Petition from a number of the Inhabitants of Philadelphia

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A Petition from a considerable number of the inhabitants of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, was presented to the House and read, setting forth that the Petitioners, deeply affected with a sense of the imminent dangers to which this Province particularly and the Colonies in general are exposed at this instant, are compelled, by the first law dictated by nature, to endeavour to preserve themselves from utter destruction, and therefore look up to the honourable House, the guardians of publick liberty, in whom the people of this Province have reposed the highest trust, for that protection which, under the favour of the Almighty God, it is in their power to afford; that the Petitioners in this contest for freedom and all the blessings attending it, have been greatly encouraged by the firmness, wisdom, and publick spirit of the late and present House of Assembly; and affairs being now reduced to extremity by the commencement of a civil war on this Continent, which, in all probability must, in its course, soon reach Pennsylvania, the Petitioners most humbly and fervently beseech and supplicate the honourable House to grant, raise, and apply with all possible despatch, a sum of money, at least amounting to Fifty Thousand Pounds, towards putting this Province into a state of defence, in such manner as to the House shall appear most proper and effectual.

Ordered to lie on the table.