Page:History of the United States of America, Spencer, v1.djvu/392

368 ; declaration: "We do bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty, and will, so long as it may be in our power, defend him and his government, as founded on the laws and well-known principles of the constitution: we will, to the utmost of our power, endeavor, by every honorable means, to promote a restoration of that friendship and amity which so long and so happily subsisted between our fellow subjects in Great Britain, and the inhabitants of America; and as, on the one hand, we are determined to defend our lives and property, and maintain our just rights and privileges, at even the extremest hazard, so, on the other hand, it is our fixed and unalterable resolution, to disband such forces as may be raised in this colony, whenever our dangers are removed, and America is restored to its former state of tranquillity and happiness."

"We declare," said the members of the South Carolina Convention, in their address to their new governor, Lord William Campbell, "that no love of innovation, no desire of altering the constitution of government, no lust of independence, have had the least influence upon our counsels; but, alarmed and roused, by a long succession of arbitrary proceedings, by wicked administrations; impressed with the greatest apprehensions of instigated insurrections, and deeply affected by the commencement of hostilities by the British troops against this continent; solely for the preservation and in defence of our lives, liberties, and property, we have been impelled to associate and take up arms. We only desire the same enjoyment of our invaluable rights, and we wish for nothing more ardently than a speedy reconciliation with our mother country, upon constitutional principles. Conscious," they added, "of the justice of our cause, and the integrity of our views, we readily profess our loyal attachment to our sovereign, his crown and dignity; and trusting the event to Providence, we prefer death to slavery."

Though the Assembly of Pennsylvania, in the instructions to their delegates to Congress, in November, declared that the oppressive measures of the British Parliament and administration had compelled them to resist their violence by force of arms; yet they strictly enjoined them, in behalf of that colony, "to dissent from, and reject any proposition, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from the mother country, or a change in the form of their government."

The delegates of Maryland were also instructed not to assent, without the previous knowledge and approbation of the convention of that province, to any proposition, to declare these colonies independent of the crown of Great Britain, unless a majority of them should judge it absolutely necessary, for the preservation of the liberties of the United Colonies. The governor of New Jersey having, in his address to the Assembly, declared, "That sentiments of independency were, by some, of present consequence, openly avowed, and that essays were already appearing in the public papers, to ridicule the people's fears of that horrid measure;" the House in answer, said, "There is nothing we desire with greater anxiety,