October 25, New Castle by them on the 28th of May last, and requesting that a committee of this on Delaware, House may be appointed to communicate from time to time with the Corresponding Committees appointed by the said Assemblies and named in the said respective Resolves; 1773 And whereas, this House is of opinion that the measures adopted by the aforesaid Assemblies and proposed to this are very salutary and highly necessary at this time, when the Rights and Liberties of all appear to be systematically invaded, Resolved, That this House have a very grateful sense of the obligation they are under to the House of Burgesses in Virginia, for the vigilence, firmness and wisdom which they have discovered at all times in support. of the Rights and Liberties of the American Colonies, and do heartily concur with them in their said judicious and spirited Resolves. Resolved, That a standing committee of correspondence and Inquiry be appointed to consist of five members, any three of whom to be a quorum, whose business it shall be to obtain the most early and authentic Intelligence of all such Acts and Resolutions of the British Parliament or proceedings of administration, as may relate to or affect the British Colonies in America, and keep up and maintain a correspondence and communication with our Sister Colonies respecting these important considerations, and the result of such their proceedings from time to time to lay before the House. Resolved, That it be an Instruction to the said committee that they do, without delay, inform themselves particularly of the principles and authority on which was constituted a court of Enquiry held in Rhode Island, said to be vested with powers to transport persons accused of offences committed in America to places beyond the seas to be tried. Resolved, That the said committee be further instructed to prepare and report to this House, Draughts of very respectful answers to the letters above mentioned, also a circular Letter to the Speakers of the several other Houses of Assembly on this Continent inclosing the aforesaid Resolves, and requesting them to lay the same before their respective Assemblies in confidence that they will readily and cheerfully comply with the well concerted and wise Resolves of the House of Burgesses in Virginia. To which said resolves the House agreed nemine contradicente. Then the House immediately made choice of the following gentlemen to be the committee of correspondence and communication with the other Colonies, viz: Mr. Speaker, George Read, Thomas McKean, John McKinly, and Thomas Robinson, Esquires. I do hereby certify the above and foregoing to be a true copy from the minutes of the Assembly. DAVID THOMPSON, Clk. Ibid. GENTLEMEN: COLONY OF CONNECTICUT, NEW HAVEN, Nov. 4th, 1773. Since our letters of June last, nothing material has occurred worthy transmitting to you from this distance. The extraordinary Court of Inquiry, at Newport, in Rhode Island, is closed without effecting anything, nor can we conceive it to have been projected with other serious view than to establish by precedent the unconstitutional measure. In our last we took notice of the Act of your honorable House of Burgesses respecting counterfeits of yours and the currency of other provinces, and informed you that his honor, our Governor, expected a letter on the subject. That not coming to hand was the reason no Act passed in our last session of Assembly. The present Assembly at this place have taken up the matter, and by a general act made the counterfeiting of the currency of any of the English Colonies on the Continent equally capital with the counterfeiting our own. The act passed both Houses of Assembly this week, and in our next will transmit you an extract of it. There are no offences in this Colony punished with death except murder, conspiracy against the Government and others of that kind. Robbery, counterfeiting, &c., have heretofore been punished by branding, cropping and imprisonment, but the present act sentences offenders of this kind to to confinement and labor in a copper mine from which we judge an escape is impossible. The late Resolutions of the minister to permit Teas to be sent by the East India Company to Boston, New York and Philadelphia where they are daily expected, give us the most uneasy apprehensions for the consequences, though we have the utmost confidence in the firmness and virtue of the inhabitants of those capital Towns on this occasion. It is with the greatest satisfaction we see the seasonable and beneficial example set by your honorable and patriotic House of Burgesses already followed by almost all the Houses of Assembly on the Continent and doubt not that it will be universal soon. The union of the Colonies is of the last importance and we conceive a regular correspondence the most certain means to effect so salutury a design. We are with the highest Esteem and respect, Gentlemen, Your most obliged and very humble Servants, EBENEZER SILLIMAN, ERASTUS WALCOTT, SILAS DEANE, WILL'M WILLIAMS, SAM. H. PARSONS, BENJ. PAYNE. Committee of Correspondence. The Hon'le Peyton Randolph, Esqr., and others the committee of Correspondence, Virginia. Colony of Connecticut, New Haven, November 4, 1773 Colony of Extract of an act made and passed by the Governor and Company of Connecticut, the Colony of Connecticut at a General Assembly holden at New Haven November 4, on the second Thursday in October, A. D. 1773: New Haven, 1773 Be it enacted, &c., That whosoever shall presume to forge, counterfeit, or alter any of the Bills of Credit of this Colony or the Bills of Credit of any other of the English Colonies or Provinces on this Continent; or shall utter and put off any forged, counterfeit, or altered Bill or Bills, knowing them to be such; or that shall counsel, advise, procure, or any ways assist in the forging, counterfeiting, imprinting, stamping, altering, or signing of any false, forged, and counterfeit Bill or Bills, knowing them to be such; or that shall engrave any plate or make any Instrument to be used for any of the purposes aforesaid; or that shall stamp or any other ways counterfeit any of the several sorts of coin mentioned in an Act of parliament made and passed on the 6th year of the reign of Queen Anne, &c.— Such person or persons so offending shall for the first offence suffer imprisonment in said Gaol, mine, or Work-House, and there be kept to hard Labor for a term not exceeding ten years, at the Discretion of the court before which such conviction shall be had. Any if any such person shall commit the like offence a second time, and be thereof convicted as aforesaid, he or they shall suffer Imprisonment in the said Goal, mine, and Work-House, and there be kept to hard Labor as aforesaid for and during the Term of his or her natural Life. Compared with the original Act. p'r S. DEANE, Cler. Com. Savannah, SAVANNAH, IN GEORGIA, 20th Nov., 1773. I have the honor to transmit the thanks of the Commons House of Assembly of this province to you, Sir, and the other members of the House of Burgesses of Virginia for communicating your intentions firmly to support the Rights and Liberties of America on that most interesting subject contained in your Resolutions. I am respectfully, Sir, your most obedient Servant, Hon. Peyton Randolph, Esq. WILL'M YOUNG. Savannah, SAVANNAH, IN GEORGIA, 20th Nov., 1773. We have in consequence of an order of the Commons House of Assembly the pleasure to transmit to you a copy of the Resolutions entered into by them similar to those of the other Houses upon the Con Georgia, November tinent, and although late as we are in answering your esteemed favor, Savannah, yet, sir, we are not the less warm in coinciding with the Sister Colonies in every measure that may tend to the preservation of the Liberties and privileges of Americans. We also beg leave to enclose you a copy of an act passed in our last session for preventing the counterfeiting of the paper currency of other his Majesty's Colonies in America, and are hopeful that laws of the same nature being passed in other provinces will effectually put a stop to the evil so loudly complained of. We have the honor to be, Sir, Your mo. ob't Servants, WILL'M YOUNG, D. TUBLY, Ju'r, 20, 1773 Resolves enclosed in the foregoing letter: GEORGIA, COMMONS HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, Mr. Speaker laid before the House two letters that he had received from the Speaker of the House of Burgesses of Virginia and also the House of Deputies of Rhode Island, inclosing Resolutions of their respective Houses and also the copy of an Act to prevent counterfeiting the paper currency of other Colonies, which said Resolutions, being severally read, were unanimously approved of. Resolved, nem. con., That Mr. Speaker and any five of the committee of correspondence be a committee to enquire for and obtain the earliest. intelligence of the many important matters contained in the said several Resolutions, and that they likewise do from time to time correspond with the respective committees that are now or may be appointed by the House of Representatives on this Continent. Resolved, nem. con., That the thanks of this House be transmitted to the honorable the Speaker and members of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, and also the honorable the Speaker and members of the House of Deputies of Rhode Island, for communicating their intentions firmly to support the Rights and privileges of his Majesty's faithful and loyal subjects in America, and also to the honorable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, Robert Carter Nicholas, and Dudley Digges, Esquires, for transmitting to this House a copy of the above-mentioned Act. A true copy taken from the original Journals and examined by RICHARD CUN'YM COOKE, Clerk. Georgia- September House of An Act to prevent counterfeiting the paper money of other his Majesty's Assembly, Colonies and provinces in America: September 10, 1773 Whereas the want of a sufficient Quantity of circulating Specie to answer the purposes of commerce or the Exigencies of Government hath induced this and most others of the British Colonies in America to circulate certain paper notes as a necessary medium, the counterfeiting of which is usually made felony in the respective Governments where they are emitted; and whereas it is supposed that evil-minded persons may establish presses in this province for counterfeiting the paper currency of other his Majesty's provinces or Colonies in America, and by that means such forged Bills may be thrown into circulation with greater Facility and Security to the authors thereof, and it being judged reasonable that neighboring counties having Intercourse in Trade should provide, as far as in them lies, against the abasing of their medium of Commerce We therefore pray your most sacred Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by his Excellency, Sir James Wright, Baronet, CaptainGeneral, and Governor-in-chief, in and over his Majesty's province of Georgia, by and with the advice and consent of the honorable Council and Commons House of Assembly in general assembly met, and by the authority of the same, that if any person or persons, after the passing of this act, shall within this province prepare, engrave, stamp or print, or cause or procure to be prepared, engraved, stamped or printed the counterfeit Resemblance of any paper money which now is or hereafter may be circulated in paiments by legislative authority in any British Colony or plantation in America with Intention that such counterfeit paper shall be passed in paiment, whether the same be so passed or not, shall be adjudged a felon, and shall suffer Death without Benefit of Clergy; and if any person or persons shall in this province pay, or tender in paiment, any such counterfeit money, knowing the same to be forged or counterfeited, altered, or erased, every such person being lawfully convicted shall forfeit the sum of two hundred pounds, current money of this province, and shall be imprisoned in the common Gaol for six calendar months, and during such Imprisonment shall be publicly whipped three times. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that this act shall continue and be in force for the term of five years, and from thence to the end of the next session of the General Assembly, and no longer. By order of the Commons House of Assembly. WILLIAM YOUNG, Speaker. By order of the upper House of Assembly. JAMES HABUSHAM, President. |