. And that the merchants and venders of goods and merchandise within this colony ought not to take advantage of our present distress, but continue to sell the goods and merchandise which they now have, or which may be shipped to them before the 1st day of September next, at the same rates and prices they have been accustomed to do, within one year last past ; and if any person shall sell such goods on any other terms than above expressed, that no inhabitant of this colony should at any time, forever thereafter, deal with him, his agent, factor, or storekeepers for any commodity whatsoever.

16. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that the merchants and venders of goods and merchandise within this colony should take an oath, not to sell or dispose of any goods or merchandise whatsoever, which may be shipped from Great Britain after the 1st day of September next as aforesaid, except the articles before excepted, and that they will, upon receipt of such prohibited goods, either send the same back again by the first opportunity, or deliver them to the committees in the respective counties, to be deposited in some warehouse, at the risk and charge of the owners, until they, their agents, or factors, be permitted to take them away by the said committees; the names of those who refuse to take such oath to be advertised by the respective committees in the counties wherein they reside. And to the end that the inhabitants of this colony may know what merchants

and venders of goods and merchandise have taken such oath, that the respective committees should grant a certificate thereof to every such person who shall take the same.

17. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, that during our present difficulties and distress, no slaves ought to be imported into any of the British colonies on this continent; and we take this opportunity of declaring our most earnest wishes to see an entire stop forever put to such a wicked, cruel, and unnatural trade.

18. Resolved, That no kind of lumber should be exported from this colony to the West Indies, until America be restored to her constitutional rights and liberties, if the other colonies will accede to a like resolution; and that it be recommended to the general Congress to appoint as early a day as possible for stopping such export.

19. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, if American grievances be not redressed before the 1st day of November, 1775, that all exports of produce from the several colonies to Great Britain should cease; and to carry the said resolution more effectually into execution, that we will not plant or cultivate any tobacco, after the crop now growing; provided the same measure shall be adopted by the other colonies on this continent, as well those who have heretofore made tobacco, as those who have not. And it is our opinion also, if the Congress of deputies from the several colonies shall adopt the measure of non-exportation to Great Britain, as the people will be thereby disabled from paying their debts, that no judgments should be rendered by the courts in the said colonies for any debt, after information of the said measure's being determined upon.

20. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that a solemn covenant and association should be entered into by the inhabitants of all the colonies upon oath, that they will not, after the times which shall be respectively agreed on at the general Congress, export any manner of lumber to the West Indies, nor any of their produce to Great Britain, or sell or dispose of the same to any person who shall not have entered into the said covenant and association; and also that they will not import or receive any goods or merchandise which shall be shipped from Great Britain after the 1st day of September next, other than the before

enumerated articles, nor buy or purchase any goods except as before excepted, of any person whatsoever, who shall not have taken the oath herein before recommended to be taken by the merchants and venders of goods; nor buy or purchase any slaves hereafter imported into any part of this continent, until a free exportation and importation be again resolved on by a majority of the representatives or deputies of the colonies. And that the respective committees of the counties, in each colony, so soon as the covenant and association becomes general, publish by advertisements in their several counties, a list of the names of those (if any such there be) who will not accede thereto; that such traitors to their country may be publicly known and detested.

21. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that this and the other associating colonies should break off all trade, intercourse, and dealings, with that colony, province, or town, which shall decline or refuse to agree to the plan, which shall be adopted by the general Congress.

22. Resolved, That should the town of Boston be forced to submit to the late cruel and oppressive measures of government, that we shall not hold the same to be binding upon us, but will, notwithstanding, religiously maintain and inviolably adhere to such measures as shall be concerted by the general Congress, for the preservation of our lives, liberties, and fortunes.

23. Resolved, That it be recommended to the deputies of the general Congress, to draw up and transmit an humble and dutiful petition and remonstrance to his Majesty, asserting with decent firmness our just and constitutional rights and privileges; lamenting the fatal necessity of being compelled to enter into measures disgusting to his Majesty and his Parliament, or injurious to our fellow-subjects in Great Britain; declaring, in the strongest terms, our duty and affection to his Majesty's person, family, and government, and our desire to continue our dependence upon Great Britain; and most humbly conjuring and beseeching his Majesty not to reduce his faithful subjects of America to a state of desperation, and to reflect, that from our sovereign there can be but one appeal. And it is the opinion of this meeting, that after such petition and remonstrance shall have been presented to his Majesty, the same should be printed in the public papers, in all the principal towns in Great Britain.

24. Resolved, That George Washington and George Broadwater, lately elected our representatives to serve in the General Assembly, be appointed to attend the Convention at Williamsburg on the 1st day of August next, and present these Resolves, as the sense of the people of this county, upon the measures proper to be taken in the present alarming and dangerous situation of America.'

25. Resolved, That George Washington, Esqr., John West, George Mason, William Ramsay, William Rumney, George Gilpin, Rob. Hanson Harrison, John Carlyle, Robt. Adam, John Dalton, Philip Alexander, James, Kirk, William Brown, Charles Broadwater William Payne, Martin Cockburn, Lee Massey, William Hartshorne, Thos. Triplet, Charles Alexander, Thomas Pollard, Townshend Dade, Jr., Edward Payne, Henry Gunnell, and Thomas Lewis, be a committee for this county; that they or a majority of them, on any emergency, have power to call a general meeting, and to concert and adopt such measures as may be thought most expedient and necessary.

26. Resolved, That a copy of these proceedings be transmitted to the printers at Williamsburg to be published.

ROBT. HARRISON, Clerk."

VIII.

FAIRFAX COUNTY COMMITTEE.

Extracts from the Proceedings of the Committee of Fairfax County, on the 17th of January, 1775.

George Washington, Esquire, Chairman.

Robert H. Harrison, Clerk.

Resolved, That the defenceless state of this county renders it indispensably necessary that a quantity of ammunition should be

The draft of the Resolutions in the handwriting of George Mason, and found among the Washington papers, (see Sparks, vol. ii., Appendix,) ends here with the 24th Resolution. A copy preserved in the State Library, Richmond, has two additional ones, appointing the Fairfax Co. Committee, whose names are there given.

9 From a MS. draft in the Capitol at Richmond.