A member from the House of Assembly, attending at the door, was admitted and delivered at the Chair the following resolution of that House, to wit:

"IN THE HOUSE of Assembly, "WEDNESDAY, A. M., May 7th, 1777.

"Resolved, That no officer, or other person (not being there'unto particularly authorized by Congress, or his Excellency "General Washington, in pursuance of a resolve of Congress), "shall be permitted to enlist any recruit within this State for any "other State until the quota of troops of this State is completed.' Which, being read, was ordered to lie on the table for consideration.

Adjourned till 3 o'clock, P. M.

EODEM DIE, P. M.

Council met.

The resolution of the House of Assembly under consideration in the forenoon was read the second time and concurred in.

Ordered, That Mr. Bassett wait on the House of Assembly with the resolution aforesaid and concurrence of Council thereto.

Mr. Vandyke prayed leave of absence till to-morrow afternoon. The same was granted.

Mr. Bassett, being returned, reported that he had waited on the House of Assembly according to order.

Adjourned till to-morrow morning, 10 o'clock.

Council met.

THURSDAY, A. M., May 8th.

Mr. Cantwell, a member of this House, appeared and took his seat.

A member from the House of Assembly, attending at the door, was admitted and delivered to the Chair a bill entitled

"An act for the more speedily completing the quota of troops to be raised in this State for the Continental army,'

Which, by order, was read the first time.
Adjourned till 3 o'clock, P. M.

EODEM DIE, P. M.

Council met.

Mr. Speaker being indisposed, adjourned till to-morrow morning, 10 o'clock.

FRIDAY, A. M., May 9th.

Council met, and resumed the consideration of the bill "for the more speedily completing the quota of troops to be raised in this State for the Continental army," which was read the second time, and, after some time spent therein, was postponed till the afternoon.

Adjourned till 3 o'clock, P. M.

Council met.

EODEM DIE, P. M.

The bill under consideration in the forenoon was taken up, and divers amendments being proposed and agreed to, the same were transcribed and sent to the House of Assembly for their concur

rence.

Ordered, That Mr. Collins wait on the House of Assembly with the said bill and amendments thereto proposed for their consideration and concurrence.

Mr. Collins, being returned, reported that he had waited on the House of Assembly according to the order aforesaid.

A member from the House of Assembly, attending at the door, was admitted and delivered at the Chair a bill entitled

"An act for the holding the General Assembly at Dover, in the County of Kent."

By order read the first time.

Also, sundry resolutions of that House, to wit:

"IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY,

"FRIDAY, A. M., May 9th, 1777.

"Resolved unanimously, That it is a daring invasion of the "rights and liberties of the people of this State for any person or persons to impress any of the inhabitants thereof, or persons "therein residing, either into the sea or land service of the United States of America, or any of them, under colour of authority derived from any State, or man, or body of men whatever, ex"cept the Legislature of this State.

"Resolved unanimously, That the President and Commander"in-Chief be requested to cause to be apprehended and prose"cuted, according to law, any person or persons who shall pre

sume to violate the above resolution, and, if necessary, that the "Militia be called in to support the civil authority in apprehend"ing such offenders."

Which, by order, was read the first time.

The Speaker laid before the Council a letter received by him in the late recess of the General Assembly from the Honorable John Hancock, Esquire, President of Congress, inclosing an attested copy of the Declaration of Independency of the Thirteen United States of America, with the names of the Members of Congress subscribing the same.

And the same being read by order,

Resolved unanimously, That for the better preserving the said act of independency and as a lasting testimony of the approbation thereof by the representatives of the people of this State in General Assembly met, the same be entered at large on the minutes of the respective Houses of this present General Assembly, and afterwards lodged in the rolls office among the laws and other publick acts of this State.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident-That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient

causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former system of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation, till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large, for their exercise, the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.