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Mr Speaker & Gentlemen of the Assembly

It is with the Greatest Concern, that at any time I Should be obliged not to Comply with an Address of the Assembly, and more particularly at this Important Crisis, when you were Summoned to Meet by his Majestys Commands, with the Utmost Dispatch, to give his Majesty an Aid of Men, which ought if possible to have been Complied with the first thing in the Session, as the Men were required to be raised by the first of this Instant, or as Soon as possible, which has now been postponed for three weeks anxious to give way to Laws, which only relate to the Interior Benefit of this Colony, and therefore not Material at What time they Shall be Offered in the Session; Whereas the having the men raised for Immediate Service, is not only necessary for the Immediate Peace, and Safety of this Province until his Majesty Commands them to Assist his foreign Operations, which at the Critical Emergency, may not only Secure the Religion, Libertys, and Peace of the Colony for Ages to Come; but also of all his Majestys Other Colonys, and Dominions, by a Speedy Exertion of our Force, I also in Common Decency, and Respect to the Crown, must give the Precedency in passing an Aid Bill, to every other Act that is Offered, for it has been the Uninterrupted Usage of the Commons of Great Britain, and Ireland, ever Since the happy Establishment of their Constitution and Libertys by the Revolution in 1688, to offer the Aid Bill, before any other Bill for the Royal Assent, and I have found it So in this Province, where all the Bills have been Offered together, for in the Single Instance last Session in passing the Short Militia Bill, it was given in Aid to his Majesty, to Enable him, to Command them out of the Province, Nor can it be any way Material whether the Bills You Sollicit for, to give them the preferrence to the Aid Bill, which you were So Earnestly pressed to dispatch, is Offered this day or Three days hence

I Always Expected from the Zeal the Assembly of this Province has Expressed, to Give Assistance to Drive our Cruel Enemies from this Continent That the Aid Bill, if not passed before all Others, Should have at Least have gone hand in hand together, And not have been postponed, until the Close of the Session which may delay the raising and Disciplining the forces and to be Ineffectual and not answer the End

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pass the Court Bills

Rx with the Govrs. Letter of 28. May 1760

Read Novr. 26. 1760.

E.18.
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