Address of the Town Council of Paisley

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Address of the Magistrates and Town Council of Paisley, presented to His Majesty by John Craufurd Esq˙, Representative in Parliament for the County of Renfrew.

The humble Address of the Magistrates and Town Council of PAISLEY, in Council assembled.

Most Gracious Sovereign:

We should be unworthy of the blessings which we enjoy as British subjects, did we fail, at this time, to express our attachment to that Government which conveys and secures them.

With much concern and abhorrence, we behold the unnatural and daring attempt of your Majesty' s American subjects to throw off their subjection to legal authority, and to subvert those very laws under which they have risen to power and opulence.

Enjoying true peace and liberty, we wish to see them restored to our fellow-subjects; and are convinced that this great end will be most effectually promoted by the steady exertion of those powers which the Constitution has vested in your Majesty; fully persuaded that they will ever be wisely employed by a Monarch who, while able to chastise rebellious subjects, declares from the throne that he is ready to receive the misled with tenderness and mercy. Animated with these sentiments, it is our steady purpose to support the rights of your Majesty, as Sovereign of all your Dominions, and the supreme authority of the British Legislature over the whole Empire.

We beg leave to assure your Majesty, that although this be among the first manufacturing Towns in North-Britain, and, by its situation, most likely to be affected by the unconstitutional proceedings of the Colonies, our trade, in most of its branches, in no degree has suffered from their ungrateful conduct. Our manufactures daily increase, and afford employment for thousands of loyal subjects; and we are persuaded that to enforce submission to the laws of Great Britain, is absolutely necessary to secure a lasting commerce with America.

For every advantage which we derive from your Majesty' s care and attention to the good of your people, we humbly beg leave to present to your Majesty our most sincere acknowledgments. That your Majesty may long reign over a happy and united people, is the earnest prayer of your Majesty' s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Magistrates and Town Council of Paisley.

Signed in our name, and by our appointment, by our First Magistrate; and we have ordered the common seal of the Town to be hereto affixed.

JOHN STORIE.

Paisley, November 7, 1775.