Prevent the projects of such factious brains, (Signed) P. S. I fret, I storm, I spit, I spew At sound of YANKEE DOODLE DOO. NO YANKEE. Jan. 1775. 11. The New-York Committee, March 16th, 1775, sent circular letters to the different counties in the colony, requesting them to choose deputies to a Provincial Convention, which was to meet, April 20, for the purpose of electing delegates to the Continental Congress, to be held at Philadelphia, May 10. In Queens county, the election was held by towns. Friday, March 31, 1775. 12. This being the day appointed for taking the sense of the freeholders of the town of Jamaica, whether they would nominate a Deputy, a poll was opened, when the votes taken stood as follows: Against a Deputy, 94, Isaac Roads, John Roads, Richard Roads, Nicholas Smith, Jr., Benjamin Hinchman, A. Hendrickson, Nehemiah Everitt, 13. Col. Jacob Blackwell was elected Deputy from New. town by 100 freeholders, being all who did poll, viz.: Samuel Lawrence, Joseph Lawrence, William Lawrence, John Burtis, Samuel Waldron, Thomas Cumberson, Richard Berrian, Philip Edsall, Abm. Brinckerhoff, Samuel Renney, Capt. Samuel Moore, Gabriel Furman, Johannis Cornell, William Van Dyne, 14. In Hempstead no attempt was made to elect a deputy, but the following resolutions passed, nem. con. Hempstead, April 4, 1775. At this critical time of public danger and distraction, when it is the duty of every honest man and friend to his country to declare his sentiments openly, and use every endeavor to ward off the impending calamities which threaten this once happy and peaceful land: We, the freeholders and inhabitants of Hempstead, being legally assembled on the first Tuesday in April, 1775, have voluntarily entered into the following resolutions : 1st. That as we have already borne true and faithful allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third, our gracious and lawful sovereign, so we are firmly resolved to continue in the same line of duty to him and his lawful successors. 2d. That we esteem our civil and religious liberties above any other blessings, and those only can be secured to us by our present constitution; we shall inviolably adhere to it, since deviating from it and introducing innovations, would have a direct tendency to subvert it, from which the most ruinous consequences might justly be apprehended. 3d. That it is our ardent desire to have the present unnatural contest between the parent State and her Colonies amicably and speedily accommodated on principles of constitutional liberty, and that the union of the Colonies with the parent State may subsist till time shall be no more. 4th. That as the worthy members of our General Assembly, who are our only legal and constitutional representatives ** have petitioned his most gracious Majesty, sent a memorial to the House of Lords and a remonstrance to the House of Commons: we are determined to wait patiently the issue of those measures, and avoid every thing that might frustrate those laudable endeavors. 5th. That as choosing Deputies to form a Provincial Congress, or Convention, must have this tendency, be highly disrespectful to our legal representatives, and also be attended, in all probability, with the most pernicious effects in other instances, as is now actually the case in some Provinces-such as shutting up courts of justice, levying money on the subjects to enlist men for the purpose of fighting against our sovereign, diffusing a spirit of sedition among the people, destroying the authority of constitutional Assemblies, and otherwise introducing many heavy and oppressive grievances-we therefore are determined not to choose any Deputies [for such Provincial Congress or Convention], nor consent to it, but do solemnly bear our testimony against it. 6th. That we are utterly averse to all mobs, riots and illegal proceedings, by which the lives, peace and property of our fellow-subjects are endangered: and that we will, to the utmost of our power, support our legal magistrates in suppressing all riots, and preserving the peace of our liege sovereign. HULET PETERS, Town Clerk. Flushing, April 17, 1775. 15. On the 4th of April, after due notice had been given to the freeholders of Flushing, at an annual Town Meeting, it was proposed that a Deputy should be chosen to represent said town. After some debates the business was put to vote, when Mr. John Talman was by a great majority chosen. JOHN RODMAN, Clerk. STEPHEN VAN WYCK. 16. March 27, 1775, Samuel Townsend, Town Clerk, gave notice by advertisement in the following words: "I have received a letter from the chairman of the committee of New-York, recommending it to the freeholders of Oyster Bay to choose their Deputies so soon as that they may be at New-York by April 20th, the day proposed for the meeting of the Convention: and as our annual Town Meeting is so near at hand, I thought it best previous to said meeting to acquaint the freeholders that I should lay said letter before the meeting, that in the interim they might have an opportunity of thinking whether it will be proper or not to choose a Deputy on that day." At the annual Town Meeting, Thomas Smith was chosen Moderator, and after going through the business of the town, Samuel Townsend read the above cited letter and offered it to the consideration of the freeholders and inhabitants: and it was objected by many against having any thing to do with Deputies or Congresses, and insisted by some to choose a Deputy. The Moderator proposed to go out and separate, but it was objected to and a poll demanded. The Town Clerk wrote down the votes, and at the close of the poll there appeared on the list for Deputy, 42; against, 205.-Oyster Bay Records. To the Provincial Convention. 17. Whereas, the unhappy disputes between the mother country and the American Colonies, we humbly conceive, has arisen from assumed power, claimed by the British Parliament, to pass laws binding on us in all cases whatsoever, hath given us great uneasiness; and as we conceive unanimity among the inhabitants of the colonies is the only means under Providence to secure the essential rights and liberties of Englishmen, and in order that the inhabitants of the different colonies should know each other's sentiments and form general plans for the union and regulation of the whole : it is necessary there should be Delegates appointed to meet in General Congress: and whereas the committee of correspondence of New-York did request the people of Queens County to choose Deputies: In consequence thereof there was a Town Meeting at Oyster Bay on April 4th, for the appointing of one Deputy; but there appearing at said meeting a majority against it, yet nevertheless, we, the subscribers, freeholders of Oyster Bay, being determined to do all in our power to keep in unity with you and the colonies on the continent, and desirous of being in some measure |