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Address of the Magistrates and Town Council of the ancient Borough of Jedburgh, transmitted to the Earl of Suffolk, one of His Majesty' s principal Secretaries of State, and presented to His Majesty.
Most Gracious Sovereign:
We, your Majesty' s most loyal and dutiful subjects, the
Inspired with love and admiration of our Constitution, we cannot without alarm hear doctrines maintained subversive of the principles upon which it is established; the supreme power of Parliament, the basis and security of British liberty, denied and opposed by a great number of your American subjects, who, grown insolent from prosperity, and lost to all sense of justice and gratitude, proceeding from tumult to rebellion, obstinately persevere in the rash and desperate purpose of shaking off their constitutional dependence on the mother country.
We feel most sensibly for those of our American brethren whose attachment to order and government continually subjects them to violence and outrage; we feel even for those, who, misled from duty by the insidious protestations of loyalty and patriotism under which ambitious men have been carrying on their interested schemes, are likely to fall victims to their unhappy delusion. Permit us to assure your Majesty, that we view with the highest indignation and abhorrence both their principles and designs; and that we are ready, to the utmost of our power, to vindicate and support the interests of this Kingdom, and the constitutional dependence of all its Colonies.
We confide in the justice and wisdom of your Majesty and your Parliament, for the measures proper to be pursued, and trust that, from a suitable exertion of the powers of Government, and the wisdom of your councils, their daring attempts shall not only be frustrated, but the unnatural intention extinguished, unity restored, and a more permanent tranquillity secured.
That this desirable event may be speedily and happily accomplished, and that your Majesty may long reign in peace and prosperity over a happy and grateful people, is our ardent wish and prayer.
Sealed and signed, for and in our name, and by our order and authority, in Council assembled, this second day
of December, 1775, by
ANDREW LOOKUP.
Address of the Magistrates, and c. of Borough of Jedburgh to the King
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Magistrates and Town Council of your ancient borough of Jedburgh, beg leave, in the present important conjuncture, to express the grateful sense we have of your Majesty' s mild and equitable reign; of your constant and tender attention to the happiness and honour of the nation, and the religious and civil liberties of your people.