fituation, would have fecured to you the grateful attachment of a loyal people. We obferved in the deliberations of parliament a great diverfity of opinion, as to the most conftitutional mode of protecting the rights of the fovereign during the continuance of his indisposition; but we obferved none whatever as to the neceffity of doing it in the most effectual manner. This circumstance cannot fail of giving folid fatisfaction to your majefty; for, next to the confolation of believing that, in his recovery, he has been the efpecial object of God's mercy, muft be that of knowing, that, during his illness, he was the peculiar ob ject of his people's love; that he reigns over a free, a great, and an enlightened nation, not more by. the laws of the land than by the wishes of all his fubjects. Address of the Nobility, Ladies, and Gentlewomen of the County and Town of Banff, to the Queen, on the fame Occafion. May it pleafe your majesty, We, the nobility, ladies, and gentlewomen of the county and town of Banff, dutiful, loyal, and affectionate fubjects to our most gracious fovereign, beg leave humbly to approach your majefty with our warmeft expreffions of joy for the happy recovery of the beft of kings; an event, under God, the greatest bleffing to his attached and faithful people. We congratulate your majefty on this joyful occafion, and pray to God that he may long preferve his majefty's life, and the life of his royal confort, whom we look up to as the patronefs of piety, virtue, and exemplary religious duties, We have long known, and shall always admire, your amiable character, and your eminent wifdom, as we wish to imitate your wife and unrivalled conduct. We pray to God, that happiness may be continued to your majesty and the royal family; and that thofe virtues, which we revere with the utmoft gratitude, may be remembered and imitated to the latest age. This humble addrefs, unanimoufly refolved on at a numerous and refpectable affembly met in Banff, the 13th day of March, 1789, is appointed to be fent to the duchess of Gordon, that her grace may have the honour of figning it in our names, and presenting it to her majefty. J. GORDON. The Petition of the English Catholic Diffenters to the Houfe of Commons, prefented May 7 Sheweth, That fentiments unfavourable to your petitioners, as citizens and fubjects, have been entertained by English proteftants, and that your petitioners are fubject to various. penal laws, on account of principles which are afferted to be maintained by your petitioners, and other perfons of their religion, and which principles are dangerous to fociety and totally repugnant to political and civil liberty. That your petitioners think it a duty which they owe to their country, as well as to themselves, to' proteft in a formal and folemn manner against doctrines that they condemn, and that conftitute no part whatever of their principles, religion, or belief. That your petitioners are the more more anxious to free themselves from fuch imputations, becaufe divers proteftants, who profefs themselves to be real friends to liberty of conscience, have nevertheless avowed themselves hoftile to your petitioners, on account of the opinions which your petitioners are fo fuppofed to hold; and your petitioners do not blame thofe proteftants for their hoftility, if it proceeds (as your petitioners hope it does) not from an intolerant fpirit in matters of religion, but from their being misinformed as to matters of fact. That your petitioners acknowledge that they fhould merit the reproach of being dangerous enemies to the ftate, if it were true, that they had adopted the maxims that are erroneoufly imputed to them; but your petitioners deteft thofe unchriftianlike and execrable maxims; and your petitioners feverally claim (in common with men of all other religions) as a matter of natural juftice, that your petitioners ought not to fuffer for or on account of any wicked erroneous doctrines that may have been holden, or that may be held by any foreign Roman catholics, which doctrines your petitioners publicly difclaim; any more than any of the British proteftants ought to be rendered refponfible for any dangerous doctrines that may be held by any foreign proteftants, which doctrines they, the faid British proteftants, difavow. I. That your petitioners have been accufed of holding, as a principle of their religion, that princes excommunicated by the pope and council, or by authority of the fee of Rome, may be depofed or murdered by their fubjects, or other perfons. But, fo far is the above mentioned unchriftianlike and abominable pofition from being a prinple, that your petitioners hd, that they reject, abhor, and deteft it, and every part thereof, as execrable and impious; and your petitioners do folemnly declare, that neither the pope, either with or without a general council, nor any prelate, nor any prieft, nor any affembly of prelates or priests, nor any ecclefiaftical power whatever, can abfolve the fubjects of this realm, or any of them, from their allegiance to his majefty king George the Third, who is, by authority of the legiflature, the lawful king of this realm, and of all the dominions thereunto belonging. II. That your petitioners have alfo been accused of holding, as a principle of their religion, that implicit obedience is due from them to the orders and decrees of popes and general councils: and that, therefore, if the pope, or any general council, fhould, for the good of the church, command your petitioners to take up arms against government, or by any means to fubvert the laws and liberties of this country, or to exterminate persons of a different religion from your petitioners, the accufers of your pe. titioners affert, that your petitioners hold themfelves bound to obey fuch orders or decrees on pain of eternal fire. Whereas your petitioners pofitively deny, that they owe any fuch obedience to the pope and general council, or to either of them and your petitioners believe that no act that is in itfeif immoral or dishoneft can ever be justified by, or under colour that it is done, either for the good of the church, or in obedience to any ecclefiaftical power whatever. Your petitioners. acknowledge no infallibility in the pope; and they neither apprehend nor believe, that their difobedience to any fuch orders or decrees (fhould any fuch be given or made) could (G 4) : fub fubject your petioners to any punifhment whatsoever. That your petitioners do folemnly declare, that no church, nor any prelate, nor any priest, nor any affembly of prelates or priests, nor any ecclefiaftical power whatever, hath, have, or ought to have any jurifdiction or authority whatfuever within this realm, that can, directly or indirectly, affect or interfere with the independence, fovereignty, laws, conftitution, or government thereof, or the rights, liberties, perfons, or properties, of the people of the faid realm, or of any of them; fave only and except by the authority of parliament; and that any fuch affump tion of power would be an ufurpation. III. That your petitioners have likewife been accused of holding as a principle of their religion, that the pope, by virtue of his fpiritual power, can difpenfe with the obligations of any compact or oath taken or entered into by any perfon of the religion of your petitioners; that therefore, no oath of allegiance, or other oath, can bind your petitioners, and confequently, that your petitioners can give no fecurity for their allegiance to any government.-That your petitioners admit that this conclufion would be juft, if the original propofition, upon which it is founded, were true: but your petitioners pofitively deny, that they hold any fuch principle; and they do folemnly declare, that neither the pope, nor any prelate, nor any prieft, nor any affembly of prelates or priests, nor any ecclefiaftical power whatever, can abfolve your petitioners, or any of them from, or can previously or fubfequently difpenfe with the obligations of any compact or oath what foever IV. That your petitioners have alfo been accufed of holding, as a principle of their religion, that not only the pope, but even a prieft, has power, at his will and pleafure, to pardon the fins of perfons of the religion of your petitioners; and therefore, that no perfon of the religion of your petitioners can poffi bly give any fecurity for his allegiance to any government; inafmuch as the pope, or a priest, can pardon perjury, rebellion, and high treason, That your petitioners acknowledge alfo, the juftnefs of this conclufion, if the propoûtion upon which it is founded, were not totally false; but your petitioners do folemnly declare, that on the contrary, they believe that no fin whatever, can be forgiven at the will of any pope, or of any prieft, of any perfon whomfoever: but that a fincere forrow for paft fin, a firm refolution to avoid future guilt, and every poffible atonement to God, and the injured neighbour, are the previous and indifpenfable requifites to establish a well-founded expectation of forgivenefs. V. That your petitioners have also been accufed of holding, as a principle of their religion, that, faith is not to be kept with heretics: fo that no government, which does not profefs the fame religion as your petitioners, can have any fecurity from your petitioners for their allegiance and peaceable behaviour. That your petitioners reject, reprobate, and abhor the doctrine, that faith is not to be kept with heretics, as being contrary to religion, morality, and common honefty. And your petitioners do hold and folemn, ly declare, that no breach of faith with, or injury to, or hoftility against any perfon whomfoever, can ever be juftified by reafon of, or under pretence, that fuch perfon is an he retic or an infidel. That That your petitioners further folemnly declare, that they do make this declaration and proteftation, and every part thereof, "in the plain and ordinary fenfe of the words of the fame, without any evafion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever. And that your petitioners humbly conceive, that your petitioners, who thus folemnly difclaim, and from their hearts abhor, the above mentioned abominable and unchristianlike principles, ought not to be put upon a level with any other men who may hold and profefs those principles. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray, that this honourable houfe will be pleased to grant fuch relief to your petitioners, as this honourable house in its wisdom fhall deem to be just, Addrefs of the Inhabitants of Alexandria, in Virginia, to General Washington, on leaving his Houfe to accept of the Prefidency of the United States of America, April 16, 1789. To George Washington, efq. direts your conduct - do your neighbours and friends, now address you.-Themes, lefs fplendid but more endearing, imprefs our minds. The firft and beft of citizens must leave us! our aged muft lofe their ornament! our youth their model! our agriculture its improver! our commerce its friend! our infant academy its patron! our poor their benefactor! and the interior navigation of the Potomack (an event replete with the most extenfive utility, already, by your unremitted exertions, brought into partial use) its inftitutor and promoter! Farewell!-Go; and make a grateful people happy; a people who will be doubly grateful, when they contemplate this recent facrifice for their interest. To that Being, who maketh and unmaketh at His will, we commend you; and after the accomplishment of the arduous bufinefs to which you are called, may He reftore to us again the best of men, and the most beloved fellow-citizen. In behalf of the people of Alexandria, DENNIS RAMSAY, Mayor, Prefident of the United States, &c. April 16, 1789. your care. Obedient to its wishes, The Anfier. unmindful of your own eafe, we To the mayor, corporation, and ci fee you again relinquifhing the Elifs of retirement; and this too, at a period of life when nature itself feems to authorize a preference of repose. Not to extol your glory as a foldier-not to pour forth our gratitude for paft fervices - not to acknowledge the juftice of the unexampled honour which has been conferred upon you, by the fpontaneous and unanimous fuffrage of three millions of freemen, in your election to the fupreme magiftracy -not to admire the patriotifm that tizens of Alexandria. Gentlemen, Although I ought not to conceal, yet I cannot defcribe, the painful emotions which I felt, in being called upon to determine whether I would accept, or refufe, the prefidency of the United States. The unanimity in the choice; the opinion of my friends, communicated from different parts of Europe as well as of America; the apparent with of those who were not entirely fatisfied with the conftitution in its prefent form; and an ardent defire on my Own 1 own part, to be inftrumental in conciliating the good will of my country toward each other-have induced an acceptance. Thofe who Know me beft (and you, my fellowcitizens, are, from your fituation, in that number) know better than any other, my love of retirement is fo great, that no earthly confidera. tion, fhort of a conviction of duty, could have prevailed upon me to depart from my refolution, never more to take any fhare in tranfactions of a public nature. For at my age, and in my circumstances, what poffible advantages could I propofe to myself, from embarking again on the tempeftuous and uncertain occan of public life? I do not feel myself under the neceffity of making public declarations, in order to convince you, gentlemen, of my attachment to yourselves, and regard for your interefts. The whole tenour of my life has been open to your infpection; and my paft actions, rather than my prefent declarations, must be the pledge for my future conduct. In the mean time, I thank you moft fincerely for the expreffions of kindness, contained in your valedictory addrefs. It is true, juft after having bidden adieu to my domeftic connections, this tender proof of your friendfhip is but too well calculated ftill farther to awaken my fenfibility, and increase my regret, at parting from the enjoyments of private life. All that now remains for me, is to commit myself and you to the protection of that beneficent Being, who, on a former occafion, hath happily brought us together, after a long and diftreffing feparation.-Perhaps the fame gracious Providence will again indulge us with the fame heartfelt felicity. But words, my fellow-citizsns, fail me. Unutterable fenfations must then be left to more ex preffive filence; while from an aching heart. I bid you all, my affectionate friends, and kind neighbours, farewell! G. WASHINGTON. Speech of George Washington, Ejq. Prefident of the United States of America, to both Houses of Congrefs, April 30, 1789. Fellow-citizens of the Senate, and of the house of reprefentatives, Among the viciffitudes incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was tranfmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the prefent month: on the one hand, I was fummoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chofen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the afylum of my declining years: a retreat, which was rendered every day more neceflary as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual wafte committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the truft to which the voice of my country called me, being fufficient to awaken in the wifest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful fcrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with defpondence one who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpractifed in the duties of civil adminiftration, ought to be peculiarly confcious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver, is, that it hath been my faithful ftudy to collect my duty from |